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The off center problem is not so bad. At least the car....if not the drive shafts....have adjustabilities. For instance....the rear trailing arm mounting points are slotted to facilitate side to side alignment. Wether one would "want" to misalign the rear to the front....is another issue.
No...I have not done this conversion. I was only relaying the comments that I have read... that the overall dimensions of the 901 tranny.....were more "similar"...than most of the other VW tranny's.

I am glad you have the two side by side. No one else here has had them side by side to really see the differences.

All of that being said, the adjustability of the 411/412 engine position is actually not that hard to do. There are a lot of shim-able points. But then....you will get all sorts of issues.....like sheet metal to body fit, cooling boot fit...etc.

The hocky stick going under the rear frame member would be do-able. A lot of fabbing for linkage....but in my opinion...morer do-able than trying to go over the cross member.....which is what using a bus tranny would entail.

I really have not put much thought into trying to put other trnsmissions into this car. I stopped that train of thought a long time ago because of the serious fitment problems. Not tomention....that the 411/412 with a low geaared final drive from a bug or bus......would just not drive the same. Ray

Ray, moving the engine to the left was what I was thinking also but the tin mods and cooling boot mods (This is a wagon ) really make me want to think this through. (ie is it worth the effort) . I don't think there is any alternative though. If you bolt up a 901 in the position the engine currently sits you would have a longer half axle on the driver side than the passenger . Is this even feasible ? Would it matter ? I'm sure I could run the linkage out side the tunnel ( parrallel to the right , with the shifter mounted to the right side of stock, not ideal but doable ) to establish a straight forward shift geometry but the differing half axle lengths have me stymied as potential safety and longevity issues . Am I worrying about a nonissue ? Can half axles be differing lengths ? Like lowering the front this car doesn't lend itself up easily for modification . This car begs for better gearing then the 3 spd auto can give. The 901 is almost bullet proof has a mulitude of gearing capabilities, perfect final drive ratios can be selected and parts are plentiful . If there is a tranny for conversion it would be this but getting it to work ain't going to be easy

My 69 model 411 has had a beetle box (manual) installed as the original gearbox died long ago and boxes here are non existant. I've only had the car for a couple of weeks,but it came with the original gearbox and 1 driveshaft under the front bonnet.I assume the driveshaft is the "long" one,but can't wait to crawl under and measure the shafts. The car has been lowered about 3 inches and a hydraulic clutch fitted to the beetle box. So yeh...i suppose it can be done but the alignment of all the rear end would be a drama.Don't think it would be as hard if the box being replaced was an auto....

Oh...by the way....the REASON why the drive package is off center.

Last year, I argued here that the drive train was NOT...off center and I was incorrect. I argued this because I was looking strictly at the shafts.

The 411/412 has identical, symmetrical drive shafts. The main drive and engine package is indeed off center.
The reason it is this way....in both the automatics and the manual....is because the differential configuration of these transmissions .....is of the "true" hypoid design.

In the bug,bus,ghia, things and vanagon manual and semi-auto trannys....you have....thr pinion gear contacting the ring gear on the foward edge of teh ring gear. This would be the edge closest to the FRONT of the car. This means that the ring gear centerline can be almost exactly in the center of the transmission.

On the 003 automatic...and the 004 four speed....the pinion gear splines onto the pinion shaft.....instead of being one piece. It is this way...because the pinion gear is reversed on thesetransmission. It is held in a cast steel pinion shaft carrier.....and crosses tranversely all the way across the differential so that the pinion runs on the edge of the ring gear closest to the REAR of the car. Since the pinion shaft runs on teh exact centerline of the transmission and is some 2-3" in diameter....the ring gear is pushed out into a bulge cast into the final drive case.

So....that is why the transmissions are off center. If they were on dead center you would need two seperate drive shaft lengths.

I think they did a good thing with this. My watercooled car has assymetrical drive shafts. It causes a peculiar difference in free wheeling of the transmission when going around corners in opposite directions.

There is also a certain amount of twisting/loading difference in assymetrical drive shafts. Granted...it is quite pronounced in the watercooled rabbit because the right hand shaft is a good 1 foot longer than the left. If it were kept to say just a couple inches...it would probably not be noticed.

The 411/412 never had to have assymtrical drive shafts because the mounting points are off center to compensate.
But...if you move to a type 1 gearbox...you will have to have assymetrical shafts like I think some of the type 3's with the automatic had. In fact....if they all had assymetrical drive shafts and are very close in track width to the 411/412....you may be able to simply use type 3 shafts. Just be sure which CV joint size you have.

The type 3 had an early and a late model CV size. The early was smaller, the late was type 4 size.

Actually the final drive ratio of the automatic is some of the very best. It is high gearing much like the 004 four speed. The problem as you mention...is the three forward speeds. They also are not hideously bad. But...coupled with teh low stall point of the torque converter, they make getting off the line....a slow process.

One thing I have seen...is that about 100% of all automatics over 70K miles need to have the main pressures readjusted using the driving and gauges method described in the Bentley type 3 manual. With a tuned out engine a a well tuned automatic....these gearboxes actually performed quite well.

There is also a recent thread concerning using the torque converter from a Vanagon(?) I beleieve? It has a higher stall point that allows much better uses of revs with teh automatic.

If you properly tune the main pressure via the 4mm allen adjustment in the modulator valve....and if you have the fuel injected 1.7 in a high state of tune (or better)....these are actually decent transmissions. They get up and go quite well. The 1.8L was a different story. Quite anemic. Ray

Charles (LN) has 2 manual tranny's on sale on evil-bay...