Balance Shaft Upgrade Shops

[d0u8l3m]

Just had 413 Auto up in Westfield Mass do my balance shaft delete, timing belt, and an ATF change on the transmission. Mike was very nice and professional, had my car for a few days and took care of everything. I had an issue with the front bumper when he put it back on but it just ended up being some bracket that wasn't aligned/tightened all the way and was pushing it out a bit. Mike fixed it immediately.

Car is much quieter now and I honestly can't tell a difference in the vibration from before vs after. FYI though I've only owned the car for about a month and a half now so not sure if I would even be able to notice a difference by not having it that long. The transmission still shifts fine, it sketched me out one time where I thought it was slipping but that might just be me being paranoid about doing a transmission oil change on a car that has 121k on it, with no prior trans servicing. Mike showed me the old filter though and it was very clean, with no metal in it whatsoever. The previous owner was my buddy's grandmother so that might explain why the car is in such good shape.

Ill keep monitoring the car for leaks or transmission slippage, but either way if you need your BSM deleted (or any other work for that matter) I would definitely recommend 413 Auto

[wgd54]

I would like to put in a good word for Fast Enough Performance in Lexington, KY after having a BSD performed on my 2005 Passat TDI (154K miles). Chris runs a great shop and is very experienced in TDI issues. While in his shop, I also had my transmission torque converter replaced, glow plugs, dual pump, rocketchip tune, and even had my AC repaired after two (yes 2) different VW dealers in Cinci and Tampa could not fix it. The VW dealer PAID Fast Enough to fix the AC...
Its been three month since I've had the work performed and it runs like a top. I'm getting over 40mpg again and the performance is very perky. If you are within reasonable driving distance of Lexington, don't hesitate to look them up!

[dferdy]

Please add my shop to this list. Thanks

www.ferdinandautorepair.com

We are located in Marietta GA Just north of Atlanta


Douglas Ferdinand
770-560-1436

[TTolentino]

Greetings to all. I apologize if my question should be posted to a different thread but this thread seemed to me the most relevant. I purchased recently a BHW TDI engine with AT transmission from a 2004 Passat from our local Pull-a-Part, a rare find. Just eyeballing the shape and condition of the engine before pulling it satisfied me that it was worth salvaging for future transplant to my 2002 wagon, v-6 with AT. I am familiar with the balance shaft issues of this engine and the costs of replacing the OEM module. However, I am not ready yet to commit large sums of money to upgrading the engine, if, in fact there are other issues with this engine that I have not yet discovered. My question: assuming that there are no known issues with this balance shaft module, is it reasonable to just replace just the sprockets, chain, chain guide and hex drive shaft with new parts and still expect a good 40k to 50k miles more out of this engine? I know that I would still need to do a TB change as well. I am a conservative driver where mileage is more important to me than any performance (HP) enhancement. Basically I just want a good (not necessarily great) daily driver. vehicle. Thanks for your advice. Cheers!

[vwztips]

For the BSM, yes the geared BSM is expensive. I highly recommend switching over to the delete option as opposed to rebuilding what you have. I think part cost would be about the same if not more for rebuilding. You can buy the delete and timing belt kit together from Aaron at Cascade/Bora.

As for putting it in the 2002 V6 here are a few things you will need:
1. TDI ECU
2. TDI TCU ( I have one I can sell you if you need)
3. TDI gas pedal
4. Lock carrier and cross over pipe from any 2001.5-2005 1.8t (must have the clip in style hoses, not hose clamps) or 2004-2005 TDI
5. If you did not get the AC compressor, alternator or power steering pump, you will need those items too. Also the relays/fuses are different for the AC fan control for the 4 cylinder cars.

Lastly, one thing you need to verify is that the wiring harness for the TCU has the same pin outs between the 2002 V6 and 2004-2005 TDI's. They are known to change from year to year. Personally I would dump the auto and go with a manual.

I have put a TDI with 5 speed manual in a 2004 GLX V6 automatic. It is doable but just need some patience with some things you will encounter.

As far as the motor is concerned,

1. The cam needs to be inspected but if it needs a new one I would not change it until you get it the engine in, running and the bugs worked out.
2. Replace the temp sensor housing and tandem pump gasket while the engine is out.

[TTolentino]

Thank you gratefully for that advice. I, in fact, would love to have a manual in place of the AT, but since I have one already mated to the TDI I might as well get some use from it. On the other hand, selling it (AT) might just pay enough of the cost to switch to a manual to make the effort worthwhile. They seem to be available and rather cheap ( as little as 250.00 dollars from LKQ industries, and I recently saw one on eBay for 100.00, local pick up, on the web). Doing so would eliminate the TCU (would have to modify the ECU) and provide even greater fuel savings. I think I have the skill set to do the swap. I wonder though about the modifications to the crank shaft to accept the MT. How much effort and cost would it be to switch to a manual, roughly? Thanks.

[Col Sanders]

Just make sure you get a TDI manual trans. Gas trans no workey. Frans at Dutch Auto Parts.Com has all the parts in a kit. Pedals, clutch, axles, sub-frame and other stuff shipped to your door overnight via FedEx. Lots and lots of us have purchased from him. Prices are great. First class in everyway!

[TTolentino]

Col. Sanders, thanks you for that post. I have heard, also, favorable recommendations of Dutch Auto and will probably go ahead with the swap to the manual. In your conversion to a manual transmission, what did you do about the fuel tank and the low pressure fuel pump which I presume was available only for the TDIs in years 2004 and 2005? If I could I would rather keep my present "gas" tank and convert it for diesel, if practical to do so. The donor car from which this TDI came from may still have its fuel tank but I would rather just place the effort and expense on getting a new fuel pump and convert the fuel tank in the 2002 wagon that I have. Thanks for your advice.

[vwztips]

I have done a couple of gas to TDI conversions where I left the old tank in. I purged the tank of any remaining fuel. I replaced the fuel filter under the car with a new one.

You will need to remove the plate in the filler neck so you can get the larger diesel nozzle in it to fill it up.

Once that is done, I put 5 gallons of diesel in the tank, hot wired the pump and ran it through lines to the front, back into the 5 gallon can.

I put a simple T in the supply and return lines in the engine bay so the high pressure fuel pump could dump back to the tank. It has worked well.

I have also swapped tanks with a diesel car tank. It is some work since you have to drop the exhaust and the rear axle to drop it.

[TTolentino]

vwztips, thank you very much for the advice. The fact that you applied a T-connector to siphon off the extra fuel/fuel pressure from the "gas" fuel tank pump seems a practical solution to the problem that I thought would occur if I kept the old fuel tank my 2002 car rather than tackle taking apart the diesel tank from the donor car. Did you use any "gas" manual transmissions in your conversions? If so, which ones and what modifications did you employ? I have heard that the gear ratios are different from, say, the 1.8L turbo manual compared to the v-6, 2.6L manual. Also, the mounting plates will be different between gas and diesel transmissions; hence, a swap of the subframe support will also be needed if a conversion is performed. As an aside, the owner of a VW salvage parts supplier in California, apparently visits Germany fairly often and buys the manuals for the TDIs and container ships them to the US. I plan to call and find out what his prices are for these manual transmissions.

[vwztips]

For my first conversion I used a DVZ from a V6 car because:

1. I needed to make sure everything worked and I had all the proper parts before shipping over a unit from Europe
2. The DVZ is cheap
3. The DVZ was used in the V6 which has the same subframe as the Passat TDI or any automatic Passat. You just need the drivers side trans bracket from the V6. No need to swap subframes

[jhennessey]

Just wanted to add a reliable TDI shop in the Baltimore/BWI Airport area. They just finished up completing a balance shaft delete for me. They have also done the gear dive version. Price was fair, work was done quickly.
http://www.sinisterautoworks.com/

[duteman2]

I have also had Mike from 413 Auto do quite a bit of work for me, a major project that included a BSD and Manual Tranny swap (parts from Frans at Dutch who was great), suspension work, ECU Malone tuning, and general maintenance on our Golf, Bora and F350 PowerStroke. He does excellent work for a fair price and is a very conscientious man. I can't recommend him more highly and I've been around shops for a large portion of my life. I'm glad he's on my team!

He moved his shop down the road to a building be bought, a permanent location. His new address is:

413 Auto
128 Meadow St.
Westfield MA 01086
413-642-3799

[Dave1980]

Had a great experience at Mairs Continental Motors near Reading Pa. They did a timing service, replaced the leaking oil cooler, flushed the engine several times and a balance shaft delete. They did great work and are very familiar with these cars. After getting the car back did a Malone tune and the car runs awesome.