Re: 5th gear conversion

[16v Jason <jason@scirocco.org>]

At 12:37 AM 8/4/99 , Peterson/Doty wrote: 
>
> Hey all,
>     Has anyone on the list changed to the .80(?) 5th?  I do almost equal
> in-town and highway driving and would love to lower the revs but don't know
> if the drop would affect in-town drivability too much.  I know I've had many
> questions lately but I'm doing a lot of work to the car and the list is a
> fountain of knowledge :P
> Thanks
> Jeremy
> '86 16v


Hi Jeremy,
 I have the 0.75 in my 87 16v, and I love it.  Can't say enough good about
it. 
 The difference in sound (and stress) levels at highway speeds is simply night
and day.  It's one of the best mods (if not _the_ best) I've done, and would
recommend it to anyone.
 Low-speed 5th gear cruising is no longer possible, but you get used to it.
 On
flat ground, I need to wait until 2900-3000rpm in 4th to drop it into 5th
gear,
which results in a 1900rpm cruise.  All this is around 43mph.
 Anything slower than that, and the engine will bog.
 Accelerating up hills in 5th gear at speeds under 60mph (2500rpm) is slow...
but power is merely a downshift away.  The drop from 4-5 is large, but it's
not
unnaturally severe, and you get used to it right away.
 Cruising at 75mph used to be a boomy 4000rpm; now it's a barely audible
3250. 
As far as the power loss is concerned, I raced a friend in a GLi 16V
(actually,
he was driving my car and I his), from 70mph to 90mph, and were just about the
same speed...  so the difference is there (as the GLi weighs quite a bit more)
but obviously it's not all that much.
 Fuel economy jumped about 1.5 mpg, although that was quickly offset by me
throwing 15" wheels on the car...  I get about 29 city and 31 highway.
 As far as the .805 5th gear is concerned, I'm sure you'd love it.  If I
had it
to do over again, I'm not sure which gear I would choose.  To be honest, I'd
probably take the .75 again, just because it's a very liveable conversion, and
I'd rather have to downshift into 4th from time to time than buzz along on the
highway at higher rpms.
 One day when I do the 2.0 conversion, the mod will become an even better
investment, as the added low-end grunt of the 2.0 will bring (from others'
experience) the minimum cruising speed of the 5th gear from 42mph to 38mph.

 Good luck!
Jason





----------
1987 Scirocco 16v
1989 Mercedes 190E Sport Euro


http://members.aol.com/rocco16v  

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