TheSamba.com :: View topic - Transmission upgrade in 1970 bus, will a 72

Thu May 12, 2011 12:02 pm

Here is my situation. I am tired of my stock bus being barely able to keep up with highway traffic.

I am considering upgrading to a 1776, but with the stock tranny gear ratios it still would not cruise at 65-70 unless its at high RPM.

I don't really want to mess around with having my tranny rebuilt with different gears if I can simply swap it for a better one made at the factory...

Does anyone know if it is possible to put a 73-79 tranny in a 1970 bus? I'd prefer to mate the tranny to a type 1 engine because I want to maintain the [mostly] stock appearance.

thanks.
-james

Thu May 12, 2011 12:51 pm

those transmissions are designed for the pancake engines which have more oomph, it may be different with a 1776, but i do know itll kill a 1600dp, if anything have you considered or heard of a freeway flyer transmission?

Thu May 12, 2011 2:00 pm

Yeah, I've heard of the freeway flyer transmissions... I should have mentioned I am considering those too, but I know I can score a late model bus tranny at the yard for nearly nothing, and if possible would like to try to work with that.

Can anyone give any feedback on their experience with a freeway flyer transmission in their 1968-1971 bus?

Thanks.

Thu May 12, 2011 3:10 pm

You would not have the mojo for a 091 transaxle to work for you. Especially at altitude.

Build the 1776 and make it well balanced using a counterweighted crankshaft and drive it 65. Some small dual carbs would also be an asset.

I would rather have taller tires than a "freeway flyer" myself.

Thu May 12, 2011 7:27 pm

to install the later trans 77-79 is the gold standard or mack daddy 6 rib I have one from a late 77 had to exchange the early bell housing from I believe 68/69 only and the out put shaft from the same although I am told the output shft from a super beetle is the stronger choice. you can also shorten the shaft from the 091 by grinding off I think like 9mm. from there you may have to change the body mount to whatever came off of your bus. the 70 model should have a 3 rib which for general driving at 1776 should still hold up well. not sure about the rpms at speed I have a 1969 witha 2156 and a 6 rib @ 80mph i run maybe 4500Rpm Keep up with traffic nicely gave an M3 a surprise one day too. Now stopping with 4 wheel drums is a whole different story currently working on my 944 4 wheel disc conversion.
i fyou can get a 6 rib for less than 500 thats a sweet deal I used to sell cores to dons bus box for 450. they are becoming very hard to come by and 1000 for a rebuilt is not uncommon. they are usually on samba @ 4-600. Good luck

Thu May 12, 2011 10:15 pm

I am in the process of putting a 5 rib into a 69.I do very little driving (only local shows).changed bell housings and shortened shaft,changed front mount.....the strangest problem i had was the shift rod coupler would not fit onto the later transmission.the rebuild guy ($600 including bell housing swap and shortening shaft)said he never heard of that happening,so i drilled out the coupeler to fit the larger new transmission.Check your sizes very carefully and drill it out before the trans is in the way. good luck

Thu May 12, 2011 10:25 pm

I live for these threads. Want to drive a bus like an SUV then get one. We have a 1977 and it will do 75 and I can watch our head temps climb into la la land when we do. They were never designed to shed the heat of that speed. Ask Colin - he has been running all over the place trying to figure how to get the heads temps down into a conserative range. Jake says he has figured it out - but it will cost you close to $10k to find out. Really - get another car. It is the reason that American buses, vans and SUV's replaced the VW bus. BTW, a 1600 DP w/ 002 will do 65 all day long for 35,000 - 40,000 miles at a time except up hills without breaking a sweat on head temps. Add a low profile extended sump or external oil cooler and the oil won't get too hot either.

Thu May 12, 2011 11:34 pm

Thanks for the feed back everyone except SGKent, get over yourself!

I am not a VW expert, but I certainly know that the Type 2's were not made for cruising at 75 all day. Thanks anyway for clearing that up for me.

"I live for these threads" - holy crap man... get a life!

Thu May 12, 2011 11:50 pm

[email protected] wrote: to install the later trans 77-79 is the gold standard or mack daddy 6 rib I have one from a late 77 had to exchange the early bell housing from I believe 68/69 only and the out put shaft from the same although I am told the output shft from a super beetle is the stronger choice. you can also shorten the shaft from the 091 by grinding off I think like 9mm. from there you may have to change the body mount to whatever came off of your bus. the 70 model should have a 3 rib which for general driving at 1776 should still hold up well. not sure about the rpms at speed I have a 1969 witha 2156 and a 6 rib @ 80mph i run maybe 4500Rpm Keep up with traffic nicely gave an M3 a surprise one day too. Now stopping with 4 wheel drums is a whole different story currently working on my 944 4 wheel disc conversion.
i fyou can get a 6 rib for less than 500 thats a sweet deal I used to sell cores to dons bus box for 450. they are becoming very hard to come by and 1000 for a rebuilt is not uncommon. they are usually on samba @ 4-600. Good luck

Thanks for the tips.

Your bus sounds effin fast, maybe too fast! I was considering upgrading the brakes too, especially if I am planning to cruise at 65 mph (70 if I need to for a short while). I was thinking about just swapping the front beam from a 71. Right now I don't feel comfortable driving faster than 55, and 60 is all it will do on horizontal roads.

The fastest I ever had my stock 1600 s/p was an estimated 72 mph (the needle was all over the place) down hill, a long steep one, with a strong tail wind... I thought it was gonna explode, but it ran for another 60k miles...

Fri May 13, 2011 4:32 am

vwbus70 wrote: Thanks for the feed back everyone except SGKent, get over yourself!

I am not a VW expert, but I certainly know that the Type 2's were not made for cruising at 75 all day. Thanks anyway for clearing that up for me.

"I live for these threads" - holy crap man... get a life!

Here on The Samba we hear all the time from people who can't deal with the fact that their Bus was made 40 years ago for calmer times. Not many Americans can deal with driving a little slower so we get tired of hearing them complain.

Fri May 13, 2011 7:58 am

ccpalmer wrote: vwbus70 wrote: Thanks for the feed back everyone except SGKent, get over yourself!

I am not a VW expert, but I certainly know that the Type 2's were not made for cruising at 75 all day. Thanks anyway for clearing that up for me.

"I live for these threads" - holy crap man... get a life!

Here on The Samba we hear all the time from people who can't deal with the fact that their Bus was made 40 years ago for calmer times. Not many Americans can deal with driving a little slower so we get tired of hearing them complain.
We also sometimes hear from people who ask for advice and don't like the answers they hear because thier mind was already made up, usually the same folks who post a "why won't my engine last more than 10K?"...."I hate VW's"....."Stupid Germans" thread a few years later :?

Fri May 13, 2011 1:18 pm

busdaddy wrote: "Stupid Germans"

"Stupid Germans"? I've never seen that complaint. Them's fightin' words to this German!!!

Fri May 13, 2011 2:05 pm

If you want to drive a bus,stick to the RIGHT LANE.......... :lol:
I agree with SGKENT ,he is just stating the obvious. People were not as in a hurry as they are now....imagine you are in 1971,and driving a 40 year old car,that would put you in a Model A Ford,and you would not e driving it on the freeway unless you had to!

Sat May 14, 2011 5:31 am

never heard of the coupler problem but sounds feasible was it a huge difference or just a clearancing?

Thought the VW was the original SUV? And I live to work on and drive my cars

Sat May 14, 2011 6:36 am

I assume you have been over here and have read section #4?

http://www.ratwell.com/technical/FAQ.html

Sat May 14, 2011 9:23 am

vwbus70 wrote: Thanks for the feed back everyone except SGKent, get over yourself! !

Sorry your pride was wounded. Never should have started your thread with:

Quote: I am tired of my stock bus being barely able to keep up with highway traffic.

That is like bringing home a german shepherd and complaining that he chases away the squirrels you were trying to feed in the backyard.

We don't try to remake the world. We've leaned that to stay out of the way of traffic in this city you use something like this daily:

And we cruise and enjoy life with this:

When we have lots of small things to haul we use one of these:

We love our VW bus but aren't crazy enough to use it as a daily driver in a city where we see at least two serious accidents a night going home due to impatient and immature drivers, for which we have little tolerance and we stay out of their way as much as possible. Your statement shows that you are out of touch with reality to expect that you will EVER keep up with modern traffic in a bus. YOU ARE A TARGET IN A BUS. People like to look, gawk and wave at your bus but they will run you over to avoid being behind you. The sooner you realize that the longer you will live. Make it a bigger engine, put in a different trans - be happy with the outcome but don't be surprised when nothing changes in traffic. You are still and always will be a slow VW bus to get around as quickly as possible. The right hand lanes are usually your friend. That is where people expect slow cars to be. My 1600 DP survived in traffic no differently than my 2.0 does.

Sat May 14, 2011 9:29 am

To the OP, SGKent is spot on. I bought my 70 bus knowing that the interstate was completely off limits, and I'm okay with that. The bus forces you to slow down and enjoy the drive, and if you're not the kind of person that enjoys that then it isn't the vehicle for you. It's that simple.

Sat May 14, 2011 9:40 am

Esher127 wrote: To the OP, SGKent is spot on. I bought my 70 bus knowing that the interstate was completely off limits, and I'm okay with that. The bus forces you to slow down and enjoy the drive, and if you're not the kind of person that enjoys that then it isn't the vehicle for you. It's that simple.

Well said - today is Saturday. We will take the bus out, cruise thru light traffic to our favorite lunch spot to charge the battery and on the way let anyone by us who wants to go. On trips and mountain roads we learn to pull over a lot. Come Monday we will be back in the Acura doing 70 - 80 in the diamond lane while the lane next to us is at a dead stop - prepared that at any moment some impatient 16 year old in a 40 year old body will pull out in front of us because they can't sit still or find someone to carpool with so they too can use the diamond lane. But one thing I know for sure - even if I am doing 75 in the bus today people will be impatiently passing me, coming within inches of me because "By Charlie, they will not be trapped behind a VW bus at any speed." If one needs or feels the need to keep up with city or mountain traffic do not use a VW bus.

Sat May 14, 2011 11:48 am

todqsanford;the coupler in the bus was about a 32nd too small . at first i thought it was a bushing that had come off the old trans......really strange....the shop i deal with in tampa (total Performance)has been doing vw stuff for years and they haden,t ever heard of it either.

Sat May 14, 2011 12:00 pm

SGKent wrote: ...cruise thru light traffic to our favorite lunch spot Not fair! No secrets here. Name names. (Mine is Adalbertos on Sunrise)