Date:         Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:19:10 -0700
Reply-To:     Gary Bawden <goldfieldgary@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Gary Bawden <goldfieldgary@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Cross-country trip report
In-Reply-To:  <CACHTzae1XWBY2SqbnzaDFD-487jBxKfxvGm7uTeo3F1v3sPw-Q@mail.gmail.com>
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Greetings Vanagoneers,

I've been meandering my way back home after leaving Florida and Alabama
where I had the pleasure of meeting some folks from the list. John Rodgers
and I commandeered a corner of the local Cracker Barrel, Unca Joel made an
appearance after driving up from Tuscaloosa, and the three of us swapped
stories for the next couple of hours.

The next morning I drove up to Madison, AL, where I had the pleasure of
meeting Jim Felder, another diesel Vanagon afficianado. Jim is extremely
knowledgable about VW diesels, and he found and fixed the fuel leak I've had
all the way across the country in about two minutes flat. Thanks, Jim!

I was considering heading farther north, but opted for the other direction,
partly because I wanted to find some cypress lumber, which, in fact, I found
in a little town in Mississippi - - so now I have 37 eight-foot cypress
planks lashed to my roof rack. Any fuel savings garnered by Jim's handiwork
will likely be lost to added wind resistance! But you can't find cypress
just anywhere, so...

Currently I'm eating lunch in Pecos, TX, and will head up past Guadalupe
Mountains Nat'l Park before heading into New Mexico. Already the humidity
has lessened, a couple more days and I might be dried out to my normal
prune-like appearance!  :^)

The AAZ diesel is performing very well. I think I'm getting just slightly
less MPG than I was in my old 1.6 n/a diesel, but I don't have to run up
every hill in third gear, either, so it's a pretty fair compromise. Not for
everyone who is considering an engine swap, however. I thought long anf hard
about a Bostig conversion, I got to drive Craig Cowan's a couple of years
ago when he was working for the summer in Reno, and it's a very peppy
number, no doubt trouble-free, but I knew that without the sound and smell
of a diesel, I'd never feel happy about the swap. So an AAZ it is! I was
going to do the swap myself, but my better half convinced me to just have it
done, so off to Scott Daniel it went, I'm very happy I did it that way.
Scott's work is impeccable!

OK, then, more later, the open road awaits!

Gary