1997 VW Golf - Progression of Modifications and Results

[dfeldt91]

Year: 1997
Make: Volkswagen
Model: Golf GL
Engine: ABA 2.0 - Gasoline
Transmission: 5 Speed Manual
Mileage: 212K
EPA: 21/29 MPG
Before Mods/Driving Style Change: 27 MPG (November 25th, 2015)
Current: 44.5 MPG (February 2, 2015)

Type of driving: Mostly city under 40 MPH with the occasional 50 mile trip

[dfeldt91]

Things To Do:

• AC Delete
• Kill switch
• Fill in missing fog lights
• Partial Kammback(sp?)
• Experiment with rear slipstream
• Grille block
• Belly pan
• Coilovers and wheel spacers to narrow gap
• Routine maintenance
• Mirror delete
• EOC toggle
• Remove rear wiper
• Front plate relocation
• Wheel covers
• Narrower tire
• LED headlights
• Learn to pulse drive with EOC
• Disable Power steering

Done:

• (Done)Replace clutch
• (Done)Disable daylight running lights
• (Done)Replace MAF Sensor
• (Done)Replace Engine Coolant Sensor
• (Done)Taller tire
• (Done)OBD2 Bluetooth device install to watch MPG/engine
• (Done - Partially)Antenna Delete

[dfeldt91]

December 1st, 2015 - With Thanksgiving out of the way I was able to finally jump into this ecomodding project. The biggest concern with any new ecomodding project should be getting the car running and driving well, so I decided to start by replacing the clutch. I had no clue what I was doing so it took me three days while drinking and eating lot of Panda Express with a friend. I ended up bending the dust covers for the transmission so I bought new old ones at the junk yard. The car drove the 120 mile round trip to the friends house just barely. 75% through my trip it was raining hard enough for me to have to pull over which incidentally happened right after I ran over a branch causing something to fail leaving me with a dead engine at the top of the off ramp. Got it started after cranking for minutes and it was smoking BAD. I thought I blew a head gasket. Let it sit for an hour while I stood in the rain trying to figure out the issue. No one stopped of course... It would die whenever the engine got down to below 1200 RPMs or so and was in gear so I literally had to rev the engine then slam it into gear and I was off until I would come to a stop and the car would die for a few minutes, got stuck in the middle of two intersections on the way home, LAME. Anyhow, the next day I cleaned the white gunk from the PVC valve plastic thingamajiggy that always gets clogged with these engines and it stopped dying when below 1200 RPM. The starting issue persisted however and each morning I have to crank it for 30 seconds to get it to start. Pretty sure it is the Hall Sensor or the Crankshaft Position Sensor as both are used when in open loop below 1300 RPMs or so which makes sense since the car would die when below that and in gear. My guess is the stick I hit snagged the wire of one of the sensors since the wires hung low.

December 5th, 2015 - Today I purchased some cheap coilover springs for $53 shipped. They replace the springs on the stock shocks. I plan to lower the car just an inch or so to get rid of the gap between fender and tire which should improve MPG and look better.

December 7th, 2015 - I went to the junk yard and picked up a used MAF sensor, rotor cap, main plug wire and coil. I'm going to replace all these and hope the starting issue is from one of them. I cleaned the new MAF and installed it which did not fix the problem. Haven't installed the other stuff yet. While at the junk yard I was able to pick up a set of after market "tuner" style wheels that were in good shape with tires for $140. Stock lug bolts did not fit so I ordered some narrower lug bolts. On a drive to go fishing I stopped at a rest area to disable my daylight running lights permanently. If you have an MK3 you can do so by pulling the headlight switch and cutting the number 15 wire. They are labeled on the connector and it is the corner yellow wire, super easy to spot. I also fixed my crankcase breather tube that was snapped by cutting it off at the break and sticking it into the connecting tube, easy fix.

December 10th, 2015 - I bought a sheet of corrugated plastic to use for the belly pan and the rear wheel well cover. When the rain stops long enough I will get out and start cutting and attaching.

December 12th, 2015 - I got a bluetooth engine scanner in the mail an hour ago and went for a drive to check out the instant and trip miles per gallon through the device on my phone. It is really cool seeing what the best approach to a hill would be(certain gear, rpm, etc) to make it using the least fuel possible. I also used the device to find out that my engine shuts off when the accelerator pedal is not pressed in and it is coasting. I would watch my MPG go from 40 or whatever all the way to 255 which I suspect to be the maximum with this device. I think this alone will give me at least a 15 to 20 percent increase in fuel economy because I found out that coasting in neutral was wasting gas as compared to coasting in gear which uses zero. Also, I can now fine tune my pedal pressure and gear selection for best MPG. The only thing I don't like about the MPG calculations through this device is that it sees that the engine is still "on" if I turn off the engine at a long light so the average MPG goes down as it sees the engine getting zero MPG. I'm excited to get the rest done now and see if I can hit 45 mpg average.

December 14th, 2015 - I got some free time today, actually I just didn't feel like working and I work from home on my time so.....I went out and cut some coroplast covers for the open sections where my fake fog lights were missing on the bumpers. That covers two sections that measure about 3" by 7" that were open to the engine bay. I also got the new narrow lug bolts for my larger wheels/tires. Got them installed. Went from 195/60/14's --> 195/60/15's. Got pocket raped at Les Schwab: $65 to dismount, clean the bead and seal 3 tires. Had to be done though because the stock tires were causing me to slide around when wet and were unsafe. New tires give me quicker acceleration. I don't feel like I'm revving too high before shifting now. Initial thoughts: Decel mode is not engaged at certain times it normally would be so instead of burning no fuel I am burning about 60mpg so I have to downshift to remedy that which causes the car to slow quicker. Only thing to do would be to get my engine off coasting switch wired in. Still need to get a wire with inline fuse to do it safely and not ruin my ECM should it become overloaded since I have to bypass the original fuse to break the electricity going to the injectors.

January 12th, 2016
I have been away for a while as I have started school and my schedule is changing quite a bit. I'll do a better job of keeping up with this thread now that I am getting th hang of school and am restructuring my time.

[dfeldt91]

Reserved

[freebeard]

IMHO private messages are for thread maintenance and apologies. Useful suggestions should go into threads where they can be supported or picked apart.

My rebuttal: Don't go over to the dark side, go EV.

You have the eGolf from the factory as a target, and EVTV shows how to adapt OEM electrical vehicle components with a little Arduino sauce.

48 miles sounds like the distance between Corn Valley and Bleugene.

VW really upped their game on paint finishes from the 70s to the 90s. It looks good for a 20 year-old car. I also have a a single passenger vehicle. It has a driver seat and an L-shaped bench that replaces the other three. I can sleep in it or carry my air compressor. You could probably do something similar in your Golf.

[GreenHornet]

Going EV depends on the purpose of the vehicle. If the vehicle is for in town only use that will see a max of 50 miles a day then EV makes a whole lot of sense if it can be accomplished on a low budget. Now if the vehicle is multi purpose and is the only vehicle than EV is not as attractive. Going 48-50 miles one way means you have to have a battery bank capable of around 120mi range to be safe. This means you will spend quite a bit for batteries alone. The Golf is a medium weight car under 2,500lbs and would need a pretty hefty electric motor as well to give it a descent performance potential.

Going EV with a Golf would cost more than a TDI swap. However it was stated that he never gets past 45mph so maybe the electric motor could be smaller thus keeping down costs. I definitely think EV could be a good option if the OP was going to be keeping the red Golf for when he wants to take the occasional trip to the coast or needs to get onto the freeway for the occasional commute to the next town over. If you are patient and wait for the deals a budget EV can be built but it will not have a 120mi range think more in the 40mile range or less. If this is acceptable for 90% of your driving and you have an ICE vehicle to handle the other 10% then I would go this route as well if it was me!

Everyone will have there opinions but what it comes down to is what do you need the most and what will be the cars purpose. First define the cars purpose and then design from there.

GH

[freebeard]

Maybe 10-12 years ago someone showed up at the Springfield German Father's Day show-and-shine with a Rabbit that had been converted to electric by the Sate of Oregon or a University or something. It had a trailer made from a gas/automatic Rabbit chopped at the dashboard and with the rear fascia grafted back on. The use case can limit your solutions, but not your imagination.

Forklift motors and lead acid batteries can get you 45mph and 50-70 mile range. Three-phase DC motors with Lithium Ion batteries can get twice the speed and twice range. 4x performance.

A used Volt battery pack today can be swapped out for solid-state electrolyte batteries when they come to market.

[TedV]

add another vote to coming to the dark diesel side. Aaron at Boraparts should be able to get you the 3 cyl TDi and engine wire harness. I want to do an EV something bad, but the reality of my driving is I need more than what the batteries can give. Factor in in the cost of batteries, their life and cost to charge, I can go 170K miles on diesel. One of my 98 Jetta TDi's has 390K miles. Batteries are part of the fuel equation some ignore. 45mph will get me rear ended and killed on part of my commute.

[dfeldt91]

Anyone know the guy in Tigard, Oregon selling the 3 cylinder Polo TDI engine and transmission and all the stuff for the swap? Is that you GreenHornet?

portland.craigslist.org/wsc/pts/5352207940.html

[GreenHornet]

Yup that would be me