O2j shift tower removal diy mod#
O2j shift tower removal diy manual#

I was able to remove the engine in about 5 hours. I imagine this approach will make installing the VR6 much easier as well. Instead of pulling the engine up and out of the car, I was able to pull it straight out by removing the front cross members once I had the engine secured to the hoist. I had more room to work with, and removing the front bumper, grille, etc. This proved to be much easier than removing the engine from the Passat. Removing the engine and transmission from the MK2 Here's a few shots from the installation: The process was fairly straightforward, but it was a bit time consuming, since you have to take extra special care to ensure that the crankshaft and camshafts are timed correctly when installing the chains. If you're interested in how it all works, I highly recommend reading that article. I followed this article for replacing the timing chain, guides, and tensioners. Anyway, I went out and bought the correct upper chain and got started on the replacement process. It's possible that this engine has already had its timing chains replaced at some point, but I'm more inclined to believe that the valve cover taken off a different car. The engine manufacture date on the valve cover says that the engine was made in January of 1998, but the switch to the single-row upper chain happened some time in 1997 I believe. I discovered that the upper chain on the engine was the older style chain that has two-rows, which is different from the newer single-row chain that came with the kit. The sellers intended to replace the chains, but never got around to it, so they sold the kit to me along with the engine. I was told that this engine had around 130,000 miles on it and needed new timing chains, guides, and tensioners. After we brought it home, we put the old VR6 back together, took it off the stand, and put the new engine on the stand. My friend tagged along and helped me load the engine on to a rental truck. The engine came with pretty much everything I needed for the swap, including the ECU, wiring harness, and more. I decided to buy another engine so I could keep moving forward with the project without worrying about the motor too much. In my last post, I revealed that the VR6 from the Passat had some mechanical issues. There were plenty of MK3s at the junkyard, so I was able to find a set of cables in decent shape for a few bucks. They're a bit more robust and have better connectors, and it's a simple modification.

O2j shift tower removal diy mod#

It worked great!Īnother common mod on MK2s is to use battery cables from the MK3. I also connected the shifter box to it so I could try to shift through all of the gears. Here's the 02J shift tower installed on the transmission. I cleaned up and lubricated the 02J tower before isntalling it in the transmission, since it was pretty caked up with dirt and grime from the junkyard. The 02A tower before and after removing from the transmission: Swapping the shifter box into the MK2 is pretty straightforward as well. Luckily, the shift tower from the 02J transmission can be easily transplanted into the 02A. In addition to having better shifter feel, there is stronger aftermarket support for the O2J shifters (i.e.

O2j shift tower removal diy manual#

The 5-speed manual transmission (02J) from the MK4 cars has a more robust shifter setup than that of the 02A transmission that came with the MK3/B3/B4/Corrado cars. I haven't installed any of these parts yet, since there's so much other stuff to do in the meantime. Caliper rebuild kit (to replace the rubber seals).I have already ordered and received the other necessary parts to complete the rear disc conversion: The MK2 and MK3 calipers are prone to corrosion and binding up, so replacing them with MK4 calipers is a common modification. The higher trim MK2s had rear discs, but mine is a base model.

I am upgrading the rear brakes on the MK2 from drum to discs. I went to the local Pick-N-Pull to grab a few parts from some VWs they had in the yard. I'm way behind on my blog posts, so this will serve as a summary of what I've done since the last update. Lots of things have happened over the last few weeks.