Gearbox !

[Ian]

Hi All,

Sounds like my gearbox is on the way out (1997 Mexi) - tried VW Heritage in UK who will sell me a new Mex gearbox fo £700 (after I return my old one and get £150). I then called my local Bug man who said that this was a really long job to fit and would want £650 for the job.

That's £1,350 - no idea if this is about right ? Is this expensive ?

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks

Ian

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Mexibug from 1st October 1997

[Chibo]

That's a lot of money, respect!

I would look for a used gearbox from a VW Bug 1200. I Germany you can get it for less than 100 EURO from private sellers (without warranty of course).

Anybody: correct me if I'm wrong.

[Red1600i]

Yes, every gearbox for the swing axle will fit. The standard 34hp 1200ccm has exactly the same gearbox... very cheap to get.

[Timo]

Hi Ian,

I have an idea, where you can purchase an exchange-gearbox with a very good value-for-money, the shop is located in Hamburg/Germany.
This shop is very well known for doing great work on gearboxes especially for aircooled VWs.
The name of the homepage is

http://www.eckstein-kuebel.de/Getriebe080.htm

Well, the page is completely in german, so I do the translation for the things that are interesting for you:

At this page, you can buy gearboxes especially for the 1600i beetle.
Originally, the gearbox has an transmission-ratio off 8/35 (pretty short).
The exchange-gearboxes are modified to a transmission-ratio of 8/31 (longer, formerly used in the Karmann Ghia).
With this modification, the gearbox fits better to the quite powerful (for a beetle ) engine. The first gear becomes usable, you get a bit more maximum speed, and the engine runs on lower rpms on the highway, wich saves some petrol anyways.
The price for the complete gearbox in exchange is 550Euro (!!440pounds!! respectively)
I think, this is quite another price than yours for an even better gearbox.

If you want to buy one of these or just want to get more informations, call the owner of the shop, Ulrich Eckstein:
+49 40 530 488 30
Or send an Email to:
Ulrich@Eckstein-kuebel.de

And don't be too afraid speaking english with him, nearly ervery german speaks it, so give it a try.

Ok, I don't know, what the shipping costs to england are, maybe you could combine visiting his shop with a weekend-trip to Hamburg. The world-famous "Reeperbahn" is always worth a visit.


For mountig the new gearbox, maybe you can find another Bug-addicted guy, who would help you?
Aren't there any aircooled-boards in England where you can ask for help?
It is possible to exchange the box in one day.


Regards, Timo

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Register-Eintrag No. 309

[phade]

Hi everyone,

I tried to get a gearbox from him, but unfortunately I had no reply.

I had to get a beetle gearbox specialist (near Dorking in Surrey) to rebuild my gearbox in the end since he refused to fit parts that he did not supply. He also managed to fit a new differential with higher gear rations (3.85:1) and my car can now do up to nearly 160 km/h (97 MPH).

Do you have the same problem as I did with 4th gear (eg. rattling and vibrating very badly) ?

Another tip for the mexican gearbox is that if the original gearbox oil has not been replaced then it should be replaced immediately !!! I have heard on this forum that EP80/90 GL-5 seems to be a best gearbox oil to use (I have used GL-4 without any problems).

Good luck with your gearbox.

Cheers,

Phil