How I Rebuilt My 01E EDU 6spd - By odoboyusa

So it starts like this...

Around 92k miles i decided it's time to do the TB service. 

As soon as i started taking things apart i found more and more surprises and 

here's what i ended up replacing only on the engine side: 

cam chain tensioner gaskets

cam shaft gaskets

crankshaft gasket

oil pan gaskets

intake gaskets

aux water pump

water pump

tb hyd tensioner

tb rollers

tb

drive belt tensioner

drive belt

flywheel with resurfaced one

clutch pressure plate

clutch disc

throw-out bearing

clutch pilot bearing

flywhhel bolts and pressure plate bolts

left side turbo

right side turbo

re-made the upper and lower oil pan gaskets

I am very pleased to say that everything worked on the first try and i had no issues so far. 

The engine really purrs now. I have lot's of pictures so if anybody interested, email me

But this post is about the transmission so let's get to that. 

I figured since i had the engine out i might as well fix the issues i had with my transmission:

2nd gear was engaging very slow - needed a bit too much force

3rd gear was always grinding unles perfectly rev matched

4th gear would sometimes not engage, i'd have to take it to neutral and then it would go engage

Some people would consider all of these acceptable, but i'm pretty picky so i decided to fix it. 

I started with the idea that if i make it worse i'll just buy another one. 

The tools i used were all just normal tools, no special ones but all were high quality. 

The tool list includes the following:

set of hex sockets - rarely used

set of torx bits - used often as most screws are torx

set of triple square bits - only one used - the 12mm i think

a bearing puller with two jaws and long arms - used for pulling gears off shafts

a big hammer - used to drive gears back on shafts

a prybar and some flat screwdrivers

One other important thing i had is the Bentley manual. It contains important details and it would take too long to cover them here.

If forum members will show their interest in a full-detail post then i will do it but there are three times more images

From here on i'll let the images do most of the talking and i'll add short explanations on the side. 

One thing that impressed me was that the gears in the transmission we're in great shape especially at almost 100k miles

I suspected the previous transmission damage might have ben caused by the previous clutch not

disengaging properly so i installed a new clutch set since i had one. Mike at VAST resurfaced the flywheel. 

Used all new bolts for the flywheel and pressure plate. 

Here's the transmission out of the car.

This is starting to look scary. 

At this point i noticed that the shift knuckle was a bit loose so i decided to replace it. 

Removed the rear cover where the driveshaft connects. 

This is the torsen differential, a very smart invention. 

The body of the torsen receives rotation from the transmission output shaft and the two gears inside

send rotation to the front and rear differential. 

Here's the ront differential. Took it out to inspect it. Looks great.  

Here you can see the shift forks. They need to align nicely or you have a problem.

Here's the gear selector. Notice the very smart pattern on the surface where the spring-loaded

ball presses. The pattern is one of the reasons that the trans will guide you to shift to the 

upper gear rather than going by mistake into a lower gear, unles you really want it

There are images missing here but i had to remove the oil magnet from the torsen housing. 

after that i had to remove the bearing race that faces the one left by the fifth sliding gear

Audi has a special tool that grabs the inside of this race and pulls it out.

My solution was to easily pry on opposite sides of the torsen housing

until the race slided out. Use large flat areas to pry and avoid scratching the mating surface.

On the left side you can see the grooves on the output shaft where the torsen engages and

in the output shaft you can see the shaft that goes to the front differential.

This is after i split the gear cluster from the main case.

The shaft that goes to the front differential is fully exposed. 

Exercise caution since it has a needle bearing on it and there's one other thing: 

There are tapered rollers between the shaft and the case. If you lift the shaft the rollers might

get lost. Exercise extreme caution and observe their position. They are tapered rollers and you

cannot turn them up side down.

Here's the gear cluster, with the selector forks and everything still in place.