How bad is this???

Just looked under my car while changing the oil and found this....


How bad is this?? Can it be welded or fixed?

Not seeing a pic

Trying to find a way to upload pic

Got it!!

Sorry bro...i consider that cancer terminal.

I believe the 1.8t sub frames are the same as the diesel. They can be had cheap.

If you were local id offer if you helped me remove the motor that's going in my boat you could have mine.

that'll buff right out

afarfalla said:

that'll buff right out

Click to expand...

Haha! PickleRick, are you saying the whole frame has to be replaced?

The only thing i really see in the pic is what i believe is a rusted out subframe. Before investing too much time or money in the car id examine the rest of the car for rust.

The subframe can easily be removed and replaced. You'll need alignment after.

Just make sure the unibody or whatever you wanna call it (frame that attaches to the body) is good.

There are always 1.8 cars with issues and bad tranny diesels to be had for less than 500 rust free. If it's just the subframe no need to worry about that but I'd go over it to be sure before sourcing a subframe. Rust does bolt to rust but for how long?

The vehicle I said id give you a subframe out of is from nj and then driven in raliegh nc for years and she doesn't have near that much rust. Your car looks like it was from the rust belt or sank in some Katrina brackish water floods.

Yeah, I think it spent some time in FL. Thanks for the advice! I’ll keep your offer in mind!

An 8-9 hour trip might be worth it! Haha!

Wow, been under lots of B segment cars, never seen one with a subframe rusted out like that. That looks like what Hyundai/Kia stuff does.

If the rest of the car is decent, you can replace the subframe. Not a huge job. Shoot, I just put one of those in a scrapper last year, too (from a crash car I was parting out). Never saw the need to keep it.

I'd not lose a lot of sleep over it, as it probably has a ways to go before it becomes an issue that would cause a problem so long as the mounts for the engine/trans and lower control arms are still secure.

These are not TDI specific, any 4 cyl B5 will work (according to ETKA).

Thanks for the help guys!!

Depends on the car, as the later manuals used an adapter bracket just like the automatics. Which is key when converting these to manuals if you want to keep your original subframe.

Technically ETKA shows a different subframe for the GMR trans specifically, because they come with the mounts in them already and the diesels use a different mount, but I doubt you'd ever know the difference. I only say this because I have spent time in a converted AWM car that still had the original subframe in it, but had a BHW parked on it.... seemed exactly the same to me.

Has that car spent it's whole life in Alabama? I wonder if it ever got to sitting around in salt water due to a flood?

QuickTD said:

Not exactly, only V6 manuals used the same left mount/bracket as the auto. All 4cyl manuals, even European TDI's, have a different left mount. I have done this a few times... I swapped the subframes on both my BHW manual swaps, simply because I had full manual parts cars and did not want to go looking for a V6 left trans mount bracket. One parts car was a 2002, the other a 2004, both 1.8T manuals, both had the different left mount and subframe.

Click to expand...

Will the v6 mounts mt mounts work on the euro tranny to fit the sock BHW subframe?

I thought so, thanks for clearing that up.