Hey guys, the Jetta is a 2001 with the 1.8 dohc turbo. It puts out 150hp and 155tq, it's the first year that the turbo came out for VW and it doesn't put 180hp to the fly b/c that's the 2002 and up models. I was in the Jetta when the guy was doing 0-60's. He somehow managed to pull a 6.5 second 0-60 with nothing but an exhaust system upgrade. Those things are only supposed to do like 9 or 8 secs. The eclipse is a 5 speed 140hp GS. My buddy in the eclipse shifts that thing like fast and the furious....redlining every gear. Both are quick...so I don't know. But thanks for the input guys.

 

whats the lb/hp ratio of the jetta?

 

AUTO to 5-speed matters big time...Not many kids know how to race, half of them say they do, but they don't know the first thing about racing. And if you say you know how to race, you should know that any good racer uses an automatic car. Not many people win drag championships using manual cars...and especially since your more at risk to blow your motor by missing a shift, which increases the possibility of bending a valve.

 

BTW, are you talking 0-60mph or 0-60 feet? I can understand the 0-60feet being 6.5 seconds(altough that is relatively slow for many modern cars), but 0-60mph is gonna be more than 7 seconds definitely. That little audi 1.8t can rev, but the auto will shift before it has time to make any good power. I like the 1.8t cars, the qauttro's remind me of the old DSM days, factory turbo and AWD. I'd say VW or Audi should revamp the platform to compete with the Evo or STI, but then again, they own Porsche so they could probably care less(the Carrera GT is frickin cool!).

Well, technically GreddyGST, you are right. Most racers use a form of an automatic. However it's closer to a clutchless manual shift transmission than a fully automatic transmission. Pro-racers such as funnycar guys and nitro cars use the clutchless shift tranny since the manual design can hold more power and torque than the automatic design can. The way they shift is somewhat like a straight down pattern as opposed to an H pattern. The downside to this type of tranny is that it's pretty much scrap metal after a few runs. Now, since there are few full blown race teams around, the nominal racers like Buschur or some of his contemporaries use the ever popular Powerglide tranny. It's newest version is essentially a 2 gear automatic tranny. These racers can attest to 7 second 1/4miles and traps speeds over 170mph. However, this transmission is pretty much a "race only" tranny; unless the engine is somewhere relevant in it's powerband, then the car's not going anywhere. But to point out, Shepard still uses a modified dsm Manual Transmission, many of the big time Supra racers use the getrag Manual trannys that came stock in the mkiv's. All these guys can produce sub-11 second 1/4 mile times and they still use the manual transmission. Yeah, there are a few odd ***** out there that use a factory automatic for racing, but it's not generally the norm.

 

all i know is that the eclipse should be able to take the jetta..... my buddy has a 02 VW golf gti (v6, carbon hood, intake, exahust, manual 6 speed) and my *little 4 banger* can hang with him about half way thru 3rd gear before he really starts to pull on me, i drove it, trust me its friggin fast........... and he does know how to drive, he owned a gs and a gst before he got the gti, only got rid of the eclipse cause he blew the motor..........

 

everone uses manual tranny. Dude in 90% of your drag cars they have manual. Nascar manual. evan F1 they have manual.

 

i thought F1 used a clutchless manual, the steering wheel pedal shifter isnt it, with the electronic clutch??????

 

In funny car races and any other cars that have over 1,000hp, they have
to use an automatic tranny cause a person couldn't possibly shift that fast.
You'd be shifting gears every half a second. They do the quarter mile faster
than EVO 8's can do 0-60mph. And yes, the Jetta some how managed a 0-60mph
time of about 6.5 seconds. He started the car and put it in Drive 1 and shifted up to
Drive 2 and then into Overdrive...that helped him rev up higher or something. That
Jetta might be an automatic, but as soon as the turbo spools up, it isn't afraid of
hitting the redline. I don't think it has a choice actually, cause when that boost comes
in, it flys. By the way, are these 4 cylinder Eclipse motors not suppossed to last to 100,000 miles? Cause my friend's spun a bearing at 91,000 and the mechanic said that
Eclipses had disposable motors in them. What does that mean?

 

if the auto is redlining then it isnt set up right. you actually loose power close to redline. and dragsters dont have automatics persay. they have ratchet shifters. clutchless sequential. basically they just pul the lever back and it clicks to the next gear. push back forward and repeat. this is the kind of transmission that most racers put in their cars. kind of a half breed.

you see this option on many of todays luxery sports cars. ie cadilac lexus bmw. put the auto back in a slot and it immitates this setup.

as to the engines... mine has 135K. but they had some design issues that would cause the crankshafts to walk and spin bearings. rebuilds of the 2g engines generally put the 1g oil squirters in and remove the clutch start condition to alleviate the problem. so if a mechanic doesnt know that much about the 4g63... then he might say that.

 

Let me ask you something. I have an 86 Honda Prelude 5 speed, and it has 165,000 miles on the clock. It has spun the main bearing and it's the 2nd time it's done this. I wanna put money into this car and fix it up into a solid daily driver. I know somebody who can put in the new main bearing kit($36) for cheap. Should I let him put in a new bearing or should I go the rebuild route? Since it's spun 2 bearings, I've been told it might do it again and should put in a new motor or rebuild it. How much would a rebuild be you think?