Shifting

The transmission in the bus is the same as the original vw bus transmission. It attaches directly to the moter via a coupler, and an adapter plate bolts on to motor and tranny with just 4 bolts. So the motor just hangs off the transmission, cool! I have no clutch, which as it turns out is no big deal. I just have to be at a stop to get into 1st gear, and I don't use 1st anyway.

I start in 3rd. Because of the motors torque this seems to be the best gear, then after 30 mph I switch to 4th. shifting from 2nd to 3rd actually takes longer than just going straight from 3rd all the way, and seems to keep my amps to a minimum.

To switch gears I just let off the accelerator and the tranny switches really smoothly for me.

Blown connections

I had heard about blown connections and in the first few days of running the bus I had 3 connections melt on me. This picture shows a progression of the lead lug melting. (The deformed lugs were round to start with) So I had to use lock washers to keep my connections tight. I may switch to copper connections which seem to stay tighter for me than these lead ones, but at least the lugs melt before the battery terminals do, which I would be afraid might happen with copper lugs. They make a nice pop, get relay hot and my engine loses power immediately when they blow. Another reason not to go with this style battery I suppose.