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Valeo clutchpack and 0.79 5th in... 76mph@3000rpm!!!

3K views 30 replies 18 participants last post by  PZ 
#1 ·
I spent a small fortune to have this work done by someone else.

Clutch was still ok, but engagement was in top 1" and it was chattering a bit. No slips. I'd been sitting on the gearset for close to 5 years. I finally pulled the plug on the mess last month and booked the clutch job for this week. Truly a big deal for me as the car is my first stick DD, and I track it, along with plenty of normal hoonage. I kind of beat on it.

Results....

I had to move my seat forward due to the increased pedal travel! Tech reported that I could have probably put another 15K on the clutch very safely, but it was a darn good thing that I brought it in as the real mainseal was starting to go. The trans rebuild took way longer than they planned, so they charged me the guinea pig rate instead of the actual hours (Thanks, Steve's!!!). They had the car on the lift for two and a half days.

The rpm drop from 4th to 5th is now what I thought it should be from the factory. 5th is now more of a true overdrive gear.

What a Christmas for my Passat! The techs and shop owner all took the car out to check it, and I got the usual "we just can't get over how good your car is" comments. They were quite pleased with the stock clutch life considering what the car goes through on a regular basis. I was dubbed "suitable for stick loaners".

No, I am not admitting how much this cost me.:icon_eek:
 
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#4 ·
Matt, you took the words right out of my mouth!
 
#6 ·
Would that we had simple 020s. We do not. The shafts have to be pulled, and the shift forks are in the way. They billed me at the regular 020 rate, and then it took three times as long to actually do it. I felt kind of bad, but not really. As far as I can tell, there are about three shops in the US that have pulled one of these transmissions apart for anything other than a differential swap.

All of the gear swap cars are here on PW. One of our deceased colleagues was the first to do it, right after I announced the gearset, and I think someone else did it, now I am the third. There were only four sets of gears in the US at the time we all ordered them.

I have to dig up the part numbers tonight when I can get to my ETKA, or search the boards. They are out here somewhere.
 
#5 ·
I recall this from long ago. Would you list the part numbers needed for such a swap, so when one of the rest of us faces a clutch job, we can also spend twice the amount of a simple clutch job to get a real 5th gear?
 
#11 ·
No!! That will not fit our transmissions! Stupid Volkswagens!

Stock is 31:37, this is the 30:38 set. Anything lower and you have to change out 4th also to preserve any semblance of drivability due to the less-than-wide powerband.

The available 5th are 0.89, 0.84, 0.79, and 0.69. The transmissions that run the 0.69 use the 0.84 for 4th and also run the taller input shaft.

@Kenny - I can't believe I sat on this for so long. What a wonderful (if expensive) mod. And yes, I thought about a Quaife, but that would have turned this into the $3K clutch job, and no way would I be able to get the ok from Steven for that!
 
#12 ·
Nice work! Sounds like a great mod for lots of long-distance travel. Keep us posted on the fuel savings.

I don't think I'd be a candidate for something like this, since I'm far more likely to be going 40-50mph in 5th than I would 70mph+. I enjoy that nice puttering 5th-gear torque from the V6, even at 1,200rpm.
 
#13 ·
#23 ·
Congrats on the upgrade, AA! I remember you talking about possibly doing this years ago. I could not agree more, that my 99 1.8T could use a real 5th gear also. With stock size tires mine runs between 68-69 @3k and there have been times I've reached over with the intention of shifting into 6th (hard to do on a 5spd). :thumbup:
 
#30 ·
Does OP have a 1.8t? Because my 5th gear runs ~75 at 3k, and I have a V6, I'm assuming the other people who are saying this do too?
Also, correct me if I am wrong, but wheel size should have nothing to do with your speedometer readings being off at X rpms because the tach and speedometer are dependent on another, it just wont show your actual speed...
 
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