I came across this link today and thought I'd share. I'll add comments to it via replies to this post based on my own experience with these engines, but for the moment I thought I'd just put this out there.

http://phatcat_ed.tripod.com/V6.htm

Obviously our bumper removal is different to an extent than that of a Passat but the various 1.8T DIYs can get you through that portion of the job.