TDI 5th Gear swap?

[Beltaine]

Anyone done this? How'd it turn out? Cost?

[Smileybug]

I know its been done many times. I'm thinking of doing it myself once I save up some money for it. From what I hear its not too hard to do. Don't even have to drop the transmission. Cost, not too bad. I know someone was selling one on Craigslist around me for a little over $100. From what I'm reading its about $150 in parts and about 2 hours of labor.

5th gear swap on my 1999 2.0

[The Cheat]

i guess i can chime in here.

i have a 2000 jetta 2.0, minor supporting mods such as cold air induction, 2.5" exhaust, obx header, 270 cam, and c2 software.

stock i could turn 32-34 on the highway cruising at 70mph indicated (65mph/3350rpm).

with mods i was seeing 36-37 at the same speeds.

however, i decided that wasn't near enough. after grenading the stock transmission (differential shattered, BIG surprise there...not), i had a couple choices here and there.

choice 1: install the 6speed transmission i got brand new from Bora Parts and put the car down for a week or more.

choice 2: take what was left of my transmission, take what was left of my dad's original tdi trans, and hope for the best.

the end result was choice 2, with a little bit of mix and match, i got a nice gearset that increases economy but doesn't turn the 2.0 into a slug.

here's what i did: (tdi 5th content, i promise!)

1st and 2nd are the same for both transmissions. my dad's tdi trans had a funky 4th gear, that's ok, i wanted the slightly shorter 4th of the 2.0.

tdi donated 1st and 2nd to the cause, as the mainshaft was PURDY.

2.0 trans miraculously had a great 3rd and 4th still, those went in the hybrid setup.

so far, so good. i haven't altered the ratios at all yet, or have i?

now, the 5th gear in this particular tdi trans was a .72 from the mk3 tdi's. a slight drop over the .76, but not really noticable.

i mentioned earlier that the 2.0 diff went BOOM. this is where the tdi content and such really comes in. i used the final drive, mainshaft, and 5th gear from the tdi, with the 3rd and 4th from the 2.0.

the end result puts me somewhere around 92mph at 3000rpm. not bad i would say. just the gear alone puts me at 68mph in 5th at 3000 instead of 59-60, the. 72 gets me to 72mph at 3000 with the 4.24 final.

i would say do it, but make it at least the .72, but that's me. most people do 75 indicated on the highway, so the 2.0 would still be around 3k rpm, mileage would go up and you wouldn't notice a difference in accel.