Another ALH MK$ TDI auto to Manual swap Question

Asbury030 · Jun 20, 2017

Well... My auto tranny is getting close to its last leg. I do have updated bosio Injectors. That's it for upgrades for the time being, but I do plan on doing a tune and an EGR delete in the future. I am considering since I want more power that instead of going with another auto I should just do the whole swap to a manual. My question is how much am looking at price wise to have this done, is it worth it, and is there a place that sells like a complete conversion kit so I know that I have everything to do the swap? Is this something that I could possibly do myself or should I pay someone to do it? The car has just a little over 200,000mi on it. Thank you guys for your time.

UhOh · Jun 20, 2017

No idea what your skills are (or whether you even have any appendages, which come in handy when doing a lot of automotive work

).

If you look in the vendor thread in the classifieds forums you'll find a couple of vendors there that sell complete kits: Dutch Auto is one; RyanP is another. Seems like for an 02J (5sp) you're going to be in the neighborhood of $900 or so (there's also a clutch to consider). If you want to go 02m (6spd) then prices jump up: it's an option, so figure it's worth mentioning (I have a car with one).

If you're thinking about doing the swap yourself then you can take a big chunk of costs out of the equation. There's a definitive swap guide out there by bjoerte (I got my 6spd car from him), do a search. Not sure if of any swap folks in you area, but there are a handful of great folks who do do these things.

Rrusse11 · Jun 21, 2017

Asbury,

If you have to ask if you could do it yourself, the answer, bluntly, is no.
With unlimited time and a heated, well-equipped shop, preferably with
a lift, ability to read directions and swing a wrench effectively, sure, it can be done. But I hunted for quite a while before I found someone to
do mine, and more than one good mechanic who was capable of the
job and had done it before, just didn't want to go there.

I bought a kit off Ebay, added a taller 5th gear and a Peloquin LSD and had the tranny overhauled. Ball park total ~$4200. Not cheap, about
half of that was labor. If I can hang on to the vehicle for 10yrs, well worth it for me.

Find the right donor vehicle, do all the work yourself, it's feasible to
do it for a grand or so.

At the other end of the spectrum, you can go down to the dealers and sign up for payments on a new car.

Asbury030 · Jun 21, 2017

Thanks for the input... I have completely done a frame off resto on a Suzuki samurai, installed the lift and everything. I do have a buddy that has a shop that I could borrow his lift... the only true thing that worries me is the electrical portion of it and I don't have the vagcom deal either. As for buying a new car... The whole reason I bought this car was to not have any payments and enjoy the car. I don't necessarily want to do it myself for the saving money aspect, but for the experience.

csstevej · Jun 21, 2017

You don't need a lift, I did mine in the driveway, on stands with a floor jack pretty much by myself. Had the neighbor come over for 10 minutes to help me guide in the transmission.

The wiring now is a lot better explained then about 10 years ago when I did mine . It was still learn as you install.
Wiring shouldn't take you more than a couple of hrs if that.
I didn't have VCDS when I did mine, found someone who had one to recode the ecu to a manual from an automatic.
I did mine at 120,xxx car now has 381,xxx miles on it with teaching 3 kids to drive a stick.

flee · Jun 21, 2017

My opinion is there's few things you can't do yourself on a 2002 TDI.
I have a better than average mechanical ability coupled
with an uncanny ability to get it wrong the first time.
It averages out, I guess.

Oh yeah, I don't do my own paint.

UhOh · Jun 21, 2017

Rrusse11 said:
If you have to ask if you could do it yourself, the answer, bluntly, is no.

Hmm... I asked a well professional whether he thought I could flush and scrub my well and he said yes: this was after lengthy discussions; he realized that I like to do work myself and that I had a fair amount of background information, though no actual experience. Suffice it to say I've done everything short of actually drilling a well- I learned a lot, and I've gotten great results. Sometimes one just needs some reassurance. If the OP is willing to give it a try then I'd bet that he'd be able to do it: there's step-by-step instructions, plus lots of on-line help from forum members.

Rrusse11 · Jun 22, 2017

Asbury030 said:
Thanks for the input... I have completely done a frame off resto on a Suzuki samurai, installed the lift and everything. I do have a buddy that has a shop that I could borrow his lift... the only true thing that worries me is the electrical portion of it and I don't have the vagcom deal either. As for buying a new car... The whole reason I bought this car was to not have any payments and enjoy the car. I don't necessarily want to do it myself for the saving money aspect, but for the experience.

If experience is what you're after, and it sounds like you've tackled big
jobs before, by all means go for it. I fully understand the "little red hen" approach, cars and mechanicals just ain't my area of expertise, or
more importantly, what motivates me. Now wanna' talk wooden
boatbuilding, antique restoration, cabinetmaking? Lol, I can wax
rhapsodic for hours, {

).

Cheers,
R*2

Rrusse11 · Jun 22, 2017

UhOh said:
Hmm... I asked a well professional whether he thought I could flush and scrub my well and he said yes: this was after lengthy discussions; he realized that I like to do work myself and that I had a fair amount of background information, though no actual experience. Suffice it to say I've done everything short of actually drilling a well- I learned a lot, and I've gotten great results. Sometimes one just needs some reassurance. If the OP is willing to give it a try then I'd bet that he'd be able to do it: there's step-by-step instructions, plus lots of on-line help from forum members.

Point taken, I too do most of my own work. Crawling around under cars though has never been something I enjoy, only a mechanic of necessity
here.

Rick03TDI · Jun 22, 2017

Where in PA are you? I'm in York County, I've tried to get ahold of RC for a tune but haven't heard back in weeks

UhOh · Jun 22, 2017

Rrusse11 said:
Point taken, I too do most of my own work. Crawling around under cars though has never been something I enjoy, only a mechanic of necessity
here.

I totally understand. I do things out of necessity too. I've got several TDIs, a truck and a couple of tractors (and other stuff) that I maintain. My well issue was something that came as "Plan B" due to economic issues: was going to have a new well drilled (after saving up- job loss nixed that plan); old well had been abandoned and I was using a temporary water feed (an agreement, which I'd committed to drop within a set time). I think that things like this, a trans swap, could end up giving one a lot of confidence in taking things head-on when it's absolutely a requirement that one does so. There's also things that you learn when you do some bigger projects that are valuable for other things you might do.

csstevej · Jun 22, 2017

UhOh said:
I totally understand. I do things out of necessity too. I've got several TDIs, a truck and a couple of tractors (and other stuff) that I maintain. My well issue was something that came as "Plan B" due to economic issues: was going to have a new well drilled (after saving up- job loss nixed that plan); old well had been abandoned and I was using a temporary water feed (an agreement, which I'd committed to drop within a set time). I think that things like this, a trans swap, could end up giving one a lot of confidence in taking things head-on when it's absolutely a requirement that one does so. There's also things that you learn when you do some bigger projects that are valuable for other things you might do.

Well said!

Millennium Falcon · Jun 23, 2017

I just found this today...... Asbury: what did you end up doing? I did a 5-speed swap last fall on my wagon. If you have some skills and patience it isnt a bad job. I enjoyed it and learned a lot about my car. There is so much info out these on this swap that if you can wrench and follow step by step instructions you can do this! Let us know what you decided on.

steve6 · Jun 23, 2017

There's a guy in Canada that will sell you a kit, shipped to you. Hi name is Andrew, contact him for more info. It ends up being an decent deal because the USD is much stronger right now.

http://canadacatalyst.ca/

BobnOH · Jun 23, 2017

Rick03TDI said:
Where in PA are you? I'm in York County, I've tried to get ahold of RC for a tune but haven't heard back in weeks

Yes, he is hard to get ahold of, keep trying.
As for the swap, rough rough estimate 2500USD. You can do it yourself, you would need to source instructions from various sources and you could end up with minor issues (which you can work out). You will want to have a VCDS device available.
I would consider paying someone who has done a few successfully, hard to find those people.

mittzlepick · Jun 23, 2017

i did two, not bad if you can change a transmission then you can do this. wiring it up is straightforward. best to find a donor car then you have it all and lots of spare parts. The scrapyards dont want to deal with your shopping list. next best thing is to find a tdi hoarder like me in your locale.

mathanz · Jun 23, 2017

If you're on a budget it might be a good idea to buy a parts car, pull what you need, and part out the rest to recoup costs. This also gets you more hands-on experience with the car if that's also what you're looking for. I did this and had the parts sitting in my garage waiting for my 01m to have problems. Had a guru lined up to do the swap for about $1k in labor. I ended up selling the car while it was still running fine and threw in the swap parts as a deal sweetener.

Another ALH MK$ TDI auto to Manual swap Question

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