The Project Pad

Well, today I went and picked up the new wheels. With splitting the cost with my dad, as he can use the tires, I got them uber cheap. Now I just need to pick up another pair of 205/45/16 to get them put on the car.

They are in pretty darn good shape. 2 of them are mint, 1 has some very minor curbage, and the other has a scratch in the face, which looks like a bad mount job. Im pretty pleased with them though. Being the only 16" 4 lug factory wheel that I know of, I know they will just work


I also forgot that these were made by Ronal for the Votex line of factory aftermarket parts. Im stoked to get these mounted up and see how they look!

So while I have the trans out, Im going to replace the input shaft bearing(again) as that may very possibly be the problem. The opinions seem to be split as to which bearing is going bad, throw out or input shaft. So I will just replace both of them for under $100 and hopefully it will be good to go. Vag cat lists the part # as 012311445E which is a 25X58X16 grooved ball bearing. Is this correct?

On another note, I have Motul Mytle gear in the trans now. I have seen a bunch of different posts about which motul gear oil is better. Most seem to either run the mytle gear, or the 300. Which one is actually better for this trans? With the mytle gear I have in now, it seems to shift quite smoothly, and no noticable "notchy" feeling.

Never tested the 300, but like yours I run the Motylgear semi synthetic and I like it.

da_trem wrote:Never tested the 300, but like yours I run the Motylgear semi synthetic and I like it.

The only problem I have is getting it into 1st from time to time. But I think that is a linkage problem. It was adjusted so it would actually go into 5th, but since then 1st almost feels locked ot every now and then.

go 300!!!!!


I love that shit


and the first gear engagement sounds like a linkage alignment issue

Those are indeed the wheels that came on the B4 Competition. Amazing you found them in the US.

ChrisAudi80 wrote:Those are indeed the wheels that came on the B4 Competition. Amazing you found them in the US.

They were actually imported for the final year of the B4 cabrio, but not all that many. I have come across a couple sets of them, but all were too far away, and too expensive. This set was local and cheap! Now to get the car running again and get a good set of tires on these.

Finally have somthing to update.

The megasquirt is back from Mr. Elaw, and working well. I ended up having a blown diode in the ISV circuit, which is why it never worked from day one. These old VDO plunger style ISV send back a lot of voltage spikes to the system, so to handle that, he upgraded the diode on the board, and had me install one in the connector right at the ISV as a filter. It is now functioning, but I am having a hard time getting it to up the idle right now. has somthing to do with the fact that the setting right now have it idleing steady at about 500RPM, and when the burn "blip" hits, the engine stalls. I am also haveing a hard start problem now, so I ended up killing my battery trying to mess with it. I will have that charged soon enough and give it another go.

I also have the new Input shaft bearing for the trans, so that will be being replaced as soon as I can get it over to my parents house so I can drop the trans.

The coilover setup is coming along. The front springs are here, and very shiney , the rears are in route. I also have a line on a pair of front Bilstein sports, and looking for a pair of rears.

Funds are a little tite right now, settign up vacation for family, and some other normal summer fun stuff, so progress is and will be slow. Hope to have pics and vids to post soon.

Thanks for following along.

Did some messing around today. I was able to get the idle to stabilize and stay running again. Turns out with the ISV actually opening, I was running so lean it didn't know what to do. Fattened up the idle VE table, and it lives again. So I decided to take a video so you could actually hear the exhaust.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p5_WGmg2I4[/youtube]

Sounds great!

Its oficial, I need another trans. I took rs4tech for a ride in the bandit tonight, and I guess I pushed it a little too hard. In third grear, did an almost full throttle pull, and felt as it I hit boost cut. From that moment on, I only had 1st and 3rd gear, and the sound coming from the trans is enough to make your skin crawl

So I guess I have a choice to make. Do I try to find ANOTHER 01A, or shold I just bite the bullet and make the jump to the 01E? This has been a question that I have been pondering for quite some time. I think the hardest part will be sourcing the 4K drive shaft.

I realy think this car just hates 01a transmissions. This will be the second one I have blown up now, and I have only driven the car maybe 10000 since I have owned the car. And to think, I thought I was on the short road to being able to daily drive this thing

I see zero reason to go through the effort and expense to put an 01e in your car unless you just want a 6 speed. A stock turbo 20v is about 150hp shy of making a healthy 01a at all nervous. You must just be having bad luck with your used transmissions. Sucks, but here are plenty of good 01as around for super cheap.

At least you aint melting pistons and bending valves every 20 miles

AngryTaco wrote:At least you aint melting pistons and bending valves every 20 miles

lol@doing that on CIS

Yeah, I've had 2 different 20vt on 01a, and I thrashed em pretty good. Didn't break one. You have had bad luck. Are you using some funky trans fluid or something?

I dont know what I am doing wrong. I'm using Motul Mytlegear 75w90 in this trans. It felt really good up until what I thought was an input shaft bearing went out. Now I have 3 gears. 1/3/R. Won't know what happened until I find a replacement and break this one back open and see what actually broke.

That's the shits for sure.

Hope you're able to get her going again in time to enjoy more summer.

I really only got to drive it to Carlisle and back, the the problems kept popping up. This just happens to be the worst one. So, I'm now on the look out for another 01a and 01e/parts.

Taco seems to have good luck finding 4kq propshafts. The one he sent me and the flanges were money.

What about Shokan?

I have a 5 speed o1e, I'd let go for cheap, Shokan has prop shafts, probably $3-400....pm me if your interested in the trans.

I may just have a 4kq prop shaft and the 016 flanges you need just laying in the garage

DE80q wrote:I dont know what I am doing wrong. I'm using Motul Mytlegear 75w90 in this trans. It felt really good up until what I thought was an input shaft bearing went out. Now I have 3 gears. 1/3/R. Won't know what happened until I find a replacement and break this one back open and see what actually broke.

If it's GL-5 spec, there is your problem. Sulfur eats brass like I eat valves and pistons

The motul mytlegear is gl4/5 and there was a lot of info on others running it with great success.

never run sulfur with brass! Were others running it on these trans? 01a, 016, etc?

Yes, others were running this on 01a transmissions. The mytlegear I believe is sulfer free. I know it didn't smell like it had any in it.