DSG7 to DSG6 conversion – Skoda Octavia A7 1.8 TSI Gen3/MQB

Posted November 13, 2017 by Stelios Alexandrakis 15532

DSG7 to DSG6 gearbox swap – Skoda Octavia A7 1.8 TSI

The Skoda Octavia A7 1.8 TSI only comes with a DSG7 DQ200 Gen3 gearbox, if the customer wants an auto-gearbox edition. The versions that come with a DSG6 DQ250 are only available in AWD arrangement. This can be a setback to owners with the FWD gearbox arrangement.

This is mainly because The 1.8 TSI EA888 Gen3 engine has very good tuning potential. Not only can it produce very good power and torque increase just from a remap. It can be retrofitted with bigger turbochargers from its bigger siblings – the Skoda Octavia A7 VRS / VW Golf 7 GTI (IS20 turbocharger) and the Skoda Superb / VW Golf 7R (IS38 turbocharger).

With all the wonderful potential, comes with a catch. The above mentioned upgrades are limited by the DSG7 DQ200 gearbox as it won’t withstand the torque produced by the above combinations. In some cases, it may be able to handle the torque, but sooner or later the DQ200 will eventually give up.

As enthusiast, we always come up with solutions to a problem. Breaking parts eventually paved way for a solution and that is upgrading the weak DSG7 DQ200 to a DSG6 DQ250, which has much better torque handling even on a stage3 IS38 setup . Below are the parts we found and made it to work :-

Full Gen3 DSG6 setup

It includes: A gearbox assy (from gen3/mqb platform Golf7 diesel), starter motor, flywheel, driveshafts, and gear selector.

Full DSG recalibration

Being a frankenstein, the parts came from two different cars. The mechatronic unit from one, the gearbox from another. To make this work, we combined a used mechatronic unit, a used gearbox and wiring harness required to connect it to the car. The mechatronic unit did not originate from this gearbox and the gearbox itself from a diesel car, therefore it had to be adapted for use with gasoline. The problem with the mechatronic was it had diesel calibration data, but we now have a gasoline engine. Shift points, gear shifts, rev limiters were all made for diesel. As a result, we completely changed the DSG calibration to match the new engine and hardware parts in the gearbox.

Result? Everything worked perfectly fine as if it was factory fitted. Happy days 🙂

This is the DSG7 DQ200 unit that came out of the car