Rotten Passat

[dfeldt91]

Originally Posted by V6MustangFTW

Not really MPG related, but it would be cool to compare the factory 0-60 time to the 0-60 time after you've finished stripping it

I can definitely tell the acceleration is much better. I live near an intersection where you must turn out onto a highway and there is a ton of traffic so you must really lean into the gas. I'll give it a shot today and see what my time is. I have a GPS 0-60 OBD port device that connects to my phone to tell me times...I'll let you know!

Edit: the car has a 9.2 second time when stock. With the current 385 pounds of reduction and the added power the car hits 60 in 7.5 seconds depending on a good launch. My clutch is at the end of its life and probably doesn't help for getting a good time.

[dfeldt91]

Today's project will include removing the sound deadening with dry ice. This shall be.......cold, I mean fun...I'm guessing there is at least 20 pounds of the stuff scattered all around the car.

And for the price of a few bucks it is a cheap mod since at this point there really isn't too much to remove from the vehicle for free.

I'll also remove the rear bumper support today for another 15 to 20 pounds of weight reduction. Looks like I'll hit 26** pounds today.

[hayden55]

Why not a pneumatic wire brush?

[dfeldt91]

Originally Posted by hayden55

Why not a pneumatic wire brush?

To remove the sound deadening? Where I park my car is downhill from my house so I would need 100 feet of extension cord, I don't have the type of drill required, or the brush. Cleanup would suck with a brush. Also, the dry ice method allows the stuff to come out in chunks which makes clean up a breeze

Non related to your question but....I'm also removing the passenger wiper today. I'm going to see if I can fab up some sort of mirror delete cover also.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by dfeldt91

To remove the sound deadening? Where I park my car is downhill from my house so I would need 100 feet of extension cord, I don't have the type of drill required, or the brush. Cleanup would suck with a brush. Also, the dry ice method allows the stuff to come out in chunks which makes clean up a breeze

Non related to your question but....I'm also removing the passenger wiper today. I'm going to see if I can fab up some sort of mirror delete cover also.

Plexiglass and silicone works well and cheap from a local hardware store. I sat the mirror on my car on a 1'x1' sheet, traced it, cut it out, then spray painted the inside black, and siliconed it onto the car. Nice smooth look that blends in for cheap.

[dfeldt91]

Got a lot more taken out of the car. Only have the upper half of the dash skin installed with the front door cards. Car weighed 2720 with 20 pounds of tools and 10 pounds of parts that need to be thrown out as well as another 20 pounds of junk that needs to be removed. Also the tank was at 1/2. Before it was at about 1/8th.

So the car now weighs a little over 2600 pounds.

I noticed the suspension settled a little bit after the weight removal so the gap is not quite as large in the rear well now.

[dfeldt91]

I also added roughly 90 horsepower to the car today at 37.5 PSI boost. I did this by wiring a 4.3 volt Zener diode into the MAP sensor where the boost pressure is calculated. This modification tricks the ECU into thinking it is only taking in a safe amount of boost since anything over 14 PSI or so will trigger limp mode which cuts fuel to the engine to save it. Before it would boost to about 8 PSI and max out at 10 or so if I pushed it. The car now boosts to 16 - 22 PSI with spikes to almost 40 PSI. This causes an insanely high air to fuel ratio when boosting above 22 PSI as the car thinks it is only getting about 11 PSI maximum.

So anyhow, $1.69 for an additional 92 horsepower, not bad at all! I can spin tires in first, second and a bit in third. Weight to power ration hit 10.8 pounds per HP today.

This is not very productive though with fuel usage so I will be using the higher boost levels to around 16 PSI with a leaned out AFR that is still in the safe zone to avoid melting pistons or anything. The added power at highway speed will hopefully translate to being able to hold a lower speed in 5th gear while still reaping MPG.

[dfeldt91]

Drove the Passat back home about 75 miles today and about 10 miles from home the steering wheel started getting jerky while driving straight and especially when letting off the accelerator. My CV axles are horribly worn with clinking and noise and now the jerkiness. Time to finally replace them so i don't get stuck at a rest area like I did with the Golf.

Maintenance soon:
CV Axles on both sides
Reset timing belt
Change alternator pulley diameter
Hook up Crankcase ventilation system
New spark plugs

Also read up about the Dustball Rally and think I might sign up for 2017 NYC to LA. 3K miles of fun in July-August 2017.

Car is down to 2800 pounds with me, a little less than a quarter tank and some stuff in the rear. Weight of car is down to 2660 with nothing in it.

385 pound weight loss so far. 115 to go!

[MobilOne]

Tossing the front axles and the engine will reduce weight, although pulse and glide will likely be affected.

[Ecky]

I was thinking the same thing.