New Owner of a 1981 4door VW Rabbit Diesel**47.5MPG**Baseline

[Christ]

I have several engines that could use them... what did you want for them?

I was planning on boosting one and was just gonna use some ultra-hard threaded rod lol

[Cobb]

True Dat!!!!! Got to stick a small air nozzle down each one, and let it dry before you go bolting.

Originally Posted by ECONORAM

Make sure the bottoms of the bolt holes are well cleaned out with a bottoming tap before running the head studs down..or you'll hydro lock any fluid at the bottom of the holes and CRACK!

[bigchelis]

I have since removed my front and rear bumpers and bedlined the entire car Black.

My last tank net me 317 miles and consumed just 5.7888 gallons.

I am somehow doing great at 54.5 MPG.





By the Way I definitely am looking for a IP from Giles. Primarily; hoping it takes me to 60MPG but it would be nice to have the extra 20ish ponies He charges $750 for the 1.5L/1.6L NA ones.

This is a Dyno Graph on a VW 1.6L NA motor with his IP.

[Cobb]

Thats good.

Do you know the history of this motor? THe vw dieselis a heavy built motor.You put the rod against a rod from a 350 and its hard to tell the 2 apart.

With no adjustments you can floor the hell out of the engine and not have to worry about sending the pistons through the hood.

Same is true of the mercedes diesels as well.

[TedV]

a warning about a Giles pump. The added power and smothness make it hard to keep your foot off the throttle. TOO MUCH FUN!!! lol

I have a 1.6TD super pump in my 78 Scirocco rallycross car, geared too low and only gets 47mpg cruising.

I also have a Giles worked pump in my 98 Jetta TDI daily driver. regular commute = 48mpg but I did hit 50 last fill up. This is without trying at all and going with the flow of traffic.

your millage may vary

[Teri_TX]

Reading this thread brought back some fond (and not so fond) memories of my '82 diesel Jetta.

I routinely got 48-49mpg over mostly highway driving with an occasional 52 mpg when I was on vacation really doing highway driving. I noticed that if the fuel mileage dropped a couple of mpg's it's because I had a rough week at work.

I wasn't using ANY hyper-miling technique unless right foot to the firewall is one of them

Problems? I had a few costly ones which I figured out too late was a dealer induced problem. The glow plug relay ($$) had to be replaced several times before the dealer discovered the relay block ($$$$) and all the relays were severely corroded. They discovered the antenna lead which came through the left fender well was draped over the relay block. The antenna lead was supposed to have a grommet to stop any wheel well spray from running down the lead and dripping over the relay block. Of course it wasn't there and much later I remembered or found out somehow that when I bought the car (excuse me, "It's not a car, it's a Volkswagen" slogan), the antenna and original radio were dealer installed, not by the factory in Germany. Moral of the story, check the antenna lead entry point into the passenger cabin.

Also, be VERY gentle with the window crank AND maybe buy a prophylactic spare. It's a pain to roll the window down (or up) without it. Keep some vice grips handy. When I went to get a new crank, the dealer's new parts dept had a whole rack of them in the open so you didn't even have to ask at the window. Draw your own conclusions.

My dash would vibrate wildly when I started up the engine cold. Periodically check for loose screws in the dash.

The odometer died on mine and through a motorcycle friend I found out VDO odometers were notorious for that and that there was a shop in the Los Angeles area that had a full time business of repairing them.

Aside from the problems, I have some fond memories of trips I took on vacations with my Jetta. The huge trunk and back seat area held a lot camping gear.

A tip: I kept a pair of big rubber gloves in the trunk that I would don before I fueled up. I didn't care to smell like a diesel mechanic.

-- Teri