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Reply to "1915 vs. 2332 VMC Engine and Matching Drivetrain"

Another monkey wrench: There are some who have driven the .82 4th gear transaxles who say the gap between 3rd and 4th is too wide for their liking. I believe them.

I have a 1915 (120hp @ 5500) with a 3.44 R&P and stock late Bug gears: 3.80-2.06-1.26-.93.

I have found these to be pretty nice in my 1550-pound Spyder and also very nice in my Subaru-powered (137hp @5200) MG TD, which weighs 1750 pounds or so.

With 165/80-15s (stock Bug tire sizes) I get 60 mph at the top of 2nd gear and 70 mph at 3000 RPM, and no "hole" in my cruising speeds wherein 3rd gear is revving too high and 4th is lugging.

These gears with a 3.88—i.e. exactly what came in every Bug manufactured after 1974 (they weighed 1850 or so empty and had, generously speaking, 60 hp)—will feel very "snappy" in a 110-hp Speedster that weighs 1700 pounds or so. You'll be doing 60+ at 3000 rpm in 4th with a lot of air under your right foot. You can downshift to 3rd on the highway and zip around trucks and such. It will feel "right," in terms of feeling like you've got the hottest street roadster available in 1957. It's what you should get.

The 4.12 R&P with the shorter 3.90 (?!) gear will allow your 110 horses to rocket you of the line from a dead stop. You'll be screaming for 2nd about half way through the intersection, shifting to 3rd at about 40 and the car will feel really quick in 3rd.

A lot of guys (looking at you, @ALB) love this; in the 1970s and '80s this was how kids building Bug engines challenged (and sometimes beat) the dudes building small block Chevy engines. Midnight Friday on the Berlin Parkway, top of 3rd was all that mattered: the next light was always red.

But if your life and driving pleasures extend beyond an eighth mile, winding out 3rd gear to the redline and just about touching 70 mph makes you want—actually need—two more gears.* You need a 1:1 4th to get you into highway cruising mode and then an .82 5th gear to let the engine loaf a little on the flats. Jumping straight to that .82 leaves you with a "hole."

Does it work?

Yes. Sort of. Until you run into a steep incline on a hot day. You're booking along at 70mph (3000rpm) and you start climbing and the car slows to 65...60. You might see the oil temp start to rise...

So you go for 3rd and WAAAAAAAAH you're instantly at 4800 RPM and it startles you and you think "oh crap I'm gonna blow it up."

The good news: you're not gonna blow it up.

The bad news is you no longer feel like the coolest cat at the sock hop.

I'll expect others here to restate the benefits of the 4.12 ring gear and the ecstasy of light-to-light acceleration that can surprise the hesher in his over-cammed '78 Camaro. I really don't think that's what these cars are, or should be, all about.

So it pains me to see these high-ratio, ultra-wide boxes continuing to be sold as standard.

My Spyder came with one! 4.12 and an .82 4th. I called my trans guy and got it changed.

Best compromise for high-speed cruising would be the late Karmann Ghia gears: same as the late Beetle but with a .89 4th in place of the .93. Gives like 65 mph at 3000rpm in 4th. Not so big a gap from 3rd that your palms sweat every time you downshift.

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*This, of course, also can be done. All it takes is time and money—lots of both! Guys who have spent them have joined a kind of secret society like Homer Simpson's Stone Cutters' Guild. They drive in tunnels lit by crystal chandeliers. They consort with heads of state and space aliens. Women love them, men fear them, etc....

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