Re: 5th gear conversion

[Anthony Pelletier <vwnuts@yahoo.com>]

I agree with Jason here the .80 is a great gear.  it is higher than the
.91(or whatever) but not too high to throw the engine off curve.  I
would caution anyone though about a .75. IMHO it is too much gear.  I
could waste my friends 2.0 8v with a tired(230+k) 1.8 on the highway if
both cars were left in fifth.  it is just too high.  If you had said
that most of your driving was highway then I'd say the .75 would be a
good choice but that would  be the only case.

.02
Tony

--- 16v Jason <jason@scirocco.org> wrote:
> 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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