1971 Karmann Ghia Transmission Replacement

When Adria Imports first saw this beautifully restored Karmann Ghia it has a 16,000 cc engine. Our customer wanted a more high performance car so we installed a 2.1 litre 4 cylinder engine. The car was fast!

But it had the semi automatic transmission blues. Due to the cam shaft used in the Ghia the engine at idle did not produce a strong enough vacuum source for the transmission to shift into gear smoothly.

After many adjustments we concluded in order to shift the gears efficiently the driver would have to burp the idle up to help produce enough vacuum to shift. This is awkward for the driver and the success rate was 50/50.

After much consultation with Mark and Tony our customer decided to have the semi automatic transmission replaced with a 4 speed manual transmission. The search was on and Mark found a used transmission they could rebuild for the Karmann Ghia.

Tony was the man to do the job. He removed the old transmission and replaced it with a manual transmission he rebuilt himself.
But the job didn’t end there. Toni had to replace the pedals, and extra tubing had to be welded inside the floor pan to accommodate a new clutch cable. Modifications were also necessary for the shifter leaver.

Now the car shifts like a dream, and it’s a pleasure to drive turning heads on the streets of Vancouver rain or shine!