NX Highway Cruisin'...

[George Roffe]

---- Greg Amy <grega at pobox.com> wrote:

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>> Back when I bought my brandy-new 1984 Rabbit GTi, I thought I was in heaven. For those of you who were still suckin' your mammy's teet back then, that car was a breath of fresh air in the stale environment of post-emissions and -safety automotive dregs. Bigger engine, more torque, close-ratio gearbox. Car only had one annoying downside: buzzy at highway speeds. But, back then they had an excuse: the NHMSL of 55 mph. After all, why optimize a car for 70 mph cruising when you can only do 55? Hell, they even had speedometers that ended at 85mph...
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God, I remember those days and when the GTi first came out and I lusted after one. Remember the Kleine GTi commercial sung to the tune of Little GTO?

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>> Well, I'm looking to take the same tactic as we did in the Rabbit GTi. Back then, the big trick was to replace the GTi's fifth gear (0.91) with one from either the convertible (0.76) or the diesel Rabbit (0.71). It was an easy in-the-car swap and brought the revs down to reasonable speeds while cruising. It didn't really hurt performance, because if you were racing or doing best accel (or drag racing) you'd never used fifth anyway. Yeah, the 4th-to-5th shift was a tad annoying, but that annoyance was quickly eclipsed by the fact you were turning <3000 RPM on the highway. And, you got used to it. Like, the second time you shifted.

>> So, what are my options with the RS5F32V? Are there parts in the "family" to let me do this?

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Greg, have you looked at the specs for the G20 gearbox? IIRC it's the same gearbox, but has a taller 5th AND a taller final drive. It may not get you exactly what you're looking for, but it may get to close enough for little money or hassle. If nothing else it could possibly hold you over until you find the solution you're looking for.

George
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