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MK3 Revolution
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Modifications
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"Let's add some horsepower, shall we?"
Before we go any further, I want to express that I DO
NOT hold responsibility for the faults of careless acts, damage or destruction to anyone's vehicle.
This page is to help out fellow Jetta, Golf, and GTi owners in providing helpful information about performance parts
/ ideas. Basically, you people are smart enough; do your homework and research before you do anything...
think it ahead and don't be an idiot...
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AIR FILTERS
About
the most easiest way to grab a couple extra horsepower from your engine is letting your 8 valve SOHC I4 or 12 valve DOHC
V6 suck in more air, faster and non-restrictive. The most basic upgrade is a K&N filter drop in that will use the existing
stock air box. The K&N stock number for the drop in is #33-2069. The filter runs around $45, and expect to see about
a 3-4 horsepower gain from that product.
For all of us gear heads, we know that engines crave colder, dense air for
running their best. The best way for that is to have the intake air pulled from outside the engine compartment. Many
VW companies konw about this, so there are systems to draw in colder air from outside the engine compartment. Many run
from $75 - to $200 depending on application, quality, and material components.
However, many creative people have created there own cold-air intake
system by using quality parts through many different home improvement stores and such. There are many other sites
of people who have a concocted such a device, check them out and ask questions about it. My best bet, I'm better just
purchacing one from a AME performance store.
BRAKES
Okay,
you got you car as fast as possible, but it's time to stop the beast... On a stock MK3, the brake pads aren't horrible, they
have good wearing properties, but the stopping distance is very poor. New pads, rotors and even bigger calipers are not hard
to find at all. Many companies have available on-line catalogs that will search for the system provided by that certain company.
Overall, the more surface the pad touches the rotor, the more stopping power you have. But with the power comes a
price gap: it starts anywhere from a couple hundred dollars for basic performance rotors / pads for all
four wheels to as much as $2000 for the bigger caliper conversion plus all the hardware. Also, think about stainless
steel braided brake hoses for easy maintenance and performance. Since our cars are getting older buy the day, it might
be wise to replace those before they bulge and burst. Personally, grab some performance pads / rotors and brake lines
and slap them on, the size is big enough for a 3000 lbs car. $2000 can get you better things... like a down payment on
a supercharger... at least I think so.
CAMSHAFTS
After some decent modifications are made to your powerplant, a increase lobed camshaft will increase
intake / exhaust flow in and out of the combustion chamber for more power in the mid + high range RPM's. Different camshaft
can open the valvetrain a greater distance for more volume and efficency per stroke. There are several
different degree of camshaft than can be order at a stock level to an aggressive grind for good forced induction purposes.
Expect to find them over the $250 mark for the SOHC and $300 for the DOHC; and power gains vary based on other modifications
are placed on you vehicle.
COMPUTER CHIP
The
computer chip is the heart of your electronically controlled vehicle. The chip is installed into you ECM, which is located
under the rain guard in the firewall of the vehilce. The Memcal chip hold's the timing, fuel, spark and all other computer
related functions. There are over 800 functions that this computer chip holds. And about 8 of them are changed for increased
performance.
There are a handful of companies who sell the upgraded chip. Do your homework before buying and installing
one. Many of the companies will answer questions via e-mail, if your unsure or tense about making a selection.
Always remember though that price, warranty and tech support are three key things to keep in mind just in case anything happens.
Depending on which company you choose, many claim to boost you horsepower from 10-20 and your torque around 12-18 ft/lbs with
some other minor modifications. But money is a big thing too, and the sticker price isn't the best sometimes; so anything
around $200 or less is fairly a good buy, depending on what the company claims.
EXHAUST
Now, since your SOHC or DOHC can suck in more air, how about the exhaust
system? Volkswagen hasn't made a decent effort to keep the sound quality of the exhaust note and has failed to
realize that there are some problems with back-pressure and flow restrictions through . To find a Cat-back system or
even headers, are not hard to locate. Several companies
offer such products; some have good prices and others have quality behind their name. These system can be quite
expensive, around $400 - 700 for the Cat-back exhaust, but the return is pretty good: anywhere from 7 - 15 more horsepower
is expected along with a clean, solid exhaust note.
1998 Volkswagen GTi VR6 in Electron Blue.
FUEL
After
installing a cold-air intake, computer chip, or other heavy-duty modifications your car has some real zip... but are you forgetting
to give all it needs to run top notch? A fuel pressure riser can do that; a necessary modification after doing many,
many other upgrades (beyond head work and sport camshafts) and such on your vehicle. As more air
is entering your engine, the ECM does recognize this but does increase the fuel supply to the fuel injectors. The air
/ fuel mixture can be lean and may hit extremely low levels to where the car is starving for gasoline. A fuel pressure riser
bumps that level back to a normal running state. Very few companies offer such a product and and the price varies like
the stock market. Personally, the bottom line, if you're modifications consist of small list, this particular product
is not for you.
IGNITION
Spark
plugs, wires, distribtor cap or ignition coils are very important to have you car run well all the time.
But the fact of the matter is that many motorists over look this simple idea to keep power and fuel mileage at it's best.
Foul plugs lower performance after so many miles, usually around 25K-30K miles the plugs should be replaced. When you
replaced plug you won't really feel a power gain, but you fuel economy and throttle repsonse will surely
improve after installing any new plugs.
Who of you on-lookers are electricians? Anyone? Does any here wire
stereos What's the best rule of thumb for wire width: thicker is better. Standard spark plug wires can hold the
electrical current from the distributor cap or the ignition coils, but it can be improved greatly. Companies out there
do have precut 8mm, 8.5mm, and I've even heard that 9mm and 10mm wires are available for the SOHC and DOHC, but only used
for highly modified engines. Prices go anywhere from $50 - $200, and just like new plugs, fuel mileage is expected to
rise since resistance of electricity is decreased.
A re-occuring problem that's been noted by Volkswagen is their ignition coils for the VR6 engine.
Many people have returned them to VW dealerships and other have gone out and bought bigger capacity coils for more dependable
starts and running quality. New and tuned distributor caps help with complete combustion and with responsiveness, with
the same benifits of electronic ignition coils: better fuel mileage and smoother idles and high RPM's.
NITROUS OXIDE SYSTEMS
For some instant power increase for drag racing, nitrous oxide systems can
produce anywhere from 10hp - 120+hp shots to get your car past the finish line first. The benefits of the this is that
the system is pretty user friendly after installation. Mostly all NOS products use a push button firing system or a
full throttle switch (which when the gas pedal is on the floor-board the nitrous is shot).
The major downsides of this are that usually older or high mileage engines can't
handle this volatile compound since the added heat and compression can severely damage the pistons, piston rings, seals, connecting
rods and so on and so forth. Rebuilding components in the engine are highly recommend for using big shots of nitrous
oxide, because spending $350 - $1200 on NOS is nothing compared to a damaged $2500 engine. I'll let you think about
that one for a bit...
SUSPENSION
Handling
on a vehicle can be increase by many different ways. Many choose to use bolt on products, such as strut tower bars,
and sway bars and lowering springs. Strut braces decreases the 'body roll' of a car. Basically it makes the car
use it's suspension parts as how they were designed to work, not having the frame and body bend as you take a corner. Companies
sell them for about $80 - $110 a piece (front / rear), but people have created there own for much less than retail prices.
Sway bars, or also know as Anti-Sway Bars, help with stability of the car. When taking a corner they help keep
you wheel stick to the ground creating more contact and less margin of skidding out of control. Sway bars can run from
$150 - $350 and usually comes will all new bushings and hardware.
Lowering springs are another common way to enhance
handling and to lower the center of gravity of your MK3 frame. Kits usually contain all four springs and retainers,
but reuse your existing struts and shocks. Spring kits run anywhere from $150 - $250, and can lower you car anywhere
from 1" to 2.5". To have full adjustablility of you car, there are full coil-over suspension systems for $800+
and can over $1000 easily depending on application whether race, autocross, or terrian. Extremely pricy but hours of
tunability waiting so that you can make your mark on a hairpin turn.
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1999 Volkswagen Jetta GLX VR6 in Triple
White.
SUPERCHARGING / TURBOCHARGING
Today, almost any customized automobile you see today will have stickers
all over it blasting out that it's powered from some super / turbocharger. The myth around these complicated products
is that these "things" came out within the last few years or so: not true. In many
companies has been researching this phenomenon since the early 70's when it was nationally recongized. The real scoop
behind it is that, a super / turbocharger makes for more maintenance and somewhat less durability. Now granted, that
the boost behind these things can be neck-breaking, but it's the fact the tuning and development is a big step into creating
a powerful and responsive engine.
The difference between the two is quite simple. Superchargers
use a turbine to push air into the engine and having more air to combust with the fuel. Turbochargers
do just the opposite, with a turbine it uses the exhaust gases to compress ambient air into the combustion
camber. This extra influx of air helps create a more powerful "bang" which in turn drives the turbo at a faster pace,
pulling air out of the engine producing power.
The fine line between using either or is still up in the air.
Some swear that turbos are only meant for smaller engines, and yet other say they're pulling faster times with a supercharger
in the same vehicle. The main thing comes down to this, it's based on application. A supercharger give the car
an instant boost the time you hit the gas, where turbochargers take time to spool up in the 3000 - 4000 RPM range untill shifting.
But from what I've seen and heard, is that turbos are great for little four-bangers and very small V6's. This is where
the line is now drawn here when turbos wouldn't seem to fit or work. But, for example the late Dodge Stealth
R/T, the Nissan 300ZX, the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4, and others are a good example of twin turbo engineering with a 3.0
liter V6. This two-turbo idea was used since the phyical problem of "turbo lag" was extremely horrible with
one large turbocharger. Therefore, thise companies went to two smaller units instead of one big one where less inertia
is required to spool up the turbos. But from there on, the bigger V6's and V8 would be good with a superchargers;
but there exists a working Twin Turbo Corvette that kicked butt up and down the track. So, again
the bottom line when it comes down to what to use, it's based on application. Nonetheless, the numbers are sometimes
scary to see with superchargers adding an extra 20 - 150+ hp and turbrochargers adding around 10 - 130+ hp. These
are relative ranges, some systems can create more or less depending on setup and atmosphere.
So, ...yes, it is possible to add a supercharger or turbocharger to MK3
paltform. There are a decent amount of companies that have supercharging or turbocharging speciallists that will
make a better call for you based on individual applications. but remember, just like NOS, some parts of the engine, especially
when turbocharging, need to be changed for increase pressure and heat. If looking to supercharge your vehicle expect
to pay around $2500 - $5500 with full electronics available and some extra parts to set you above the average crowd.
Turbocharging is little more invovled, anywhere from $3000 - $6500 for all components along with an intercooler and electronics.
Final word, personally planning for a supercharger for driving around town: less mess and easy cleaning...
just need a little something more to beat a couple of my co-workers.
THERMOSTAT
The cooling system for the SOHC or the DOHC has it's bad and good
days, depending on driving conditions and weather... so to keep you engine cooler install a low temp thermostat. Automobiles
from the factory have anywhere from 190 - 195 degree thermostats and that great if you want you car toasty all the time in
the winter, but what about the summer time? A 180, or 165 degree thermostat will open the flow-gate to have the
coolant circulate more often to keep the water temperature, and therefore the engine temperature cooler.
Some people
have asked 'isn't putting in a lower thermostat going to wreck my engine, since it's not at factory specs?' NOT AT ALL,
in fact, it actually prolongs engine life, hoses, and plus after adding on other performance parts this is major thing that
is overlooked. A thermostat costs around $20-$35 plus a couple dollars more to refill the coolant after installation.
Expect to see a power increase of around 3-5 horsepower out of your vehicle. Unfortunately, the only downside
to a 180 and 165 thermostat is that the heater will not blow as hot through your heater core... but, at the same time
no one want to crack a block or overheat while on the street or on the racetrack. Plus many, if not all engine builders
will agree to get the most "umf" out of you car is to have a 'at - running temp' engine with cold coolant circulating.
TRANSMISSION
OK,
if the world was perfect, some of us gearheads would be in heaven and find our MK3's with a manual transmission; unfortunately,
reality sets in. Some of the MK3's are equipped with a 4-speed automatic transmission, and dreamed of
having the 5-speed manual instead. But since the conversion price from auto to manual is ridiculously high, very few
have done the transfer. It's easier just buying another MK3.
But there is hope: to keep your
auto transmission living longer and to get a little more push out of it, there are a few things to look over. First
thing is that Volkswagen made these auto trannys to be smooth shifting for the common driver. People want
that changed... there are electronic adapters, when installed, to produce firm, accurate, predicable shifts when desired.
The adapter costs around $75 - 90 and feels great once put in. But the only downside is that a qualified professional technician
should only installed this type of product at your local transmission shop.
Another thing to think about is the fluid
in the transmission. During running conditions, the temperature inside the transmission can be scorching, weakening the molecular
bonds of the transmission fluid. Along with using synthetic lubricants, a transmission cooler helps prolong fluid life, the
torque converter and to reduces 'slipping'. Check with your local service shop for individual based demands.
WHEELS / TIRES
Okay, this is about the only thing that performance goes along with
appearance. Again if you refer back to the suspension part of this page, lowering the center of gravity is important for handling
conditions. To take this a step further, bigger wheels with a combination of smaller tires increases precision cornering and
gives you car a nice look. Many different styles and brand fit the MK3 bolt pattern of 5 x 100mm, and wheel diameter
can be increase as far up to 18" without having to deal with changing speedometer ratios.
Tires alone can make a big
difference with handling. Soft vs. hard tire compounds have both there good and bad points, but depending on specific use,
it's basically a toss up on what to use. Soft tires have very good dry traction and provide very good response on the road.
Unfortunately they wear very quickly and only last 20K - 30K miles with constant rotation. Hard tires last for a very long
time and have good traction in the rain or snow to keep you from sliding all over the place. But, they don't hold well under
hard cornering at all, squealing around the entire corner. Two sets of different tires may be an option especially if you
live where climates change on a seasonable basis.
With having bigger tires, the tire side wall must be smaller to
keep the entire tire/wheel circumference the same. If that size is skewed, the speedometer and odometer will read and count
incorrectly due to more/less wheel rotations. Companies where you buy wheel/tire sets will help you find out tire fit your
increased wheel diameter and shorten the sidewall of the tire. This trend is known as "low-profiling", and with less of a
sidewall, the less it can bend while a car takes a hard corner. The tires completely grips the road, and like said before
above, the suspension does the rest of the work. But unlike many performance options, the price range is very open depending
on tire size, tire brand, and wheel style/coating. The list begins at $50 - $700 a wheel, and tires from $30 - $400 a piece.
Again, do your research and do what you got or want to do.
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