Porsche 915 in a VW Bay Van

[dpetteng]

so, my 1971 bay project is starting. I have a 915 and a 1987 3.2 Porsche engine.

Most of the fabrication looks relatively straight forward except the shift rod.

The VW transmission has the hockey stick at the top of the transmission and the 915 has it at the bottom so the two will not line up.

I have seen a lot of bent shift rods etc to make it work but wondering if we could make it more elegant by fabricating a Porsche shift rod with two "kinks" in in which would be steering couplings so they could move through an arc if that makes sense.

Has anyone seen this done properly? I will need to use a 911 shifter as the VW one is only 4 speed.

Any ideas appreciated.

[levi20AE]

I have no data on modifying the existing shift rod but have you thought about adapting cable shift setup? I swapped a 20 year younger trans into my mk1 and the more modern cable shift setups are so much smoother and more accommodating to flexing of mounts and such when you have a lot more power to put down.
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1973 Campmobile http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=524511&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
20th AE VW GTI - 369hp 340tq @ 26 PSI
1982 Rabbit Pickup - German AAZ 1.9TD - daily with lots of MPGs

[dpetteng]

I have been thinking about cable shift, the problem I have seen so far is simply room for mounting these in a VW Bay window

[raygreenwood]

VW did something similar on thr VW 411 and 412 with the 004 four speed trans. The tail cone and hockey stick are on the 004 is also on the bottom and is below the normal plane of the shift rod. I wont get into the reasons why they did it here.

Blunty its a crappy design.

It uses a ball stud of specific length attached to the hockey stick standing up vertically. The rear end of the shift rod has a tubular cup or socket that fits over the ball stud.

The problems this causes are numerous.
1. As you move the shifter from the 1/2 quadrant to the 3/4 quadrant or vice versa.....the vertical ball stud swings left or right in an arc. The height of the ball stud must be exact.....and by the same token the cup attached to the foward shift rod must also be in an exact position.....or else it changes the amount of rotation in the arc of the ball stud and causes shifting issues.

2. Because of the above need.....the forward shift rod attached to the shifter on the forward end and the socket on the ball stud of the hockey stick in the rear....must be rigidly supporte d somewhere along its length aft of the shifter......by something that is simultaneously a wear proof bearing or bushing for smooth movement.....that has some adjustability to be able to make sure the socket at the ball stud can be height adjusted.

3. This means that to keep this flexible floating ball joint linkage accurate.....the transmission must be rigidly mounted. If soft or floating trans mounts are used it will change the position of the ball stud relative to the shift rod cup causing problems.

So...if you are going to do this using ball and socket joints.....make sure the ball is pinned into the socket or snaps in. Not floating. Also a double joint will be very hard to adjust and keep adjusted.

I would suggest actually a full custom shift rod that is curved.....or a custom adapter for the shifter that drops the whole assembky down to give you a straight shot at the trans tail cone. Ray

[VWsArent4Hippies]

You should be able to do something like this pretty easily

[dpetteng]

That's exactly what I was thinking of. Do you have more pics? Why is the transmission raised? is it to drop the van on the floor?

[raygreenwood]

Yes....thats the way to go! Ray

[VWsArent4Hippies]

[dpetteng]

awesome, my other problem is converting the 911 shifter to be much longer for the bus, any ideas there? The problem will be with an extended standard shifter, the throw will be very big

[1967250s]

Two things I can think of are: 1. Make a raised shifter plate or box with another universal joint to get aligned with the rod. 2. Cut off the ball on the bottom of the shifter and put a small extension. Thing with this is to figure out the right spacing. Maybe use a threaded rod with lock nuts.
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'72 Elm Green Deluxe

[sodbuster]

Porsche is well served in the aftermarket. short throw kits for the shifter should be available I would think. It's all got to be fabed up custom anyway

[dpetteng]

makes sense, thanks

[notchboy]

Why limit yourself with a VW trans if you put in a Porsche Motor? Why not fit a Porsche 5 speed?
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[dpetteng]

I am putting a Porsche transmission in. Using a 1977 915, hence the need to have a different shift rod.

[SGKent]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=375224&highlight=915+trans
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"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." - George Carlin

[sodbuster]

[dpetteng]

Got it, thanks. The engine was in a car with a G50 but that transmission is harder to fit into a van, hence I went for the 915.

Still worried about the throw of the shifter even with a short shift kit as the shifter handle will need to be twice as long as a standard 911 shifter to work in a van.

Will keep thinking

[SJSnakeman]

I have a 62 bus and have been toying with the idea of installing a 911 motor and 915 trans. I've never done this kind of job so would appreciate any help offered. Including someone that may be able to do it for me if I go ahead with the project.
thanks ahead of time

Sorry, I was reading the messages above about the 915 install and didn't notice this is the Bay Window blog. I still hope someone can help.
thanks