Jetta rear wheel drive conversion

[Pharty012]

anyone know what the cost of a rear wheel drive conversion on a jetta would be???
trying to do my studies before i get the car and preparing my list of goodies to get...

[Evster3_16]

I know people that are into drag racing, and have heard them talk about converting cars into rear wheel drive. It is possible to convert a car to rear wheel drive, but it requires alot of work. My guess is that it would be rediculously expensive. Not only that, but FWD cars have a transverse mounted engine, RWD cars have a longitudinal mounted engine. You'd have to rotate the engine, and possibly get a new trans. I'm not sure if a new trans is needed, but i don't think the current engine/trans. setup will convert easily. I'd have to say that it is possible, but I wouldn't have a clue on how to do it. I'm no expert so you should probably look into it further. I think that a RWD Jetta would be amazing, but I sure don't have the money/resources to do such a thing.

[HayaiCivic]

Unless your kidding, dont waste your time. Jettas are FF for a reason. The entire car has been engineered for FF or pulling force. Pushing force will upset its balance. Your looking at around 20,000 dollars worth of custom equiptment and modification to the Jetta to run it in FR. If its worth it to you... personally, Id just buy something with FR so you dont have to be your own engineer.

[Deakins]

Get a 4-motion

[HayaiCivic]

4 wheel drive burns alot more torque per wheel, but I dont know about any real advantage over FF.

[Screamnwheels]

Call me nieve, but wouldn't it just be as easy as using parts from a Audi A4 Quattro. Aren't the chassis' of the Jetta and A4 the same???

[iamwhatiam]

im doing the same with my golf i think it isnt as cooked up as everyone thinks it to be especially if your doing it yourself and that 20000 dollars is outrageous all it is is just a rear axle mounts shocks springs umm maybe some adjusments to the body to make the trans fit into the area other than that i cant't think of anything else to do for it

[JTrujillo86]

Dont you need a new transmission? How is it possible to use the stock transaxle to run RWD??

Jeremy

[riceaterSLC]

Originally Posted by HayaiCivic

4 wheel drive burns alot more torque per wheel, but I dont know about any real advantage over FF.

the advantage of awd over FF is that you have a lot more usable contact patch for the drive wheels. if you are into 1/4, awd launches are a lot better than fwd. when you launch a car, the rear end squarts. in a fwd car, this reduces the load on the front wheels, therefore decreasing the traction. if you have awd, even if the front wheels lift, you still have some power goign to the rear wheels to help launch and keep traction. not to mention is is hella fun to have an awd car in the snow.

Originally Posted by Screamnwheels

Call me nieve, but wouldn't it just be as easy as using parts from a Audi A4 Quattro. Aren't the chassis' of the Jetta and A4 the same???

no, the Mk4 platform, Golf, Jetta, TT, and Audi A3 are the same.
the Audi A6, A4 and VW Passat are all B5 platforms.

Originally Posted by JTrujillo

Dont you need a new transmission? How is it possible to use the stock transaxle to run RWD??

yes, you do. depending on what mk vw you have, you can either do 4 motion or syncro, the older setup on mk2s. in general there are 2 types of awd trannies.
1) the type that are in DSM's. it attaches to the motor like a FWD tranny, but has an extra output for the rear wheels. the center diff. attaches right to the tranny and the driveshaft runs back to the rear diff.
2) the type that are Subaru's. it looks like a RWD tranny, but has two output shafts for hte front wheels right on the tranny.

[philabassist]

I know a few years have passed, but I wanted to add a little more. This will hopefully be helpful to those who Google searched 'AWD Jetta Conversion' and ended up here, like me! I have considered doing a project like this on my '03.

The last post was true, and I want to add my bit about MKIV Jettas. Jetta Sedans come in AWD forms in Europe, so the parts all out there. No $20k conversion cost, unless you feel the need to fabricate everything yourself haha.

The engine/tranny work is actually the easy part, well, easier if you have a 6spd, I know that much. The awd use the same transmissions, with a transfer case attached to the passenger side output. This works like a truck's 4WD, but made to handle constant driving. The rear end/supsension is all out there, as well.

The 2 pieces I am unsure about are:

1)Mounting/Clearence of hardware. I think most of the rear suspension needs replaced w/ different parts to accomodate the rear drive axles and different handling capabilities.

2)Electrical/Computer - I don't know if there are any CPU flashing or braking sensor issues, I'm still researching.

I hope someone benefits, or even be able to add to this!