Which trans has the tallest gears?

[914turboford]

I am shopping for a transmission for my 1.6TD powered home built commuter vehicle. Since I will only be moving approximately 1200 lbs. I want the tallest gears I can get. I have diesel and gas manuals from 1982. According to those books, both diesel and gas 5 speeds from that vintage had 3.89 final drive and .71 OD in 5th. What trans should I choose to get the tallest gears? The only other criteria is that it bolt to the engine. I don't need it to fit a particular chassis since I will be building that to fit.
Brian

[lyeinyoureye]

Pick yer poison.

[burn_your_money]

I'd probably go with an AGS and a 0.71

[914turboford]

Pick yer poison.

Thank you! Anything else I should consider besides ratios? Strength, better synchros, durability.
Brian

[rallydiesel]

If you are going to play with the tranny a bit you may want to replace the rivets on the final drive with bolts for durability. Here is a link, they are fairly reasonably priced.

http://www.peloquins.com/images/171%20498%20088A.jpg

[RabbitJockey]

post pictures

[BleachedBora]

FWIW I have .681 and .658 brand new OEM 5th gears that I import from Germany. Due to the cost of the stinkin' Euro they now run $349, but let me know if you're interested .
Cheers,
-BB

[Slave2School]

From the devastation I have seen at my mechanic/friend's hands with his own modded (not a Giles pump) I would aim for a early TDI tranny if I could afford it.  He's got a small collection of 5th gears and such laying around now.  Mostly all with no teath left hahaha.

[subsonic]

FWIW I have .681 and .658 brand new OEM 5th gears that I import from Germany. Due to the cost of the stinkin' Euro they now run $349, but let me know if you're interested .
Cheers,
-BB

Ouch!  I wonder how many gals of $3.50 diesel I would need to burn in order to offset the cost of going to the .658.  I have the ACH with the 3.94 and the .75.

Stink'n Euro.
Stink'n George Dubba-Ya. and the weak dollar.
Filthy stink'n oil speculators runnin it up.

[lyeinyoureye]

The only thing left is to make sure the fluid level is correct, especially on five speeds. Low fluid will burn those up, way less tolerant of that than four speeds.

For trans made before Sept 8, 1987, you do the same as above, adding fluid until it starts to run out of the side 17mm hole, then you plug that hole back up, and add 0.5L more fluid into the trans via the speedo hole in the yellow circle.

[vanagonturbo]

Someone said to try a TDI tranny...

But

The TDI is a cable shifting transmission, and the older 1.6 transmissions use rods.  Can a TDI transmission be modified for rod shifters?  Do the TDI transmissions bolt up to the 1.6 blocks?

No but the cable shifter can be modified to fit a linkage shift car. Yes they bolt up to the blocks. Not sure on the torque but the 020 (linkage shift) is good to about 200hp before it starts to come apart. The 02A (cable shift) and other variations are good to about 375hp and up to even 550hp depending on what style trans you use and whats done to it.

[Quantum TD]

Hmm. The tallest gears. I assume you mean "best spread for high MPGs". It's all subjective, but that sounds like what you're interested in.

If you want MPGs, I think that vanagonturbo and I have become kindred spirits on our views of the MK1/MK2 1.6 trans. If you have an 020 trans, and want to keep it without having to convert to cable, you have a few options for a nice trans that will give you great fuel economy, and good-great accleration.
 
Hell, if you're only moving 1200 LBS total, then look to something with 3.67 gears and a .71 or .75 final drive. Most MK 1 or 2 VWs weigh at least 2500 lbs, and the best set up for those is 3.94-3.89 final drive and .71-.75 final drive. If you don't  have much weight to push (custom car?), then a 3.89 or even a 3.67 final drive will work. Check out the Scirocco.org gear chart and see what fit's  that criteria. You could go FF, FO, FN, etc if you want 3.89 for quick accleration and low 5th. Or, you could brave any of the late MK 2 trans ASF, ACH, etc) which have 3.67 final drive. The nice thing about the latter, is that they're EVERYWHERE, whereas the F-series early transmissions are a bit harder to find.

I guess the bottom line is that you may have to try one or two transmissions for yourself to see what works best for you.  But with only 1200 lbs, and one passenger, I'd say that you could go as low as 3.67 final drive and .71 5th gear if you wanted the best fuel economy. A safe bet would be 3.89 and a 5th gear of .75-.71.

Please let us know what you go with.

[Ziptar]

I would go with the 3.67. I have an ASF in my Jetta and it moves about just great. It won't knock your socks off in the 1/4 mile but, it doesn't have any trouble around town or merging onto the highway either. That's with an ECO pump (no LDA). When I first swapped it I thought it was going to suck, turns out throttle cable was way out of adjustment.

If you have a light car and a normal TD, than you won't be risking anything with a 3.67 and a 0.71. You'll be fine.

[BioDieselVW]

Ziptar  What kind of Speeds are you running with the ASF Tranny. I have a 1.6td in a rabbit pickup and im running a avx tranny . I also have an eco setup. Its reving out high at 65mph and i can push it to 75 but its working hard. Anyone else have any ideas of trannys to go with to get a higher top end for highway use?

[carrizog60]

i have a 4S wich gives me 120km/h at 3000rpm.
still i would like anything that would be longer,more km/h with less rpm but i think only tdi has that king of gearing...