Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2023 17:54:23 -0400
Reply-To: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Trip Report
In-Reply-To: <096059A6-E657-49EB-995B-E494A35F8359@hxcore.ol>
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Great to hear! We’re kind of itching for a trip after this big remodel, but the poor Westy has been languishing.
Stephen
Mobile
> On Jun 2, 2023, at 3:25 PM, LarsP <olgreywoof@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Home a week and partly settled back in. Here are the basics –
> 87 Wolfsburg, original 2.1, original most everything.
> 33 Days - 9 States - 5,633 Miles
>
> Maintenance Stuff –
> About every 200-250 miles, I had to stop and fill the gas tank. This thing has always been like that. Otherwise, I washed it twice – not absolutely necessary but Iowa gravel roads make ol gray look dreary and Indiana bugs are just disgusting. Okay, that’s it – not a hiccup on the whole trip, the electrical issue tossed around last week was in my head, not in the van.
>
> New Stuff –
> First serious highway trip since I installed tencent oil cooler. Oil temp had been running to 240 pretty much anytime I hit highway speed and going higher when pushed or in hot weather. On this trip it just sat at 200 like it was locked there, just a noodge over when pushing a headwind. The one exception was pulling Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado when I had to drop to second (manual) for a long stretch. At that low speed, the cooler is not doing much since it relies on flow through the pillar. Temp ran up to 220 on that pull. So if you climb fire roads a lot, you want the model with the fan, but for regular highway travel, big thumbs up for the tencent cooler.
>
> This was first trip with 12V fridge. I’ve been old school, still using the Coleman ice chest I bought in high school. OK, I get it, pretty nice to have cold drinks and safe food without the ice maintenance. I went Engel, slightly downsized from the monster the vendors sell. The super low draw was attractive since I’m not running a second battery.
>
> First long run since I replaced cooling system (all 26 hoses, radiator, water pump, heater core & valve) and I lost not a dram of coolant. That’s a lot of heat/cold cycles and fan kicking on, so it was gratifying to have it all work.
>
> Roads –
> If you’re headed out, be advised that America is under construction. Pretty much everywhere I went. Two-lane roads in Kansas where is seemed like every bridge was being replaced. Long sections of pavement being replaced or roads re-routed, sometimes hard to tell. And if it’s not under construction, it may well need to be. I drove some nice two-lanes but also some with a hard seam every 30 feet, so it felt like driving across an endless series of railroad tracks. Interstates, largely avoided, are no better. I often drove in left lane which is regularly less worn, and stayed alert to move over to right when someone was coming up behind. Seems the wind blows harder on Interstates and I know part of that is the need to push speed to keep from being run over.
>
> People –
> Yeah, many of those approaches at gas stations and campgrounds or parked in a town from people fawning over ol gray. Three were road bike types, one in a giant pick-em-up truck, and one guy in Illinois who was familiar with buses but said he had never seen a Vanagon. ??? One guy pointed to the Thule box on the roof and said, if you head out across the country in a 36 year old vehicle, you need a full tool box to go with your empty head. Good line, but again, not a hiccup.
>
> --- Great trip and glad to be home and tucked in before Memorial Day. I know we live with this notion that we’re all nuts for pushing these things to keep going, but my experience has never matched. The beast just goes.
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