Project: 2004 Passat TDI-Manual Swap, BSMD, And More!

50mpgtdi

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Location
Platteville WI
TDI
04 VW Passat TDI
Update on the car. I have just short of 1000 miles on it already, and I love it! Mixed driving in town and on country backroads with a little bit of highway driving averages around 35-37 mpg, and the trip I took to Road America this weekend was mostly highway, I got 39.5 on the way up and 41.4 on the way back. It's been running great, rides nice, and everything works just like a factory equipped car. Of course the RPMs are high at highway speeds, ~2900RPM at 75MPH, but as other than that, I couldn't be more happy with it.
 

Syncrogreg

Vendor
Joined
Feb 22, 2010
Location
Nashville TN
TDI
2.0 TDI CR SWAP ALWAYS FOR SALE
Awesome!

I was wondering if anybody know that FCT trans code. I have 3 trans on the floor 2 DVZ and 1 FCT I just want the one with thetallest ratio for my TDI racecar.

Let me know.

Thanks

Greg
 

imo000

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Location
Cambridge
TDI
2009 M-B ML320 Diesel & '05 Passat TDI Manual 5-Speed
Awesome!
I was wondering if anybody know that FCT trans code. I have 3 trans on the floor 2 DVZ and 1 FCT I just want the one with thetallest ratio for my TDI racecar.
Let me know.
Thanks
Greg

Why don't just mark the axle flange and count the ratio?
 

50mpgtdi

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Location
Platteville WI
TDI
04 VW Passat TDI
Just wanted to give a little update on this project. I've got 18k miles on it now. Everything had been working pretty flawlessly until today. 3rd gear sync ring broke and jammed in the internal linkage so the trans will only shift into 4th. Does anyone know a good place to order trans parts? Or am I just better off to get another used trans?
 

vwztips

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Location
Greenville, SC
TDI
2005 Passat GLS Wagon TDI 5 spd manual w/BSM delete 2011 Tiguan TDI/DSG 2005 Audi A4 Avant 6MQ TDI 2011 BMW X5 35d
Which gearbox do you have? If FHN or DUK you may want to rebuild as they are hard to come by. Those gearboxes aren't too hard to rebuild. ECS carries those parts. It's funny as Porsche and VW uses the same part #'s but the Porsche parts are usually cheaper
 

imo000

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Location
Cambridge
TDI
2009 M-B ML320 Diesel & '05 Passat TDI Manual 5-Speed
Get the part numbers and call the dealer. Then you'll know if it's worth fixing it or not.
 

50mpgtdi

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Location
Platteville WI
TDI
04 VW Passat TDI
I have a DVD from a V6 Passat. I determined it wasn't worth rebuilding when I found one with 142k miles for $100. Haha! Thank you for the info though.
 

KERMA

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Sep 23, 2001
Location
here
TDI
99 beetle and 04 jetta
do you still have the ABS light on? That can easily be fixed with a new OBD tune (no BDM required)
 

50mpgtdi

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Location
Platteville WI
TDI
04 VW Passat TDI
I do still have the ABS/TCS/CEL on. Could you PM me details about the OBD tune?

On another note, what are people running for transmission fluid? I have Amsoil manual transmission fluid in it, and I'm just not real happy with the shift quality. I used Royal Purple in my 03 jetta, would that also be a good option for this transmission as well?
 

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
I am also using a v6 donor car for my conversion. Its an early 99 model so the brake reservoir will not interchange.

I noticed on my 05 it has a nipple on the bottom of the reservoir, can i just cut that plastic tip off that nipple to use to feed my clutch slave? I cant see any reason not to buy figured i should ask first.

Or do i swap the older brake master cyl?

Or do i just order a later brake/clutch reservoir?
 

Windex

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Location
Cambridge
TDI
05 B5V 01E FRF
I am also using a v6 donor car for my conversion. Its an early 99 model so the brake reservoir will not interchange.
I noticed on my 05 it has a nipple on the bottom of the reservoir, can i just cut that plastic tip off that nipple to use to feed my clutch slave? I cant see any reason not to buy figured i should ask first.
Or do i swap the older brake master cyl?
Or do i just order a later brake/clutch reservoir?
Just cut the nipple and have it feed the clutch master.

Careful on the feed hose - it's a specific kind of rubber to withstand brake fluid. Expensive at the dealer if I recall
 

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Will do. Got her detached from the reservoir but not yet off of the master. My local hose/hydralic shops probably sell brake fluid compatable hose that will fit by the foot but i would rather avoid that route!


So on your engine swap. Ive got a cherry picker engine hoist but may end up borrowing my fathers skid loader to pull the motor. Ive nearly got both motors ready to pull. The v6 is a nightmare compared to the BHW.

It appears i can yank both the engine and transmission at the same time on both cars without touching the subframe. I wanted to verify this before i hook up the chains.
 

50mpgtdi

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Location
Platteville WI
TDI
04 VW Passat TDI
Uberhare, thanks for the fluid recommendation. Is that the OEM fluid?

I think you can probably do it that way, but I never removed my engine. I left it hanging from an engine support bar while I did my transmission and engine work.
 

Volk14

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Location
Asheville, NC
TDI
05 Passat wagon TDI, 99 Beetle ALH
It appears i can yank both the engine and transmission at the same time on both cars without touching the subframe. I wanted to verify this before i hook up the chains.
It is possible. I have removed plenty of 1.8t's, V6's and TDIs from Passats and Audis, engine, transmission and harness, all together without dropping the sub frame.
 

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Sweet thank you. I know many remove the subframe to do the bsm delete and tb but i think it will be much easier sitting on a work table.


Any advantages to freeing up the exhaust while it's out? Cat delete, removing muffler or do these small displacement diesels get gutless with not enough back pressure?
 

imo000

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Location
Cambridge
TDI
2009 M-B ML320 Diesel & '05 Passat TDI Manual 5-Speed
I worked on an '90 Mustang GT a long time ago that had the mufflers removed. Once I swapped out the cat-back straight pipes with ones that had mufflers (same pipe diameter) the car was noticeably more powerful. My butt dyno guess is ~20hp to the wheel. A few years ago I removed the mufflers on my Porsche 996 and replaced them with straight pipes and the car felt weaker. So back pressure in naturally aspirated engines I thin is important. In boosted applications, not so much.
 

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Stock exhaust is fine to 170+hp. That said, no engine has ever gained power by having more backpressure, where did that idea ever come from?

The cat is not a restriction though, and they stink like an old tractor without an oxidation cat. I still run a cat on my 200+hp audi A4 BHW swap.
Not enough back pressure and you lose low end torque but pick up top end horsepower. Good for the race track but not on the street.

Very common issue on small displacement turbo engines. Wanted to check with you guys on these small diesel. On the diesel swaps i usually mess with anything less than 3 inch exhaust is considered small. 6 inch isnt unheard of.
 

KERMA

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Sep 23, 2001
Location
here
TDI
99 beetle and 04 jetta
these cars have zero overlap in the cam so just get the backpressure as low as you can
 

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
these cars have zero overlap in the cam so just get the backpressure as low as you can
Do these cars get obnoxiously loud without a cat/muffler or does the turbo keep them pretty modest? I was thinking with a stage 2 tune a cat delete would be the minimum I'd want.
 

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
With only a stage 2 tune, you don't really need to do anything. If you really must cut something off it's best to lose something heavy and restrictive, like the rear muffler. The cat is light and free flowing.

Thank you. When i get coilovers (i can feel one or more of my shocks are going out) and i take it in for an alignment I'll have the muffler removed at the same time.
 

50mpgtdi

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Location
Platteville WI
TDI
04 VW Passat TDI
So I drained my trans and changed the fluid to try to get better shift quality....the fluid was full of brass shavings and hasn't been in the car but a few thousand miles. Is it possible that I got two bum transmissions in a row? Could this failure be caused by the throttle hang that I experience due to not having the car tuned yet? I thought these transmissions were supposed to be really reliable, but having two transmissions fail 3rd gear syncro within 20k miles isn't very reassuring.....
 

zzdiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Location
sask. mostly now Wa.
TDI
05 passat tdi Geared BSM and Bewcam 2nd 2005 deleted ,converted and bew cam stage 2 Malone3 tune.
Is it possible your clutch isn't disengaging fully? Are you forcing shifting?
 

50mpgtdi

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Location
Platteville WI
TDI
04 VW Passat TDI
I believe it is disengaging fully. It doesn't try to creep in gear with the clutch in, shifting into first or reverse from neutral is easy, and every other gear shifts well, its just 3rd gear will grind or just not shift at all if you don't time the shift just perfect. Both transmissions were ok when first installed and then progressively got worse. The first transmission actually broke the 3rd gear sync ring in half. I don't force the shift, i generally shift with just a 3 finger hold on the shifter, I never even hold the shifter with a really firm grip.
 

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Until you can get the tune I'd really slow down the shifting. The combo of a less than ideal weight flyweel plus rev hanging between shifts will probably be the culprit. It's possible you got two transmissions that were driven like someone stole them but without ruling out the above it's hard to say 100%. The heavy flyweel is to lower the diesel vibrations "chatter" that some have felt with lighter flywheels. In my experience with other transmissions ive found these torque pulses will first eat syncros then possibly bearings.
 

50mpgtdi

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Location
Platteville WI
TDI
04 VW Passat TDI
I will definitely keep those things in mind. I'm just confused as to why its only effecting 3rd gear and nothing else? Is there a larger gear ratio jump between 2nd and 3rd than there is between any other 2 gears that could be causing this?
 

imo000

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Location
Cambridge
TDI
2009 M-B ML320 Diesel & '05 Passat TDI Manual 5-Speed
I don't think this was caused by the hang up or the flywheel. Sounds to me you got two bad transmissions instead.
 

50mpgtdi

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Location
Platteville WI
TDI
04 VW Passat TDI
I got a hold of the salvage yard that I got this last transmission from. They usually just have a standard 30 day warranty, but they agreed to work with me on this deal since I am a little over 60 days since purchase, and offered to sell me another one for $50!!! Kind of a pain to have to do this all again, but I won't complain about that deal!
 
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