Hello from the PNW
 

finally got around to signing up. I have been lurking on the page for a few years now and decided its time to sign up!

First found the page a few years back when I was in a money crunch and was trying to find new and REAL ways to increase my mileage. At the time I was rocking a 1997 Mazda Miata and was averaging 20-22mpg. Not happy with this my first investment was a ScanGauge2. Found out real fast that my problem was my lead foot.

After two years and tons of maintenance on the car she was sold when the wife told me baby was on the way! The Miata was netting 28mpg no matter how you drove it and 34-35mpg was my best tank! The car was 100% bone stock to boot!

The money from the Miata was used to buy a 1992 Toyota 4runner that gets MPG in the teens......Its a family car so it gets a pass, that and the wife says its hers even though I sold my car to get it:confused:

And that brings us to today and my new/current car that I plan on trying to hypermill, A 2001 Volkswagen Jetta 1.8T Wolfsburg edition. Car is fully loaded minus leather (Cloth heated seats are such a pain to find! Only other car I could find was a Subaru Forester S). The previous owner did a laundry list of mods to the car including

1. APR Stage 1 Tune W/4 program switching (Stock,91/93oct,100oct,valet), fault code erase, and throttle body alignment. Pretty cool setup that is switchable via the stock cruise control.
2. Full 3' turbo back exhaust with magnaflow muffler (Very quiet and no rice)
3. Forge 007 diverter valve
4. Silicone Turbo Inlet pipe
5. Some stupid pod filter
6. Raceland coilover springs
7. 18' low profile rims
8. Thule roof rack
9. Cosmetics - tint, stubby antenna (**** for radio reception), and new front grill
10. Euro Switch upgrade

So far I am still calibrating my scangauge to this car. It was in my RX-8 for the past few years, but felt it would be better suited for the MK4 as the RX-8 is a petrol chugging demon with a 9k RPM redline. Right now just going off the static AVG and MPG as im driving I cant seem to get better then 26.9MPG in town and 32ish on the HWY (had it up to 32 and decided I wanted to do a few throttle tip ins to hear my new DV and that killed it)

Car just had a minor tune up on 3-15-14 including:
One cold range colder on the plugs and gapped to .028
Mobile 1 5w20 Full Synthetic
Wix oil filter (I know I need to get a donaldson on it ASAP)
air filters cleaned (pod and cabin)
Air pressure set at 35PSI on all corners

Future mods if my other hobbies will allow will be
Finding stock rims
Replacing the coil overs with a standard spring setup
Removing the roof rack when keys show up
Installing a boost/vac gauge to help stay out of boost
stock floor mats (Seriously why do people keep these?!)


As for a little info on me. I'm 27, currently reside in Oregon. By day I'm a parts manager/Factory trained mechanic for Antonio Carraro tractors at a hydraulic repair and tractor maintenance facility. By Night I run my own computer repair business as well as a video game repair and modification and arcade repair Business. Baby #1 shows up May 5, 2014. I got into the car modding scene when I was 18 with a honda and proceeded to be a little ricer for a few years. One day I realized that I was dumping money into these cars and was still slow. Only Honda I have left now is a 50cc Metropolitan that gets 90ish MPG and will do 45mph consistently and 50MPH on days when its running balls to the wall! My love of working on cars came from the realization that im paying some ass to do stuff I was capable of doing! Since that day I found its easier to get a case of beer and call up a few friends and start turning wrenches! I have always loved the idea of doing more with less (Reason I love the rotary motors so much!) so I'm hoping I will fit in well here!

Anyways, sorry for the book and hello to everyone. I will try and post pics of the Jetta when I get home if anyone is interested!

Welcome! As another owner of a MkIV Jetta (though of the TDI flavor), I'm a bit partial to those... so would definitely like to see some pics.

Removing the roof rack will certainly help with your FE. I don't know how much grill blocking the gasser will take, but with the scangauge you can get a baseline and then do some blocking while watching the (more accurate than the factory gauge) temperature.

welcome

I had a couple MKIV's 1.8T's
your mods sound pretty close to my 2002 GTi (traded her in on my GTO in Junction City, Or)

have you tracked your milage yet?
I was getting about 28-29 on open highway (70-75) with my GTi
and 32-33 if I could keep it closer to 60mph


does your Wolfie have the stick or the Tip(tronic)?

you said stock wheels,
have you considered Disk (wheel covers) on Steelies?

MOON Disc Snap-on Type

Glad to see other VW lovers here. This is my first one and second german car. First was a 83 BWM 320I. Man I miss that car....

Happy to see there is another member in driving distance from me as well! Right now the wife has been driving the jetta untill I get the 4runner rebuilt. Popped a head gasket so I tore off the whole top end and have been running into problems left and right as its going back together.

Jetta is a 5 speed, Not a big fan of autos. I have been looking for a set of steelies for snow tires so I may have to try and find two sets. I know in the honda days trying to find 15" steelies was impossible due to the honda and 240sx guys scooping them up. Hopefully the jetta being 5 lug will help me find something easier.

I have also been thinking a lot about fuel quality. Right now I have a corporate gas card and use Pacific Prides religiously. I currently have been putting 91oct Non-ethanol premium in. Does the ethanol make a difference? I know some pumps say 10% ethanol, so over 10 gallons I am getting 1 gallon of straight ethanol and think it would affect overall mileage. I also have access to 100oct if i drive across town and was wondering if that would increase mileage?

Hope you start a fuel log here.

Once the car is back in my possession I defiantly will. My wife is all sorts of pissed at me for buying a turbo car. She thinks all I want to do is go fast. While that did factor into the purchasing of the car, I believe that the turbo will help with the FE IF driven correctly.

I discovered that the VW 15" Avus aluminum wheels can be had for relatively cheap and will fit a Walmart 16" pizza pan perfectly... almost like they were designed to be put together. I'm still working on a clean way to join the wheel and the pan...

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-v...229_234121.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-r...229_234147.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-C...318_122141.jpg

Ought to be lighter than the steelies while still giving the aero benefit