Help w/trans I.D.

[Marc]

SSC, AH5327893. Has 3-bolt front mount, appears to be original.

What would this have come in? Canadian-origin car, perhaps?

Has "FITZ" stamped into the case as well, but I have no history on it.

[Piledriver]

matches the spare trans my son has from a early super.

[sideshow]

Seems reasonable, I would also guess a carburated vehicle era right before L jet

[Marc]

I've never seen a `73-up Standard or Super for the US market that didn't have an AT. I know they put AM (4.375) into IRS Standards with 1300 engines in Europe/Canada (have one of those in my son's Baja) but 4.125 as a `73 or newer Type I SSC is a new one on me.

[Piledriver]

it was from a 71 super

[Bruce2]

I know they put AM (4.375) into IRS Standards with 1300 engines in Europe/Canada

A 70s standard Beetle with a 1200 or 1300 in Europe will be swing axle. The only IRS standards they got were autostick.
A 70s Super Beetle in Europe with a 1300 is IRS, just like every Super made. That's the car that came with the AM SSC gearbox with a 4.37 R&P.

Your AH SSC is very late 72 model year production. I've got one of those AH SSCs, I'll check it's number.

[Marc]

The AM I have came from Canada, I was told it was in a Standard but if all the 1300 Standards were swing it must've been a 1300 Super.

Note that the trans in question has a late front mount - I've never seen that on a `72.
The letter & number stamps are of different styles/fonts but the numbers are aligned much better than you usually see on a locally-stamped unit. I'm beginning to think it might have been a warranty-replacement.

[Piledriver]

The letter & number stamps are of different styles/fonts but the numbers are aligned much better than you usually see on a locally-stamped unit. I'm beginning to think it might have been a warranty-replacement.

...That or the factory cafeteria ran out of beer at lunch that day.

[Bruce2]

I checked the SSC AH that I have, AH5411990, so not too far off yours. Mine's missing the nose cone.

I'm now wondering that maybe yours is an early 73 model year trans, and that maybe VW didn't change to the 3.88 until sometime in the fall of 72.

In Canada we got a wild range of configurations on the standard Beetles. Supers world wide were all IRS. Supers in Canada were all 1600s. We didn't get the oddball 1300cc dual port engine, so no AM 4.37 gearboxes.
The overwhelming majority of standard Beetles in Canada came with a 1500 or 1600 after 68. Some were IRS, some were swing axle. It seems like every year they changed their mind, and some years we got both swing and IRS standard Beetles. But one thing was normal, if the car had a 1200, it was swing axle, and those 1200s were extremely rare.

Cars I have seen back in the 70s and 80s (not Supers):
68 1500 swing
68 1200 swing
69 1500 IRS
69 1200 swing
70 1600 IRS
71 1600 IRS
71 1600 Swing
72 1600 IRS
72 1600 Swing
73 1600 swing only
74 1600 IRS only
75 1600 IRS
75 1600 swing
76 1600 IRS

In the 80s and 90s, Rancho used to buy containers of gearbox cores from Europe. I think that's how my AM core got here, it's been rebuilt and the way it's painted, it looks like a Rancho build. I bet that's how your AM came here too.

[Marc]

...In the 80s and 90s, Rancho used to buy containers of gearbox cores from Europe. I think that's how my AM core got here, it's been rebuilt and the way it's painted, it looks like a Rancho build. I bet that's how your AM came here too.

Makes sense, that's how we bought engine cores (scored quite a few AS21 fuel-pump cases that way). It should've occurred to me that someone was doing the same thing with transmissions.
I'm surprised that they never offered the 1300DP in Canada - did they stop taxing by displacement?
Nothing in the books I've seen mentions a SSC AH, but it does seem like it might've been considered a good idea for Convertibles. Wish I could get my hands on this one to count turns and see whether it has a .88 or .93 4th (although they'd probably have had a unique codeletter for the latter so it's doubtful).

[dangerous]

We had 1300 dual port swingaxles here in Australia between about 1971 and 1974.
All the coded-AM trans I have seen had 4.375.
Some had 0.883 4th gears in the earlier ones,
but most had 0.931 4th gears. (still AM code)
The 0.931 4ths were both 113 and 002 style gears.

[dangerous]

Regarding the original post about the 3 bolt nose cone,
if it were the original, it must have been one of the first,
because every trans I have seen here with that style mount
had a date code-style trans number.

[Marc]

All the coded-AM trans I have seen had 4.375.
Some had 0.883 4th gears in the earlier ones,
but most had 0.931 4th gears. (still AM code)
The 0.931 4ths were both 113 and 002 style gears.

Thanks, good to know.

Regarding the original post about the 3 bolt nose cone,
if it were the original, it must have been one of the first,
because every trans I have seen here with that style mount
had a date code-style trans number.

Me too, that's why I'm thinking it may have been a dealer's one-and-only replacement transmission and the number was stamped locally. That explanation still leaves some mystery though.

[Bruce2]

I'm surprised that they never offered the 1300DP in Canada - did they stop taxing by displacement?

We never got taxed on engine size. The big 3 sold plenty of big block high HP cars back in the 60s and 70s that would have cost a fortune otherwise.
The odd 1200 std Beetle sold here. I think due to advertising laws. When VW advertised "Starting at $1995...." they never had any cars on the lot at that price. So when a customer demanded a car at that price, by law they had to make it available. Then they would order one of those strip down 1200s.

[Bruce2]

We had 1300 dual port swingaxles here in Australia between about 1971 and 1974.
All the coded-AM trans I have seen had 4.375.
Some had 0.883 4th gears in the earlier ones,
but most had 0.931 4th gears. (still AM code)
The 0.931 4ths were both 113 and 002 style gears.

Did you get Super Bugs with the 1300 DP engine in 71 and 72?
If so, my guess is that they would have a 10 tooth first in a DSC case with the small clutch cross shaft. This would have the .883 fine tooth 4th gear, right?

I've never seen a .93 in a 113 type gear. What trans does that come in?