Does anybody actuall vote in the polls here? Or is the poll feature broken?
More questions. I have had a 4K transmission in my 1984 Jetta diesel (1.6D Normally Asthmatic). It's nice from a stop, but the revs are a little high at highway speeds. Also, my highway mileage dropped some with this transmission. I still have the old 7A for parts (diff bearings failed), and I have a few other "parts" transmissions here as well.
I picked up an FN code transmission and I was going to put that in this weekend. I still might, but I was thinking about maybe making a hybrid transmission that might be better suited to my car and my driving.
I like the tall 5th gear from the 7A (and the FN is pretty tall as well), but I like the closer 1st through 3rd from the 4K. The 4K accelerates much better from a stop through the first three gears. I though about putting the 0.71:1 fifth gear set from my 7A into the 4K, and that would sort of solve the highway revs problem, but the gap from 4th gear (1.13:1) to 5th gear (0.71:1) would be huge. If I needed to drop to 4th on the highway for some reason, it would be pretty useless.
The last option I'm considering is putting 4th and 5th from the 7A into a 4K. That's more work because the main case has to be opened, but I could also throw a bolt kit in while I have it apart and make it pretty much bullet proof for the diesel. That would give me good acceleration from the stoplight with the close ratio 1st, 2nd and 3rd. It would give me an "economy" gear for city streets in 4th (0.91:1) which would double as a hill climbing and "passing" (yeah, right) gear for the highway. And, finally, I'd have the highway cruising gear for 5th.
Vote in my poll, or post your experiences here.
Avoid the 4K with .89 fifth at all costs. Highway cruising sucks with this gearbox (unless you like turning 4000+ rpm at 70mph.)
I have the AWY, similar to the 4K
It's loud and rev like *** but it's fun.
I got used to it over the years. It's actualy less annoying than my 1.8 8v turning 3000 rpm @ 100km/h
The 4K is well suited for the 1.6D.
It goes against all theories but it's got great 5th gear pull.