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Date:         Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:31:00 -0500
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Vehicles with "Overdrive" equals  fuel economy??
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Back in the day I remember my Dad's favorite car was a Studebaker. He drove the life out of three in a row. He traveled on the road a lot, and he needed a car that got good gas mileage even back then. His choice was a 6 cylinder Studebaker with a manual transmission with over-drive. Now I don't even pretend to know what over-drive is or how it works, but I do know that it made a significant difference in the gas mileage. I know that you could just cruise along in over-drive, with the engine just barely sipping fuel, but if you needed to pass or go up a hill a hard press on the pedal would kick it out of overdrive and additional power was then available. I also know that if you could ever get it going fast enough in second gear - you could get it to kick into overdrive while in second gear and eventually move that puppy up to over 100 mph. As to how I know - well, I was a teenager back then - so let's not go there! ;-) .

So, my question is, what things might be done to a Vanagon transmission that could increase the fuel mileage obtainable? Are add-on over-drive units available? I know using a tranny from a diesel Vanagon with gear ratio changes is one way to go if you can find one. One can also change the gearing a little bit in the standard manual tranny. But what other alternatives might be available, if any? How about subbing a modern auto-trans from any vehicle at all into the vans, and coupling it with a late model engine of some type - say a late Subie engine. I am curious as to how our list Guru's feel about these possibilities. Daryl? Dennis? Anyone?

Just speculating this morning. I don't plan to give up my Vanagons just because fuel prices have gone out of sight, but I may have to alter my use of them to be able to stay in budget.

Regards,

John Rodgers 88 GL Driver Chelsea, AL.


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