Just picked up my Brazibay., a few questions.

Right then, I collected my 57 plate Danbury Diamond from bath earlier today and drove it back to South Wales.

Engine didn't miss a beat and sat on the M-way at 55-65 without problem. Gearbox selector is like a pudding stirrer () and the gate into reverse doesn't exist so once in a while I found a lovely crunching noise until I got used to it. Shifting between gears was quite slick so long as it wasn't being forced into gear.

Slight whine from the back end but when lifting off the loud pedal and coasting the whine from the transaxle/g-box disappeared but in fairness it isn't that loud.

Cab heater (fitted by Danbury when new) was lovely and toasty when doing 30 around town but at 60mph the air was cold, which to me says that cooling is more than adequate or that the water supply fro the heater was taken from the wrong side of the rad?

Steering moves between five to and five past on the motorway to keep it on the straight and narrow when lorries were passing but I suspect the steering vagueness is the same which I've read about. It wasn't wandering around too much.

Questions.
1: Is the selector issue a straight forwards fix? I'd assume its a box out job?
2: Is a whiney box normal at 69k miles?
3: Is the cab heater thing normal or does anyone think I have a waterpoump impeller problem or something else?
4: What are my options regarding steering upgrades or is it just a case of checking steering joints and bushes etc?

Please feel free to jump in if you have any info about any of the above. It's certainly not a bad van and drives quite nicely once you get into the old car vibe. Been there ourselves for many years with some of the sheds we've had! 71 Beetle, loads of minis, old capri, Riley Elf and the list goes on.

Back home with his Germanic cousin!

Questions.
1: Is the selector issue a straight forwards fix? I'd assume its a box out job?
Mine has had no special attention and is the original gearbox. This sounds quite normal and you get used to it. If you look on the forum there are people that have made small improvements with an empi gear shift. But ultimately there is a lot of linkage to get back to where the box is.
2: Is a whiney box normal at 69k miles?
I can't really comment as there is a whine to mine, but in the expected noise range as the engine is coming up to limits when doing 65 / 70 there is not much more oompfh to be had. I am happy at 55 /60 normally.
3: Is the cab heater thing normal or does anyone think I have a waterpump impeller problem or something else?
Mine is hot when doing 60. Might be air in the system? But with it alone on a cold winters day no it keeps the ice off the inside but does not heat the inside like a modern van. I add to it with the rear heater so people in the back don't freeze.
4: What are my options regarding steering upgrades or is it just a case of checking steering joints and bushes etc?
Red9 upgrade. Have a look on the forum. But again you do get used to it if you like the vintage feel. Rack steering I wonder if it looses some of its charm.

Dave

Gear change:
Ours was very loose with long travel - which I liked. The gate into reverse is crossed by pressing down on the gearlever. So be careful NOT to be pressing on the lever when heading for second gear.
Going far enough to reach reverse sometime failed and needed a retry.
After some work on the gear linkage bushes by AbsoluteVW all gears are easy to find and the original long throw between gears is reduced

Your problems are more likely to be linkage adjustment rather than the box itself
osg

Fit a CSP gear shifter.

Cheers guys. Pretty much normal stuff then. A bit of maintenance.

I got the Meguiars mop on one half of it today and there’s a marked difference. Cut with 3M fast cut green, polished with Autoglym Super Resin polish and wax protection with Nattys paste wax with Carnuba. It looks like a different van. A few snots to sort out here and there but my paint guy will look after that.

Your Kombi doo look shiny

1: Is the selector issue a straight forwards fix? I'd assume its a box out job?

We had an EMPI gearshift fitted before taking delivery of our van. It's a cheap and easy upgrade, and doesn't involve taking the gearbox out. If you are fairly handy you could even do it yourself. By the way, taking the gearbox out usually requires taking the engine out. There is a way of getting the gearbox out without the engine, but it's not easy. I would certainly replace the gearshift before worrying about the gearbox. As Dennis says, there are other gearshifts available, which are better quality than the EMPI but more expensive.

2: Is a whiney box normal at 69k miles?

I don't know, ours didn't last that long! Because we didn't have time to get it rebuilt we replaced it with a rebuilt Beetle gearbox. There is a thread about that elsewhere on the forum. The replacement gearbox we used also has a higher final drive, which gives us 20% lower revs at all speeds. That has certainly reduced noise at cruising speeds.

3: Is the cab heater thing normal or does anyone think I have a waterpump impeller problem or something else?

I haven't really noticed that problem, although to be honest we don't tend to go on long journeys in cold weather.

4: What are my options regarding steering upgrades or is it just a case of checking steering joints and bushes etc?

It's worth checking steering joints and bushes, and also that the steering box is correctly adjusted. Over-tightening the steering box could cause damage by the way. I suspect that the Brazilian steering box might not be the same quality as a German box, but I've no proof of that. We replaced our front beam with Red9 rack and pinion, which also includes coilover suspension. Again there is a thread about that. We also have LiteSteer power assist.

Cheers @voyager, I’ve read your gearbox and beam upgrades thread. Nice work. Cheers for the advice.

Dennis wrote:

Fit a CSP gear shifter.

Agreed

We did the Empi upgrade and then the CSP upgrade

The CSP makes changing gear quite normal

Just ordered a few genuine gear linkage parts from Heritage inc the selector plate to try and deal with the sloppy vagueness and lack of gate on reverse. I’ll report back once they arrive and I get chance to fit them.

Sat here thinking what could be wrong with my gear shift I disassembled the stick assy, cleaned the selector plate and realigned it. Bit of a pig of a job having to juggle the stick, spring, plate and sprung pin but lo and behold I now have a more positive shift AND a reverse gate. Still needs minor adjustment I think as when you select reverse you can hear the pop as if the selector has dropped off the edge of the floor plate and when you go back across the gate there is no disengage scenario as it’s already out. Much better though.

The whine under load normally means troubles with mainshaft / mainshaft bearing, in particular the mainshaft starts to spin in the bearing. it is due to poor quality of Brazillian bearings and if repaired soon enough you can save yourself expense of replacing the mainshaft ( you want to do it before the mainshaft wears too much and becomes loose on the new German bearing) This is not normally attended to till there are other problems such as gears sticking, difficulty to select or crunchy selection. I have seen it happen at as little as 20k km.

Cheers @brabay , this won’t be doing huge mileage in our tenure so plenty of time yet. I’ll get it attended to in the New Year. Heritage showing a new box for £994 which seemed cheap to me.

exuptoy wrote:

Cheers @brabay , this won’t be doing huge mileage in our tenure so plenty of time yet. I’ll get it attended to in the New Year. Heritage showing a new box for £994 which seemed cheap to me.

As per description that would be rebuilt, not new and also not suitable for watercooled there are some differences such as speed sensor, input shaft and ratios between them. It is also out of stock and it has been for many years - hence the old price, if you have a look at beetle gearboxes (brazi gearboxes are quite similar to them) they start at 1700 + 150 core charge +vat. so if they ever become available you can expect them to be pricier then beetle gearbox due to their stronger aluminium case. I do rebuild brazil gearboxes if you wish to do it one day.

Cheers pal. I’ll keep that in mind. My local mechanic probably wouldn’t flinch being inside the box as he regularly rebuilds Mini Cooper 5 speeds as they’re made from chocolate

Before you get your mechanic working on your gearbox please make sure he got the correct tools to do it properly - in particular shifter adjustment jig - those are required if you want it to last and specific only for vw.

Cheers pal. Just sent you a pm.