Low budget manual 5-speed swap.

imo000 said:

Malone needs to get his act togethet or else he'll keep loosing customers. The tuners are frustrated that he keeps announcing that he'll be out of the office at the drop of a hat. This is no way to treat customers. I'm sure he has his reasons but there should be a way to keep the bussiness going if you are shotting down operations for 3 weeks in this month.

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Hi,

It was probably the first time in 10 years that I've been away for well over 1 week.

More than 3 weeks before my departure, I sent a message to every dealer informing them of my plans. It was not at the drop of a hat. I also set up an e-mail auto-reply roughly 1 week before my departure reminding everyone, just in case. I also posted a notice on top of every web page at malonetuning.com for everyone to see. Despite all that, a very small percentage of dealers were still not aware of my absence until they tried to get a tune while I was already gone. I will find a new way to minimize that issue next time.

I still offered tuning work during my 3-week trip, albeit with a 1 week or longer delay (mostly due to no Internet access in remote parts of Asia). I did tell all dealers about this opportunity weeks before I left. Understandably that kind of delay does not work for every customer, but it was better than completely shutting down operations for 3 straight weeks.

Right now I'm inundated with hundreds of unread e-mails that accumulated while I was away, and I'm still working on responding to each and every one of them.

Yes, the demand continues to climb and I'm working on the scaling issue. Basic 101 economics dictates that I should increase my tune prices, but I'm trying other options first: I recently hired a couple engineers to help build an automated online tune delivery system and a bunch of other cool projects, so I'm very excited.

I'm sorry about the bad timing and I hope you were able to get what you wanted.

Cheers,
Mark

Mark, you need vacation too! Otherwise you'll burn out and we'll all be SOL. Still, you shouldn't be made to feel guilty...
I stand by my comments about the scalability because it will make life easier for *you*, but I see you're already working towards this, which is great. Hopefully the fruits of this will be less stress and the ability to go on vacation once in a while.

Meh. Mark's always been very good for my cars - worth the wait so to speak.

A tune is a long term investment, I'm willing to endure a little delay for the expertise that Mark provides.

My local vendor told me Malone is away until July 17th, contact me to set up the reflash after this date. So I set it up for the 28th, thinking it will be enough time for Malone to get back into routine from beeing out of the office. I show up at the tuner on the 28th and he tells me "I just called Malone and he just anounced it that he'll be out of the office from today until Aug. 4". This followed by an "I had no idea he was going to do this.....". Then the complaining started that he had issues this year getting timly repkies from Malone and on and so forth. I've contacted another tuner that wasn't so local to me and he had no idea that Malone was even off at all. As I said above, I'm sure you had your reasons and I have nonissues with that. The way it effected me (looks like the local vendor was lieing) is what left a bad taste in my mouth.

imo000 said:

My local vendor told me Malone is away until July 17th, contact me to set up the reflash after this date. So I set it up for the 28th, thinking it will be enough time for Malone to get back into routine from beeing out of the office. I show up at the tuner on the 28th and he tells me "I just called Malone and he just anounced it that he'll be out of the office from today until Aug. 4". This followed by an "I had no idea he was going to do this.....". Then the complaining started that he had issues this year getting timly repkies from Malone and on and so forth. I've contacted another tuner that wasn't so local to me and he had no idea that Malone was even off at all. As I said above, I'm sure you had your reasons and I have nonissues with that. The way it effected me (looks like the local vendor was lieing) is what left a bad taste in my mouth.

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As a Malone dealer, I received notice of that closure on June 3rd. Mark cannot make people read his notices, he can only deliver them in a timely manner - which he did.

So fun for me, I did the whole 5 speed swap without having found axles. I figured they'd be easy enough to come by, no problem, right? Well, I went looking this weekend and became aware of what I think is the distinct differences between 1.8T manual CV axles from the B5 versus the B5.5. At least I think that was the difference, someone let me know if I'm wrong.

Prior to 2001.5(?):

After 2001.5(?):


At the salvage yard I found a bunch of manual axles from B5 Passats and A4s. I also found a few CVs from a few B5.5 Passats that were all auto. So not what I needed. Now, I have a 5 speed swapped Passat with no axles. So...if anyone has some B5.5 1.8T manual axles sitting around, I'm a super motivated buyer

EDIT: Also, is there a difference in front CVs from a FWD vehicle and a 4motion/quattro car?

Besides visually looking a little different, did you take measurements to makensure they don't fit?

Well the day finaly come that the car is now legally on the road for good. The ECU was flashed by a new tunner dealer for Ontario, Canada. He'll let himself know shortly. It was a good experience dealing with him. The reflash went well last night. Then did a 1.5 hour "emissions run" to get the readiness set and then in the morning took it in for an emission test and a safety inspection. Passed both without any issues. So the transmission swap chapter of this car is now complete. Anyone has any questions now or in the future feel free to ask.

i'm most curious about the fuel economy - i guess it's a bit early to know

I can say for sure that at 100km/h on the highway on cruise it uses ~4.8-4.9L/100km. Did this a few times while getting the emission readinesses set on this car. I'll repprt back once I have more real miles under the belt.

Is that reading through the MFA? i have found that mine is about .5/100 optimistic consistently. annoying, but at least I can use it to gauge fuel use.

Its through the display on the dash, I supposed that would mean it was through the mass air flow sensor. Don't really matter even if the real consumption is higher. The car is fuel efficent either way.
Adam, next week I'll over and drop your clutch off.

No worries - I'm away on business next week. Feel free to leave it on the back deck if you are in the area. Or it can wait until later - good either way.

I'll wait until you are back.

As for an update on my axle conundrum, after trips to about 6 salvage yards I finally found some axles. After passing up two non-OEM driver axles at other yards, I finally brokered a deal with the a third place and bought a used aftermarket shaft for $10 just to get the car on the road until I can find decent one. Although I received a PM from a member saying that aftermarket shafts aren't as much of a concern with the MT, this is going to be the wife's daily and I don't even want to risk a busted CV leaving her stranded somewhere.

Anyone planning on doing this swap and looking for parts, it requires the CV axles from a 2001.5 or newer vehicle. Any of the B5 Audi A4s, B5 Passats, or some 2001 B5.5 styled Passats with B5 drivetrains will not work. Unless you swap axle flanges on the transmission to go to the older style.

Photos don't work, can you re-host them or link them again?

I didn't touch the picture files, must be some sort of a forum problem. Can an Admin look into this and fix it?

imo000 said:

I can say for sure that at 100km/h on the highway on cruise it uses ~4.8-4.9L/100km. Did this a few times while getting the emission readinesses set on this car. I'll repprt back once I have more real miles under the belt.

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IMO, I'm considering doing this swap myself on our b5.5
Mind me asking what RPM's the car is at in 5th gear at about 110-120km/h?

I'll have a look tomorrow but it is around 2200rpm if my memory is correct.

Checked it today and is around 1950 @100km/h and around 2400 @ 120km/h. This is an FHN transmission by the way.

imo000 said:

Checked it today and is around 1950 @100km/h and around 2400 @ 120km/h. This is an FHN transmission by the way.

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That is good, not bad at all.

Since our B5.5 is just sitting I need to at least make it sell-able or sell my mk4 and use the B5.5 with the 5-speed.

Do you have a total parts list of what you used for this swap? I looked through this thread and don't think I saw anything.

I'll put a list together tonight or tomorrow night.

You can always try to sell is as-is. That's how I bought mine.

imo000 said:

I'll put a list together tonight or tomorrow night.

You can always try to sell is as-is. That's how I bought mine.

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Thank you!
Well the Passat already has the BSM delete on it and a salvage title so we would be giving the car away for free pretty much lol.

Best option IMO is to go with the 5-speed and I'll either sell my MK4 and use the passat or just keep them both around. I do love the passat and the interior, ride and comfort compared to my mk4.

Here is a list of parts that I used for my conversion:

- FHN Transmission, came with a slave cylinder
- 1.8T manual Passat axles
- 1.8T Passat stock dual mass flywheel clutch assembly with release and pilot bearing.
- Left transmission mount and wiring connector for reverse light from a manual V6 Passat
- Shifter linkage from a manual Passat
- Shifter boot and knob, clutch pedal, slutch pedal rod, master cylinder and clutch line from a '98 A4 1.8T.
- I think I used some bolts form my bolt collection to connect the transmission to the engine, can't remember exactly.
- ECU reflash by TDTunning.
- Haven't yet installed a clutch interrupter switch but will be grafting one from the '96 A4 or one that fits a '99.5 Jetta.

Total cost for this, not including my labor was ~$1600. All parts, except the release and pilot bearings were used (clutch was a fresh 0km but a febuilt unit)

mrrhtuner said:

Thank you!
Well the Passat already has the BSM delete on it and a salvage title so we would be giving the car away for free pretty much lol.

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I think it would be still worth around $2000 as-is.

"- Right transmission mount and wiring connector for reverse light from a manual V6 Passat"
The right transmission mount from ANY b5 manual transmission Passat can be used. The LEFT transmission mount MUST be from a V6 Passat in order to fit a B5.5 TDI originally equipped with an auto trans.

Yes, sorry. I meant left but typed right.

Do you remember what year the donor cars were?
thanks!
d

The A4 was a 98, the V6 Passat was a B5 and I think so were the 1.8t axles. I took a tape measure to measure the axle flange diameter, just to be sure. The axles came from a junk yars and were already removed when I arrived to pick them up.

imo000 said:

Here is a list of parts that I used for my conversion:

- FHN Transmission, came with a slave cylinder
- 1.8T manual Passat axles
- 1.8T Passat stock dual mass flywheel clutch assembly with release and pilot bearing.
- Right transmission mount and wiring connector for reverse light from a manual V6 Passat
- Shifter linkage from a manual Passat
- Shifter boot and knob, clutch pedal, slutch pedal rod, master cylinder and clutch line from a '98 A4 1.8T.
- I think I used some bolts form my bolt collection to connect the transmission to the engine, can't remember exactly.
- ECU reflash by TDTunning.
- Haven't yet installed a clutch interrupter switch but will be grafting one from the '96 A4 or one that fits a '99.5 Jetta.

Total cost for this, not including my labor was ~$1600. All parts, except the release and pilot bearings were used (clutch was a fresh 0km but a febuilt unit)

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Thank you for the list.

Can you share your transmission import contact? I would like to price everything out and go from there.

I'm contemplating doing this swap and eventually finding a passat wagon and moving everything over to it in the long run.