Date:         Mon, 25 Nov 2002 17:50:18 -0700
Reply-To:     Simon Reinhardt <simon@FARRSIDE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Simon Reinhardt <simon@FARRSIDE.NET>
Subject:      First Trip on New Engine (long)
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Well, not a NEW engine, but the new-to-me Audi 2.0 I recently installed
in the '86 syncro Westy.
Anyway, a week-long trip was planned from Denver, CO to the general
vicinity of Albuquerque, NM.
We left the morning of the 19th and stuck to I-25 the whole way.
An hour into the trip, I decided I really didn't like where the coolant
needle was sitting, but the light didn't blink, and it didn't seem to
be boiling.
Around Pueblo, CO, my wife went out back to visit my son, and
complained about a burning smell. Said she thought it was a belt.
I let that eat at me for a few miles- I didn't smell anything, but my
belt setup IS pretty weird.
Finally I  pulled off to look, and yes, there WAS a burning smell
wafting up the side scoops- but organic-ey, not belt-ey.
So, unpack the back, pull out the mattress, yank out the carpeting,
flip up the lid-
yup, smoke, from way down low 'n front. NOW I knew what was up.
So, under the van, and remove the diesel "Noise Capsule". It starts
smoking wildly as soon as the wind hits what's left of the "NASA
insulation" that I obviously placed too close to the exhaust.
I hate being a dumbass sometimes.
I left off the noise capsule, and it ran a little cooler and smoke-free
the rest of the way South.
After a little relaxing, I took the van to my step-father's hot rod
shop to check the timing. It should have been about 8-10 degrees, but
was 15! I guess I know why the van still ran hot... must have jogged
the distributor when I put the clamp on. Easily fixed, and no readily
apparent holes in my pistons.
In return for me doing some wiring on a Corvette, my step-father welded
four nice light mounts onto my brush bar. That made the whole trip
worthwhile- why stay in Denver and have some muffler shop do $5 of
welding, when I can blow a wad on lotsa gas and eat bad food?
Speaking of gasoline, my mileage before the swap, on a really tired
2.1, was 17.5 mpg. Mileage on this 1216-mile trip was 24 mpg!!!
On the way back, we stayed at Great Sand Dunes N.M. near Alamosa, CO.
I'm pretty sure temps got down under 20F. It's a good thing our son's
still small enough to share a bed with us, because popping the top
would have killed us all.
I highly recommend Sand Dunes. It's just plain awesome.
We took Hwy 285 the rest of the way back to Denver (actually, we'd been
on it since Santa Fe), and it's one of the nicest drives I've had in
Colorado. We'll be using it instead of the Interstate from now on.
Performance? I had to shift to 3rd a few times, but that was it, and we
cleared Raton Pass at 50 mph. Compare that to 30 mph in 2nd, with the
wasserleaker.
All in all, I'm still very happy. The engine conversion did everything
I'd hoped for- i.e., it didn't grenade.
-Simon