Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 10:24:30 -0400
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: e freeman <efreeman@surfsouth.com>
Subject: trip report '72 westy (quite long)
hi guys. i have been gone for a month or so, and i am now back.
i just returned to south ga from a 6500 mile around-country jaunt.
a friend and i strarted in atlanta, went to austin, tx via new orleans
to pick up a friend, and then went to idaho for a backpacking trip. we
returned to denver, and those two friends both rode busses back to
austin, and i was left to myself. i stayed out there for a while,
living in the van, and then drove back to northern indiana to visit my
girlfriend, then home to south ga. i drove from northern indiana to
atlanta in one day--12 hours or so at 55-65 mph! it was a bit
uncomfortable but fun.
my van performed very well. we were able to speed along at 65-70 mph
when the ambient temp was below 80deg F or so, but our midday speed in
texas (temp 100 plus) was down to less than 50 at times. my new oil
temp guage acted as a speedo. i tried to keep it under 220, and when
the air temp was chilly, it stayed at around 200. i think this is
pretty good, considering the huge amount of weight the van was carrying.
highest speed reached was 85 in wyoming somewhere, and the lowest was
first and second gear in colorado on small mountain roads.
problems: the fuel pump died in texas, and i replaced it in about 1.5
hours during dinner with a spare electric one i just happened to have
along. i later replaced it with a proper mechanical one in denver.
thanks to stock and custom parts store for that. after the backpacking
trip, the gas mileage went way down, and the van backfired a lot. i
traced the mileage problem to a clogged air filter (40 miles each way on
a dusty dirt mining road into the river of no return wilderness area
finished it off), and changed it in pocatello, id. near salt lake, i
worked on the timing and dwell for some improvement there. the
backfiring did not stop, and i was told that it could be an exhaust
leak. i fixed the leak in boulder, co, but the backfiring continued(s),
albeit abated somewhat. it frightened people into hiding in denver. ;)
the trip back from denver was uneventful--i drove from denver to culver,
in in a little over 2 days, and the van did not complain. i still get a
lot of backfiring, though. i will post another letter about that.
i saw lots of vw people. there were several living in their vans in
boulder--alex and sam from virginia or somewhere and several others. it
was neat to see others doing the same as i was doing. i saw a caravan
of 3 seventies campers in kansas travelling west on I-70. they waved at
me. the vans were painted in funky colours; anyone know these guys?
well, i will end this so you guys can go on with your lives.
i guess the moral is, you can drive around the country in a vw van and
make good time, and not abysmal mileage. i averaged about 20-21mpg the
entire time, and that is with a lot of weight.
have fun
evan
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