Date:         Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:12:44 -0400
Reply-To:     Richard Golen <rgolen@UMASSD.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Richard Golen <rgolen@UMASSD.EDU>
Subject:      6k Road Trip w/Westy with 142K miles
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Hi All,

In June I am presenting a conference paper in Seattle, and have been
toying around with how to get there from here on the coast of
Massachusetts. Option one - fly there and back - BORING!! Option two
- fly there, take Amtrak Empire Builder back to Chicago and then fly
to MA - somewhat interesting! Option three - ROAD TRIP!! Load up the
87 Westy drive there and back...INTRIGUING!

That being said, my 87 Westy has 142K miles on the original engine
(to my knowledge it has original heads, etc). The last compression
check (15k miles ago) showed the compression in the middle of the
acceptable range. It burns a quart of Mobil 1 every 1K miles, and
generally runs well. I don't have an oil pressure gauge set up on it,
so I don't know what the oil pressure is doing, but it wouldn't be a
problem to set one up.

So, any thoughts as to whether or not I should attempt a 6K mile road
trip? Advice, Cautions, invites for a beer along the way?

Thanks.

Ric