Hello!

Last night, I was at a friend's house. I had my '85 300D, and we went driving around in my car and in his '84 Euro 300D 4 speed. Being guys we decided to see which car would beat the other off the line up to 45mph (speed limit on that road). No other cars were around, and he was driving my car and I was driving his (which, given that I've got more experience with gearshifts and he doesn't know the best way to get the best acceleration out of an auto 617, actually gave his car the advantage).

We had talked about this before, but this was the first actual attempt. I had figured that, due to turbo lag, the numerically lower gear ratio, and torque converter slippage on my '85, the Euro would beat the turbo off the line, with the turbo catching up somewhere around 35 to 40mph and staying ahead for the remainder. Amazingly enough, even given the limitations, the turbo 300D was faster off the line, and stayed a good car length ahead until we got to the speed limit and stopped.

So, I'm guessing that either the turbo 617 really does have a significant amount of power beyond that of the n/a 617, or the auto tranny doesn't make as big of a difference as we had figured it would.

Well, I thought it was interesting

(and BTW, for the legal/safety types, again, we didn't actually break the speed limit, there were literally no other cars on the road, and we know the road well, so IMHO it was safe...otherwise we wouldn't have done it )

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2001 VW Jetta TDI, 5 speed, daily driver
1991 Ford F-350, work in progress
1984 Ford F-250 4x4, 6.9l turbo diesel, 5 speed manual
Previous oilburners: 1980 IH Scout, 1984 E-350, 1985 M-B 300D, 1979 M-B 300SD, 1983 M-B 300D
Spark-free since 1999

Yep, there must be at least 6-7 more hp extracted from the turbocharged engine. For a taste of the n/a performance in the comfort of your own car, pull the overboost line off the ALDA and go for a spin.

Yawn.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Don't need to do that...it's already cracked and probably doesn't hold any pressure at all.

I'll fix it at some point, but I'm waiting until I can afford a boost gauge...the overboost blow-off valve doesn't work, so I don't want to take any chances...

If that's the case then you're almost there!

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

My 300D 4-speed feels as fast off the line as a turbo 300D.

I raced a euro 5-speed 300D in my 300D turbo.. we were even off the line but I pulled ahead after ~30mph.

Without my car being alongside as a benchmark, my buddy's 4 speed actually feels noticeably faster than my car does off the line. That's why we were both so surprised at the results.

I wonder how my car will do after I get that boost line hooked up properly and play with the ALDA a bit? (after a boost gauge and EGT gauge are installed, of course)