6-Speed Gearbox

dan_b said:
It does seem to have made a profound impact on your MPG - far more so than the longer 5th did on mine!
What RPM are you turning at 60mph now?
Click to expand...

It's 1750 rpm at 60, so quite a drop.

I'm not able to make the social this weekend but am doing the Skid Pan experience in a few weeks time though, are you there?
Click to expand...

Yes, I'll be there too :)
 
Mike,

For relaxed, 60mph motorway driving, on cruise control, would you recommend this mod? How necessary is it to change down into 5th for hills? I'd never want to accelerate up a hill whilst in 6th, but I certainly wouldn't want to be changing down for every incline. What are the risks to the clutch / transmission?

Cheers,

Tom
 
Most of the time I just leave it in 6th. It depends on the steepness of the hill... after all, if you find a 20% grade even a stock 5th would be too high.

Naturally the taller the gear, the more torque you are putting through the gearbox. But an 02j gearbox can be used in cars with much bigger engines than the A2 so I think there is headroom.

Vince's view was that the clutch would lose maybe a month or two of life - this is the same as doing a remap or a higher 5th, so most people here have already taken on that risk.
 
Last edited:
Fantastic, thanks Mike. I'm talking about motorway hills, so 20% inclines will be rare! I'm happy to use lower gears the rest of the time, but on the motorway, I just want to select a gear, set cruise, and forget about it. Lazy as it is, my ideal motorway drive only involves indicating and steering. :)

As you say, given that 02J/A gearboxes are used in VW commercial vehicles, etc, I'm sure they can take it.
My clutch is brand new, but if only a few months are shaved off its life over 10 years, I can live with that. I suppose I can always fit a beefier clutch next time, should needs be.
Thank you.

Tom
 
Last edited:
My concern for a petrol 1.4 would be if there is enough torque to cope with the much longer gearing in 6th. Mike has a remapped TDi and that does put out a lot of turning effort!

With regard to actual financial pay-back though, I think even on the TDi and with Mike's incredible economy driving techniques you'd be looking at an awful lot of miles and an awful lot of ££ spent at the pump before you'd claw back the investment.
 
Ikimiki said:
I'm wondering whether the fuel economy 'math' of this conversion works out on a petrol 1.4.
Click to expand...



Not sure, thinking back to my petrol days (long, long, ago), it didn't have much power in the low end of the range so you might find that the car just stalls. But note that wasn't an A2 (or even a car from the VAG family), so I don't know if the same would apply.

But I would recommend having a chat with Vince to see what he thinks.
 
Last edited:
dan_b said:
...With regard to actual financial pay-back though, I think even on the TDi and with Mike's incredible economy driving techniques you'd be looking at an awful lot of miles and an awful lot of ££ spent at the pump before you'd claw back the investment.
Click to expand...

Actually the payback would be better for someone who gets worse MPG than me as long as they also do lots of miles at 50mph upwards (on a TDI at least, look at roughly 12% improvement. For me 12% is a little over a penny a mile, but someone starting from, say, 50mpg would get a bigger saving per mile). Haven't the foggiest what the % saving might be on a petrol, or even if it is practical.

If we look at the scenario of someone in a VW transporter van with a big TDI engine, doing long-distance deliveries all day, they could get payback very quickly (and in fact, the ET website talks a lot about the transporter).
 
Last edited:
Petrol A2's have the lightweight 02T gearbox and I suspect the 6 speed conversion which is designed for the heavier 02J / 02A boxes will not fit.

Cheers Spike
 
Last edited:
As it happens, I do two 50-mile motorway jaunts every weekday -- so the miles rack up pretty quickly for me (10,000 in 5 months).
At the moment this A2 achieves about 53 mpg when circumstances allow me to pootle along at 60 mph.

But now that Spike has weighed in, I suspect I'll have to end this 6-geared flight of fancy! :)
 
Given the miles you do, I personally would be thinking about a TDI. But 53mpg is pretty awesome fuel economy for a petrol.
 
I must admit that I'm pretty satisfied with this mpg. The speed of 60mph is only indicated though. I believe the true ground speed to be a little less than that.
 
dan_b said:
Tom, you sound like a man who is on the verge of a big upgrade...
Click to expand...

Haha, yeah, I'm struggling to hide my desire for this! I am seriously considering it, though haven't yet come close to making up my mind.

53mpg from a petrol is excellent. The petrol would almost certainly stall if presented with the 6th gear for the TDI, but I'd be confident that it could drive a longer top gear than it currently has (cruise control issues aside). EuroTuning make a gearing kit for petrols (1.8T?), but if it fit on the end of the 02T 'box, I'm sure they'd mention it.

Tom
 
In regard to a petrol 6 speed i believe it is also a no go due to the ecu having a preset parameter of rpm/speed that would cause problems. This was pointed out in the fifth gear mod thread. Shame really as i think it could help the petrol but only as an over drive gear.
cheers mike
 
a2sumo said:
In regard to a petrol 6 speed i believe it is also a no go due to the ecu having a preset parameter of rpm/speed that would cause problems. This was pointed out in the fifth gear mod thread. Shame really as i think it could help the petrol but only as an over drive gear.
cheers mike
Click to expand...

I don't think the ECU issue prevents anything other than the use of cruise control, though I'm happy to be corrected.

Tom
 
timmus said:
... I am seriously considering it, though haven't yet come close to making up my mind....
Click to expand...

If you happen to be coming to either of the two upcoming socials, having a go on mine might help make up your mind one way or the other.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top