W8 6sp manual AWD tdi swap

[50harleyrider]

Would this be a feasible swap? Anyone had experience or tendancy? Would that be cool or what?

 

[1854sailor]

The search function is your friend. Club member otty owns one of these conversions. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=356897

 

[50harleyrider]

Thanks sailor. Read through it. Looks like otty or whomever did his swap brought a european AVF motored TDI into Canada so he had the right harness and stuff. I wonder about a BHW US donor though. The Canadians have a lot more flexibility with importing stuff. I wonder if a BHW ecu would talk to all the neat stuff on an AWD W8? Sounds like Scott Dewitt can provide the TDI 6th gear to get it nice and tall. I'd even use an FHN 5sp which I have on the shelf along with all the manual stuff. I've got a bead on a US 02 GLX wagon AWD but it's automatic. Transfer cases and the like a problem? I need to talk to Whitbread.

 

[Nash_TDI]

I think Whitbread has one in his que to do. My brother also has a W8 with the thoughts of eventually TDI swapping it. The W8 is a LOT of fun though!

 

[eyeguy]

You do that swap & I'm gonna errr uhhh somebody is liable to steal that car!!

 

[1854sailor]

Heres a really slick/sick conversion done 10 years ago:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=69668

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=82417

 

[Uberhare]

Everything is different on the W8.....By far the most difficult one to swap. Trust me.

 

[Volk14]

As far as I know, the transmission and differential have to have the same gear ratio. It's not only sourcing the transmission.

 

[otty]

Yes, I have one, and it is awesome. I did not do the swap myself. Uberhare helped with the wiring that is still not sorted out (had to leave Ontario before he could complete it after several after midnight wiring bonanzas!). Really it is the wiring that makes this so difficult. The W8 is wired to the nines.

Still haven't figured out and do not have:

Separate highbeams working (different headlight setup on these than the TDIs)
A/C not working and some weirdness with the climatronic
Cruise control not working
Took a long time to figure out the wiring for the three (yes three) fuel tanks in these - there are something like 4 lift pumps! You can't even fill up without them working to push the fuel around to all the tanks.

Overall I don't care much about these flaws and just love a 6 speed AWD TDI a LOT!

 

[50harleyrider]

I'm leaning toward converting an 02 AWD automatic GLX wagon to a manual BHW. What would I need to start sourcing?. Or should I forget it? My 5sp FHN is not useable since the swap car is AWD?

 

[vwztips]

Going from a FWD V6 Passat GLX gasser to a BHW was a lot of work. Final product was nice, but not sure I would do it again. It was "easier" to replace the wiring harness behind the dash then splicing in to make things work (IMHO). I also ditched the the problematic Climatronic system in favor of the manual HVAC.

 

[50harleyrider]

You will need a complete BHW donor car. There will some wiring and parts swapping to do, particularly if the GLX is a V6 like I think it is. It's always best to start with a 4cyl car for a BHW swap. You'll need an AWD TDI transaxle with a final drive that matches the one in the wagon, or get the rear diff that matches your choice of transaxle. You'll need the front section of the driveshaft, the auto is a different length. You'll also need the subframe that matches your choice of transaxle. Not sure if the V6 one works or not. Then its just the usual manual swap stuff, axles, shifter box, clutch master and slave, pedal assembly, clutch, flywheel etc.

The FHN is useless for this swap, unless you want to load all the gearsets into a locally sourced AWD manual trans case, some gearsets may not fit depending on vintage. I've been there, it's less fun than you think.

Will an AWD TDI transaxle then have to be sourced from Europe? Were there any Audi TDI 4cyl ones available here? I really want to stay with a 4 cyl TDI swap. The European v-6 TDI into W8 I saw on here done a few years back is probably a bit much for my experience and budget. Would the instrument cluster also have to be sourced from an AWD European TDI? Maybe I should just do a FWD manual swap first time arround as currently planned.