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Reply to "Porsche 356 Registry Article"

Now hold on there, Edster-- you're kinda' cutting into the private/public conversation @ALB and I have every couple of months with all this gear ratio nonsense. Sometimes when we get into the weeds, I wonder when I became so pedantic and marvel that God made two of us.

But the reality is that nothing we do to our cars makes as much difference in the "feel" of these cars as the gear ratios. I'm a motor guy, and I think the transmission makes a bigger difference than the engine. Ed is 100% correct-- for a reasonably economical solution to the puzzle, a stock 1/2/3 with a ,93 fourth and a 3.44 R/P is about as nice as you can get south of $2000.

The first problem with stock VW gearing is 1st gear. Unless you plan to plow the back 40 or climb Denali with your car, first is too tall. With a stock R/P it's nearly unusable. It's too tall with a 3.88, and starting to feel right with a 3.44.

Second is almost as bad, given that it's a loooong stretch from 3.80 to 2.06, no matter how big your engine is. Fixing this means a new main-shaft, and almost nobody buys one because they cost >$500 and you need another $300 worth of idlers. Weddle makes a beautiful 3.75/2.25 mainshaft that allows a nearly perfect 4-speed with a 3.44 R/P. Put in a 1.30 3rd (another custom gear) and a .93 4th (hooray! a VW gear), and you're just about as good as it gets in a 4-speed

.... of course, it's still a 4-speed. That, and you now have a custom main-shaft, a custom 3rd, a no-so-common VW 4th, and a custom R/P (which may/may not be available when you want it)-- so your adequate compromise VW box has long since blown past $3000, and is pushing on four. Remember, of course, that you got into this hobby because it looked like good cheap fun.

... and yet still more fun than puffing out one's chest and talking with authority about the merits of your BCBA box.

Last edited by Stan Galat
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