Date:         Sun, 14 Nov 2004 15:27:46 -0500
Reply-To:     Data Services <dataservices@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Data Services <dataservices@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Tiico RPM,  with Westy story
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I'd like some opinions from the Tiico equipped Westy owners. I recently installed a dash pod with a tach in my 83.5 Tiico Westy (still having problems with the oil light-had to use the westy's original speedo) and would like to exchange notes.  I got back about 3am from the 8 hour drive from my niece's place in western NY to the ole homestead just north of Boston.  The last 3 hours is the long downhill run of Rt. 90/Mass Pike through the Berkshires to the coast of Boston. Little to no traffic and the perfect place to check out speed vs. rpm.  I would like to know what kind of rpm's people think are permissible.  Peter at Tiico says 70 to 75 mph all day and night is ok, but I want some other opinions.  I want my engine to last a long time, but still can't (don't want to?) seem to be able to quell the urge to kinda step on it.  I guess I feel like I'm upholding/upgrading the image of all Busses (Vanagons, etc.) by effortlessly flying along, clean and quiet, and that Golf engine seems to do it. I've owned a few VW's that wouldn't or I would worry about.   At 70 mph I'm turning 4k rpm (more or less-Vanagon speedo etc.) which is just fine with me, but I wouldn't mind 72+ on a long trip.  At 75 mph it looks like 4300 and when a particularly long downhill suddenly pushed me up to 80 mph (it wasn't my fault, I swear. I looked down and the speedo was almost pegged) I think I was pushing 4600.  I didn't want to spend too much time looking at the tach at that speed, nor stay at that speed for long, so I didn't get a good look.  I normally shift around 4200 to 4400 rpm, but have pushed it to about 5k doing quick entries onto a busy highway.  We have some of the oldest, tightest, and most dangerous highway intersections in the country within a few miles of me, and I use them regularly.  So am I shifting correctly?  Should I be worried about cruising for hours at the place where I am currently shifting?  If the Tiico is rated (advertised on Tiico site) for 6300 rpm, should I be worried about what is being eaten up in my engine at 5k?? Properly maintained, synthetic oil, sometimes runs a little rich, good gas milage.  What do you think?
More Westy story.
 It was a beautiful night for traveling.  Really clear and starry and very little traffic.  My wife/navigator/toll interpreter, who normally sits beside me, was really tired from the trip so she and the teenager who could make it were asleep safe and sound tucked into their bed.  Nice feature that the seatbelts work, however minimally, when the bed is down.  We have a seatbelt law in this area so although I have never had to use it, it's good in case an overzealous police officer stops us in the middle of the night.
 So, like an old horse heading for the barn, I was making my way home from memory.  I had been playing pass with a minivan for a while. Couldn't figure the make or model, it was the usual shorter and lower minivan.  Whenever one of us would drift below 65 to 70 mph, in my case 'causa sippin' coffee and thinkin' or looking up at the stars (it was a long trip), the other would pass and remind one that the idea was to put on miles.  At one particular point I was passing the minivan and I noticed the interior light was on in the back.  Inside was someone pounding on a pillow and trying to get comfortable lying across one of the bench seats (can't use that seatbelt).  I gotta tell ya, it was a real good feeling seeing that with my wife and kid sound asleep, snug as a bug in a rug, in the bed in the back.  Makes the money I've put into restoring and maintaining this 20 yr old high speed European touring bus worth it. The fact that I had transported a childs amoir' (22"x28"x48") that wouldn't fit in my friend's Ford Expedition (expedition, yeah, right) nor that minivan,as well as all of us and our gear, in space and comfort, out to see my niece and her husband helps too.  At least until the next repair.  This time upgrading to the long plastic coolant pipes that everyone else has : ),  from my rusty old metal ones VW used until they got smarter.

Dave B.
83.5 Tiico Westy
83.5 WBX Westy