- 02M Transmission
- Cable linkage with the shifter box and the shifter
- 02M 240 mm clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, throwout bearing
- 24V VR6 starter (this is because the solenoid on the 12v starter will contact the 02M case)
- 02M Clutch pedal cable unit that is retrofitted to the stock clutch pedal)
- 02M Quaife
- VW OEM Differential bolt kit (sourced from the one dealer on the eastern seaboard that had them).
- 02M drive axles (these may not be needed if you have a 2002+ Brazil made car; good idea to have a source ready for these in case you need them)- I needed to replace these since I have a early 2000 MK IV. These are much better build designs and look a lot more beefier.
- Transmission fluid, 3 qts (I used Redline MT-90 full sysnthetic)

The 02M 6 speed transmission, also known as the MQ350 that originally occured on the 225hp Audi TT Quattro and was later adapted by VW for FWD applications, is a work of packaging art akin to the VR6. It is a complex transmission with two pinion shafts and a third mating shaft. The first 4 forward gears (1, 2, 3, 4) ride on one pinion shaft while the remaining 2 forward gears ride on the second one.

Both these pinion shafts mate to a third shaft of mating gears. All these shafts are moved by brass sleeves (a joy to look at) to mate the appropriate pinion shaft, based on gear selected, to the ring gear on the differential. Depending on which of the two shafts are mated to the ring gear, a final drive ratio is obtained as below:

- 3.94 for gears 1 through 4
- 3.09 for gears 5 and 6

The individual gear ratios are as below; the numbers in parenthesis is the final ratio:

1- 3.36 (13.238)   Ratio Differences between shifts
2- 2.09 (8.235)    (5.003)
3- 1.47 (5.792)    (2.443)
4- 1.15 (4.531)    (1.261)
5- 1.19 (3.677)    (0.854)
6- 0.98 (3.028)    (0.649)

The first thing was to get the 02M Quaife installed. But since the Quaife for the six speed is so new (just out this month) there was no way to get a bolt kit for it except the VW OEM bolt kit. And the latter was difficult to find in the US since cars with this tranny have just started rolling in. So a quick call to Peter @ the Scirocco.com helped resolve this issue- he was able to get the Quaife as well as the only VW OEM 6 speed differential bolt kit on the eastern seaboard from one of the dealers in his contacts network.

The Quaife install is fairly straightforward (in theory at least). It involves draining the transmission fluid, opening the transmission case, removing the gear shafts, drilling the rivets on the stock open differential to remove the ring gear (the ring gear gets reused on the Quaife using the bolt kit) and reversing the process for putting the tranny back together. Well, easier said than done.

Two problems were encountered; the first was separating the two halves of the tranny case as the retaining plate for the shifter shaft is attached to the shaft transversally. The shaft has an interference fit with a lubricated O-ring. Getting these untangled to pull the cylinder out was a PITA. So Mike had to sit down and try all possibilities ... and with his skill and experience with 02J transmissions, he was able to get this out and the tranny case could be cracked open and lo and behold we had a site before our eyes- a complex set of gears with two pinion shafts and a third shaft with matching gears. We looked at each other and said to each other, if this is not a piece of art than what is :)

The second problem was disassembling the gear shafts. The least complicated matching shaft came off easy- care is the work here as you dont want to nick any of the gear teeth. The remaining 2 pinion shafts were mated to each other and the ring gear in such a way that it made it impossible to pull each off individually. After some attempts, Mike decided to remove everything as a unit, so carefully holding the shafts and the ring gear/diff the tranny was rotated by 90 degrees and the three came away easily.

Now the diff needed to be separated from the ring gear so the latter could be swapped over onto the Quaife.The drilling of the rivets went smooth but the ring gear would not come off. A strong, but careful use of a rubber mallet and vise aided in the ring gear removal.

With the Quaife bolted together, everything was put back together following the reverse steps and a lot of care. The tranny bolted back up and filled with Redline MT90, full synthetic transmission fluid. It was ready to be placed into the car and looked identical to before the Quaife installed, excepth that the king of hookups was in there :)

The six speed bolted right up to the 12V VR block with no problems and used all the stock mounts. The 6 speed is heavier than the 5 speed it replaces, so be careful during the installation. The starter motor from the 24V VR was mounted to the six speed tranny (fitment reasons) and everything lined up and bolted to OEM specs. The clutch lines from the 24V VR must be used in place of the 12V VR lines. This required removing the stock clutch lines from the firewall, and installing the new ones. The system must then be bled to ensure correct pedal action (a pneumatic bleeder is preferred here for a quick and thorough bleed) .

The stock drive shafts also bolted right up and they looks deceptively right while on the lift. But after lowering the car and driving it a few feet it was clear there were some issues as there was a slight vibration and the motor seemed to be rocking side to side ... some measurements and analysis revealed that the drive shafts were a few mm too long. A quick call to Dave at Eastside VW in MD and a drive down and we had the 24V drive shafts. Apparently VW changed the design on us and these looks a lot beefier besides being the right size. Depending on the model year, the stock driveshafts may or may not be reusable. The new drive shafts bolted right up and within an hour the VR was ready for a test drive ... after a few priliminary roll tests, Mike took it for a test drive. Everything looked good and car car ran smooth ... very smooth.

I got my first test drive after that and man the car was quick ... I chirped 1 and 2nd easily and slightly going into third :) Made a mental note to drive the car easy for the next 1000 miles or so to make sure everything breaks in nice and smooth.

Off the bat, the gear ratios, final drive(s) and the basic construction of the two transmissions are totally different. The 02M 6 speed has the 6 forward gears located on two pinion shafts (3.94, 3.09) and hence lead to two final drives while the 02J 5 speed has all the five forward gears located on a single pinion shaft leading to a single final drive akin to most transmissions out there. The following are the individual gear ratios for the 02J 12V VR6 5 speed transmission; the numbers in parenthesis is the final ratio after applying the 3.39 final drive ratio:

1- 3.62 (12.272)   Ratio Differences between shifts
2- 2.07 (7.017)    (5.255)
3- 1.47 (4.983)    (2.034)
4- 1.04 (3.526)    (1.457)
5- 0.84 (2.848)    (0.678)

The next obvious difference is the shift linkage. The 02J 5 speed linkage attaches the cables from the shifter using ball and socket joints whereas the 02M 6 speed uses more solid joints where the cable ends slide onto a shaft on the linkage with a clip at the end to prevent the cable from sliding off while shifting. I believe, though, that this has become standard fare across the board on all the new MK IV trannies.

The clutch/flywheel is the next difference. The 02M has a clutch without any springs and a dual mass flywheel to compensate as opposed to the 02J 5 speed that has a clutch with 4 springs and a solid flywheel. The end result that is aimed for is smoother clutch action, without much clatter between shifts and both setups do the job well, though the 6 speed clutch seems to engage a bit smoother ... this could also be because the 02M clutch/flywheel/pressure plate system is a larger 240mm set as opposed to the 228mm on the 02J 5 speed. The larger clutch system may be a good upgrade for the 02J 5 speed trannies though.

The first 2 minutes in the car and I drove a bit like I did with the 02J 5 speed and I chirped 1st and 2nd easily and into 3rd. That made me realize that the learning curve needs to start at square one as the VR felt like a totally different beast- one that was much quicker on its feet.

The next hour drive, on the way back down the NJ Turnpike, I realized that the car feel very agile and light- it almost felt as though 500 lbs had been taken off the front w/o loss of any traction. The engine and transmission felt so responsive that I barely realized the speeds I was hitting with such ease until I looked at the speedo and backed off every so often.

The first 4 gears are the key to sporty driving with the 02M ... very quick and effortless shifts (every shift is about 30-40% faster to execute than the 02J). The 1st 4 gears are more than enough for those stop lights when you need to take off quick ;) and for sporty driving in the city. The 5th has a lot of pull and is an awesome gear on the freeway for sporty driving at high speeds, and the 6th gear is a tad shorter than the 5th on the 02J and runs about 100 rpms higher at 80 mph than the 02J 5 speed. This keeps the rpm just into the optimal power zone at 65-70 mph where the 02J was just below the optimal- in other words, it feels just right for sporty driving at all times.

A couple of downsides (not for everyone I guess as these are subjective)- firstly, the clutch pedal requires a bit more effort than the 02J VR (a friend of mine with a Nissan 240SX felt that my pedal was too light so I guess he'd like this but I liked the 12V VR clutch pedal pressure). Secondly, since the gears are closely spaced, one ends up shifting a lot more often than the 5 speed; but since the shifting effort is negligible it is not tiresome and almost a pleasure to wind the VR every so often.

(A) Michael Pancheri (tyrolkid) for the complete installation and for driving me down to MD to pick up the 24V drive axles
(B) Jim Chu for the guidance and getting me started on this project
(C) Dave at Eastside VW for helping with parts and advice
(D)Peter at the Scirocco.com for getting me the Quaife and the almost impossible to find VW differential bolt kit

All of the above are great at their jobs and I'd highly recommend them for any advice and/or jobs you may have related to your dub !!

6 speed shift linkage
Draining the transmission of the original oil
Draining the transmission of the original oil (a close up)
Mike working on the throwout bearing
The shifter shaft, finally out of the tranny (a PITA)
Mike figuring out how best to remove the gear shafts
The car in question :)
The stock CV boot cover was small to fit over the new drive axle boot
Another pic of the tranny- the side that bolts to the engine