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Date:         Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:43:22 -0700
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Trip Report (longish)
Comments: To: Geo & Kathleen Hahn <ahwahnee@CYBERTRAILS.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <C2EAA3D20B24453D840BB7B00EC61EDD@GeoPC>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Nice report. I doubt they use metric 8 X 1.25 thread on their highway signs though. More like 5/16's course thread, American. Hope that repair holds and you never have to think about it again. It's always a good idea to retighten exhaust fasteners on a new engine after a few warm up, cool down cycles. Even do that more than once.

Ever lube your window tracks and mechanism ?. That's what I think of when I hear of window crank handle breaking. Either than or people are just brutish on turning the handle. These are old vans, they need gentle care, and especially, every last thing that moves in them needs to be lubed. If it's been 24 years since they assembled it in germany and never lubed in all this time......well. I use spray synthetic grease, silicone spray, and wd-40. I am sure that 99 % of the time I'm the first person to ever lube a window mechanism on any vanagon I end up with. If it moves, lube it. With something. Scott www.turbovans.com

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Geo & Kathleen Hahn Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 1:57 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Trip Report (longish)

Trip reports seem to be de rigueur so here's mine. Just got in from a 4,870 / 30-day ride from Tucson to the Midwest & back via the Rockies. Saw a lot of great country but precious few Westies (1 in Canyon de Chelly, 2 in Rocky Mtn Natl Park, 1 north of Flag heading to the Canyon.

Mileage for the drive was an acceptable 21.3 mpg. I usually get around 24 mpg but in Nebraska and Iowa I got a few tankfuls of something called 'Plus' (cheaper than Regular but higher octane) and the mileage dropped way down. I assume it was ethanol ladened. The engine ran okay, but mileage in that segment was 16 to 17.

Only minor problems occurred. The refrigerator fan didn't run (couldn't tell it was not working until the fridge had been on awhile) but the lack of it seemed to have no negative effect on cooling. It's not the fuse (there is power to the thermo switch) so I guess I'll pull the fridge. Haven't done this before but I think I have saved a few links to helpful sites.

The (new, genuine VW) window crank abruptly disintegrated but we fashioned a fix with JBWeld and a cap from a film container. I gave up on film long ago but always have a bunch of those containers for all kinds of things:

http://www.cybertrails.com/~ahwahnee/VW-Winder.JPG

We began to get exhaust noise coming home -- found we had lost one of the bolts holding the headers to the exhaust pipe. A bit farther and the noise was much worse... a second bolt was now gone. No hope of finding a hardware store in the 4 Corners area on a Sunday but something had to be done. Suffice it to say that there is a 'Scenic Overlook' sign on US64 that is now held by 2 bolts instead of 4.

This was the first long drive for the 2.2L GoWesty engine -- it now has 10K on it and performs nicely.

Was also the first time out for the Hankook RA08s (185R14) we recently mounted. In my opinion they are an excellent choice. Much better ride than I ever got from the Michelins & Yokos of years past and equal to the ride of the Bridgestones which are NLA.

Visited some new-to-us campgrounds, the best of which I will add to Larry's excellent site. Biggest camping surprise was at the Indiana Dunes Lakeshore near Michigan City -- when we looked across the lake we could see the Chicago skyline 40 miles away. Have camped there many times in years past but never saw that. Guess the steel mills of Gary aren't coloring the air anymore.

Oil changes are a challenge on long trips... I actually stopped at a Jiffy Lube to see how that would work. They were sure they couldn't get an oil filter (I had one) nor 20w50 oil (had that too) and wouldn't let me personally tighten the drain plug (cause I would have to have been in the pit to do it) so I passed on all that -- plus the price... $35 for an oil change?? guess I'm out of touch with what these things cost. In the end we visited a nephew and borrowed his garage for the 15 minutes it takes to do this and he was willing to recycle the old oil.

Nice to be home & back on the list.


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