why bus tranny?
it simple. your stock type 1 bug tranny is geared for 25" tires and you want to run 30" or 31" tires for maximum traction, floation and ground clearence. a bus tranny has lower gears, gears that are perfect for turning larger tires, lower gears mean more torque. with a bus tranny you can turn 31" tires with a stock 1600 D.P. motor just like you were running 25" tires with a bug tranny. were talking burnouts, tire smoking fun with STOCK MOTORS!!!!! so get a bus tranny instead of a big motor, it will be cheaper and you will have the same fuel economy that a stock bug enjoys. or get both a bus tranny and a big motor for serious performance.
an irs bus tranny can be found in a 1968 - 1979 bus. the best gear ratios for use in a baja bug are in bus trannies from 1968 - 1972, they are lower (5.38 to 1)and better for turning big tires.
instalation in your bug will require some work. you will need: bus tranny, 2 bus cv joints, "bus into bug" solid mount conversion kit, sandrail shifter box. the tranny bolts right in with the conversion kit, but you need to install the bus cv's on the inboard side of the bug drive axles (bug cv's won't bolt up with the bus tranny). the shift linkage that sticks out of the bus tranny is about two inches higher that that of the bug tranny so the shift rod must be run *on top* of the frame tunnel. this means the parking brake must go and the metal that sticks up for the parking brake must be cut off. there must also be a hole cut in the body above the tunnel so the shift rod can join with the tranny. this also means no back seat. the sandrail shifter box must be welded on top of the tunnel above the original shifter hole and you have to have the shift rod in the shifter box before you weld it on other wise you would not be able to get it in (shift rod is only removable from the front frame access pannel, between the front end torsion tubes).
there might be some complications with the clutch and throttle cables, as they exit the frame right next to the tranny and the bus tranny is wider than a bug, i think the exit holes for the cables might become partially blocked by the wider tranny. i'm not entirely sure how that goes exactly. i'm running all new cable tubes in my buggy so this is something that i don't have to worry about.
