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Do i need a performance tranny in my bus with a 914 engine?
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zedjr10
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 2:31 am    Post subject: Do i need a performance tranny in my bus with a 914 engine? Reply with quote

I got a vw bus with a 914 engine in it. Tranny is blown and need to replace. Do i need a beefier tranny with the 914 engine or can i go with the stock one from rancho?
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aeromech
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:02 am    Post subject: Re: Do i need a performance tranny in my bus with a 914 engine? Reply with quote

Hi there,
Where are you located? Lots of people think they have a Porsche engine. What year is your bus? Can you show some pics? I’d say it all depends on how much horse power your engine develops. Rancho does good work but you may have other options for shops closer to you.
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richparker
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:14 am    Post subject: Re: Do i need a performance tranny in my bus with a 914 engine? Reply with quote

I’d say no. A 914 engine was designed to push a light car around, not a heavy bus. Hopefully Ray will chime in, but I think the 914 T4 had a different cam, different pistons and different heads then the bus T4.

Call Arizona Transaxle, they’ll have what you need and the ship.
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SGKent Premium Member
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:43 am    Post subject: Re: Do i need a performance tranny in my bus with a 914 engine? Reply with quote

it is basically the same engine as the bus except the cam peaks at a higher ROM, and the exhaust flows different. There are other differences but it is like comparing two bagels off an assembly line trying to determine which tastes better. The question is why did your trans mission fail. For all we know you wore out a CV joint, have a loose grub screw or broken stop plate, and it isn't the transmission at all.
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:41 am    Post subject: Re: Do i need a performance tranny in my bus with a 914 engine? Reply with quote

The VW Type 4 engines can be built up to put out large amounts of HP, but may not be able to run that HP for long as the cooling system and things like the tranny may not be up to handling it continuously. In a light car like a VW 412 or a Porsche 914, the extra HP gets you around the line of traffic in front of you, but in a bus weighing in at 5500 pounds pulling up a long 8% grade there are going to be multiple failure modes.

There are lots of mods that people have made to their Vanagon 091-1 trannies to make them hold up longer to use with high output turbo diesels and some of these mods could be made to the bus 091 trannies, but that will not solve problems you are likely to have with the engine getting too hot.
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metahacker
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:10 am    Post subject: Re: Do i need a performance tranny in my bus with a 914 engine? Reply with quote

Bus manual transmissions are strong

the torque numbers on the 914 and bus are basically the same
the 1.7 is approx the same as the 2.0 bus
the 2.0 914 is about 20% more torque

and maximum torque and actual torque output requested are not the same unless you are driving 100% WOT all the time

essentially, splitting hairs. no need to worry about the transmission. people install bus transmissions as an upgrade. they are much more stout than what the engine can put out.

i suspect just running amsoil + lubegard in a stock tranny with a 914-2.0 would be the same/lower operating temperature than FLAPS cheapest gear oil in the same transmission with a bus engine
Smile

if you add a turbo charger and EFI then i would perhaps start to wonder
short of that, no
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raygreenwood
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:59 pm    Post subject: Re: Do i need a performance tranny in my bus with a 914 engine? Reply with quote

No....you do not need anything special. As others have noted...unless you have something way upgraded from stock...even the Euro 2.0L with 110-ih hp will not be an issue.

You might want some slight mods to the clutch...but even that depends on the driving style. The stock 228mm clutch should be fine for a 2.0L.

Ray
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