About

One day in 2001, I decide to drive to Ft.Collins, CO (about an hour away) to buy myself a new guitar. Instead I bought myself a '98 Jetta GLX!! I had been driving a POS '86 Ford Ranger so it was a major upgrade.

It's not fast but it's a lot faster than it used to be. At sea level it would be a lot faster than here. A lot of people don't realize how much the altitude affects naturally aspirated cars. A turbo or supercharged car doesn't lose near as much power, cause 7 psi is 7 psi regardless of where you are. They don't spool as quick and if your pushing the limits, you may not make 20 psi, but for the majority of bootsted cars it's only a tenth or two slower. My car of the other hand is at least a half second slower up here, probaly more 'cause all my mods are to increase the flow of air that we just don't have up here. I haven't had it below 5000' ft since I put in the new 6 speed so some day I'll have to head down hill and get you guys some actual numbers instead of pulling them out my rear.

Specs

VW calls it the VR6, it's a low angle V6 with the cylinder banks only 15 deg apart as opposed to a domestic V8 that are 90 deg apart. It guess in German, VR are the initials for the words meaning 'low angle'. Even though it's a V6 it only has one head and one exhaust manifold. They designed it to have the power of a straight six, but short enough to fit transversely for a front drive car.
I haven't had it dyno'd yet 'cause I'm not done building it, but I should be in the neighborhood of 190 BHP at my altitude of 7200', that's 2000' higher than 'Mile High' Denver, CO. ANY naturally aspirated car is going to make 20-30% less power up here. At sea level my car might have 200 HP at the wheels. I don't have a G-Tech yet so I don't know current 1/4 mile times. A couple of years ago without the trannsmission and pulleys I G-Tech'd a 16.1 running against a late 90's Mustang GT convertible with the 4.6L V8, and beat him by half a car. I'm guessing it runs a low 15 up here and maybe a mid 14 @ sea level. The chip removed the speed limiter, so it'll go about 135 before running out of gear and hitting red line in 6th. The gearing in the new tranny is lower than stock, so low that it runs at a higher rpm in 6th than it used to in 5th with the old tranny! Makes for good launches and keeps the gears close when we speed up King's Canyon to Wycolo.
All the upgrades (except the transmission) helped improve mileage. Even up here I can get an average of 27 mpg on the highway with 91 octane, that's 1 mpg more than factory at sea level!

Factory Options

My car came stock with a 176 HP, 2.8L VR6 & 5 speed transmission. The GLX was the fully loaded Jetta with leather seats, power sun/ moon roof, power steering, 4 wheel ABS disc brakes with traction control, 'Dragon' green paint (has lot's of blue pearl), AC, power windows, rear defrost, heated mirrors, 15" alloy wheels, and premium 6 speaker Bose package (the head and speakers have been upgraded but the Bose amp and dash tweeters are still there)

Mods

I've made the following mods:
Neuspeed P-flo cold air intake
Neuspeed P-chip
Unorthodox lightweight underdrive pulleys
AEM big bore intake tube
Eibach Pro-Kit springs (lower about 1.5 in)
Eibach Pro-Damper struts
Eurospec 6 speed transmission (stock 1st-4th, custom 5th & 6th gears, custom ring and pinion lowers all six gears)
ACT clutch
Lightweight flywheel
B&M short throw shifter
Quaife LSD
Polyurethane motor mounts
High flow cat w/ custom exhaust
Slotted & drilled rotors
Tinted windows
Mirrored fog lights
Clear corner markers
Autometer DPIC in pillar mount
JVC head w JBL speakers in the doors and rear
Boss Audio 1200 watt amp
Kicker 10" sub in Kicker box
3.0 Farad capacitor

Mods to come include (Hopefully sooner than later)
Schrick 264 cams and intake manifold
17" 5Zeigen FN01R-C wheels
Strut tower braces
S.S. brake lines
Custom body work to remove side moldings
Body kit
New 2 tone paint job

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