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Date:         Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:15:27 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Kens trip & can Westys climb mountains?
Comments: To: Donna Skarloken <dskarloken@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <CALGCdoU7PC+KwMSz-SuBhDX2AwWYEMUjMGViNmMAwYnY7WueVw@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 2:25 PM, Donna Skarloken <dskarloken@gmail.com>wrote:

> All good advice; just one additional thing - when in the truck lane try to > keep an eye out and move out of the way of the big trucks back into the > regular right lane and let them go by if you can - >

That is a nice gesture. In California, trucks will be cited by the CHP for traveling out of the truck lane on a pass...but a slow Vangon is allowed in the second or third lane when climbing...so why not? Also, when a truck is passing you on the interstate it is a nice gesture to flash your highbeams when their last trailer passes clear of you and they are OK to pull back ahead of you....They appreciate that, and often have impatient cars stacked up behind them....You will usually get a double blink of the trucker's taillights as he comes back into the lane ahead of you...a "Thanks, buddy" acknowledgement of your helping him with the pass.

I don't have much trouble holding speed in my inline 2.0 liter with it's 5sp on the steep long stuff. I backshift to 4th gear at about 65-70 on a climb and continue uphill at about 4000rpms in 4th at 65.

Above about 5000' elevation, the power really drops in a normally aspirated vehicle...around that elevation there is a marked drop in the O2 in the atmosphere...it is not a linear thing..

The horsepower to weigh ratio of a Vanagon is quite ludicrous My .6 L (600cc) Honda motorcycle has more horsepower than a waterboxer.... ~ 100hp and the bike only weighs about 375lbs ....roughly 10 times the HP to weight of a vanagon....Underpowered we are, but as expressed by many...so what? Just kick back and be a bit patient...you won't lose much time.

Don Hanson


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