A post 5 speed conversion question

Big thanks to Whitbread, vwzips and more than a few others that provided the parts and info needed to do this conversion. Took about a month of evenings and weekends that included a bsm delete, timing belt and parting out a v6 passat for the conversion parts.

Had Matt do the Malone stage 2 to the ecu. EGR delete (looking back now i maybe should have kept it on this motor) and i believe it's the 300 clutch 45lbs flywheel kit whitbread sells that is his "personal favorite". It has a very soft pedal pressure and despite not driving a stick in 2 or 3 years was a breeze to pick up on. If you can swing his kit in your budget do it!

The engine has a noticeable vibe/tone at ilde. Not bad but probably not something someone who needs an ultra smooth car is gonna like. Im a diesel nut and to me idle vibes are part if the oil burning experience.

When I first fired the car up (after setting abs codes and steering angle dodad) my tv was at about 4...adjusted 6 times and ended up at 7...went back the other way and ended up at 2.7...figured i could do better...another fraction of an inch counter clock wise and im dead on 0.0. May play with it a big more in the future but as of now im sick of working in the evenings and wanna watch the pens win cup number 6. Yes i let the car warm up over 80 deg before adjusting. It was near 80 today so it didn't take long despite the egr delete.

So for my question. I used to have the mpg reading on the display...now it reads a min reading and outside air temp. How do i get it to show mpgs again? Im not sure that this min means

Also...a stage 2 BHW is nice! It feels quicker than my old jdm b18c5 95 dx hatchback and at nearly 1000 lbs heavier. Im quite impressed with the responsiveness in this motor.

button on right stalk

"The dashboard was full of esoteric lights and dials and meters that I would never understand."

Thanks dude, i never noticed that button before.

Min is the number of minutes elapsed since starting the car. there is another button on the under side the stalk which cycles between group 1 readings (resets after about an hour of the car off) and group 2 which will continue to add up until you reset by holding down that same button.

Thank you sir. I did not know a lower button even existed. After splitting a decade between an 67 fj40 and an fj60 as daily drivers (diesel converted because why not?) I find things like ac, cruise control, power windows and 4 wheel disk brakes to be fancy. All these other bells and whistles found on the passat are almost confusing. Even my 01 excursion is very utilitarian compared to the passat.

Did you get the Kelvar clutch from Whitbread? VWTIPS helped me with my swap and I like it, but still having some clutch jumpiness in parking lots, tight spaces, etc. I need to txt tips and see what he thinks. About 4-5K on the swap now. Was curious if you had any of these issues/adjusting the way you drive.

On a side note. Do you do anything with Upstate Cruisers? I have owned a FJ62 and FZJ80 over the years. Currently on my 2nd 3rd gen 4Runner as one of my other vehicles.

I no longer have any cruisers. My needs changed and towing capacity outweighed off road ability. With all the good wheeling spots that were local now closed down it was an easy decision. I still have 4wd, 4inch lift and all terrains. The diesel rig is nearly 8000 lbs so i avoid mud.
I'm not part of upstate cruisers. Lee, gabe, bill and Marshall are all nice guys. You can't drive a diesel 60 or 40 and not get approached by other cruiser heads at the pump or grocery store.


As for my clutch, it's a clutch masters fx300. I did get it from whitbread. You can get it from any clutch master dealer but Matt is a great guy to deal with so i purchased as much as possible for him. I have a 2nd sedan lined up for the little lady but it will get the fx250.

If you read the ls1 forums or other high performance applications there are mixed views on the kevlar clutches. The biggest issue is the city driving break in. I do 70 miles of that a day. No issue for me. The guy commuting down i85 everyday will. I have well over 2000 miles on it now. It's not smooth compared to a stock clutch but I don't have any issues with chatter anymore other than the first few starts in the morning while it warms up. The passengers cant feel it but i can feel it.

Before i had cruisers i had Hondas, for years and always had to have high grip racing clutches for 300 horses. It took me a week or so but finally feels natural again. I guess what im saying is I never really drove an import that didn't have a clutch that could spill your coffee at the slightest error. I'm very happy with the clutch but it was a very rough first 1000 miles. Partly from the clutch but also because it was the first stick i had driven in 4 years. First import stick shift in over a decade. Land cruisers (truck transmissions) shift entirely different from imports. The clutch, the feel, it's day and night.

The fx300 isnt a clutch for everyone. If you haven't used racing clutches in the past you'll probably hate it. If you've spent countless hours and thousands of dollars to build a high performance machine just to have all that power wasted because of a slipping clutch, well then youll appreciate it. I believe the fx250 is the smoother clutch and will still hold a stage 2 tune. Right now the boat diesel conversion is the top priority, I'll look more into them this fall when i start on the 2nd 5 speed conversion.