A GEARBOX TALK!!! For newbies and oldies! hehe

[20vQC]

Hello to everybody!!! New and old members!!! As many of us wanted and still want to make a real upgrade to our cars there's a very important case to focus at... the gearboxes... so let's talk about 'em! Some are very strong, some are very weak... So...:

What about the 016 5speed commonly used on the 2.0/2.3 5cil and the earlier S2's? Whay did Audi put such a weak gearbox on those cars? I have the NM 2.0L and it's starting to do some weird noises especially on 5th gear...and mine is N/A

Is the later ABY S2's gearboxes a better choice? How long do they last? How much power or torque do they resist? What kind of mods do we have to do to upgrade the earlier S2/CQ to put it the stronger ABY's? Are the UrS4/6's 6speed boxes the same as the ABY's???

A few days ago I read about the 2.5 5cil quattro TDI's boxes. Sounds veeery interesting and I think is quiet easier to find a 2.5TDI 5cil Q than the S2's... Am I wrong? Is that a bolt on swap? what about the clutches and pressure plates?

Now guys... I hope many of us could enjoy the info that will be posted!!! Do the necessary questions you need to eliminate any doubts to a near future tranny swap. Thanks to everybody!!!

Cheers!

[jogi730]

Nobody seems to have a difinitive answer.

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthr...199#post189199

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16470

Be good to know how difficult this is to install, but diesel box seems good choice.

Good luck.
Cheers
Chris

[S2_Dave]

The 3B 5 speed might not be that weak (fingers crossed). Jay has run a couple with 400+, zlobo's friend with 610 and audiman 450+ (2 years/20k miles on the same one). However, audiman's experience at 550 wasn't good. Sure, it seems they're weaker than 6 speeders, but if they're not abused too much hopefully they can take 400bhp quite happily. I'm having my ARV 'box reconditioned, so it's going to be in as good a shape as it can be.

[S2central.net]

Remember folks - its not power that kills gearboxes - its TORQUE... You could have a gazillion horsepower (in theory) but as long as the torque is within safe limits the gearbox will be happy.

In order of strength I believe this to be about right -

01A is the weakest (NM, 7A and 3B engines for example)
01E (as per ABY, ADU, AAN and the big diesels got the strongest ones)
016 is the strongest (as per UR and 1980's genre of 80/100/200 quattro)

The diesel 01Es are especially strong partly as they have an oil cooler for transmission oil. Be careful with some diesel boxes as they have incompatible final drive ratio unless you change rear diff to match. There are some diesels with especially long gearing as well - be sure to check the transmission codes first before buying anything !


Paul

[S2central.net]

Meant to add - from memory I think some UrS4/S6 (AAN) boxes have different ratios than ABY and ADU, but not 100% on that.

I imagine its pretty much bolt-on conversion to put diesel 01E onto an S2 with the exception of the variants with an oil cooler as they would require some careful location and such. I think Dahlback managed to squeeze a tranny cooler under a Coupe somewhere - just on memory here.

[20vQC]

NICE INFO! Thanks guys!!! Hey... I did my first ride on the snow in my whole life! hehe I have normal tires (205/60 R15 91V) and I drove today on the icy and snowy roads of Passo San Leonardo (AQ-Italy)(1380mt over the sea level)... is amazing!! hehehe I got stucked with I don't know what but I just engaged the rear locking diff, reverse, forward and...GOD BLES QUATTROS! hehehe Ok... going back to gearboxes... well I'll take a look for any C4 TDI trannies and I'll ask you before buying... If I cannot find anyone of those I'll just get another 01A! Thanx a lot folks!!!

[Dirtylouie]

So, finally: What do i have to change to implant an AAN 6-speeder into a coupe?

[UrS4boy]

This might help.

http://www.elektro.com/~audi/01E/

On this side of the pond (US and Canada) we did not get any S2s or RS2s. We covet the RS2's CRB 6 spd and have imported them for our C4 AAN UrS-cars whenever possible. Our other alternative is the six speed from the B5 S4's (either the EDU or DSY, one of which has the transcooler fittings). All of these have 4.11 to 1 final drives.

[Dirtylouie]

thanks a lot, Urs4Boy, will practice my reading skills for a while then ( a lot there =) )

[Rocco]

and finally,wich is the "better" gearbox for our audi S2?'º i have some damaged my gearbox and i am thinking in rebuilt 100% it or if its possible change it for other better some compatible

[Sonic]

My gearbox refurb has been completed this week with a new synchro between 1st and 2nd (the main problem) along with new clips and seals.

The box is out of a '95 ABY and has the wider first gear already so it seemed pointless replacing it with anything else.

[zombie1709]

is their a recomended gearbox upgrade( ie as you were saying about geting a diesel box) for the 2.6 V6 (not quattro, unfortunantly)?

cheers

[mcandmar]

@Sonic, whats the going rate to recondition a gearbox? I have a six speed with a noisy final drive bearing, i rang a few places and they all wanted over €400 to rebuild the box. Apparently the bearing is €200 alone. Sounds a bit much to me....

[Fat Audi 80]

I think Andy mentioned he paid £500 for his Recon. I don't *think* that included any removal and installation again....

I will let him confirm...

[Sonic]

Ive just looked back on my excel sheet of things done to the S2, and besides having a stroke because of the total ive spent, the gearbox refurb including labour to get it in and out, replacement parts and the rear crankshaft oil seal replacement cost me £700.

The replacement parts were only about £80 of that IIRC, if you need to start replacing gears its going to get expensive quickly!