B5.5 TDI Wagon 5-speed swap - CoolairVW review

Hey guys!

I've had my manual Passat for about two and a half months and I really wanted to do a shout out to Richard at CoolAirVW for the great work he did. Here's the story.

I contacted Richard in the spring inquiring about doing a manual swap on a Passat. I know he's done TONS of Golfs and Jettas but wanted to know if he'd do a Passat. Believe it or not he was the closest shop I could find that would even CONSIDER doing it. I live up in Winnipeg, MB, and it was an 840 mile trip to drop the car off. Thankfully I had an 02 Golf TDI as a backup while Richard had my car. I don't think he believed i was serious till I made the drop date. lol

Fast forward to the end of summer, with some challenges along the way (Now have a new valeo clutch in the car...) I picked up the car in September. I remember Richard saying "It's got a bit more power than before" I about crapped my pants flooring it for the first time! Power like I've NEVER experienced out of a 2.0L! The Malone 1.5 tune certainly helped but you could tell this is what this car was made for...a manual! The quality of workmanship was impeccable. I wouldn't have known this car didn't come from factory that way. Everything looks OEM, no warning lights, and cruise works great (with some tuning tweaks from Malone that Richard took care of before I got there.)

Richard went above and beyond on this project to make sure I knew what was going on and the quality of his work. I'd recommend him in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a shop to do their Passat. (And NO this is not a paid advertisement!)

The results: So far about 6mpg improvement over stock mileage logs...HOWEVER...keep in mind I only got the Passat back in the fall. I can't wait to get some summer runs with warmer temps and really see what this car will do. I've only had one tank UNDER 40mpg hand calculated since!

SO: Fence sitters: Sell that crap auto out of your Passat for $2K ...and put a stick in it! You won't regret it! Feel free to ask questions if you like. Keep up the great work Richard!

Build read can be found here on Richard's site: http://kansascitytdi.com/passat-5-speed-manual-trans-conversion/

Glad to hear you are enjoying it. This is something that is definitely on my radar!

How long did it take start to finish? Unlike you, I do not have another TDI sitting around while the work is done.

Hey dieselFTW!

My car was the first he did so it took quite awhile. He told me going into it that it wasn't going to be a short job and I planned for it. I'd have to have Richard chime in as far as what it would run now but my car was 3 months. I would think it would be a couple weeks...

It certainly changes the car considerably. I figured with the mileage difference and selling the auto trans I should have the swap paid off in a couple years at the current fuel prices. But we all know the diesel prices are only going to continue going up. Not to mention tires break loose in 2nd now. It's hard to keep your foot out of it! Third factor of why I did it was the resale of the car. No one has sold a manual wagon yet but I can imagine they should be worth quite a bit more with a manual when that time comes!

That makes 4 wagons with manual that I know of. I am sure there are a few more out there.

I allow for 2 weeks once all the parts are gathered. Mainly due to the what ifs when something doesn't quite go as planned (like an incorrect part or needing a part that was not anticipated). Plus I want to drive it for a few days for what I call "shake down", to make sure everything is performing as intended.

Glad you are having a good experience blujett2.0. I try to tell people it is a different car all togehter. The 5 speed, BSM delete and stage 2 tune in the sedan is quite surprising to say the least.

Did you count mine? It's a wagon.

Yep - get rid of that crap slushbox while it's not broken and worth something. You'll never look back.

Wow I call this dedication! 840 mile on-way trip and three months wait!!!! Holy cow!!!!!!I feel like there is now a surplus of used GMR transmissions for sale in North America so anybody else considering selling theirs to re-coup the money of the swap might have to wait a long time ...




ps my mileage gain has been around 15% using TDTuning Stage 1

I think we should start a manual Passat club! lol There's starting to be more of us around!

I completely agree Uberhare! I drove my auto Passat today...it just feels lethargic after the peppiness of the manual and tune. I only wish I had the extra capital to get the 6-speed!

I was planning on heading to the east coast to get mine done but I just couldn't justify the two trips...THANKFULLY I had the Golf as a backup and a very understanding wife that loves road trips. AND it was well worth the wait! I love seeing the guys jaws drop around here when they see the shifter where the auto should be.

Tikal that's certainly a nice mileage bump!

I am hoping for an induction into this private club very soon! Just have to get through Christmas with three little ones running around....

I put some pics of this conversion on my page.

http://kansascitytdi.com/passat-5-speed-manual-trans-conversion/

lol, hey that car looks familiar! Nice writeup Richard and great work!

@CoolairVW

At some point I am going to want to do this. (Maybe next spring/summer) It is encouraging to see more and more success stories. Kansas City is not TOO far from Chicago... no rush, but please PM me with what a rough estimate of cost would be. You would be more than welcome to keep my auto trans and do whatever you want with it. Currently, I have 82k on it and it shifts great.

The auto trans bothers me right around 40-43mph... it does not know whether to be in 4th or 5th gear! For that reason alone, I would maybe consider a 6-speed MT

I think mine is the only 6speed manual 4motion Wagon though! can I join the club anyways? ;p

You can be king of the club for all that work.

Don't know if I can be king for just buying it already swapped. The guy who did it makes his living doing swaps and importing Euro cars with tops chopped off and selling parts. Apparently the swap took 1 week. Probably should have taken 2 withh the wiring isues I am left with lol!

I would love to convert mine, is he still doing them?

Is a good used auto really worth 2k?

i'm still doing them. Actually doing a Eurovan 5 speed conversion right now. Quite interesting....

bbob203 said:

Is a good used auto really worth 2k?

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Probably not anymore...but selling the working auto certainly does help offset the cost. Last tank was 45.5mpg.

Thats what I like to hear 38mpg has got me wanting to sell this damn thing already.

bbob203 said:

Thats what I like to hear 38mpg has got me wanting to sell this damn thing already.

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I LOVE pulling away from filling up and it displaying 1300km to empty. The low mpg was one thing I was really discouraged with the Passat. Once you get rid of that power robbing auto it really is a TOTALLY different car. No regrets at all!