Right people, I'm looking to change my Mk2 Golfs gearbox, as the high revving at motorway speeds is a nightmare. I'm currently using an 02A MK3 16v gearbox. Gear change is excellent, but I've got a a few questions regarding the change. 1. What's the best 6 speed gearbox to use ? Any gearbox codes that people recommend ? 2. Will I be able to retain my 02a tower and gear selector ? 3. Any problems using my Seat cable clutch with a 6 speed box ? Any help on the above would be great. Cheers
Can't recommend a specific box, but pretty much all vw 6 speed options are really short in first and second and quite long higher up. Have you thought of using a diesel box? The 02j tower goes in the 02a box so I'd imagine vice versa will be OK. Not seen a cable 6 speed box before. Thought about a hydraulic conversion? Easy enough.
When i do my 20vt conversion i did loads of research and found that the best option for me was 02A CTN 5 Speed TDI gearbox. 6500rpm in second is 63mph 6500rpm in 5th is 178mph 70mph in 5th is 2500rpm ( in 6th gear my GT TDI does 70mph @ 2000rpm) 70mph in 4th is 3300rpm BTW i know 178mph is un-achievable, but thats the theoretical speed
I've a polo derv box in my mk2 20v as on 15" wheels the aum box was a disaster. Good first and second then screaming at 70mph. But....... The derv is very short on first and second as a trade off from the diesel, I want to build a best of both. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have an 02J DSF diesel Caddy NOS gearbox, ratios: 3.778 - 2.118 - 1.360 - 0.971 - 0.756 final drive - 3.158 I also have an 02J EHA Octavia VRS gearbox rebuilt with a new Peloquin diff fitted, ratios: 3.3 - 1.944 - 1.308 - 1.029 - 0.837 final drive - 3.824 Finally I have an 02S FYG diesel Touran gearbox, ratios: 3.78 - 2.06 - 1.45 - 1.11 - 0.88 - 0.73 final drive - 3.65 I had planned on fitting the Peloquin diff into the 02S but I'm not so sure anymore, I think the 6 speeds are a bit of a novelty tbh, probably better off with an 02J with very long ratios like the EHA, unfortunately my Peloquin diff won't fit in that box. The 02S is basically an 02J with an extra gear so your 02A shifter will fit but you'd be better off upgrading to an 02J shifter imho.
Having any 6 speed 02M petrol boxes will not solve your problems with high revs vs speed You need 5 speed diesel 02a/j box as that would be easiest way to get those revs down as you can keep all of the existing hardware
02M are a pain to fit, custom shafts, mount bracket and/or re-weld cup on subframe to new position, plus you also need an electronic -> cable speedo converter box or fit later clocks as they have no physical speedo drive. 02M diesle boxes exist and may be more common than petrol version since they are standard on the PD150 Golf/Bora I think? MK5 Golf 02S box is a direct fit, but expensive and hard to find with decent ratios. You'll need to swap the flanges to 100mm ones I expect from an 02J gearbox, plus if you want the speedo drive you need to fit an 02J bellhousing
Find an 02s with the same final drive/1st/2nd and swap the rest of the ratio's from the 02a, then add a diesel 5th to use as 6th and as above use the bell housing from the 02a to keep the speedo drive Build it properly, with the correct preloads and oil level (slightly more than what VW recommend to keep 5th/6th happy) and you'll have a good box. You can retain you cables and tower extra. The VW 02s is basically what Quaife did to make a 6spd 02a. You can make one without buying a full 02s box but final drives are expensive plus you need the input shaft and some other bitsnbobs so cheaper to buy a whole box. They come up for around 300 every now and then
Thank you for all the great replies above everyone. Much appreciated. Will take all the info onboard and decide what route I'm going to take. Keep you all posted.
What is meant by "high revving at motorway speeds" ? What are your reasons for the change other than the yet to be stated rev/mph? Once the above reasons are known, then member/users can give their relevant experience and you will have to judge if that fedback suits what you are looking for. Gearboxes also need to suit the engine torque that will be multipled to the axle. So if your car is not mapped or you are planning to map it then your need to take that into account.
Basically Ed, when in 5th gear, on motorways or some sprited weekend hooning, it feels like I need that extra gear. Might be that I'm used to my Mk7's 6th gear, but even my mapped Mk4 GTI wasn't as revvy in 5th. I'm currently using a CDA box. Will definitely take everything into consideration before going any further though. And a map is definitely on the cards very soon
On a CDA gear box and 195 50 15 wheels and tyres the engine will be turning at 3200rpm at 70mph. Theoretically if the engine had enough oomph, at 6800rpm you could achieve 150mph @ near 6900rpm. That may not be possible in your car. On a car like yours, which does not have any performance tweaks, your usuable engine torque up to WOT is from 2000-4000rpm. A map should increase low down torque signitifantly and depending on who maps the car will result in torque of greater than stock amplitude around 3-4000rpm with the ability to still accelerate, much harder than current but running out of puff at 5500rpm to 7000rpm. Effectively you need a gearbox that favours the lowdown behviour of the engine, if this car is used primarly on the road. Now you believe a 6 speed gearbox is required. Therefore a suitable gearbox would have to be chosen that still is able to amplify the torque of the engine to give desired acceleration in gears, without wheelspin and perhaps a lower cruise speed in top. Knowing the engine torque at various conditions, say launch to full throtlte would be helpful when using gear calculators as a tip. That is my 2p.
