my63vw

First i have to say that im not an expert, this is what i learned looking for a better trans in my 63, and here in Venezuela the cars are not exactly the same as USA or Europe.

I’ll be talking about trans from 61-62 ahead, the older ones are so diferent, they aren’t synchronized in the first change, and the oldest aren’t at all, so this is for the “modern” ones.

The 63 volkswagen type 1 is one of the fisrt years with the new transmission, it doesn’t split in two anymore, now it is just one piece and the gears are put inside by the front part, but they still swin axle(1). My car came originally with what is caled a 4:37 trans (2), it has 8 teeth in the pinion and 35 in the ring, that’s a good transmission for a 1200 but in my 1600 i was feeling the car too revolutioned and i was going at 80-90Km/h, for some people it doesn’t matter. Some years later, they changed the relation and make what is known as a 4:12 trans, is larger than the 4:37, you can get more speed or the same but at less RPM. At the beginning of 70s volkswagen introduced what is called the IRS (3) transmission system, it is a good improvement in the car, is more secure taking curves, etc. This new system came with 4:12 at the begining but in the 72 or 73 not sure, they changed the relation one more time, now it has 8 teeth in the pinion and 31 in the ring, which make it a 3:88 transmission, the lagest of the original type1. Here in Venezuela when they started to assemble Brazilian cars, they went back to the 4:37 and some 4:12 depending on the 1300 or 1600 engine, and all the brazillian trans are swin axle, no more IRS here.

Well the easyest way to make my car a litle bit faster was change the tire size in the rear for a bigger one, i didn’t like that idea cause i wanted it to look standard, the other option was change the trans, and here is where i started looking for the easyest and simple way to do it.

I had three options, find a 4:12 trans, change the ring and pinion on my 4:37 or another one, or make a 3:88 swing axle, this last option is really nice, but i think is too much trans for a 1600sp.

I went to the first option, and i found one, but it wasn’t 4:12 it was 4:37 but with a larger 3rd and 4th, so we decided to change the ring and pinion on it to make a good one, i decided this not only cause the larger 3rd and 4th, the clutch relese bearing (4) is diferent , and the presure plate and some other things are too, and i was having trouble with the parts i got for the older system.

I can’t explain all the process to make the change, cause i didn’t it myself, i was with the guy while he was doing it, you need to really know what are you doing, so is better leave that to someone who knows what is he doing. One important detail is, if you want to keep the original apearance of your car, at least in the 63 and 64 is that way, im not sure about the 65 and newer, and have the weel at the same place, you need to change the axles, cause in a 67 and 68 trans (4:12) they are larger by 1″ on each side, so use your original ones.

The option to make a 3:88 swin axle is the largest, but it needs kwnoleage and some special considerations, you need an IRS trans that have the 3:88 ring and pinion, and one with a special case, im not sure, but it need to has removable cover on both sides not in just one. You will need a swin axle trasn to use the axles, brake system, etc. I had never see the process of making one like this, but i know people how make them and have cars with one, the diference is like you go from 4:37 to 4:12, and if you have a big engine is a really nice combo for use in the highway, in the other hand a friend of mine has a relly nice 2200 he use for drag racing, and it has a 4:37 cause is shorter, of cuorse is not stock, is reinforced cause the torque and rpms that engine can do.

In my opinion if you want a nice trans, go with a 4:12, that’s what i have now, and is really nice drive the car in the city and even at the highway, if you have a big engine, and want a car that can keep going with modern ones, make a 3:88 swin axle. Another thing if your car is prior to 62, and you want to change the trans, you will need to take extra considerations, the transmission mount in the car is diferent, so you have two options to solve this issue, the first one is change the mount for a modern one, you will need to make some soldering and you can’t go back to original easily, the sencond is to use a nose cone(5) from a old type2 trans, this way you can use the new trans on your old mount, for this you will need some other parts(6), but you can go back if you want.

This is what i have learned until now, if i made some mistake let me know to fix it, and if you want to complement this, leave a coment to add it to the post!.

Some Important info:

(1) Swin Axle, here and here some info.

(2) The relation is calculed dividing the number of teeths in the ring with the number in the pinion:

35/8= 4,375
33/8= 4,125

31/8 = 3,875

(3) IRS some info here.

(4) Clutch relese bearing, first one is the one my original 63 trans has, the second is the newer system. (113141165A and 113141165B)

(5) Nose cone:

(6) Fit a modern trans on a pre 1961 car, in wolfburgwest.com sell all the parts you will need, write a mail to them and ask for info and help, some parts you will need are: 211301205H, 113311541.

When i first started looking info for my VW restoration, i searched all over the internet, and foud a lot of info, most of it from the USA, so at the begining i thougth that the cars here were the same than there, but thats not correct, let me explain why, and how it afects the restoration.

Here in Venezuela i cant say for sure when the first VW came, i think it was in the mid 50s, but in the 66 or so, they started assembling german cars here, the car was almost complete when it arrives, so they used to finish the assembly and put a litle informative data plate at the left door, thats the way to know if the car was assembled here - mine doesnt have one, cause it was buyed in Germany - they did it that way until 73, making the super beatle with round front window a one year only car, in the 74 they started to assembly here brazilian cars, if you pay atention to the details on them, you can easily diference one german car and another from brazil, cause the windows are diferent, the brazialian ones have the same size that the german cars until 64 had, some of they came with a 6 volts electric system, and a 1300 engine, this one was less expensive version. The cars were assembled here until 1982 when problems with the company ended the production, 15 or so years laters, volkswagen imported some cars from Mexico to be sold here, but they were expensive comparing to a chevrolet corsa, ford fiesta, fiat uno, etc, so only a few were sold.

When i started to look for parts here, i discovered that most of them are for brazilian cars, making a lot of them really diferent from the ones that i needed, the transmition and engine parts were the same, but here you can only found parts to assemble a 1600, my car came with a 1500, so i had to convert it, the brazilian’s cars front beam is what in the USA call a ball joint front end, mine is link pin, wasnt that hard to find parts, but they are a lot less common. Talking about electrical parts, interior and related is the same, you cant find switches, fuse boxes, etc for a pre 66 car.

Well thats a litle explanation of the diferences here, im sure there is a lot more to say, but by now this is what i learned talking to people who used to work seling parts, or in the assembling factory.

This car is a late 79 or 80, brazilian, look at the diferences, it has the same windows than my 63 (below), but late fenders, bumpers, etc.