Manual Conversion Thread - RS6 with 01E

[SteveKen]

The only 'non-stock/OEM' items are the flywheel, adapter, starter, clutch and pressure plate.

The transmission was recently rebuilt with a new 1st gear (as my original one was worn), updated 1-2 shift collar with updated synchros, 0.56 6th gearset and a 4:1 Torsen. I don't plan to drive it any different than I normally do with the automatic, so I think the stock gears internals should do just fine.

[Carbonman]

My 01E is being built to the exact specs at Steve's and I think it should do fine as long as it's not abused. I think if people start launching the car or really driving it like an idiot, there will be problems, but it can't be any worse than the ZF coming out (two failures in 92K miles). The nice thing is the tall 6th gear will make highway cruising something beautiful; 1800-1900 RPM at 65-70 will be awesome.

Steve's kit is a pretty sweet setup. Check it out if you're interested - it really takes a lot of guess work out of the swap.

[TozoM8]

Good luck Steve! Remember, it's just nuts and bolts.

[SteveKen]

Good luck Steve! Remember, it's just nuts and bolts.

I kind feel like the nut, doing this on my back. I can't thank you enough for the advice from our conversation.

Also, I didn't even come close to your time for removal. Maybe X2 or X3 a best???

[SteveKen]

The first update with some meat has me cleaning up whatever I can and removing the flex plate. Here's the view:



Note in the center of the crank is a plug that needs to be removed as it interferes with the trans input shaft and pilot bearing. Here's a close up. You can just barely see the line separating the plug form the crank flange:



It wasn't going to be easily removed, so I had to resort to pushing it out by threading the ID and installing a socket pushed by a 3/4 - 10 bolt:



I drilled it out to open up the ID before tapping it, but there might be a metric tap that works better on the as-received ID. The SAE tap and bolt was easier to source in a pinch the last time I had to do this.



and the result:





cleaned up a a bit more and installed the flywheel.



There was no way for me to get the torque spot on due to the fact that the 17mm socket wouldn't go on some of the bolts if an adjacent head was turned just the wrong way. I'm probably at torque plus 0 - 30 degrees or so. The OEM flex plate had round head socket head triple square cap screws, but they don't make them in the length that I need. My flywheel supplier includes the bolts and they're the perfect length. 30mm I think? BTW, the aluminum flywheel doesn't require the torque plus 180 deg procedure.

That's it for today. Not much progress, but I forgot about the pressure plate bolts and South Bend didn't supply them, so that stopped me in my tracks.

Also note all the heat shielding that m S6 did not have:



Steering rack is cocooned up there somewhere. I'm going to need to figure out where to make an opening to route the clutch hydraulics. I know I can see the plenum area drains from the top, but all this heat shielding is most likely another source for debris which could lead to water ingress. Consider this extra tidbit a PSA to clean out the drains and try and pull all the debris up and out, rather than push it down through.

Tomorrow I hope to have the clutch & PP installed and have the slave cylinder hydraulics routed. I'm going to replace all the wastegate hoses and the plastic tee fitting from the N75 with a $2 brass one that I got from aquarium section at Pet Smart. Yes, really.