How bad is sitting at high rev's while cruising?

[8v-of-fury]

Ok so this is a GAS engine question.. and i know.. diesel forum, pffft. like I am even thinking about dealing with the buffoons over on the Vortex ever again... lol

Sooo, i had to do a rather medium-large sized trip today from my small town of Orillia to Toronto. roughly 150-160kms down and back. Highway the entire time. Crappy part about my car is that it has the 4K trans  :x  

"3.94    3.45    2.12    1.44    1.13    0.89" <- trans of death!

So naturally being a lead foot, i cruised pretty much the whole way at around 4000-4600.. around 130-150 km/h.. I have the 1.7 8v in it right now. This little bugger LOVES to scream. Even at 5000 rpm its still got some kick to it  :lol: Not only am i riding WAY out side the engines comfort zone, i have a whole right in the DP.. a big one.. So less backpressure, screamin its head off.. HOW BAD IS THIS FOR IT?

I have put 25-30k on this car since i bought it in November 2007, all i have done is regular oil changes with synthetic and Mann filters, a tune up when i bought it. I also run small amounts of Atf when i remember, and use Lucas Oil stabilizer as well. I wouldn't say i beat the piss out of this car, I am always easy on it.. No burn outs, or anything i roll on the power.. and ride it to the top of every gear Driven it this way the entire time i owned it.. lol

Im surprised it still starts and runs as reliably as it does.. has never ever given me engine problems. BEST car i have ever driven too Mk1 FTW

What exactly is happening to the inside of this engine driving it this way? i mean i haven't noticed any ill affects over the year of driving it.. but is it slowly dieing?

thanks guys,
Jeremy

EDIT: I'd also like to add that even while practically flooring it for 300kms.. I still got around 24-26 MPG! I think this engine is more efficient then I think it is    :lol:

[jtanguay]

Ok so this is a GAS engine question.. and i know.. diesel forum, pffft. like I am even thinking about dealing with the buffoons over on the Vortex ever again... lol

Sooo, i had to do a rather medium-large sized trip today from my small town of Orillia to Toronto. roughly 150-160kms down and back. Highway the entire time. Crappy part about my car is that it has the 4K trans  :x  

"3.94    3.45    2.12    1.44    1.13    0.89" <- trans of death!

So naturally being a lead foot, i cruised pretty much the whole way at around 4000-4600.. around 130-150 km/h.. I have the 1.7 8v in it right now. This little bugger LOVES to scream. Even at 5000 rpm its still got some kick to it  :lol: Not only am i riding WAY out side the engines comfort zone, i have a whole right in the DP.. a big one.. So less backpressure, screamin its head off.. HOW BAD IS THIS FOR IT?

I have put 25-30k on this car since i bought it in November 2007, all i have done is regular oil changes with synthetic and Mann filters, a tune up when i bought it. I also run small amounts of Atf when i remember, and use Lucas Oil stabilizer as well. I wouldn't say i beat the piss out of this car, I am always easy on it.. No burn outs, or anything i roll on the power.. and ride it to the top of every gear Driven it this way the entire time i owned it.. lol

Im surprised it still starts and runs as reliably as it does.. has never ever given me engine problems. BEST car i have ever driven too Mk1 FTW

What exactly is happening to the inside of this engine driving it this way? i mean i haven't noticed any ill affects over the year of driving it.. but is it slowly dieing?

thanks guys,
Jeremy

EDIT: I'd also like to add that even while practically flooring it for 300kms.. I still got around 24-26 MPG! I think this engine is more efficient then I think it is    :lol:

24-26 mpg for flooring it is quite impressive.  the lucasoil stabilizer really does wonders for the oil.  synthetic oil will be the key to keeping the motor running.  you probably have more wear particles in the oil as well, so regular changes will be a necessity in your situation.  the motor is slowly dying, but VERY slowly (like any other normal engine)... i'd just keep driving it the way you're driving it (maybe a tad slower if you don't want it impounded in this lovely provice  :lol:)

every vw i've owned has been beaten, and they all seem to like it that way.  had one that was even oil starved, and it ran another 3 years after that (no engine work btw) but was put to the scrapper because of a fuel related issue (probably the gas pump) but i would take that thing to 7k rpm on a regular basis... mostly because it had the dreaded 3 speed autobox, and was gutless otherwise.  it was a VERY fun car to drive!!! and i love the fact that it was direct fuel injection.  wayyy ahead of its time.

[8v-of-fury]

They do seem to like to be abused eh? I didn't think it was anything overly too too bad for her. I read somewhere that if you were to take the Vw 1.6 and a Honda or similar Japanese 1.6 block and its internals and put them side by side, the Vw one's pistons and all around dexterity of the block were not only built to withstand German driving abuse :lol: but they were also built really robust. I find that pretty cool, that's why with abuse our little guys will outlast any Japanese car on the road Yeah it seems that if I continue to run the synthetic and change it often, there really is no different then running it at a slower rpm. Just more wear particles which with often changes will be taken care of.

Ha ha, honestly man coming back up hwy 400 last night EVERYBODY was doing that speed.. or around there they were all at about 125, and i was passing them at 140 But yes it was still 40 over.. and being 18.. that's a guaranteed "Bye-Bye" to my car.. sadly i would die if this were the case..

I thought these things hit the rev limiter at around 64-6500? hmmmm.. I can't recall now what the tach read when i hit it last time... weird. 3 speed and a small engine.. what were they thinking!?

Thanks Jon.

Jeremy

[jtanguay]

i had the '87 vw golf with the 1.8 8v motor.  rev limiter or not, that baby was going to 7k  :lol: if i didn't let off the go pedal, it would scream and try to change into 2nd gear, but i hated it so much that i let it sing there for a while before allowing it to change to 2nd.  ah the power!!!  :twisted:

oh and the air filter was ALWAYS soaked in oil.  i think that was the main damage from oil starvation... the rings must have been pretty shot  :lol: the blow by was horrible, but funny enough the car didn't lose much oil at all.  i did use some oil stabilizer though... that stuff is amazing!