[c3k]

Your build is incredibly well documented. I appreciate the effort you've taken to explain this somewhat rare drivetrain swap.

I hear you in regards to shops overcharging for somewhat simple tasks. Once you wrap your head around the process there are very few tasks that you can't due without a significant investment in tools and what not.

Keep up the good work. Car looks great

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[GreasySideDown]

Thanks. I will be doing more stuff in December. I received a camber/toe kit to weld onto the rear beam and I also got the Haldex conversion plates to install the Haldex on Syncro beam. All of this has been done in the past by other people so I'm not treading virgin waters here. I do hope this info and these pics will help others.

It was a pile of digging and asking around to find this stuff. I hunted the previous owner of the mk3 Jetta for about a year before he sold it to some REALLY stupid kids who trashed it. Lucky for me. The Skoda angle drive, new 02C case, and good 02C diff came from a really good dude in Canada who has been a big help along the way. I found him on a FB group. Stay tuned for some rear beam and axle chopping fun in December!

 

[GreasySideDown]

Been working on the rear beam. I decided against using the Syncro diff and went all-in on the Haldex. 2 days of chopping and grinding and welding right here. Still have the camber/toe plates and the rear rubber mount to install. Once I get that done tomorrow I will clean it up and send it off for blasting. I can't decide between powdercoat or galvanizing. I have a friend locally working at an industrial-scale galvanizer and they can dip it for pretty cheap.

I tested the SQS controller and it works great when turning the diff by hand, we'll see what it does in the car. As soon as the rear goes back in the car I then have to remove the 21/20 angle drive and install the Skoda angle drive. I eyeballed it today and it looks like the mounting bracket is different on account of the Skoda unit being so much "fatter". I don't want to take the engine out again so hopefully I can get **** fabricated with it in the car.

More thoughts.. To do list is getting long at this point. Reinstall air bags (and new rear Mk1 bags), re-do the air system and try to fit it all under the original metal rear floor panels, make a new subwoofer box to fit in the same area (fiberglass?), bleed brakes since I had to remove the rear calipers, potentially have to notch the exhaust where it goes over the axle, bust out the fishing string alignment jig, cut and weld rear axles, convert passenger side front and both rear axles to 100mm CV joints to fit the Haldex and Skoda bits. blah blah blah

 

[GreasySideDown]

Did some work today. Finished fab work and painted the subframe (too much in-a-hurry to do the fancy powdercoat etc). Got the camber/toe adjusters done but man was that a headache. I ended up having to buy a good quality angle die grinder and using a 3/8" Radnor carbide burr bit to elongate the holes. The finished product works excellent but 2 of the bolts are a bit short of full thread engagement. Will have to fix that. I drilled the 2 top holes on the Haldex unit to 40mm deep using a 13/16" drill bit and tapped 12x1.75 threads. I installed studs for that mounting point. Notice I welded the old rear rubber mount bracket directly to the conversion plate so I can keep the original mounting location intact. The kits they sell (variously) show some weird way of mounting this rear mount with a rubber donut up in the air instead of behind the differential. Not sure what that's all about, maybe its for custom mounting for Corrados and Mk2's. On to the axles. Luckily I was able to acquire brand new Meyle 100mm CV joint kits (3 total; 2 for the rear and 1 for the passenger side front) locally for $50/piece. I got one rear axle fabricated so far, will do the other in the morning. I cut 1.25" out of the passenger rear axle. I ground a nice deep bevel and welded it very slowly using 90k wire. Came out very nice and the 90k wire didn't give me too much trouble (it likes to bubble-out silicon making the puddle not flow too nice). Going to (hopefully) have the rear installed tomorrow. My neighbor brought his TT over with a coolant leak so I gotta fix his car before working on the wagon. Every day is one step closer.

See pictures in above post. It's 11/1/2020 and I'm scrubbing through this thread trying to find the pictures that were lost when I stopped paying for my server.

 

[ToddA1]

I don’t really understand a lot of what’s happening, but I like seeing things get cut up, then welded back together. Keep it up!

For the driveshaft, do you think what you’ve done is sufficient? Should a sleeve be added, edge/plug welded, etc.?

-Todd

 

[GreasySideDown]

I did think about doing plug welds on the driveshaft yoke but decided against it. The factory did a friction-stir butt joint at this location and that was true for the Audi TT shaft as well. The welding I did is far greater than what they did so I figure it'll hold. If not I'll certainly fix it when it breaks!

I got the rear bolted in and driveshaft on. Also installed the new rear air bags. Busy day tomorrow with angle drive swap, front bag struts, alignment, bleed brakes, fabricate new false floor. I deleted the rear seats and installed my stereo and air stuff in the seat cavity. Pictures tomorrow..

 

[GreasySideDown]

Damn work getting in the way of fun! Gotta head out to Montana for a few weeks for a rush-job. I slammed the car back together just enough to drive it into the garage for safekeeping. I left the exhaust off and the air management scattered in the back. Also left off the front driveshaft because I ran out of time today. I fitted the new 17/27 angle drive last night and planned on finishing most of it today but the call came really early this morning. Oh well, at least she's back on bags and the rear wheels aren't cambered all to hell.

 

[stealthcheetah]

Epic work!

Whats going to happen to that B3 of yours? :wave:

 

[GreasySideDown]

Epic work!

Whats going to happen to that B3 of yours? :wave:

Its hanging around until the B4 is sorted. I put about 1k miles on it running around getting parts and whatnot until this Montana thing happened. After that I will put it back on the market maybe? Its such a good driving car and looks unreal I start having 2nd thoughts..

I will be doing this Montana fiasco for probably 4 weeks (my airbnb is until January 18th). I think I only have 1 or 2 more solid days of work to do on the B4 (not including vinyl wrap). If you are still in the market I wouldn't hesitate to drive the B3 to Indiana. I also leave a car in SC for my seasonal work there and that old tdi Beetle is getting rough. I might possible drive the B3 out and leave it.

 

[stealthcheetah]

Its hanging around until the B4 is sorted. I put about 1k miles on it running around getting parts and whatnot until this Montana thing happened. After that I will put it back on the market maybe? Its such a good driving car and looks unreal I start having 2nd thoughts..

I will be doing this Montana fiasco for probably 4 weeks (my airbnb is until January 18th). I think I only have 1 or 2 more solid days of work to do on the B4 (not including vinyl wrap). If you are still in the market I wouldn't hesitate to drive the B3 to Indiana. I also leave a car in SC for my seasonal work there and that old tdi Beetle is getting rough. I might possible drive the B3 out and leave it.

I'm glad you're enjoying it! I pulled the trigger on that low mile one from up north. After some rust work, hopefully it will be as clean as yours. :laugh:

After seeing your work on the B4, I'm excited to see what might happen in the B3's future. opcorn:

 

[GreasySideDown]

I'm glad you're enjoying it! I pulled the trigger on that low mile one from up north. After some rust work, hopefully it will be as clean as yours. :laugh:

After seeing your work on the B4, I'm excited to see what might happen in the B3's future. opcorn:

I do have an extra 02C case, 20/21 angle drive, and 02C rear diff with a couple spare viscous couplers. All I need is a rear beam and I have the makings for another Syncro project. By doing the B4 I've figured out how to make my own axles and driveline so really all I need is the rear beam.

 

[GreasySideDown]

Back from butthole Montana and spent the meat of this week working on the wagon. She's done!! I had to build a new subwoofer box and re-engineer the air suspension crap to get the stock rear floor panels to fit. I used a hazard switch out of a MK3 for my Haldex-on switch. It is installed in place of the e-brake light on the dash.

Crappy cell video of the 1st time all 4 wheels spun.

Stay tuned for some ice/snow hooning.

 

[GreasySideDown]

And now cleaning out the garage! Need Syncro parts? I have 2 good viscous couplers, a good rear differential, and a 20/21 angled drive. Parts anyone?

Some snow shots from today:

 

[GreasySideDown]

Little bump update.
Been driving the car as much as possible and thankfully it snowed a lot a few days after I got the car finished. We've been tearing it up on Mt. Hood and boy is this car a blast to drive! The TDI really puts the torque down and the car is like a little rocket on the ice. This is how VW should have made these things from the beginning. I'm very glad I went down the Haldex path, having a pushbutton AWD makes sense to me since I like controlling every aspect of my car. Now if I can get my wife to video the car...

 

[bficklin01]

Wow, your car is really nice, you should be very pleased with your build. Your next job should you choose to accept it is to fly to AZ and perform your magic on my B4 VR6 wagon .


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[GreasySideDown]

I'm on it!

 

[bficklin01]

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[GreasySideDown]

Michelin Xi3 snow tires are the bomb! Did a 6 hr road trip to Eastern OR to find the good stuff. Car goes lower but it's sitting on the snow in this pic. Trolled some locals into thinking we were stuck and they fell for it! So much fun!!

 

[rallyedude]

Sweet ride. I've built a few syncros over the years. In fact I might be getting this one back shortly. https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?6919526-SOWO-2014-build-B4-syncro-vr-wagon

 

[GreasySideDown]

The Haldex is the way forward for these cars. Hey, if you have an extra rear beam I sure could use it. I'm getting another cherry B3 wagon this week and it needs some 02M/BEW/Haldex action.

Edit next day: Won the auction!