I am tired of shifting and breaking trannies!! My Bro has busted 2 six ribs in our last two dune trips. We were reading where some guys on the shop talk forums have been using the fully auto vanagon trans-axles in drag cars with no breakage up to about 450 horse. I have a buddy that will sell us the autos for 75 bucks fresh from the bus. anyone have any experience with these?

Another option could be to call the "Speed Shop". They are very easy to talk to and have some very cool Automatic solutions.

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That would be a great idea. All I know about them is they have a 436 r&p and a 3:1 torque converter.You must have the shifter out of the van for the detent mechanism for kickdown purposes. They say an old Rabbit has the same trans from the r&p forward . I Think.Oh ! 1 axle is shorter than the other and much longer on the other.And they are HEAVY!And you may need the flex plate off an old beetle auto.

what kind of hp your bro running to break 6 ribs in the the sand?

He is running a stock 200,000 mile 4.3 Throttle body out of an s-10 the first one he was doing a 3rd gear wheelie and it let go and the second one he was stuck and popped reverse when he tried to back out.

This one has 700hp hooked to it, but I think Curt’s dad beefed it up.

Brad thats chaid drive. With enough gear reduction any tranny will be strong enough

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Popping reverse is sure way to break reverse. The Auomatic section of the transaxle has a water cooled oil cooler which is similar to the Audi 5000 transaxle. The Audi 5000 turbo transaxle can take 250 hp as is but will require an adapter. These are often used in mid engine kit cars. The 5000 turbo used larger clutch packs which might be a good idea strengthing a Vanogon unit. You'll also need more preload on the differential bearings.

I'm putting one in my wife's buggy now. You need a flexplate from a type 3. The beetle stickomatic flywheel will not mate to the vanagon torque convertor and the vanagon flexplate is for a flanged crank. The type 3 uses a glandnut like a type1 and has a 3 bolt pattern that matches the vanagon convertor.