Project Kill Da Auto Wabbit!, Or how I learned to love the Manual Swap

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”
Does anyone know anything about him? Saved many asses with this thread and likely hundreds of thousands of dollars in shop repairs
Yes @pkhoury was pretty close with him, as I understand it they worked together on a lot of different projects. Here is the thread about Brian's passing:
 

Matt-98AHU

Loose Nut Behind the Wheel Vendor
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Location
Gresham, OR
TDI
2001 Golf TDI, 2005 Passat wagon, 2004 Touareg V10.
Hey man, this post is older now and the all the pictures and attachments no longer work. Do you still have the wiring PDF available?
Check boertje's signature.

A lot of us had issues with alphaseinor's wire colors in his original version at least.

I've done dozens of manual swaps and I still like to use boertje's PDF as a quick reference on wiring. It has photos as well...

I sometimes do a slight variation on it. And I've had to make up my own way of doing things on BEWs and gas engines as well. Having VW's wiring diagrams certainly helps when figuring out a slightly different way of doing things. I have done a Beetle DSG to manual too... probably something else I should contribute to that file! Should have taken more photos when I was doing this sort of thing more regularly.

Speaking of, for those cars that originally had a 09A automatic, one way of simplifying the VSS wiring is to not even wire the VSS sensor up at all. Just make sure you have the right connection for VSS from instrument cluster output going to the ECU. Then hack the cluster to pick up VSS via CAN bus from the ABS module so you don't have to do all that wiring for the VSS. Plus, that opens you up to being able to use newer transmissions that don't have that sensor anyway....
 

rustman1984

Active member
Joined
Jan 10, 2024
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI ALH manual 5-speed, sedan and wagon
Check boertje's signature.

A lot of us had issues with alphaseinor's wire colors in his original version at least.

I've done dozens of manual swaps and I still like to use boertje's PDF as a quick reference on wiring. It has photos as well...

I sometimes do a slight variation on it. And I've had to make up my own way of doing things on BEWs and gas engines as well. Having VW's wiring diagrams certainly helps when figuring out a slightly different way of doing things. I have done a Beetle DSG to manual too... probably something else I should contribute to that file! Should have taken more photos when I was doing this sort of thing more regularly.

Speaking of, for those cars that originally had a 09A automatic, one way of simplifying the VSS wiring is to not even wire the VSS sensor up at all. Just make sure you have the right connection for VSS from instrument cluster output going to the ECU. Then hack the cluster to pick up VSS via CAN bus from the ABS module so you don't have to do all that wiring for the VSS. Plus, that opens you up to being able to use newer transmissions that don't have that sensor anyway....
Very good info here. That definitely points me in the right direction, thank you!
 

pkhoury

That guy with the goats
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Location
Mountain Home, TX
TDI
2013 JSW, 2 x 2002 Golf, 1995 F450 7.3L
Yes @pkhoury was pretty close with him, as I understand it they worked together on a lot of different projects. Here is the thread about Brian's passing:
I still miss him A LOT. I'd be lying if I didn't think about him most of the days during the week, especially as I'm still going through and listing the retro computer stuff I bought from his estate.

That said - he did two manual swaps for cars I have here; my Ute, that I'm contemplating selling (I honestly lost 99% of interest in that project after he passed away), and my DSOL Golf that I drive in rotation with DSEL (which is a native 5 speed). In theory, I could use either car as a reference for photos. Pretty much, the TCM comes out, coding for the engine is done to block 1 in VCDS (unless you're using one of @burpod 's tunes, where the coding number doesn't affect transmission type anymore), and you're wiring in the two relays on the clutch pedal, and the two sensors on the transmission. I think one is for reverse and the other is a speed sensor. I forgot what wires go where on the ECU/TCM harness, but it's pretty straightforward. I regret not watching exactly what he did, when he last did it for me in 2022 on DSOL, but I finally did 100% of the mechanical part myself. Getting the original automatic POS out is also nice, as you don't have access to the left side LCA with that boat anchor in the way.
 

DaJokr

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2025
Location
Terrace, BC
TDI
2004 Golf
Sorry to be bumping an old-ish thread...
Recently acquired an 04 BEW that was converted from the auto to manual. They got the backup lights working, the switch that requires using the clutch to start the car, but did not get cruise working. They explained the wire is there coiled up, just needs to be connected to the ecu...pin 66 from my initial reading.
After reading the pdf though, I must admit I am a little confused as there is a section on pg 29 for the BEW and its talking about pin 43? I'm not a huge fan of auto wiring since its pretty easy to fry a computer. It also said to remove ECU pin 19 and move that to hole 66. So im a bit confused.

In a confusing nutshell...

Is pin 19 currently what is connected to the clutch switch then and is just being moved over to pin 66? Or is the BEW not using either of these and i have to do something with pin 43?

Anyone in the Terrace areawith some experience willing to help a new guy out possibly?

Just dont wanna end up with a paper weight.
 
Top