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15000
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| Part I: The
"Have To" Modifications |
| February
12, 2001 was the day we here in Southern California were
waiting for ever since we heard that VW was releasing an
all-new "face-lifted" version of the car that
turned everybody's head when it first came out in 1997.
This was the day that most of the VW dealerships here in
Southern California were taking delivery of the newly
designed Passat. Back in November of 2000, we started
getting in touch with our contacts at VW and
located 1 of the 3 black on black leather, Passat GLS'
with manual transmissions that was going to be arriving
in Southern California. Luckily, the dealership that
took delivery of one of these vehicles was Capistrano
VW, whose sales and service teams are amongst
the best of all VW dealers nation-wide. This is the
dealership that the car is always brought to for all of
it's scheduled services. |
| We
were very eager to "chip"
the car right away, but we held back about a month or so
in order to break in the engine to approximately 5000
miles. Once the 5000 mile mark hit, we started hacking
away on what we like to call the "have to"
mods. |
| The
first modification we carried out was installing Neuspeed's
1bar ECU software. We consider the "chip"
for the 1.8T engine a "have to" modification
because of the vast amounts of gains for very little
money. The 1.8T powered Passat's can gain up to 45
horsepower for less than $500. The 30V V6's aren't as
fortunate with this modification, but they do come stock
with almost as much power as a "chipped" 1.8T.
We chose the Neuspeed
chip because it is better priced than all of the other
chips out on the market, and as stated before, we were
very eager to upgrade the software as soon as possible. |
| While
we were at Neuspeed,
we also decided to go with the Sport Springs that they
offer for the B5's. The springs are actually temporary
until we find a coilover suspension that we like, but we
had to lower the car ASAP because we feel this is
another one of those "have to" mods. In our
opinion, the car looks and handles much better than it
does when it sits on the stock springs. Getting rid of
the large wheel well gap makes an enormous difference. |
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| Now,
the last of the "have to" modifications was
choosing a set wheels and tires for the vehicle. We
ended up going with a wheel that is made for Mercedez
Benz's, but since they have the same 5x112 bolt pattern
as the Passat, we were able to fit them onto our project
car. We chose the Carlsson
1/5's in 18 inch by 8.5 because, just like the new
"facelifted" Passat, we felt that the wheel
looks elegant, yet sporty at the same time. We wrapped
the wheels in 225/40/18 Pirelli
P7000 Supersport tires because these tires are an
excellent all-weather tire, yet won't fail on you when
you need to squeeze some performance out of them either. |
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| Stay
tuned as we continue our modifications by tapping into
engine accessories that will enhance this 1.8Terror engine
even further! |
Document
Notes:
a) Spring install was done by VW
Specialties in Huntington Beach, CA.
b) Software upgraded at Neuspeed
facility in Camarillo, CA. |
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