1.5L vs. Jetta 1.8T vs. 01CivicES
 

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What the hell am I doing trying to race a 1.8T Jetta? Well, both cars belong to friends of mine so it was all good anyway. We had just gotten off work and all 3 of us pull up to Orange Ave. on Coronado Island in San Diego. It's a 3-lane St. and we're waiting at the red. We all look over and start revving and whatnot. Of course my boy with the Jetta is giving us both that "whatever" look, since he's sitting in the middle; I'm on the left and my other friend and his Civic are on the right. I figure I'm gonna get my ass handed to me anyway but I'll give it that college try.
Light turns green. All 3 of us take off. Jetta chirps a little off 1st then proceeds to pull away rapidly. I got a slow start but I'm not that far off; my boy in the Civic is maybe 1/2 car length ahead of me. I'm more concerned with him anyways since he has the Civic, and we all know how we feel about Civics. Past the light the St. immediately goes uphill then down. I'm keeping up with the Civic but he's slowly pulling on me, but never got past a car length. The Jetta has clearly won but didn't want to go too far down the St. since cops are known for sitting there right before the bridge. We all slow down although I had to save a little face and blew past them both before I slowed down. All in all I was surprised with the way my 1.5L handled, with no mods whatsoever. Found out later I had crap in my trunk from moving that I had forgotten about. Don't know if that would have made a difference, some I suppose. Anyways, when the money builds up a little, I'll be adding the Ractive Intake, then I'll have a go at the Civic again.

Nice one. If your goin to get any part, get a Venom Performane Module from off of NOPI.com My friend has a 1.5 pro and when he got that he surprised me. When we race, my take off is still quicker, but when his venom kicks in at around 55mph he starts to slowly leave me. When he first raced me w/ his Venom against my '00 pro, I was like WTF. Is that a mini turbo or NOS. It works. BTW he also has exhaust and intake but mostly all of his power comes from his Venom Performance Module. I've even seen him beat a '97 1.8L pro., but not in take off. Its for high speeds.

try and take off better next time, a sluggish start in a 1.5L will bury you all the time.... comit to reving the engine straight to 6000 or so ..
Bruce

Redrims, are you talking about this?

1998 MAZDA Protege Turbo/Nitrous/High Performance Performance Control Module
Part# Click
to order Manufacturer Description Price Core Unit of
measure Photo Details
354+0238 JET V-Force Power Control Module - w/o Turbo - 20mhz RISC microprocessor optimizes the ignition spark advance and recalibrates the fuel map for optimum horsepower and acceleration $203.45 - EA View

Yea, thats what I'm talking about, except my friends is a Venom. He has a '97 and even though it cost more he told me his cuz, who is a mechanic, said that the Venom is better than the Jet. That's probably why it cost more. When I went on NOPI.com I didn't see the Venom for the '98 model, but I saw it for the '97. Do you think it will still work? You might want to call NOPI.com and see if it will work. If not, my friend said that there technicians can change the computering in the performance module to fit ANY car. So I was thinking of getting one myself. They also said different cars get different hp gains. Some cars jump higher that others.
All in all, if you can get them to adjust the '97 protege Venom to the '98 it would be better. If I get time I'll call for you and see what they say.

nice race man...

i raced a 1999 civic Si (were in canada so our Si has 127 hp) automatic, in my 5 speed 1.5L and i beat him off the line, and kept pullin on him... by the time we hit about 130 he was 2 car lengths behind me...

i ran my 1.5 at the track and ran a 17.3 at 79mph with a 2.5 second 60 foot time

not an impressive run, but pretty good for 92 horsepower

I appreciate the follow-up Redrims. Let me know what happens with that whenever you get a chance.

Nice race though Pigeon. Always props for pulling on a Civic.

On a side note, I was looking into a new O2 sensor (front), so I asked for a price on one at the dealership here in San Diego; $233.18! Installation not included. WTF! That's a little ridiculous in my book. A buddy of mine up in Spokane, WA had the same problem with his Sentra SE-R, but he found a universal one for like $40 that's supposed to work just as well. Have to see how that worked out for him.

I appreciate all the comments and help from you guys. Thanx!