Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

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pmacutay
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by pmacutay »

Small stuff worked out fine, still don't have a speedometer but oh well. Wheel bearings and rad fan worked fine for the trip to Vegas.

However, the fuel pump gave out in the heat on the way back, just waited till night time and all was well.

Car show was kinda cool, didn't shoot any footage of it because I just wanted to enjoy it. A fight broke out in front of our booth :/ Thought the Euro scene would be above that, but I guess not...when you bring 6000 people to an event there's gonna be at least one asshole...

She's been a blast to drive. The sound is addictive and the power is so smooth and plentiful. It's a constant temptation to dip into the gas pedal and indulge in the sound and the feel. I don't think I could own another Volkswagen with a different engine.
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by Squint »

pmacutay wrote:Small stuff worked out fine, still don't have a speedometer but oh well. Wheel bearings and rad fan worked fine for the trip to Vegas.

However, the fuel pump gave out in the heat on the way back, just waited till night time and all was well.

Car show was kinda cool, didn't shoot any footage of it because I just wanted to enjoy it. A fight broke out in front of our booth :/ Thought the Euro scene would be above that, but I guess not...when you bring 6000 people to an event there's gonna be at least one asshole...

She's been a blast to drive. The sound is addictive and the power is so smooth and plentiful. It's a constant temptation to dip into the gas pedal and indulge in the sound and the feel. I don't think I could own another Volkswagen with a different engine.
Sounds like a few kinks to still work out. And regarding the fight: don't underestimate the idiocy of people :roll: :lol:
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by pmacutay »

Yeah, a few kinks. The fuel pump is the same one from my 2.0, so it's always been old. One of the few remaining original parts on this thing (short of the chassis)...225k miles isn't that kind to a fuel pump apparently.

I need to switch my friend's speedometer sensor into my car just to test if it's the actual sensor that's broken or the wiring.

But overall, I just love driving again, and gas mileage isn't too bad compared to my 2.0 when I'm just babying her around town. But I mean...WOT is almost irresistable now :lol:
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by pmacutay »

11-12-13

I like how my photo quality got worse over time, since I've been spending all my time behind video cameras for work, and well, that whole Instagram thing got invented since I started this thread. Work has a way of sapping your free time; plus, she's kinda camera shy right now after the whole accident thing. (see the P.S. towards the bottom)

Anyway...

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So in my never-ending quest to ruin this car, about a month ago my friends and I installed an AirLift/AccuAir suspension system to replace my aging Racelands. Simply got tired of driving through the horrible downtown LA roads and rubbing like crazy, so I figured the logical conclusion would be to go air. Every VW enthusiast is drawn to it at some point.

Found a good deal on an AccuAir SwitchSpeed system on the VWvortex, paired with AirLift Slam Series struts in the front and AirLift Performance Series (with adjustable damping) in the rear.

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Mocked up the trunk setup...

But after a few ingenious decisions and measuring the trunk space about a million times, our final setup came out much, much cleaner:

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The donut spare had to go to make room for the management, but atop that sits a custom-shaped sub box, sized for proper air volume to the spec of the 12-inch Rockford Fosgate P1. Inverted the sub for looks and to get more airspace in a smaller box. Goddamn it sounds good; got my system tuned with a calibrated microphone and my buddy was rather surprised at how accurate and balanced my friends and I had gotten the bass by just building a proper box & tuning it with our ears and some test tones. Deep, extended bass, punchy midbass so you can feel the tightness of every kick in your chest, all the while still retaining its definition. Bass lines are tight, detailed, and musical, with no notes being louder than the others. Turns out, that $50 sub I picked up was just being choked by that off-the-shelf box I put it in!

The 5-gallon air tank sits fore of the sub box, with the majority of it underneath the false floor. The venerable Kenwood 4-channel amplifier that I've literally been using since I bought the car is propped up on the passenger side on a false wood panel attached to the strut tower.

The result is decently usable trunk space, with room for my small suitcase, and retaining the ability to drop down the rear seats and really have some cargo room. Case in point: I've been able to fit multiple tripods, light stands, sliders, a crane, a quadrocopter, and a couple pelican film gear cases in my car. That, and preventing tire rub with all the extra load weight is just a tap of the switches away.

There's always that joke; "bags are for groceries"-

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Of course, the question is: how do they handle?

And of course, the answer is: better than the Racelands, but for upwards of $2000 they damn well better. Unfortunately, my old ride height on the coilovers leaves the air springs with not enough pressure in them to prevent rubbing on fast-rebound-type bumps, but the dampers in the AirLift kit are top notch for handling the medium- and slow-rebound-type bumps. The car lands on all fours and instantly feels planted, with very fast "recovery" and minimal bounce—noticeably less bounce than the Racelands. The car hits the bump, lands back to ride height and just sticks there.

When riding at optimal pressure (about a finger of wheel gap) the ride is smooth, controlled, yet still transmits a lot of road feel to the driver (though much of that is likely due to my 205/40/17's than anything else).

Riding at higher than normal heights gives a very solid feeling suspension while still being controlled and not bouncy, perfect for spirited driving, but opposite of what you'd expect (higher ride height doesn't mean softer suspension, like it does with springs) due to the nature of air springs.



0-115psi in the front, and 0-60psi in the rear, the extent of the suspension travel. Actually, I'm sure the fronts will go higher, but the manual says "don't exceed 125psi" and I don't exactly want to test that any time soon, lol.

Likely one of the best things I've done to the car. There's not much else left on my to-do list besides wheels at this point, but I literally still have yet to find a deal on a set I really like...yup, for 6 years I haven't found any wheels yet. Guess I'm a bit picky, but I'm out of stuff to do now so I think it's time to find her some new shoes...

Till next time!

P.S. Around December 2012, I checked my passenger side blind spot for too long while attempting to do a lane change, and returned to looking forward only to find that my lane of traffic had completely stopped. Despite the best efforts of my tires, I rear-ended someone, my first accident, ever. Luckily, the damage was rather superficial; about $300, a couple favors for a grille, hood, radiator & support, and 8 hours of my time on a weekend later, she was back up and running.

I did upgrade her lighting while I was at it; went with European-spec smoked Jetta headlights along with H4 4300K HID's with a cutoff shield (but looking to go back to halogen as despite the cutoff shield, the beam pattern still disappoints me) but since been too busy to paint the grille, hood, & find a new fender to match.

I think painting all that shit will be my christmas gift to myself; driving around like a ricer with mismatched body panels for a year is the purgatory I had to spend after crashing my own car into someone's BMW :P
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by theholycow »

With such horrible roads, do you have any reason to worry that you'll get a sidewall blowout and be stuck without that spare?
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by AHTOXA »

I'm surprised you still have 'er, Phil. I mean, I can't seem to keep a car for more than a year lately and you've stuck with yours all this time. Good job and I'm glad to see you back.
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by Saabstory02 »

Love this car man!
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by pmacutay »

theholycow wrote:With such horrible roads, do you have any reason to worry that you'll get a sidewall blowout and be stuck without that spare?
I have AAA, lol.

But the road quality for the most part isn't the limiting factor of where I can drive the car, it's things like ridiculously steep driveways and such. (the parking structure at my work would scrape lip / rub fender / etc. no matter what angle I took up it before)

In the city where the roads are the worst, you aren't really driving fast, so you have time to avoid gigantic potholes or something.

That, and I've been running the same tire/wheel combo since I've owned the car and never had a problem, and I've bent a wheel before and never had a sidewall blowout, so go figure.

(knock on wood though)
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by 94Corolla5Speed »

Still dubbin' huh Phil? :lol:

I respect that you still have this car though. My friend's VR project is currently stagnating in his garage. I mean, I know school is important and all but he hasn't touched it in over a year :(
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by pmacutay »

94Corolla5Speed wrote:Still dubbin' huh Phil? :lol:

I respect that you still have this car though. My friend's VR project is currently stagnating in his garage. I mean, I know school is important and all but he hasn't touched it in over a year :(
Dude, the VR exhaust note is intoxicating. I really can't let go of her now, lol. Seriously considering turbo for next year... :twisted:
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by Saabstory02 »

Don't ever give it up! I traded my 08 R32 for my TDI because I pretty much had to with my drive; but I miss that VR6 every frikken day :(
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Re: Phil's '95 VW Golf Sport VR6 (Update: exhaust clip!)

Post by potownrob »

i love the sound of my 2.5; do wish they still had the VR6 in the lower models; it sounds even better and is more powerful :cry:

edit: yes, the 2.0T and 1.8T are technically superior to the 2.5 and maybe the VR6, but they don't have the personality :?
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