recently bought a 914 took it out for its first drive after having some work done on it and i'm having trouble changing up from first to second very stiff and clunky also when in neutral very floppy keep putting in to 3rd gear any ideas

Replace the shift bushings and re-adjust the rod.

also it's a bit crunchy when putting into second

You could try to tighten the clutch cable 1-2 turns and see if it gets better. Worst case, you need a rebuild. The crunch and sloppy shifting are two different issues.

Does it crunch going into reverse? Yes= tighten clutch cable. No= possible bad syncro on 2nd grear, try to tighten cable a little.

to rebuild is that expensive would a VW transmission work or are they totally different

I would change the oil first an go from there.

Totally different transmissions. Not sure what it costs in the UK to rebuild. You could call Dr. Evil (Transmission Guru) I'm sure he would be willing to come to you for a fee.

As others have said, start with something cheap, like all of the bushings. To answer you question though, no a VW trans won't work, or not without some serious engineering. VWs are rear engine, our cars are mid. Therefore, you would not only have 4 gears, but 4 gears in the wrong direction. Again, start with bushings, probably a trans oil change as well. After that, you would then start worrying about rebuilding it.

were is DR evil based in UK or USA thanks

USA... But he is willing to travel...

Mike Bainbridge is your man in the UK - based near Kendal

My new to me '71 with original tail-shifter behaves the same way - real stiff exiting 1st gear although no crunching into any gear.

I've found that if I push the shifter a bit to the left before pushing it up out of 1st, it shifts very smooth. Works every time - trick is not to push it too far left or you'll nick reverse on the way to 2nd. I'm guessing that new bushings and an adjustment are in my future.