Date:         Sat, 21 May 2005 20:24:46 -0400
Reply-To:     Dennis <guskersthecat@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dennis <guskersthecat@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Trip Mileage Report Audi 2.0 litre conversion

Just came home from a 1000km work trip.  This on my 90 auto westy with PS
and AC.  27mpg (22.5mpg US) on the way there driving 90 to 100km/h (55 to
60mph).  24mpg (20mpg US) driving 100 to 110 km/h (60 to 70mph) with a few
spurts to 140km/h on the way back.  An error in my odometer of 3.7% was
determined by GPS (speedometer is now alost dead accurate) due to 27.5"
rubber.  Oil temps never exceeded 105C with the stock VW coolant/oil cooler.
 Terrain was curvy/hilly, regular gas used.  The engine was reduced in
compression from 10.5 to around 9.7:1 but premium may have helped a little
with mileage.  This info certainly reinforces the importance of driving
"light footed" with the vanagon if mileage is a concern.

Driving short (5 to 10km) city driving cycles in 0 Celcius type weather
netted a whopping 16mpg.  This figure, with the added O2 sensor voltage
monitoring (0 to .7 volts oscillation at warm cruise) tells me that I can
probably tweak the mileage a bit more by adjusting the digifant AFM spring
tension (the CO adjustment is already at full lean).  Disconnected, the O2
sensor still reads .65 volts at hot idle.  Once the engine is hot, the O2
sensor and ECU seem to be leaning things out appropriately.  Any thoughts on
this?

This was my first trip on the conversion without a heavy load and/or towing
a trailer.  Passing is definitely a lot less of a risk.  At 100 km/h (and a
modified governor) the engine downshifts to 2nd and hits 6000 rpm before
shifting to third.  With 140hp, it accelerates the van to 120 km/h fairly
quickly (that was close to top speed with the 2.1wbx).  Our roads here are
all pretty much single lane with fairly short passing zones so passing with
the WBX was always kind of scary.

Given that VW had all the parts on hand, it's really too bad they didn't
drop the I4 in from 83 on.