VAG synthetic gearbox oil and late selector tower on early C

[davidwort 0]

Will do a proper write up at some point, but I've just replaced the shift tower on my early 1.8 16v with the design used on the later corrados (most easily identified by the shift weight and cable on top of one another at gearbox mounting bracket, rather than side by side)

 

The result is pretty good, the really old style shift towers seem prone to play everywhere and the selector mechanism is quite a bit different in design on the later cars.

 

Step one was a gearbox refill with the standard current VAG gearbox oil

part no. G 052 726 A2 (smelly mineral oil stuff) about 4 quid a litre (2 bottles needed, only about 1.5L will go in as it won't drain fully)

 

This replaced the rather dark and mucky previous fill and slightly improved shifting, even though it wasn't the original gearbox fill from the factory.

 

Next, I replaced the old style shift tower with a unit from a 94 passat, two 13mm bolts and the whole tower just slides out of the gearbox, cables removed first of course.

 

I had already previously fitted a shift weight from the later setup which gives a slightly weightier feel on shifting and this went back on the new tower.

 

The mounting bracket for the cables has three mounting bolts (2 on the old one) and needs a third hole tapping into the top of the gearbox really, particularly as the later bracket is sat on rubber bushes unlike the older ones.

 

With the new tower in place and the cables attached, a rough positionning of the cables on their adjustment done, the shift felt much heavier and smoother, driven it all seemed aligned OK.

 

This was definitely an improvement over the original early O2A shift tower, although beware of the plastic connector on the top of the tower for the selector cable, these break up easily it seems, although it's a cheap VAG replacement part.

 

Finally, as I'd bought some, I drained the box again and filled it with:

part no. G 052 171 A2 fully synthetic gear oil,

as specced for 6 speed 1.8T's and 6 cylinder mk 4 onwards golfs, also TSB for removing some gearbox noises from cable change boxes on mk4's and TTs.

 

This stuff has no smell and definitely improves shifting further, about 23 quid for 2 litres from VAG. although I have a slow 2nd gear synchro on my old 16v box (synchro actually replced a few years ago) the fully synthetic oil does improve it.

 

In summary, for an old early C the combination of later spec shift tower and VAG synthetic gearbox oil is a good improvement, about 40 quid in total, including a fill and drain with the mineral stuff which helped clean out the box.

 

These two oil part nos supercede the old G50 and G51 specs.

 

take the notes on the pic with a pinch of salt for the G50/51 specs (not my pic), not sure both were ever synthetic, think only the G51 was.

[Neil VR6 0]

I ran my replacement 'box with VAG fully synthetic gear oil and the shift quality was much better :)

[Tempest 0]

G50 is definitely a synthetic oil, as also stated on numerous US sites/forums etc., where its viscosity is nicely compared to the viscosity of oils such as Redline et al.

 

Nice tip on the shift tower, though :-)

 

Tempest

[davidwort 0]

G50 is definitely a synthetic oil, as also stated on numerous US sites/forums etc., where its viscosity is nicely compared to the viscosity of oils such as Redline et al.

 

Nice tip on the shift tower, though :-)

 

Tempest

 

(G50/51) don't think they are available now, the mineral oil G 052 726 A2 replaces G50 from what I can find, dealers only tend to stock this and it took my dealer over six weeks to get the G 052 171 A2 fully synthetic.

[davidwort 0]

Just to add a bit more info for early gearboxes:

 

I've toyed with the idea of the full mk4 system but it requires dropping the exhaust and a bit of fabrication to fit the mk4 lever and cables, it will all connect up to the Corrado box but you need gearlever and base, cables and shift tower from an 02J mk4 box.

 

What I've done is fit a later corrado/passat shift tower, which mounts the cables one above another rather than side by side on top of the gearbox (bracket) this has a redesigned shift tower that just slots into the 02A box in place of the old one and incorporates a shift weight.

It has much less play than the original 'early' 02A shift tower and fits right together with the old cables. All you need is the whole shift tower unit and the big bracket mounted on top of the gearbox from a post 92 C or passat, possibly mk3 golf too.

 

the top version of the selector mech (and bracket with the cables one above another) is the later style and seems to be better, make sure the plastic part (no. 51) on the diagram is in good nick, or buy as new one from VW, these things crack and break up.

 

If your current setup has the cables side by side on the main bracket (no. 42) then you will probably benefit from the later setup, cost me a tenner from a scrappy. two 13mm bolts and the whole shift tower just slides out of the box.

[steveo29 0]

any chance of a photo of your set up mate?

 

mines a 91 g60 and im not sure the cables would be correct?

[davidwort 0]

any chance of a photo of your set up mate?

 

mines a 91 g60 and im not sure the cables would be correct?

 

cables are all the same on all years of corrado.

[Toad 0]

Out of interest. Which Passats does the late shift tower come on? My VR doesn't change gear well at all, and I was going to try fitting the tower from my spare KR gearbox, but it seems this might not be a good idea? Might stil fit it anyway for the short term as 5th is a pain to engage, and I believe the fault is with the shifter rather than the gear box.

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[Supercharged 2]

cables are all the same on all years of corrado.

 

Steve's got an Edition One tho... (He just hangs about on the CF wishing he had a proper car! :lol: )

 

I reckon it's worth a try tho - still not sure why G60's are so notchy!

[davidwort 0]

Out of interest. Which Passats does the late shift tower come on? My VR doesn't change gear well at all, and I was going to try fitting the tower from my spare KR gearbox, but it seems this might not be a good idea? Might stil fit it anyway for the short term as 5th is a pain to engage, and I believe the fault is with the shifter rather than the gear box.

 

Cheers

 

Tom

 

passats from about the same date as the 2.016v Corrado, generally K plate onwards, odd J plate.

Fitting the KR tower would require the old style KR cable bracket too (side by side),

for setting up the cables, 'cheesewire' has a post somewhere telling you hjow to do it without the VAG setup tool in about a paragraph of text, go search...

[davidwort 0]

One other point to note, early 16v and G60 gearboxes have some different materials in the synchros I believe, later ones were a slight improvement - this could of course be 'bunkum'

The thing I have noticed with mineral oil, is the box can sometimes be hard to get out of reverse after parking up, the new synthetic listed above has cured this on a warm or cold gearbox on my car.

[Toad 0]

Cheers David.

 

I've got the whole box so I might try transferring it over to see if there is a difference... There's a lot of play in the gear lever on top of the 5th gear issues, but the circlip etc is in place and looks in good condition.

[steveo29 0]

cables are all the same on all years of corrado.

 

Steve's got an Edition One tho... (He just hangs about on the CF wishing he had a proper car! :lol: )

 

 

at least mine runs under its own steam

[steveo29 0]

right,

 

ive just done the same as david (thanks david for the parts) i can confirm its way better than before, cant fault it at the moment :D

 

i also had a nylon bush made for the cable end , thats helped alot too

 

so well worth a few pounds for a later set up...easy to fit too