Vanagon transmission vent and painting the tranny

[DanHoug]

my transaxle is on the bench right now as i do Speedi-Sleeves on the output flanges. vent hole is very small... about 3/32"

primed my trans with Aluminum primer then painted with gray Rustoleum during the rebuild. salt is our enemy in the far north, not heat.
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-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com

[Gnarlodious]

I specifically requested my transmission NOT be painted because it will dissipate heat better. But then I live in the dry southwest. For someone who may be driving through salt and pumice covered winter roads I can see the wisdom of paint as a corrosion inhibitor. The worst thing is when your transmission runs hot in humid weather while covered in salty road sand, then it REALLY corrodes fast.
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[vwhammer]

I will be drilling and tapping both my diff and trans vent holes so I can run some line up higher to keep water out when I plunk it in a river.

I will then clean the whole thing and plan on painting it this color.

[AndyBees]

[shagginwagon83]

I suppose the copper piece matches the original diameter of the whole and you drilled it to match size?
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"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram: @joannthevan

[metropoj]

Thanks Andy. I may do this mod at some point when I drop the tranny and thought it would be good for clarity.
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John.
86 TiiCo powered Westy.

[AndyBees]

[danfromsyr]

NICE manual diff lock bracket.. though I doubt it would work with a WBX starter.

[metropoj]

So, you just drilled out the hole a little bigger and JB Welded the copper piece in ?
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John.
86 TiiCo powered Westy.

[AndyBees]

Wow!

I forgot about starting this Thread almost 9 years ago.

Well, I stuck with the bare OE metal, no paint.

I did modify the existing vent hole. I use a flexible hose and let it hang down like an Elephant trunk. It's been in service like this since 2012. I've had the transmission out and opened once but never saw any evidence of contamination.

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'84 Vanagon Tin-top, ALH TDI, two trips to Alaska, 2014 & 16. 1989 Tin-top unmolested.
1983 Air-cool, 225k miles, 180k miles mine, seven trips to Alaska from 1986 thru 2003. 1975 Bay hopeful.

[T3messie]

Black gives the best heat passage.

[jimf909]

Who knew that folks painted transmissions silver, red and yellow. Maybe I’ll go for purple. Purple tran, purple tran...
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- Jim

[tencentlife]

Yow, love the yellow! That'll be like having floodlights underneath.

So how many of these pretty gearboxes are just come back from AA Daryl? Both of the ones I have shown were just reconditioned by him.
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Shop for unique and useful Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
also available at VanCafe.com!

Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is death to doctrine.

[HeftySmurf]

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-Lorenzo
90 GL w/ Bostig

[AndyBees]

Well, I'm convinced! I'll do a mod on the vent as well as paint the tranny.... baby blue! That should be light enough!
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'84 Vanagon Tin-top, ALH TDI, two trips to Alaska, 2014 & 16. 1989 Tin-top unmolested.
1983 Air-cool, 225k miles, 180k miles mine, seven trips to Alaska from 1986 thru 2003. 1975 Bay hopeful.

[Muskrat]

thats almost as beautiful as your engines.
you should be selling those as well.
nice work as always.
-k-

[tencentlife]

[rs4-380]

rattlecanned mine. ford gray engine enamel I believe.

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Dave
87 EJ25 Syncro GL

[Muskrat]

tencent...i wish i would've had your jack yesterday when i installed my trans.
is that your own creation or a commercial gizmo...
-k-

[tencentlife]

Primed and painted with a rattlecan, Duplicolor engine enamel. It air-dries hard but is easy to chip until it heat sets. You can see some damage under the front diff where it got scraped off installing it. Once the casings heat up it fully sets and is pretty tough after that.

This van lived where they salt the roads so these casings were covered in scale. I wirewheeled it all off to prep. I like a gloss enamel because it looks better and lets me wash the grime off of at the car wash. Clean components are happy ones, and so is the guy who has to work on them. Lighter colors under the car also make things easier to work on, they bounce a little light around and it makes a big difference.

I think modding the air vent on a 2WD trans is a good idea, the tiny hole provided easily gets clogged when dirt hits the oily film there.
_________________
Shop for unique and useful Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
also available at VanCafe.com!

Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is death to doctrine.