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Re: GB 5 spd plus advice


Toby,

The first and second gears are stock.  Since in the type3 the big jump is
from third to fourth, here is what I figured.  I punted the old third gear.
 I then moved the old fourth gear ratio to the fifth gear position.  I've
heard 10 different people ask me why the hell would I do that?  Well,
talking to the boys at Berg, it turn out that the old ratio in fourth is a
true overdrive.  There was just a major jump from 3rd to fourth in the old
stock application.  I can't remember the exact ratios offhand, but I
essentially split the difference on the space of the stock 2nd and 4th, for
the new 3rd and 4th gears.  If you are really curious, give me some time
and I'll look up the numbers.  As for where I live, I LIVE in Lacey just
past Olympia.  The problem is that the car is in Bellingham.  Long story,
but I moved and the car wasn't yet well enough to make the journey, so it's
with my mechanic.  I think he'll be home soon though.  Tire height is
another trick altogether.  I will warn EVERYONE out there before they make
the same mistakes I did.
I thought it would be cool to be the one to have the ultimate (first?)
resto cal-look late body style fastback in the world.  Being such a hard
core retro cal look buff, I figured BRM's would be THE way to go (I still
do).  Going on the word of the salesman at Parts is Parts, out of Utah, I
thought the offset on the BRM's would fit my wells.  By the way, I bought 5
lug adapters for the fronts, and Neal brakes for the rear with the 5 wide
bolt pattern (I'll get to that fiasco also).  Well the Neals went on
beautifully, and looked even better, but then we decided to bolt my shiny
new BRM's onto my car.  They stuck out like a damn slot car!  I committed
the sin of too much faith in sales staff and too little in personal
research.  To my surprise, an IRS type 3's midline for the wheel on the
trailing arm sits somewhat outboard where it would on a swingaxle car.  To
add to my problems, the Neals add an additional 3/4 inch to the spacing
outboard which resulted in my Yokohama AVS intermediate 195/60 VR15 clad
BRM's to JUST NOT WORK.  Now, the 185/55 ZR15 clad wheels I used up front
looked sweeter than a tootsie pop, but I guess that's the way it goes.  I
did not feel like going through the time and expense of narrowing the rear
end (unless someone knows an EASY way to do it).  As for the BRM's, Parts
is Parts would NOT take them back (bastards), because they were "special
order", so now I'm stuck (BY THE WAY THEY'RE FOR SALE!).  Now I am looking
for one 2.0 liter Porsche 914 wheel to see if that offset is more agreeable
with my setup.  I will not order a new set until I know for sure.
As for my motor, it as hot a Berg stroker as you can get and maintain
reliability in a type3.  It's an 1897cc'er running a berg 78mm crank, 88mm
pistons, stock valves on highly ported and polished heads, GB 297A cam
(Engle 110), Berg Special's for carbs, the manifolds for the carbs match
ported and fully polished inside, 100% balanced, with lots of other little
tidbits I can't rightly remember.  My mechanic believes it to be good for
almost 150 hp at about a 7.05:1 CR.  As for tranny mods, everything that
was not sent by Berg in the kit, is stock.  As for motor assembly and
tranny work (including mounts), it was done by John Erickson (relative?) up
in Bellingham, WA.  He own's John's Repair and is a German automotive
specialist, who drives only VW's.  His own ride is a super trick type 2
crew cab pickup.  If you want to know more, E mail me.

----------
> From: Toby Erkson <Toby_Erkson@ccm.jf.intel.com>
> To: kenik@telisphere.com
> Subject: GB 5-speed
> Date: Wednesday, October 22, 1997 3:02 PM
> 
> Hey Kenik,
> Where in Washington do you live?  I wouldn't mind driving up and checking

> out your ride (though I'd be in my 914) or, if you wanted, have you stop
by 
> on your way down to Cali.
> 
> What is your complete gearing (R&P, 1st, etc...) and tire height (so I
can 
> plug the info into my gearing analyzer)?  How did you arrive at the
gearing 
> that you have?  What is the hp of your engine (is it stock or modified)? 

> Who did the tranny work for you and is the tranny stock or modified (HD 
> diff, HD side cover, etc.)?  Any and all tips would be appreciated as I'm

> looking into my finances to get a fiver installed since I can't drive my 
> baby until I get a new performance tranny built (oh yeah, and the special

> mounting is developed :).
> 
> Thanks a bunch and I'm VERY jealous,
>      Toby Erkson
>      air_cooled_nut@pobox.com
> 
> ______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
> Subject: Re: Porsche Gearbox and GB 5-speed
> Author:  kenik@telisphere.com at SMTPGATE
> Date:    10/22/97 2:02 PM
> 
> Guys, here is the tip from that someone who put a theBerg 5 into his
> fastback ( no framehorns.)  Clyde at Berg told me the same thing Tim
said,
> but
> if I worked with them on R&D they would supply me the parts to the bug
kit.
>  Well, a month later, the Berg 5 is in my car, and it is not as hard as
you
> think.  What has to be done is that l brackets longer than the bug setup
> have to fabricated from angle iron, and some welding has to be done.  I
> know this makes nosense right now, but I am preparing to photograph all
the
> fabricated parts on my car, as installed, and send the info back to
Clyde.
> I am also going to drive the car down to Orange, CA, whrn drivable.
> Hopefully the
> work that we did up here in Washington will translate into a Berg 5 kit
> available soon from Berg for us late type 3ers.  By the way, the tran
> works like a charm.  If you have any questions, e mail me at my personal
> account:
> 
> Kenik@telisphere.com
> 
> Kenik Hassel
> 71 fastback
> 
> ----------
> > From: Toby Erkson <Toby_Erkson@ccm.jf.intel.com>
> > To: type-3@umich.edu
> > Subject: Porsche Gearbox and GB 5-speed
> > Date: Wednesday, October 22, 1997 10:56 AM
> >
> > Talked with Tim at Gene Berg and here's the scoop on the 5-speed for a
> '72
> > and later Type III -- can't be installed easily like a Bug.  Apparently
> the
> > frame horns are different and there isn't a place to mount the extended
> > nose cone.  A special tranny mount must be fabricated.  Previous to Tim
I
> 
> > spoke with someone else at GB and he had said that there was someone
> > putting the fiver in his Fastback and fabricating a mount.  I need to
> call
> > back in a couple of weeks to find out the progress of the T3 mount.
> >
> > I'm taking an educated guess here (a WAG maybe? [Wild Ass Guess] :) but
> if
> > someone was to put in a 911 (generic term) gearbox some custom fabbing
> > would need to be done since it is a bigger box than a stock T3.  And
> > Patrick is correct about the 5 reverses and one forward!  Gonna have to
> > flop 'em.
> >
> > For those who don't know, the 911 tranny isn't shifted from the nose
cone
> 
> > like what we're used to, it's shifter is actually on the side of the
> tranny
> > (a.k.a. a side shifter), which is why the linkage would need to be
> > customized as well (Patrick, I can't remember, but did the earlier
> > gearboxes have a rear shifter or were they just a different sloppier
> > version of the side shifter?).  Also, there is a gear driven
speedometer
> > output from the tranny, opposite side of the shifter (VWs get speedo
info
> 
> > from the front left tire, 911s and 914s get it from the tranny).
> >      Toby Erkson, air_cooled_nut@pobox.com
> >      '72 VW Squareback 1.6L bored and stroked to 2.0L
> >      '75 Porsche 914 1.8L
> >      Portland, Oregon, http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/8501/
> >
> > ______________________________ Reply Separator
> _________________________________
> > Subject: Re: Porsche Gearbox
> > Author:  type-3-errors@umich.edu at SMTPGATE
> > Date:    10/22/97 12:28 PM
> >
> >
> > At 08:35 20.10.1997, Toby Erkson wrote:
> >
> >  * Kennedy Engineering makes all sorts of engine/transmission adapters
so
> the
> >  * joining won't be your problem -- fitting the tranny between the rear
> seat
> >  * and engine will be your problem as will grafting the shifter and
> fitting
> >  * the linkage.
> >
> > This type of modification for Beetles has been covered in quite a few
> tech
> > articles in many VW mags.  I doubt that an adapter will even be needed,
> as
> > certain 911 clutches will work for this application.  The biggest
problem
> > is probably welding in the mounting brackets.  Again, I believe that it
> > depends on which tranmission you use: 901 or 915.
> >
> > [...]
> >   _________________________________
> >  * Subject: Porsche Gearbox
> >  * Author:  type-3-errors@umich.edu at SMTPGATE
> >  * Date:    10/18/97 1:05 PM
> >
> >  * Just a quickie really,
> >  *    does anyone know whether you can fit any Porsche 911/915
> >  * gearboxes/transmissions(US) to the late model Type 3 with IRS rear
> > suspension
> >  * as you can do in the bug ? ,and  if so what do you have to do to
> > install theg
> >  * g'box.
> >
> > It should very similar to doing this swap in a Beetle.  Toby was also
> right
> > about the linkage.  More welding will have to be done to extend the
> > linkage.  Some type of modification is also needed so that you don't
end
> up
> > with 5 reverse gears and 1 forward gear if you take the transmission
out
> of
> > a 914 (901 gearbox).  This is also explained in the tech articles.
> >
> >  * I have read the Volksworld article in Sept 1997 issue on installing
> into the
> >  * bug and wonder whether there have been any features printed on
> > doing the same
> >  * with the Type 3.
> >  * Any help/leads would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > I doubt it.  You can probably use most of the info related to doing
this
> > into a Beetle, but in some areas, you will be on your own.
> >
> >  * P.S.
> >  * I would like to transplant the 1970cc Type 4 motor from my '80 wedge
> into my
> >  * '73 fastback and would like to know what to do regards cooling
> > tinware/engine
> >  * mounting bracket
> >
> > I don't know why you would want to do this, but anyway, the guy that
runs
> > Big Boys Toys in the UK (Paul Howard) has a 1971 FB with a huge TIV
> engine
> > in it.  I would ask him - BTW, his car is for sale.
> >
> > Good luck.
> >
> > Patrick


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