Date:         Wed, 1 May 1996 22:32:51 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Vdubdude@aol.com
Subject:      Re: '81 Westy:???

In a message dated 96-05-01 19:10:37 EDT, you write:

>My wife and I just bought an '81 Vanagon, and I was wondering what the top 
>recommended cruising speed is.  The guy we bought Edward from sez not to go
>over 
>60mph, but it feels good if I do...

Your camper pushes a lot of air at highway speeds.  your camper weighs a lot.
 Your motor is air cooled and underpowered.  All of these things conspire at
speeds higher than 50 MPH to use copious amounts of fuel, overheat your
exhaust valves, wear your rings in one direction, make your oil VERY hot,
compounding these problems further.  It is fine to drive your camper as fast
as you want within reason, but understand that the faster you drive your
camper, the sooner the engine will require overhaul.

You can do things to help prolong the life of your motor.  Like, use
synthetic oil (assuming that you don't have any leaks or use oil otherwise).
 I would suggest 10w30 winter, 20w50 summer.  You can also have your exhaust
valves replaced every 60,000 miles (should cost about $300.00 to $400.00 for
a valve job) and not wait for the catastrophic engine failure to total the
motor.  Following this schedule, you may be able to get about 200,000 mi.
from the same bottom end before you have to have the entire engine
overhauled.  Maybe this is wishfull thinking, but I don't see that many lower
end problems on Type4 motors that aren't somehow related to lack of
maintennance.  Many engines with dropped valve seats or burned valves have
forced their other cylinders to pick up the slack and overheated them just
trying to get down the road after they are broken just because they happen to
still run.  This causes most lower end problems that are catastrophic.  They
can easily be avoided by fixing the problems when they arise.  Not when you
get around to feeling like fixing it.

Just remember:  It is infinitely better to climb a steep grade in 3rd gear
with the engine fairly wound out (under redline, naturally), than to try to
make it up the hill in 4th gear.  Your engine (air cooled) cools itself with
a fan on the crankshaft.  If that crankshaft is not spinning quickly enough,
and you're losing speed while going up a hill, you are overheating your
motor.

Ric
VdubDude@aol.com