The Official 356Talk Forum

'52 American Roadster. Very difficult shifting car, especially into 2nd, never feels like it is full into gate.
Restored car but I think there has been a problem here for a while, trans was filled with Red Line [a bit of a red flag for me] , plus the shift mechanizm at the trans has all been changed to a later style, [which also red flags me].
Fortunately the original bits are still in car.
Believe it has been upgraded to synchro style as there is no grinding when gears are selected.
Does anyone recognize the 'upgrade' and is it a real improvement over the original ?
Just trying to get a good gate feeling when shifting and not worry it pops out of gear.

Ed Schnurr wrote:'52 American Roadster. Does anyone recognize the 'upgrade' and is it a real improvement over the original ?

Ed,
The shifter in the car looks like it's from a T2. The original bits (I assume the second photo) look like they're the Oct '52 style. What are the numbers on your gearbox case? Vic Skirmants will be able to ID your gearbox and comment on applicability of the shift linkage.

I can get the trans # tomorrow, but it it is an early VW crash box

Got a trans #

Ed,
I'd be out of my league troubleshooting your issue. My guess is the early pre-selector in your 2nd photo would more likely be compatible with a crash-box than the later T2 style, but I don't know if that would cause the problem you've described. Vic or one of several other transmission gurus will pick up on this thread and help you out in the next day or so. The shifter spreadsheet I attached is from research Rick Albro and I are putting together in attempt to identify when and with what gearboxes the various shift linkages were originally installed. The second tab is from Vic's tech article in the Resource tab. Good luck with your roadster.

Ed, 498H1 is in Roadster 12362; ex-Heath Hurlbert, ex-Vic Skirmants.
That is a 519 trans, built into a VW crashbox housing. The later shift mechanism should work as well as the original fabricated pieces. If all the adjustments have been made correctly, there may be a problem with the internal parts.

Ed, as Vic says, your car has the early 519 transmission, so was full-synchro from the start. Porsche upgraded their 519 transmissions with VW's stronger ribbed case in August 1953 for transmissions numbered 1901 onward. Yours is the earlier smooth case, just like #1781 in my '53 coupe.

Vic, I didn't know you used to own this AR! Fantastic car.

I also had 10465, and two Gmund coupes; 2-055 and 2-057; all at the same time. For a total cost of $6750.
Nobody cared about those cars back then.

Vic Skirmants wrote:ex-Heath Hurlbert, ex-Vic Skirmants.

Vic,

Here it is when Heath owned it, photo by Gottfried Hogh