Close ratio trans with a diesel?

[fatmobile]

Reverse is known to go out in those.
 Might be because of the extra power in the 2.0; 8 and 16V.
 Reverse was never a strong point of the 020 tranys.

[NintendoKD]

got an e-mail back from our esteemed colleague reads as followes:
Kevin --

Thanks for contacting me, I appreciate it!

The torque is what will kill the trans.... that and shocking loads to it like a clutch drop or grabbing the gears hard.... basically anything fun.

The 020 could be used, but how long it lasts depends on the driving style. The more you smoothly roll into the power, the longer it will live. Even then, once you start really putting the torque into it, the parts will start to fail simply due to the smaller size.

If you need something stronger with the same bolt pattern for the engine block, consider the 02A trans from a Corrado G60 or a Passat 16V and I believe the new 6-speed 02M trans will bolt up as well.

All of them will use a different clutch system than the 020, which is basically backwards compared to everything else out there, but I don't know what limits you have with the parts on this Spyder like the clutch and axles and so on.

If you did decide to use the 020, I would plan on a bolt kit for the diff at a minimum, and if possible, a LSD for it (which you might want anyway just for traction). That will remove the weakness in the diff, then I would also consider something like cryo treatment for the rest of the parts, to try to get every last bit of strength out of them you can.

So it is possible, but depending on how it is used and driven, I wouldn't expect it to last another 100K miles like it would in a stock VW due to the increased power input.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and thanks for your service, I appreciate my freedom!
Hopefully in the future I'll still be able to enjoy what Liberty I have left, rather than being stuck in a Socialist nightmare.... but I digress:)

Brian

[Rabbit on Roids]

Reverse is known to go out in those.
 Might be because of the extra power in the 2.0; 8 and 16V.
 Reverse was never a strong point of the 020 tranys.

ive had 2 reverse gears go out on me, both in 8v trannies. and another one on its way out as we speak.

[vanbcguy]

The most common cause of reverse failure on 020's is not coming to a complete stop before shifting in to reverse.  They just weren't designed for anything other than absolutely coming to a full stop before shifting.

Larger turbos actually help really well with keeping your 020 in one piece - one place where turbo lag is a good thing!

[Rabbit on Roids]

The most common cause of reverse failure on 020's is not coming to a complete stop before shifting in to reverse.  They just weren't designed for anything other than absolutely coming to a full stop before shifting.

Larger turbos actually help really well with keeping your 020 in one piece - one place where turbo lag is a good thing!

im nice to my reverse gears. its just the previous owners of all my transmissions have beat the crap out of them. i always let my trans stop before i throw it in reverse.

[8v-of-fury]

same here, full stop for first and reverse. any sort of of rolling movement no matter how slow, with a 3.94fd 2nd is usable.