Tired of the sloppy 02A gearshift?? read on

[PhatVR6 0]

Had this idea for a while now, finally got rund to actually sorting it out today.

 

Basically, the gearshift mechamsim on the 02A is horrendous, and universally slagged off (mainly bty fans of the 020 rod change box).

 

This is down to 2 things. the pressed metal lever at the box end... stupid design. It's double thickness, but due to the way the bolt attaches to it, you're only usung the top half, and invariably, they crack, right where the hole is that the shifter weight sits in. Also, the lever itself is a terrible design, it's just so wrong I'm not evven going to start listing it's design flaws.

 

Anyway, I noticed a while ago, that mk4 golfs, with the 5 spedd 02J gearbox have a different set up, ywt the o2J box is essentially identical tot he 02A. I was in the breakers today, spotted a Skoda octavia with this very box, so I whipped out the 2 bolts holding in the shifter tower and pulled it ouof the box (it's literlally that easy to remove). I also took the bracket that holds the cables too. for the shifter, they had a 3 month old mk5 golf in, so I got that one (practially brand new shifter for £40!),

 

tower fits in the 02a perfectly. just the reverse light switch has a different connector (rob that off the mk4).

 

Still working on the best way to make the mk4 shifter fit. It's rather large, and I got a bit carried away when cutting it down to try and get it to fit in the corrado housing. I've heard a mk5 polo ine is a lot smaller, so I'm going to try one of those next, and another mk4 one (same as mk5) to see which is best (I'd rather cut up the shifters than the car,,,,).

 

Another bonus of this being, there's a pin in the tower, and 2 holes in the lever. put the pin in place, and drop a pin through these 2 holes, and it locks the shifters in neutral. then just pop the quick release cable connectors on to and bingo, it's perfectly calibrated!

 

A well worthwhile mod, and the parts should cost you about £50 all in.

 

I'll take some pics of the shifter modes whan I've wokred out how best to do it. in the meantime...go find those mk4's...

[CoxyLaad 0]

mint!

 

or just fit an 02M 6 speed box and you dont have to do any of this :wink:

 

I can vouch for the later shifter system, its light years ahead of the old shite

[20v turbo 0]

yep the 02J is alot better than the 02A shifter 8)

[Rossco 0]

Get those pics up man this sounds like a total winner of a plan

[Henny 0]

I want one NOW! (although I suppose getting the car repaired first would be a good idea! :roll: )

 

Great idea Phat, keep the details coming! 8)

[Chippie 0]

Sounds really great!!

 

Do you have the part numbers of everyhting???

 

Love to see this mod on pics :)

[sambo 0]

Spotted a mk4 in brakers today, not sure what model it was, took off shiffting mech of the box, but when tryed fitting to my 02A box its not going all the way in, i'v noticed that shaft is different, it has a spring loaded ball built in the shaft and seems a bit shorter, so im gona try and make one out of two. Also cables end connectors are different. Maybe i got wrong shiffter :?: Help Phatvr6, more details :?:

[PhatVR6 0]

ball?

 

the box has to be a 5 speed. it should look just like your corrado box.

 

use the mk4 cables, you'll need them and they come with the shifter anyway.

[sambo 0]

Yea it has spring loaded steel ball built in the shaft, you know the kind that lives on the end of the socket rachet but biger, box looks identical and was 5 speed, the mounting holes are identical to :roll: Think its just the stupid ball preventing the tower from sloting in. Didnt get the cables and the shifter tho :oops: By the way how do they come out of housing? When i broke my last C i couldnt get the damn cables and shiffter out :?:

[morpheus20170 0]

All these details would be useful mate, parts numbers maybe if at all possible, does the box need to come out for this mod?

[khurrado 0]

Question. I took the gear shifter out of my last corrado, but had to smash at the metal lip infront of it(on body of car at front of gearbox surround) to pull the lever out. Can the shifter be dropped? Or is this the only way to get it up?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Good mod, thought about doing it myself but my 02A shifter has never given me any grief at all, it's spot on.

 

Generally it's the poorly maintained / adjusted shifters and users of cr@ppy BM short shifters that complain about the 02A's shift the loudest.

[GVK 0]

Spooky..I think I've used the actual Skoda 02J shift tower Paul mentions in the original post in my mk2 VR!

 

Coupled with the shift lever/cables mounted above the tunnel 'track slag stylee' from a mk4 R32 he was breaking at one point.

 

Gear change is as good as you'll get from an O2A

 

 

 

 

[Yandards 0]

Nice one Phat, be good to see how this pans out.

 

I do agree with Kev though, both my shifters are fine and work well. The valver did not have the weighted shift mod on it when I bought although the previous owner did have all the parts required to make it work.

 

Made on hell of a difference fitting that!

[GVK 0]

It does work well, the bits Paul mentions are on my mk2 VR...

 

It's an old thread..

 

"Posted: 13.11.2004, 21:17"

[alackofspeed2 0]

This is an interesting thread, that I've found whislt searching for information about removing a shift tower from a Mk3 16v 02A (CDA) gearbox. I'm wanting to put the shift tower into another 02A box, but an earlier generation.

 

The CDA 'box has an 02j style case (boxy around the diff), and the shift tower works with a mk4 set of cables.... the other box has what I presume is an older style tower, and doesn't work with the cables.

 

The reason for wanting to swap, is the CDA 'box has an open diff, the other has a quaiffe atb in it....

 

I've undone the two bolts on the shift tower, but it doesn't want to move. Should I be more agressive (use a soft mallet), or is it likely I've overlooked something?

 

All help appreciated!

[davidwort 0]

needs a tap with a copper mallet I reckon, some come free easy, others seems to have some sealant that sticks them in a bit.

 

for the benefit of early 16v/G60 owners here's what the later and slightly better 02A shift tower looks like.

 

Note: pic below is an L/M reg passat tower in an early 1.8 16v AGC box

[alackofspeed2 0]

That's the one! Cheers - I will use a bigger mallet!

[flusted 0]

Theres 1 in the forsale section!

[alackofspeed2 0]

I swapped the towers over, but unfortunately although the CDA tower will fit in the AYK 'box, it'll only select 2nd and 4th.

 

Very annoying.

[davidwort 0]

I swapped the towers over, but unfortunately although the CDA tower will fit in the AYK 'box, it'll only select 2nd and 4th.

 

Very annoying.

 

that's odd seeing as GVK had a mk4 shifter on his VR6 box, must be an ABF 16v engine thing, Ibiza/mk3 16v and possibly 95/6 passat 16v's.

[alackofspeed2 0]

From what I recall there are 2 types of mk4 tower too - perhaps there are 02j towers that match their respective 02a counterparts?

[GVK 0]

I have heard that the plastic cup at the base of the box can be a different size, so sometimes has to be swapped too.

 

I was lucky, mine dropped straight in, no hassle.