Forty years old, eight wheels, seven cupholders and 1200 horsepower: those are the combined stats for the cars and owners in this story. Each driver is just 20 years old, but has the massive responsibility of more than 600 crank horsepower and tremendous speed just a pedal-press away.
Thinking back, it's amazing to see how far the VW tuning scene has come in the past 10 or 20 years. Back in the stoneages of the mid-late '90s, slapping a turbo on your VR6 engine was a good way to increase power and probably decrease reliability. Back then, neither Jacob Thompson nor Jason Moczulski were even close to driving, let alone drive a car with more power than a Porsche Turbo. Now they both have daily-driven Volkswagens that do just that.
Meet Jacob Thompson, owner of the 2004.5 Jetta GLI VR6 24v turbo. It's a monster we first saw at the NGP Racing Dyno Day last year (et 2/09). It laid down a stout 504whp, so we naturally wanted to know more about just what was lurking under the Platinum gray hood.
The story starts, like so many others, with a taste of additional power with a 1.8T chip from local shop, Induktion Motorsports in Hanover, MD. One modification led to another, with the engine eventually expiring under high-boost from a big turbo, as Jake explained: "Justin DiBlasio, the head fabricator at Induktion, had built my big turbo 1.8T and when the motor blew we were sitting around talking about it when he suggested I use the 12v VR6 turbo he had in a Corrado.'"
What they ultimately decided on was a monster GT35R turbo strapped to a 24v lump, with the internals built to handle the stress and help reliability. "I figured, if I've gotta find another motor, I might as well go big!" Jake laughed.
A 2.8 VR6 24v engine was located and the junked 1.8T removed. The block was then over-bored 1mm to accept Wossner forged pistons. Integrated Engineering forged connecting rods would keep things heading in the right direction under pressure, and the assembly was finally balanced and blueprinted.
Jacob's interior features...
Jacob's interior features Sparco seats & harnesses
In addition, Justin fabricated an equal-length tubular exhaust manifold in order to provide maximum spin for the Garrett turbo. The exhaust gases then continued on their way through a custom Induktion Motorsports 3" downpipe and exhaust system. Justin also fabricated the short-runner intake manifold and intercooler system, which is based around a large Garrett core.
The C2 tune gets big points from Jake:"We sent out the ECU, got it flashed, plugged it in, started the car up and droveit. Then we just happened to go to NGP's Dyno Day and decided to throw it on and see what it could do.'"
The crucial aspects of fuel and spark are handled by a C2 Motorsports' flashed ECU running the 630cc injectors, which are fed by a Walbro fuel pump. Final management of the boost is left to a Turbosmart controller and 44mm TiAL wastegate.
As we mentioned, the Jetta put down 504whp at 23psi on standard 93-octane pump fuel. This is incredible considering it's a flash tune, not to mention Jake drives the car daily. "I think I've done about 10,000 miles on the motor since it was installed," Jake confirmed.
Obviously you can't expect a standard VW transmission to cope up with three-times the power. So Induktion fitted a Peloquin limited-slip diff, South Bend stage 5 clutch and Autotech flywheel in the six-speed 'box.
"It's a stage five clutch, so it's a tad heavier than stock, but engagement feels just like the stock clutch," Jake enthused.
So what's it like to drive a 600hp Jetta? "It's pretty fast," Jake laughed modestly. "I can keep up with streetbikes and beat 911 Turbos on the highway. Trying to find traction is the problem. At 19psi, which is what I run on the street, it'll break loose in third gear on a warm day. And if it's below 50 it'll break loose in fourth as well. But when it hooks up it doesn't want to stop; the speedometer just climbs and climbs."