Date:         Wed, 13 Mar 1996 00:46:36 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Vdubdude@aol.com
Subject:      Re: Gas Milage problem(?)

In a message dated 96-03-12 01:24:37 EST, you write:

>
>All, this is regarding my 79 Westy,
>
>Last week it got relatively cold(low-mid 20's), and I noticed, along with
the
>usual crappy performance(carb conversion), my gas milage dropped thru the
>floor.  The week before(65 deg and up) I was doing about 18mpg, normal. I
>haven't checked this weeks milage, but looking at the gas gauge, it is at
>1/4 tank, and I have just broken 100 miles.  Also when the temps were cold
>it ran like it had a bad spark plug, but when warm it did not.  Is this
>normal
>or would I be correct in thinking that one or more spark plugs did not
>survive
>the cold snap? Or maybe time for new dist. cap, and rotor?  Wires,
>plugs,points
>were replace before Thanksgiving trip to Disney(for those who remember),
>don't
>know when the dist cap and rotor were last replaced.
>Although it was warmer there was a large improvement in performance, but not
>to the standards of 2 weeks ago and before.
>
>Waiting with breath baited,
>
>David
>74 Thing
>79 Westy
>
>
A block of ice is forming from humidity in the air and your crappy carburetor
is freezing clogging your venturi and redesigning the effective surfaces
inside your carb.  .  If you must keep your weber centralized single
carburetor, you must find a way to route warm air from under the engine to
the air cleaner.  You must also find a way to keep the intake runners
extremely warm while the engine runs even in the summer.  If the fuel mixture
is allowed to recondense in a cool intake runner, that nifty fiendishly
complicated carburetor is pretty much useless, hunh?

Ric (not to be confused with that OTHER Ric)
VdubDude@aol.com