5 speed conversion..how muchÂ£Â£Â£Â£

steveo3002 · Post by **steveo3002** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 7:12 pm

my 88 1300 polo doesnt have the 5 speed option, im intrested in collecting the parts to convert it

what do i need..whats the going rate for good used parts and what sort of job is it to fit....ive changed a g/box in a mk2 golf gti and it was a bad job laying on my back..im thinking the polo is a little more roomy and the box must weigh less???

cheers

Gareth_GT_Hatch · Post by **Gareth_GT_Hatch** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 9:22 pm

id have thought there was less room on the polo. Anyway theres some debate as to what exactly you need. If youre one of the lucky ones youll only need the gearbox and the upper gearbox mount. If youre unlucky then you will also need a new anti-roll bar and a new gearlinkage. If the gearbox was an optional extra on your particular model then you may find that it has the anti roll bar and 5-speed linkage already.

GroovyCarrot · Post by **GroovyCarrot** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 11:26 pm

^ What he said. You should have the 5 speed ARB as standard as yours is a late mk2, but you will need the gear selector unit (gearlever, box that gearlever sits in and shift rod) as the 4 speed unit doesn't allow you to select 5th. There's less room in the polo engine bay than in the golf's by quite a long way, and they use the same gearboxes. Still, it's not that bad a job, you just really need two people to actually pull the thing off and get it on again. A decent used 5 speed box will probably be around Â£50-75 I should think, depending where you get it from.

steveo3002 · Post by **steveo3002** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 6:04 pm

how can i confirm mine is the late model with the correct arb??

so driveshafts and clutch remain the same?? id prob put a clutch in while im in there

my 4 speed is really noisey, and people tell me its a common prob...do the 5 speeds suffer the same probs???

can i use the box and linkage from a mk2 golf then?? or mk3 polo?? anything i should avoid?? ratios the same etc

would it doable in a day

thanks

GroovyCarrot · Post by **GroovyCarrot** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 6:49 pm

Anything post-1986 should have it. The 5 speed arb just has a bit more clearance at the end of the gearbox so it doesn't clip the end and snap the cover off if you bottom out the suspension.

Driveshafts are the same, definately change the clutch, makes no end of difference to the way it drives if the old setup was a bit worn. How do you mean noisy? The only noise you should be getting is a crunchy reverse gear, and even that tends to sort itself out when you change the clutch. You can use any mk2 or mk3 box, or mk2 golfs although you'll have to watch you don't get one with very high ratios that the engine can't handle if you get a golf box. If you get a polo box, you have some options.. 5 speeds from 1l cars and mk3 GT's are short, close ratios, great for accelleration but noisy cruising - mine does 70 at about 3,800rpm. 5 speeds from most of the 1.3's (anything with R1234E on the gear knob rather than R12345) have tall ratios and are much better for cruising. Doable in a day, just start early and have someone around to give a hand with lifting the old box off and the new box on, as not only is the box heavy but you do need to manouver it into place quite precisely. Not a hard job though, shouldn't be much different to the one you've already done on the golf so you should have no problem with it.

steveo3002 · Post by **steveo3002** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 6:58 pm

its got noisey bearing i guess...sounds kinda nasty , more so in 1st and 2nd..thats why im gona change it plus its done 150k

the golf one was a bugger to do...straight forward enough but really alkward and heavy to lift on

do you know if the golf linkage would work

you say i could get a really tall box from a golf...surley my polo will be okay with any 1300 box??

ste mk1lx · Post by **ste mk1lx** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 7:02 pm

steveo3002 wrote:do you know if the golf linkage would work

the Golf linkage won't work you need one off a 5 speed Polo and if you use a Golf box you will still need the gearbox mount off a 5 speed Polo

GroovyCarrot · Post by **GroovyCarrot** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 7:40 pm

I guess the 1300 should handle it but it'd be pretty sluggish.. maybe worth it if you do a lot of motorway miles. You'll need the front gearbox mount from a 5 speed polo, and you'll need to bolt your four speed rear gearbox mount onto the golf box in order to fit it.

steveo3002 · Post by **steveo3002** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:54 pm

okay thanks for the replies...i'll keep an eye out for a gearbox and the bits

groovy, would your stanstead yard possibly have what i need?

GroovyCarrot · Post by **GroovyCarrot** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:50 pm

Last time I went there they had two five speed polos - a mk2 ranger with a 4+e box, about 100,000 miles, looked reasonable condition, and a mk3 genesis 1.0 with a 5 speed of some sort, only had 72,000 miles on it and a note in tippex on the rocker cover (which I nabbed, it was in good nick

) saying how well it ran before it was scrapped.. might be worth having a look.

Gareth_GT_Hatch · Post by **Gareth_GT_Hatch** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 11:36 am

the 1300 5-speed golf gearbox is actually shorter than the polo one because of the extra weight. Depending on what you want the car for you should get either an AHD gearbox or an 8P gearbox. The AHD gearbox comes from the mk3 polo GT and is the 1.3 close ratio one. The 8P gearbox is the 4+E gearbox (same first 4 gears as the box youve got now plus an extra "economy" one.) This equates to around 3300rpm at 70mph in 5th and like GC said its about 3800 in 5th with the close-ratio box.