discussion: 2.5l swap into a 2.0 mk4

[The Cheat]

kicking this around after a buddy picked up a 06 nb for $2500 at a salvage auction. he was planning on gettin' funky, and the 2.5 is NOT in his plans (think: bringing the beetle back to its roots...fweeeep).

far as i can tell, the transmission is a standard 02j unit, possibly even sharing a bolt pattern with a conventional 4cyl from vw. the beetle also does NOT have canbus (again, far as i can tell, my 2005 did not).

i can source the front subframe and suspension with the drivetrain and harness for $1500. i have the coding for a vr5 car (euro model) to get my cluster to talk.

advantages:
-more power
-5 cylinders are better than 4
-TORQUE
-gearing
-ecomony won't suffer too much

disadvantages:
-try getting vw to ever touch that car
-remembering to say 2006 beetle when ordering ANYTHING fore of the firewall
-potentially less cost-effective than a supercharger, which would, coincidentally for less labor, give me the same power

i'm toying with the idea mainly because a 2001 jetta wagon may be getting dropped into my hands with a grenaded 2.0 for like $300.

thoughts/questions, let's hear 'em.

[topless kitty]

i'm for it. i cannot get any more technical with you than that.

the 2.5 is a funnn engine, i miss mine

ps: you coming down this way tomorrow or what?!

[wawalker]

I think you know what you're up against--bolting it in is prolly the easy part. All the wiring/ECU/cluster stuff will prolly be a PITA. I bet you can do it though my man.

[The Cheat]

more research tells me that no beetle has canbus (BIG relief!). because this is going into a 2001 with immo2, the ecu will need to be defeated of its immo3 programming. that can be done by revo or giac, revo is right down the road from my garage though.

further research indicates that i can sneak in a 6spd manual too. i told my buddy this, and after he looked up used transmission prices, he said he'd do me a solid and sell everything but the trans for $750.

for the time being, while i locate a compatible 6spd manual clutch setup, i will be using the stock 2.0 gearbox, which will probably make me hate the 2.5, but LOVE doing burnouts with it.

the donor vehicle will be in transit from florida as of 12pm today, i have NOT even seen a picture as of yet, but i do know it's an early 2001 wagon with 198,000 miles and it has a blown motor. my mom works for a bank, and well, banks do repos. this is a repo car. the people owed a fair portion on it still, so when the motor went, they left it in a parking lot, where it sat for 3 months before it was towed to an impound lot. my mom said it's stupid stupid dirty, but it's got black cloth and it's a 5 speed with a sunroof. she won't tell me the color though (probably because she knows i HATE black/dark blues).

i told my mom i did NOT need a project, and last week, she says to me, "oh, by the way...you still have $1000 in your little trust fund for college that bubbeh set up, do you need anything like diapers or clothes?" i told her nah, just send me the money, and then she says, "hey, there's a jetta wagon on the block for $300 with a bad motor, i'll just buy that for you and send you the other $700."

my mom has NEVER supported a car project, EVER.

[The Cheat]

ok, so apparently, i wouldn't be the first. there's a 2000-ish jetta running around fairfield county with a 2.5, and it sounds wicked. only identifying mark was an "r5" badge. sneaky.

drove it though with the stock box for the 2.5, and it's fun, really fun.

still need lots more parts, you'd think someone could sell me a beetle downpipe on the cheap (buddy bought the car from a junkyard and they hacked the kitty off).

[wawalker]

Dude, just saw in my new Oct. 2009 eurotuner magazine on page 49 a Mk. IV Jetta w/ a Mk.V 2.5L transplant--and it is turbocharged! Might be more info here: Unitronic Chipped - Instant Power! Says this car was displayed at Waterfest 15 in the Unitronic booth...

Nothing beyond last years' cars at that website.

Boo Unitronic--UPDATE your site!

[O 16581 72452 5]

Should be a swap similar to a 16v in a MKI and a VR6 in to a MKII i'd imagine. A Beetle being the new Corrado/Scirocco that brings two generations together (the Scirocco links the MKI and MK2, the Corrado links the MKII and MKIII). The Beetle is a MKIV Chassis that got carried along to MKV, so that 2.5 probably had factory tweeked mounts/exhaust/subframe/whatever to make that engine go in to the "previous" chassis.

Basically because you got lucky and got a 2.5 Beetle, you should have everything to get that engine in to your car.

[The Cheat]

well, i have MOST of the stuff. i have a timetable of 5 months, so progress will be proportionate to that.

i still need a few things, one being a downpipe. the beetle being bought at a salvage auction for parts, had its cat cut out, ruining the downpipe.

swap progress thus far:

-receiving car is in my friend's garage in bay 8
-interior out
-2.0 out, got $50 in scrap!
-sanded down to metal, body smoothed, por-15 applied, primed over
-shaved rear rubstrip
-filled hood notch
-all jambs sanded and painted the new color
-engine bay semi-smoothed and primed
-box of parts from europe here
-ecu out to revo for de-immo (beetle is immo3, swap car immo2)

i'd say i'm 13% done give or take. i'd like to get the bay done this weekend (mounts welded in as well), so we'll see. other things need to get done as well, such as locating a new intake manifold. the donor car was a frontal impact, which means plastic intake manifold went kapsssshhhh. we literally cut the motor out as the front end was mangled as hell. next order of business: make origami out of a reflex silver beetle.

[topless kitty]

finish this up so you can get to work on my VR6 swap

[The Cheat]

Originally Posted by topless kitty

finish this up so you can get to work on my VR6 swap

sure thing, i take payment in forms of mk3s in various states of disrepair.

[topless kitty]

Originally Posted by The Cheat

sure thing, i take payment in forms of mk3s in various states of disrepair.

do you subsequently repair and return them??

[The Cheat]

ok, so i'm heading out to westbumblefunk pa right about now because someone happens to have a free intake manifold for the car in good shape. score.

i went to shop for 6am this morning and started chipping away all the sound deadening. three hours later, i have almost 50lbs of it, plus all the carpet padding. brought it to the junkyard with all the other scrap and got $130. sweet. gotta keep the shop clean, my buddy is nuts about that.

we pushed the 06 in and started cutting it up. we have some good body parts but not much as it was a rollover. black cloth though.

[The Cheat]

Originally Posted by topless kitty

do you subsequently repair and return them??

see, that's the thing, i kinda wanna keep it, but if you insist..

[The Cheat]

well, major progress today.

i found out my brake booster setup will in fact work, and i won't have to drill anything in the firewall, so i just went ahead and finished the bay. also ran all the auxilary wiring i'll need for the gauges and fogs through as well while the dash is still out. tomorrow night is painting the bay and working more on the fenders. the rear arches are caked, trying to smooth out without needing to weld new in, it's a process though. the front fenders are done and received their primer today as well.

i picked up a 2008 beetle subframe for $75 today as well, so i just said screw it and slapped the motor and transmission on it. hint: the transmission has an m in the series. the original subframe was tweaked, necessitating the newer unit. the car it came off of only had 345 miles too! won't be rebuilding those control arms for a while.

while i was doing some mechanical work, my buddy came over with pizza and such, so he decided to join in on the fun. the rear suspension is done, the catback exhaust is done, and the new seats were cleaned and re-wired.

for front suspension, we're doing 2.0 coilovers for the ability to be a hero. the back suspension will be vr6 coilovers, which should balance out well.

i still haven't got wheels yet for the project, i want something not played, but also something i can drive on year-round.

also placed an ($800) order with gap, when that comes in, i will have 3/2/g brakes and spindles, as well as all the gaskets i'll need.

total investment thus far: $4786. this shizzle adds up QUICK.

also waiting to hear from revo to see if they can de-immo the ecu, will make life much easier.

now that a lot of the bs stuff is out of the way, i can start priming up the interior for paint (i'm doing this 110%, it will be a COMPLETE color change).