Golf/GTI III

[alexisonfire]

I am thinking of picking up a 1995-1998 VW Golf or GTI. Now being the gearhead I am, I want to sqeeze some more performance out of this thing. I have no idea where or what to start on, as I'm not familiar with euro or import performance parts. I was thinking something like an ECU chip, or an intake (either cold air or not), or some suspension upgrades. I DO NOT want to put an exhaust on the car that makes it sounds like a weedwacker or anything even close to that. Also, I never plan on super/turbocharging this thing. I am really just looking for some cheap mods I can do to this car that will give it a little more umph, and be a little more fun to drive. Thanks for any help you guys can give me!

[sputnik]

VR6?

[alexisonfire]

Nope, just a 2.0 most likely.

[DUBBED]

cam, chip,

I had those on my GTi, you will notice the biggest gains from those without putting an exhaust on. My advice would be to get a VR6 exhaust.

[EK 2.0]

IMO any exhaust on a VW sounds so so so sexy...I have yet to hear of a Later Model VW with a bad sounding exhaust...But the Brullens and the Super Sprints are sweet sounding units if you did ever re-think and wanna slap on an exhaust...

[alexisonfire]

So what chip and cam does everyone reccomend? Also, if I go with an intake, cold air intake or not? Thanks for all the responses so far!

[doc_speeder]

I had a Mk3 Jetta 2.0. Good motors, but not really a performance machine. Even with bolt ons such as cam, chip, lightened flywheel,exhaust, etc, they really are pretty slow, mostly because the Mk3 is fairly portly. Nice cars, torquey, fun to drive, but def not fast. Don't get me wrong, they feel good with some mods, just don't expect too much.
I had a Techtonics Tuning chip, Autotech cam and exhaust. Made the engine feel much "livelier", but not significantly faster by the numbers.

[Ben]

Turbo the bitch.

[alexisonfire]

Wll im not looking to race this thing or whatever, I mean I got a '72 Chevelle. Just to pep it up a little...

What if I got a VR6 version....what about bolt-ons and performance gains versus the 2.0? Also, I'm looking to keep very good gas mileage here....I dont want to add anything that will serverly compromise that. Will the cam or the chip cause loss of gas mileage?

[Bruce Chan]

yes of course ! i think because the car getting faster, more gas will loss as same as turbo ,the cam and the chip.
how about put the big rims or change the gear box , may help to save the gas mileage....

[GTS Jeff]

^^^ lol dont mess with the gearing or put on bigger rims to save mileage (bigger rims wont save u gas mileage anyways haha)

if u are looking for simple mods, just do the basic ricer mods (i/h/e/cam/chip) and ull be set. gas mileage will be affected, but that is unavoidable (and it really isnt going to be THAT much worse unless u drive it hard). u know, an exhaust will only sound bad if u cheap out on it, so spend a bit of cash on it and the exhaust will sound good AND net some gains.

i wouldnt really worry too much about what brand intake ure getting, theyre all pretty much the same. u should worry about brand/specs/contruction of the other mods tho, cuz that shit makes a difference.

also remember that 1 or 2 mods wont really do much individually, they really do work better together.

[-250-]

I wanted that exact setup on an MK2, ben had given me some Great info.

Like Jeff said, intake, headers, cams, chips, but it would be REALLY REALLY advisable to run a turbo. I have been researching, and even though the car wil not be paralelling any 13 second civic, it has some great low end torque, and quite a bit of high end power when turbo'd properly. In the end do you really want to be some stupid high schooler balla with a ricey car anyways? the realy car enthusiast saves his pennies and spends on a decently built non coperate whore car. ( No offence to civic drivers i like them too.)

Even at 5-8 PSI the stock engine will do, and give you a very powerful setup.

Even though the only desernable mod that you can do to a car not including visuals; is an exhaust (rice or nice) it is one of the best mods you can do.

Honest to god, if you are basing your desicion on the sound of a civic, then think again, go listen to any nice sounding golf, you'll shit yourself they sound so sexy.

Golf pride. :bigpimp:

[Ben]

Dont cheap out on your muffler man. far too many vw's roaring around with shitty quality bargain box mufflers with the DTM tips and what not.

I have a Supersprint setup on my car, it absolutely rocks. I gotta get a resonator put in tho, its a bit loud for my taste, but it is a nice smooth throaty tone instead of the abnoxious honda buzz. Sure it wasn't cheap, the setup is gonna run you about 8 or 9 hundred bucks, but trust me, it is worth it. Nothing worse than a poor sounding car. You cheap out, it sounds POOR...not rich....

Go find yourself a nice 270 degree shrick cam, thats good for about 9-11hp, the autotech chip is good for another 7-8hp, and a nice 4-2-1 header for some more torque and some more ponies.

The 2.0L 8v's are not very mod-happy engines...takes some serious engine work like porting and polishing or forced induction...

the 16V's of the erra before your golf got 15-20hp off a set of race cams, and they had more HP to begin with (134 vs 115), I think the non VR6 MK3's got the shaft. Hell, my MK2 takes out the VR6's and runs happily with the 1.8T's.

One can do a VR6 swap for about 4-5k installed...but those motors are also costly to mod. 1.8T's can be done for about 8 large, but then they are super easy to get way more power out of.

Everything relies on one 5 letter word:

M-O-N-E-Y

How much you want to spend is your perogative.

[hockeybronx]

If I were you I'd go for a Neuspeed chip and Intake system. Check out there website to see what models you want. You do know that if you buy a quality exhaust system it wont sound like a "weedwacker".

In my opinion not combining intake with exhaust wouldn't do you that much good. If you have more cold air coming in, but still a small exhaust system taking air out then you probably are losing power.

Check out some Remus exhaust systems, or go see the guys at Tunerworks or Concept 1.

[Ben]

Originally posted by hockeybronx
If I were you I'd go for a Neuspeed chip and Intake system. Check out there website to see what models you want. You do know that if you buy a quality exhaust system it wont sound like a "weedwacker".


Neuspeed is trash for chips, buy ONLY Autotech or GIAC, I have lots of experience in this area.



Originally posted by hockeybronx

In my opinion not combining intake with exhaust wouldn't do you that much good. If you have more cold air coming in, but still a small exhaust system taking air out then you probably are losing power.


A cold air intake or intake system isn't going to make enough difference to require larger diameter exhaust piping or a performance muffler, so no, you wont LOSE power, its not like adding a turbo or supercharger where the restriction is extremely evident. However, I still recommend the quality exhaust. Its not untill you do everything that you really start to notice a difference. Dont expect much out of a new Cone filter or something.

[James]

If you have the extra money to spend and are considering a VR6, and want it to be fast( in comparision to the 2.0), then defenatly go with the VR6. You could possibly spend thousands on the 2.0 to BARELY be faster than a stock VR6, just not worth it in the long run.........a VR6 wont be TOO bad on gas, of course its more of a pig than the 8v but only bad if you bag on it.

[-250-]

Man I think a nice turbo/intercooler/exhaust/chip/intake will make that car soar, thats all that I am doing, other then a 16V head swap on my MK2.


Thanks again Ben for all your help.

:closed:

[Cedrick]

Hey alexisonfire

I have a 2.0L Jetta, and I did 270 degree cams, motronic ecu, brullen 2.25 exhaust, and I didnt really notice too much of a crazy difference. I mean with these bolt ons the car was great for driving around the city, and ripping it up occasionally, but my no means was it amazingly fast. Most of my work was done through concept1, and they did a great job. I really wanted something faster tho, and my old jetta wasnt really cutting it so I got a 1.8t. So if you want something pretty fast, go for the vr6. It has great milage and its an awsome engine. The 2.0 is a mediocre engine at best in my opinion. From what Ive heard, the vr6 does respond decently to mods, but for more info you should call the guys over a concept1, they usually answer all my questions when I have them.

[euro_racer]

Originally posted by James
If you have the extra money to spend and are considering a VR6, and want it to be fast( in comparision to the 2.0), then defenatly go with the VR6. You could possibly spend thousands on the 2.0 to BARELY be faster than a stock VR6, just not worth it in the long run.........a VR6 wont be TOO bad on gas, of course its more of a pig than the 8v but only bad if you bag on it.


i dont know about that whole fuel efficiency thing. My vr6i s not that efficient. i fill my car up every 3rd day! they are great engines but if you want fuel efficiency, go with the 2.0 instead, but for power, go with the vr6 or 1.8t swap. one reason (i heard) why the vw's are not as fast is because they have a heavy front end, i don't know if that is true or not.

[Moe Man]

go with the VR6