Date:         Thu, 16 Jan 97 00:32:04 PST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Juli <jmartin@alltel.net>
Subject:      Still Lousy Gas Mileage!

I am very happy with the '81 Westy I purchased last September. : )

But since I have subscribed to the digest, things aren't quite as 
exciting when I return from a week away from the old e-mail!  I 
haven't written in for awhile but I need some advice after trying most 
of the tricks I could think of that were  mentioned here about raising 
my gas mileage.

For the months that I have owned my Westy, I've been getting 
between 14-15 mpg (not wonderful on these 250 mile trips I've been 
taking).   I know that my 5,000 pound monster is heavy, but most of 
you are getting 17-18 mpg. This past week my brother helped me 
install a new condenser, points, distributer cap, rotor button and set 
the timing.   Oh, and we checked the plugs and they looked fine, 
too.  Nothing helped.   Any other suggestions?

I am happy about one thing we did fix...THE HEAT!  After some 
finangling with the spring-thingy beside the left rear tire, I now have 
blessed warmth.  

Thanks, Joel, for the timely advice before my last SC trip,  I replaced 
the fuel line and I know it probably saved me an engine fire as the 
old line had deteriorated to such an extent that it fell apart when I 
removed it.   I bought the wrong fuel line at first and installed it but it 
wasn't made for fuel injection systems and I had to reinstall it. 
Bummer.

All in all, my van keeps good speed on the highway, which surprised 
me after put-putting along for years in my '70 and '71 at 45 mph up 
hills.  Now I cruise along at 70 and slow down only when the big 
trucks go by!    

Juli
'81 Westy