OMG ... My gearbox exploded! Again!

[geoff_gti]

Driving down south on Friday for the long weekend, my gearbox exploded, again! Was cruising along in 5th, when there was a pretty decent bang and the car popped back into neutral. I thought it was the clutch, but when I reengaged 5th it just revved through. Dropped it back into 4th and realised 5th had snapped off, as the clutch was fine but the rest of the gears were now clattering badly! It's punched a whole through the bottom of the gearbox too as I could see the oil dripping out once I had stopped. Ended up getting towed home from Pinjarra, luckily within the RAC 'free' towing zone.

BIG thanks to Matt for doubling back and giving me a lift!! You are a legend dude!!

Having just spent a reasonable sum on a new slave cylinder and associated gearbox 'parts' not much more than 6 weeks ago, needless to say, I am less than happy! I'm not here to name names etc, and most of the local guys know what happened back then as it was posted elsewhere...

So, since the Mk IV gearboxes seem to be a bit of a weak point anyway (rather than me just lucking out big time), & my mechanical knowledge is very limited, what I am looking for are some suggestions about what I can do going forward from here.

I have a 2003 GTI, with the Oettinger chip and K04 upgrade. The car clocked over 75000km just last week.

As I see it, I can try and get this gearbox fixed up (which I don't think I would want done anyway), or buy a second hand / recon unit. Can the internals of these 5spd boxes be strengthened etc to hopefully prevent this from happening again?

The R32 & V6 Boras have a 6 speed box, which I am also assuming would be stronger too. Given these are AWD though, can the same box be fitted to a GTI or would it need a lot of fiddling to fit?

Golfloon, you might remember me calling you about 6 weeks ago when it went the first time. If you, or any others, could PM indicative prices or availability etc inc estimate freight prices that would be great. I am in Perth metro.

I am also looking for least-cost options since I'm supposed to be going to NZ in July and have already paid for the flights. I'd just got over paying the first hit on the repairs before, but depending on how much this is likely to cost, I'm hoping I can still make the holiday!

TIA guys!
Geoff