VW bus or 914 tranny in a 356???

[dave914]

I have a pretty beat 356 (1963) and a 2.3 liter VW type I turbo charged motor I'd like to install. Estimated HP is around 150 to 200. I have doubts the 356 tranny will live long with this engine. I am considering putting a beefy VW bus or sedan tranny in the 356. This tranny will have the benifit of all the strong aftermarket parts available for the VW tranny (mainly from the off road crowd, and a pretty nice prices)
Is this advised? what issues might I run into?
The 356 is not very good (rust and bondo) and the 356 engine has low compression, thus making this a good cannidate for a hot rod VW engine.
Any advise is appreciated. thanks Dave

PS anyone know what the 356 tranny is rated at for safe HP limit???

[ViolentBlue]

I'm not sure how different a 356 tranny is from a type 1, but I suppose the swap could be done, but I think you'll be in a worse spot than before, unless you have it built up to handle the power.
the 914 tranny is a 901 (so I'm told) and to make it usable for a rear engined application you'd have to flip the ring gear. but if you have the money to beef up a type 1 tranny then your better bet would be a 915 or 930 from a 911, they're made to handle the horse power, plus no messing about inside.
the type1 tranny won't have the top end speed that a 901, 915 or 930 would have.
the only reason I'm attempting to use a 914 tranny is because I'm getting it cheep, and because I'm planning to have my bug done by summer, every dollar counts, if I have to go back and replace the tranny down the road, well so be it.

[Tim Polzin]

Just a suggestion. Don't be afraid to open up the 901. If you do not take apart the gear cluster, there is nothing that has to be realigned. Just pull off the back cover, lift the intermediate plate out with all the gears, pull off the ring gear cover and flip the ring gear. (a few other things too, but not much) A new gasket kit is around $35 and that includes all new seals. Not including cleaning, the whole job ought to take 3 hours max if you have the trans on the bench.

[dave914]

Actually what i'm thinking of doing is putting a VW tranny in the car, probably a swing axle rather than the IRS, as this might be the easiest. Will the VW tranny attach to the 356 axle tubes? Will the 356 axles atach to the VW tranny?
The reason I think I need to do this is I doubt the 356 tranny can take the high horse power. I guess I would have several option

1. install a beefed up VW bug tranny

2. install a beefed up 356 tranny

3. install a 901 tranny (if from a 914 it will spin the wrong way, however I have several sitting around, or go for a 911 901 tranny, which would spin the correct way.
This would envolve an IRS conversion

4. Install a beefed up VW late modle Bus tranny, also requiring IRS conversion.

now option 2 would probably be eisiest, no tranny mounting problems, just that i would need to find beef up parts, I doubt there are many aftermarket beef up parts for the 356 tranny and i would think the price would be high. Option 1 of beefing up a VW Bug tranny would envolve figuring how to mount it, but the beef up parts are fairly common and cheap (thanks to the dune buggy people)

Of course I may be wrong, maybe the 356 tranny can handle 150 to 200 HP and live long
what are your opinions on that?


thanks Dave

[ViolentBlue]

I think the beefed up VW swing axle is the way to go, if you wanted to use a newer Porsche IRS style tranny, you'd have to convert your rear suspension to IRS, this could be done, but it is a bit of work and if you can't do it yourself, you'd have to take it to a local welding shop, and that means $$.
theres also clearance issues on converted IRS pans with the porshe trans axles, a VW IRS tranny will fit in nicely to a car that has been converted to IRS, but there are problems with clearances when you try to put a porsche transaxle in, not sure why exactly this is, but this is waht I've been told.
you can still do it, it just takes more $$

IF you're going to use a beefed up VW transaxle, then go for a IRS bus tranny, they can be converted to swingaxle and are beefier than the type1 units.

VB