Alternative ratio/stronger gears

[Aidan]

I am looking into importing a number of gearsets direct from the manufacturer in Australia - Albins gears - for those people who are putting alternative engines or boosting the existing one to gearbox breaking point. It will save ordering them in one pair at a time from the US and should make a good saving on tax and shipping costs.
To get this off the ground I need to order between five and eight sets of third and fourth gear, I have orders for some already but can I ask anyone who's interested in getting in on this to contact me and let me know. It should be possible to get a mix of ratios if I can order enough.

[poshbuggers]

Any idea of a ballpark price per set?

[Aidan]

hoping to be able to get the price down to £200 per gearset in the uk, tax paid.
I had a quote from a uk company to make them and it was £320 plus vat per gearset on an order of 20 sets. If anyone has a spare £6k+ they want to invest in paperweights (I mean really useful strong gears) then do let me know

[poshbuggers]

£200 doesn't sound bad. I'm going to be doing a TDi conversion so it might be an option.

[Aidan]

Just to let you know I have 5 sets of third and fourth gear coming in hopefully 9 weeks time in a choice of ratios to cover the majority of bases.
4th in 0.70, 0.73 and 0.77, 3rd in 1.18, 1.14 and 1.08
2 Sets are definately spoken for, if you want them please do let me know, and it may be possible to add to the order.
Also 5 speed ring and pinion sets in 32/7 would also be available if required and gears for the earlier 091 box (your DK and the like) if anyone wants any.
New web site coming soon.
Doug check your box code and let me know please.

[Aidan]

is up in it's first incarnation, a couple of photos to change and a couple of links to add,
any faults please do let me know, other browsers in particular.

http://www.aidantalbot.com

[famous phil]

sounds a good price for the 4 speeders would these end up higher than the 5 speed box whats the cost for the 5 speed set up , plus what would the fitting cost be

[Aidan]

Top two gear ratios are the same on four and five speed boxes, the only difference is the extra third gear in the middle, the final drive ratio is what determines your top speed and there are five different final drive ratios originally from VW and both 4 and five speeds are available in a choice of final drive. Different ratios were fitted according to which engine, which body, terrain, market and customer preference.
Thus it is possible to build a long four speed box with higher final drive ratio and higher top gears and equally possible to have a 5 speed with closely spaced gears and a low top speed, for someone with a heavily laden van living somewhere hilly.So it depends what you start with and what you want to end up with, it wouldn't make much sense to put longer gears on a 6.16 or 5.83 final drive box, but also it wouldn't be necessary with a 4.57 or 4.83 final drive and a standard engine as that's already geared to the max.

Rebuild costs are pretty similar four and five speed as there's only an extra cog, two bearings and a more complex synchro in difference between the two.

Removal and fitting costs depend on the garage, but expect 4-5 hours for a 2 wd and 6 to 8 hours for a syncro,

I drive 2.1MV Syncros and find that the standard four gears are perfectly fine for just about all situations so would suggest that there is no reason to change to a 5 speed unless it was to change to a box with a different final drive ratio, but remember it is possible to change the final drive ratio of any box by changing the crown wheel and pinion. Crown Wheel and Pinion sets are not transferable between four and five speeds, or between syncro and five speeds just in case anyone was wondering.

[syncropaddy]

Nice website Aidan ....