Club 80-90 Forums

Recently had work completed on an 82 Danbury conversion. Originally a 2l petrol, it now has a Golf 1.9TDi 1Z/AHU. It is attached to an original 1.6d gearbox and the issue I face is lack of top end speed. Additionally the mechanic who did the conversion took all the electronic stuff off the engine (ECU etc), so there is no way of knowing the revs - however the engine seems fine. Top speed is about 63 mph so I think the box is either DY or 6D code. The final drives on these are high and equate to the top speed. 

I also have the original DK box, which was working fine before it was swapped out. Looking at the code table, it appears this box would be better suited to the engine (final drive 4.57 - 3059 rpm for 60mph). 

So the question is should the DK box be fine with its original gearing to achieve comfortable cruising at 60mph or should I look at changing the final gearing as part of the gearbox overhaul to get the revs down further?

If the answer is yes to changing gearing - who can provide the parts and what should I aim for re final drive, as it appears the engine gets its max torque at 1900rpm.

(I am running on original wheels and tyres)

DY and 6D are watercooled gearboxes and the engine installation will doubtless be with the later diesel engine bars and driveshafts, the DK box whilst it can be converted easily to fit the diesel engine by swapping the input shaft and bellhousing is shorter in length so you'd need to adapt the mount at the front of the box and the gear linkage is different so you need to sort that out otherwise it's the cheapest and easiest solution for you to reduce revs to suit the engine better