Club 80-90 Forums

Looks like AB.... with something to the right to me.

Oldiebut goodie wrote:Looks like AB.... with something to the right to me.

Could be...
There are a few 5sp codes starting AB

I will crawl under again tomorrow and take a closer look.

Smiffo wrote:

Oldiebut goodie wrote:Looks like AB.... with something to the right to me.

Could be...
There are a few 5sp codes starting AB

I will crawl under again tomorrow and take a closer look.

ABD maybe? We need to find the third missing letter.
Can you read that?

it's a ABN the N is after the rib before the numbers, the end of the rib was deleted in 1983/4 when the codes mostly changed to 3 letters

Aidan wrote:it's a ABN the N is after the rib before the numbers, the end of the rib was deleted in 1983/4 when the codes mostly changed to 3 letters

Eureka..!!

Now it makes sense, I wondered why there was a rib on mine.!!
( Even started thinking it was a Diesel box or something )

Being no newer than '83, I would assume it would need looking at internally before any Subaru engine is mated to it?
Lastly, do the numbers after the N hold any resemblance to the power rating of the gearbox?

numbers are the date of manufacture dd mm y so 29 August 1984, 1990 on there are some tell tells to be certain it's 94 not 84, but only applies to original boxes, most have already been rebuilt or repaired so often the tell tells and codes are not definative, seen plenty rebuilt late boxes with the odd early gearset in them, makes sense as the earlier boxes were the donors in the 90s when the earlier vans were being scrapped as not worth repairing, now every van is sought after so few get broken

afaik all ABNs have the later gears originally, though there may be some cross over, like your case is the earlier case so they hadn't run out of them yet, but you also see later cases in 1983 as they were already casting the cases for the syncro and some of them got used (unmachined) at the time, so the molds were being altered, just down to what the foundry had available for the machine shop; and I don't know if all the boxes were made in the same place, VW production has always been a bit fluid and spare capacity in one place used to cover shortage in another

oil change magnet will tell you overall wear since last oil change, when you fit the RJES bellhousing you can inspect crown and pinion and check backlash, whilst it's out for the price of the gasket you can pull the end case and do a tail end inspection see if 1st gear and the synchrohub are wearing into each other if they are pinion bearing is worn and rebuild advised, this applies to all 5 speeds if you are buying or selling or changing ratios

your box would originally have had the early synchrohub which if still original is 95% chance of being cracked, the hub wasn't changed till 89 and you'll have bad corrosion of mating faces between reverse switch housing and main case, paper gasket solution wasn't done till 87 when they realised so many boxes they were taking back on exchange were so damaged

when Al is here beginning of March if we have time and a 5 speed to hand I'll do a top and tail inspection video

Aidan wrote:numbers are the date of manufacture dd mm y so 29 August 1984, 1990 on there are some tell tells to be certain it's 94 not 84, but only applies to original boxes, most have already been rebuilt or repaired so often the tell tells and codes are not definative, seen plenty rebuilt late boxes with the odd early gearset in them, makes sense as the earlier boxes were the donors in the 90s when the earlier vans were being scrapped as not worth repairing, now every van is sought after so few get broken

afaik all ABNs have the later gears originally, though there may be some cross over, like your case is the earlier case so they hadn't run out of them yet, but you also see later cases in 1983 as they were already casting the cases for the syncro and some of them got used (unmachined) at the time, so the molds were being altered, just down to what the foundry had available for the machine shop; and I don't know if all the boxes were made in the same place, VW production has always been a bit fluid and spare capacity in one place used to cover shortage in another

oil change magnet will tell you overall wear since last oil change, when you fit the RJES bellhousing you can inspect crown and pinion and check backlash, whilst it's out for the price of the gasket you can pull the end case and do a tail end inspection see if 1st gear and the synchrohub are wearing into each other if they are pinion bearing is worn and rebuild advised, this applies to all 5 speeds if you are buying or selling or changing ratios

your box would originally have had the early synchrohub which if still original is 95% chance of being cracked, the hub wasn't changed till 89 and you'll have bad corrosion of mating faces between reverse switch housing and main case, paper gasket solution wasn't done till 87 when they realised so many boxes they were taking back on exchange were so damaged

when Al is here beginning of March if we have time and a 5 speed to hand I'll do a top and tail inspection video

Another good reply there Aidan.
Much appreciated.

Any future conversion would be out of my depth I think. I don't have the time, space, tools or knowledge to do it confidently.
That is something I would leave to someone who has a good rep and done a few him/herself.

I'm hoping I get a lot more milage out of my current engine and gearbox..!!
Most of these questions were for personal intrigue, and less so about how I am going to tackle a conversion. I will cross that bridge as and when I get there...

What impact does a cracked syncrohub have on gear changes etc?

P.S. I am sure you will have a large audience for any video you upload. That sort of thing interests me, so no doubt others will feel the same.