improving the 02A gearchange (4cyl in particular)

[davidwort 0]

I've never been particularly happy with the cable change shift on the Corrado, particularly mine, so I've tried a number of things over the years to try to improve the situation.

Thought I'd list everything I've done in one place as I'm fairly happy with it now.

Roughly in order of changes:

 

VAG fully synthetic gearbox oil about 25 quid for the 2 litres needed

new 2nd gear syncro, took the box out and fitted myself, but the parts and box stripdown was the best part of 200 quid

new bushes for the gearlever pivot (3 parts, about a quid each)

new gearlever pivot plastic cross piece (only a few quid from VW)

post 92 shift weight (as my car was an early box with no weight)

post 92 shift tower from a passat (post 92 style tower with redesigned selection mechanism) - some need the bottom bearing/plug to match, others fit the early bottom bearing in the box 15mm pre 92 or 16mm most post 92, also need the 3 point mounting bracket for the cables on top of the box

custom nylon shift cable end bushing, to replace the rubber rectangular VW part.

and finally, new standard rear and gearbox mounts and a Vibratechnics front (road) mount, the VT mount reduces the engine lift at the front a fair bit and gives a better shift when accelerating hard, no extra vibration as far as I can tell.

 

All the bits add up, the shift is much more positive and 'tight' now, I'm going to try a cut down passat lever plate to change the fulcrum of the gearlever and make about a 20-25% cut in throw (a very cheap short shift conversion), but short of making a mk4 cable system fit the Corrado I think I've got the original setup about as good as it can get.