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good plan – you sure got that right re that it’s easier to fit while the engine’s out
that whole area is such a pain to work in in situ it’s unreal.
any chance of some photos? even from your phone would do.
IMO the rod-shift transfer box is quite a weak assembly and the strength it has is derived from its shape and the webbings. Whilst it may be fine for testing or pootling about initially with the broken tabs, you’re going to want it to be at its best if you’re planning on doing any spirited driving.
Given that replacing the syncro gearbox is a fair amount of ballache at the best of times, and when you add in a potentially spectacular roadside failure and subsequent trip on the back of an recovery lorry and well…unless you’re particularly time-rich you may as well replace the box before you go much further.
If it needed the bolts to force it to join up properly then something was probably amiss anyhow.
Fortunately the rod-shift gearboxes and transfer boxes aren’t particularly expensive (normally £0-£100) or hard to come by since lots of folks upgrade to the rallye style boxes and beyond (which *are* expensive and hard to come by – £250+). You will probably need to drive a way to pick it up though.
I had that but deleted it and never gave it another thought. Apologies, I thought it was just spam pretending to originate from the site.
damn – and I just sent her my bank details, she seemed so trustworthy (lol)
I think I found one of the newer ones you mean chris and if we’re talking about the same part the new one is LOTs better than the old one. the old ones would split and crack just by frowning at them but the new ones are really nice and solid.
you might want to take a look at some of these pics:
In my pics folder, downpipe for RHD 16v:
http://www.vwsyncro.co.uk/?arc=&page=1&size=3&tpxbasketid=&search=downpipe&sortby=filename&sortbydir=asc&cols=3&cmd=do_search&i=0&big=0&gotourl=&p=9.Photos_LD50%2F_&basket_params=&basket_params_index=&noflash=&video_or_image=also search on “manifold” in my pics for some photos of the positioning of the transfer box vs manifold. I know it’s not abf but it’s pretty close.
In the general photos if you also search on downpipe you get a few more interesting constructions which have been tried by our members:
I think danny’s approach (below) looked like the best performance option whereas mine was probably the simplest to diy, being built out of a bit of straight tube with some creative angle-grinder + mig-work (not stainless tho). Danny posted a pic of his a while back I can’t find it and it’s not in the photo’s for some reason.
http://www.vwsyncro.co.uk/data/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2501&SearchTerms=downpipe,dannyp
I’m pretty sure I fitted one to mine – will need to check to be sure but I think they fit as a direct swap, it’s just the body diameter which is a bit different.
I think pascal rebuilds them although dunno if that was a one-off – search for user PVL unless chris knows one way or the other?
After driving the syncro I’d mentally written off the handling of non-4wd cars so when I got the gti as a daily while the syncro is off the road I was actually surprised by how well it handled.
I found the 16v to be well balanced and handled as close to neutral/rwd as you’re likely to get with a fwd…to a point – so I guess not dissimilar from your jetta by the sound of it.
As you might expect, I found the differences were most apparent at the very edge of grip in each case. To me, it boils down to the syncro feeling more like one unit rather than a front and a back which don’t necessarily agree and need to be controlled separately like on the gti.
With the syncro you can also get it set up for the corner and then just keep the power down without heading for the hedge or having to play go fetch with the handbrake which obviously costs you speed (although it is fun and does slide very nicely
).It’s a heavier chassis for sure but with the right suspension setup there’s not much I found which will touch it for handling & grip short of something like a pulsar gtir. In snow and ice it’s moderately embarrassing how well it grips while everyone else is sliding about.
Both mine are on coilovers so are hopefully a reasonably fair comparison. with the extra power of a g60 i’d have thought it would be a delight to drive!
