Club 80-90 Forums

The clutch has gone on my wagon and the gearbox has to come out so I'm trying to figure out the following.
My van was originally a 1600 plain Diesel, now upgraded with a 1900 Caddy motor.
Top speed is not great with this set up and I've been told that this is not a good engine/gearbox combination.

With a little bit of messing about I can get my hands on a 5 speed box from a 1900 Wasserboxer panel van.
Would this be worth the hassle and give a better final drive ratio?

Any advice would be greatly received!!

Not really. The petrol engine supplies power at far higher revs. Meaning the diesel runs at the same speeds at lower revs. I think you may be into a bespoke box if you want to match it properly.

You really need the codes off the boxes to see if the swap gives you much more..
Its probable the wbx box will be a little taller.. but the difference may not be enough.. get the codes..

Aidan is your man for a box to suit..

Laurie wrote:Not really. The petrol engine supplies power at far higher revs. Meaning the diesel runs at the same speeds at lower revs. I think you may be into a bespoke box if you want to match it properly.

Most petrol gearbox's would bring engine revs down slightly. A bespoke gearbox is not the anser becuase it won't have the low speed torque to make use of taller gears. All the idi 1.9's rev higher than waterleakers.

Nice one guys. Thanks for that.
I think I'll stick with the original box for now and just get the thing back on the road.
I'm planning a TDi conversion in the future so I'll sort my gearbox issues then.