Hello-

I'm basically a total novice when it comes to transmissions (though I've
successfully taken apart, serviced, and rebuilt that on my honda ct90).
I have a question about how my 89 Vanagon handles things...

When I am rolling to a stop, I have found that I am unable to put the
stick into 1st (with the clutch depressed fully, of course) until the
engine slows enough.  This is obviously a good thing; you dont want to
step on the clutch and pop into 1st while you are going 40mph.  I am
wondering how this works.  My 1988 Fox was the same way (in fact I am
constantly amazed at how similar the vanagon feels to the fox).  In some
other cars I have driven, you -can- physically shift into 1st while RPMs
are dangerously high.  I once had a bad habit of pre-emptively shifting
into 1st and just holding down the clutch until a stop was reached.  How
does the vanagon prohibit this?  Is it due to the gear synchro design?
On my fox, I found this setting to be "too high", it would not allow me
to shift into first at times when I thought it was appropriate; for
example to engine brake at low speeds on a very mild downhill slope.  On
the vanagon, its tolerable, but still weird.  Is this common in all
modern transmissions?

Thanks