At 08:55 PM 6/6/2011, Ellen in Oregon wrote: >I'm finding this conversation very interesting as I don't have a >tach in Lola and shift by sound. Is there a range in MPH one should >shift at, say on level road? Published never-exceeds for the '89 manual are 16 in first, 31 in second, 50 in third (1.9l again should be similar). With a manual you'll bounce off the engine rev limiter if you try, and I remember my '84 Westy was noisy enough that once in a blue moon I'd forget to shift out of third after something like making a highway entrance on a big hill - and wonder why it would suddenly run out of spit. Very embarrassing. You should have some little marks on the edge of the speedo, can't remember whether they're shift points or redlines. Redlines, probably. I can't remember any more what the normal shift points are, and they vary depending how hard you're pushing, whether because of a hill or not. Generally though...medium. Too high wastes fuel, but accelerating too hard at low rpm is very hard on the internal parts. Boston Bob thought it was a good idea not to routinely exceed 4,000 rpm, which should be about 72 mph in fourth with standard tires. Back when I had my '84 I drove it at 85 mph quite a lot on the highway. I also used up the engine faster than if I'd been more conservative. In the short term though, it would do that all day in New England topography with no complaint. Yrs, David |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.