[vwbusman66]

Hey yall, I picked up this '09 JSW about a month ago. A little less than 2 years ago (January 2020), I had a 2011 reflex silver 2.5S/5 speed JSW that met an untimely death after a I was rear-ended. I've been passively looking for another manual 5 cylinder wagon since then, and this car popped up for very cheap, so I went ahead and scooped it. And it came on a set of pretty good Watkins Glen wheels (my favorites).

The 0A4 did what most do and had been whining for a while and finally started sounding like there was gravel in the case, which was the last straw for the PO. He had already swapped one 5 speed into it after the first died a similar death at 140k. This one quit at around 170k. The guy was super cool and had a gorgeous black/black 6 speed B5 S4 avant and was a photographer for BaT, hence the beauty shots from the ad.

 

[vwbusman66]

This past weekend I went ahead and pulled the very unhappy 0A4 in preparation for the 02Q swap next weekend.
Safe to say, it was thoroughly messed up. When I was removing the driver's axle, I noticed that the entire flange in the diff was moving all around. The diff hadn't yet exited the case, but it was well on its way to machining itself a hole. The output shaft seal on the driver's side was completely gone, hence the massive leak.

My favorite picture, where the oil soaked into the cardboard and left all the metal giltter behind.

 

[Stromaluski]

In for updates.

 

[vwbusman66]

Two weeks ago after pulling the 5 speed, I picked up a good used AWE catback for the car with both the Touring and Track 3rd pipes for $450 and a Spulen vacuum pump delete plate for $50.

Last weekend was a near total fail. The transmission install came to a grinding halt 30 minutes into working on the car last Saturday when I found a small crack on the lower timing cover. I found a used one on eBay for $100 shipped. The casting is hideous (surface cracks/reliefs everywhere) but it will probably seal up just fine and has no visible damage aside from being ugly. A TC won't strand me if it starts slowly leaking. I did also order both o-rings and a seal for the timing covers that I completely forgot about from the dealer today. I'm gonna pick those up tomorrow morning. $23 all in, I'm not upset (about the same as FCP but next-day).

I'll get some pictures of the exhaust and ****ed timing cover tomorrow afternoon (and maybe a video of it driving too if I get it wrapped up).

The top of the 6 speed bellhousing has been clearanced for the 2.5, the 6 pressure plate bolt holes were drilled out to 8mm for the FourSeason Tuning flywheel, and the whole firewall was cleaned to get rid of the gear oil/metal particulate everywhere, so last weekend wasn't a total wash.

 

[Stromaluski]

Tell us about the bay window single cab in the background...

 

[vwbusman66]

Good lord this took way too long.
Got everything together, fired the car up on the jack stands and it ran and sounded fine. Will get pictures soon.
Went to re-start it, and the lock tumbler failed so now I cannot actually start the car. Fun.

For full clarity, the car has:
USP/Spulen vacuum pump delete plate and manifold/pcv/booster hose
USP bleeder block
USP stainless clutch hose
LuK stock FSI pressure plate, clutch disk, and release bearing
Four Season Tuning billet steel FSI flywheel
FSI (mk5 GTI) 02Q 6 speed transmission with stock shifter levers and 5 speed shift cables w/6 speed ends and bracket
Mk5 GTI axles and axle bolts
Mk5 GTI Valeo starter

 

[biodeez]

Sweet. Any other engine performance mods planned?

Care to share what "very cheap" price means? I suppose it has 170k and came with a dead and leaking trans, that surely helps the price.

I just picked up my Jetta S 5-spd (sedan). And I do find myself wishing I had that 6th gear....

 

[vwbusman66]

Sweet. Any other engine performance mods planned?

Care to share what "very cheap" price means? I suppose it has 170k and came with a dead and leaking trans, that surely helps the price.

I just picked up my Jetta S 5-spd (sedan). And I do find myself wishing I had that 6th gear....

Unsure on what I'm going to do to the engine. Like I mentioned, I have a full AWE catback for the car. I'd really like to do the Integrated Engineering intake manifold/CAI/tune and probably will at some point. I also wouldn't mind swapping in a mk5 R32 engine.

I paid $1000 for the car. It has some small spots of clear peel on the roof and front bumper.

For context, I paid about $700 for the transmission, driver's axle, starter, and all the miscellaneous hardware.
From everything I've been told, a 6 speed swap in these cars feels like flashing a TDI or GTI with stage 2 software and really wakes up the car.

 

[vwbusman66]

Tell us about the bay window single cab in the background...

That's my uncle's '68 bay window single cab. Mostly rot free, he uses it for fun and moving firewood occasionally. I'll see if I have any fun pictures of it.
My dad has a '66 21 window, I've got a '58 panel van, and my brother has a '78 Champagne Edition bus.

 

[biodeez]

Unsure on what I'm going to do to the engine. Like I mentioned, I have a full AWE catback for the car. I'd really like to do the Integrated Engineering intake manifold/CAI/tune and probably will at some point. I also wouldn't mind swapping in a mk5 R32 engine.

I paid $1000 for the car. It has some small spots of clear peel on the roof and front bumper.

For context, I paid about $700 for the transmission, driver's axle, starter, and all the miscellaneous hardware.
From everything I've been told, a 6 speed swap in these cars feels like flashing a TDI or GTI with stage 2 software and really wakes up the car.

Nice. I was all set to buy IE's intake manifold myself, until I read about people throwing accessory belts off at high rpm's, and did more reflecting on how their dyno charts show it really only helps make power above 5000rpm. So I settled for their stage 1 tune instead, and snagged it just before the black friday sale ended on Wednesday night.

I built a $60 short ram intake system for my 2.5, and it makes awesome sounds at WOT above 3500 rpm. Butt dyno says ~10 HP or less, maybe?

I don't get how swapping from 5 speeds to 6 will revolutionize the car. Just shorter gearing in 1st-4th gears?

And wait, are you saying that the 5-speed manual trans in my '09 Jetta 2.5 is a ticking time bomb? I only have 41k miles on mine, hopefully it will at least make 100k?

Let's see that AWE catback on the car man! An R32 engine swap sounds... laborious.

 

[Stromaluski]

That's my uncle's '68 bay window single cab. Mostly rot free, he uses it for fun and moving firewood occasionally. I'll see if I have any fun pictures of it.
My dad has a '66 21 window, I've got a '58 panel van, and my brother has a '78 Champagne Edition bus.

Pictures of the buses? I have a '67 13 window that I've had for nearly 20 years now.

 

[vwbusman66]

Nice. I was all set to buy IE's intake manifold myself, until I read about people throwing accessory belts off at high rpm's, and did more reflecting on how their dyno charts show it really only helps make power above 5000rpm. So I settled for their stage 1 tune instead, and snagged it just before the black friday sale ended on Wednesday night.

I built a $60 short ram intake system for my 2.5, and it makes awesome sounds at WOT above 3500 rpm. Butt dyno says ~10 HP or less, maybe?

I don't get how swapping from 5 speeds to 6 will revolutionize the car. Just shorter gearing in 1st-4th gears?

And wait, are you saying that the 5-speed manual trans in my '09 Jetta 2.5 is a ticking time bomb? I only have 41k miles on mine, hopefully it will at least make 100k?

Let's see that AWE catback on the car man! An R32 engine swap sounds... laborious.

The combination of shorter gearing in the 6 speed and overall close ratio makes for a transmission that is more appropriate for an NA engine.

I would keep an eye on your transmission. Flushing the fluid regularly will do a lot in the way of extending its life. The early 5 speeds were the problematic ones but it seems like the failures are random aside from people who abuse them.

Considering this is going to be a dual use car for me (highway/roadtrip machine and backroads beater), I will probably go ahead and get the SRI at some point. I liked the home made CAI I put on my last 2.5S 5 speed and would like to buy a nice one with appropriate SAI bungs to put on the car.

 

[vwbusman66]

Swapped lock cylinders because it took about 2 minutes to do. I'll keep the old one as a spare in case the replacement ever heads south.

I drove the car last Friday and Saturday night. I forgot how much I missed driving these cars.
The 6 speed ****s. Relatively close ratios and a 19lb flywheel make for a car that feels pretty snappy. I do think the clutch needs a good bleeding and I probably need to switch the gearbox oil to something a little different as it doesn't shift as smooth as it really should.

 

[vwbusman66]

Did a little write up of everything that goes into an 07K 6 speed swap.

07k 6 speed swap write up.docx

Parts list: FSI (05-08 GTI, GLI) clutch disk, pressure plate, flywheel, clutch release bearing, and hardware 02Q 2WD 6 speed transmission (05-14 GTI, GLI, 2.0T, etc) with vertical mount bracket (the thing the transmission mount bolts to) 02Q 2WD driver’s and passenger side axles with outer hub bo...

docs.google.com

I've put about 200 miles on the car and so far, so good. We'll see how it does over the next few weeks. The clutch refuses to completely bleed which is annoying.

 

[biodeez]

Thanks for the write up! Nicely documented.

 

[RadioCow]

Bleeding the clutch on the 6spd is an absolute pain. I just finished bleeding mine on my auto to 6spd swap. I hooked a power bleeder up to the master cylinder, then cracked the bleeder valve on the bleeder block (I have the ECS block, makes it a little easier with the one way valve) and pumped the clutch pedal slowly around 30 times. It took a while, but after those 30 and a gravity bleed overnight, then another 5 or so pumps in the morning, all the air got out.

 

[biodeez]

James / vwbusman ! Any updates on this car? Your 6-speed write up gets shared a lot.

 

[vwbusman66]

James / vwbusman ! Any updates on this car? Your 6-speed write up gets shared a lot.

I'm glad to hear people are putting that document to good use. Hopefully it makes it less stressful for the next guy.

Honestly, not a whole lot has happened to the car since I started driving it back in December (started at like 173k on the ODO). Early on I checked to see how the plugs looked and found Autolites- I threw in some NGKs and discovered the car had its original coils. In February, I threw in a set of "R8" coils that are red for all the HPs. The passenger side axle came mostly loose and needed replacing (under Advance Auto warranty) around March. I installed the used AWE catback I got for the car along with a Neuspeed CAI in April, and bubbled a cheap tire on the car at Summit Point doing school vehicle testing in late April, so I sprung for a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4 AS. The AC was always intermittent, so I threw a RKX solenoid in the compressor and recharged it and its been blowing cold since. The oil that dripped out of it was pretty gray, so I'm planning to go ahead and do a compressor/drier/expansion valve this winter. I did some other little service stuff like a new OEM coolant ball and replacing the ORIGINAL fuel filter, but nothing exciting. The timing cover seeps oil, not enough to leave a drop on the ground but it's wet all the time. Not the car's fault, and I don't plan on fixing it until I pull the transmission to sort out my weird shifting/clutch issue.

I finished my last semester of school in May, and am just getting settled after moving my life from WV/MD to Farmington Hills MI to start work. My brother drove the car all the way while I drove the uHaul with my 79 westy rabbit in tow. As of this morning, the car sits at 191k on odometer and is daily driven.

I'm at the point where I really need a 2nd car so I can put the JSW up for a few weeks to completely overhaul/upgrade the suspension (it's still on the original shocks/struts/springs) and upgrade the brakes to something a little beefier.

But yeah, not bad for a car I bought for $1000 and am in for about $4700 as of this writing.

 

[biodeez]

Moving to my neck of the woods, nice. Congrats on graduation!

Farmington hills, lets see... Akebono, Nissan, Bosch are the immediate employers that come to mind. Lotta tech parks though.

Thanks for the update. Still on factory ECU tune? IE stage 1 would really wake it up.