And tell us again why this vehicle is kept on the road at all?

On Sun, Nov 17, 2024 at 11:55 AM Karl <tdiguru@westyventures.com> wrote:

> It's highly unlikely my Westy will ever find its way across the country
> again, given the current canine family size and the Westy leaking almost
> every fluid, haha! It's also in the queue for a conversion to mTDI,
> Syncro manual transmission and Syncro tank in the near future, which
> will take the mpg to 30-ish and 1000-mile range.
>
> It isn't a really nice van overall, as it came via the samba from
> Minnesota where it was exposed to a lot of salt underneath. I had to
> replace every part of the braking system and many other rusted parts
> underneath. Some rust in the rockers, hidden by the fiberglass panels.
> The transmission had a galley plug rusted out, which I discovered when I
> filled the transmission. That was fixed with a rubber plug and a metal
> clamp bolted into a nearby bolt hole. The engine had a cobbled together
> mess of original pipes and undersized patches welded in. The first
> drive, the oil buzzer came on when hot. At the time a friend who does
> conversion had a Euro DJ 112i engine he had just pulled from a customer
> van, available for $600 with wiring harness and ECU so I jumped on it.
> It will be for sale after the TDI conversion is finished.
>
>
> On 11/17/2024 7:17 AM, Eric Caron wrote:
> > Hi Karl and others,
> >
> >       We could search for differences in the vans for days.  And  state
> this is not a scientifically valid study.  But, to save time.  I agree with
> that.
> >
> > Still, Karl’s van is about the closest I’ll find to compare.
> >
> > My less then scientific thinking is that if I’m getting 15 mpg with
> smaller tires and Karl gets 16.5 or better with larger tires. Then maybe.
> >
> > If Karl ran tires smaller his MPG might go down some.  If that is
> correct.  Maybe increasing my tire diameter to match Karl’s might increase
> my Mpg some.
> >
> > I know we could talk about tire friction, type of roads near Karl and
> me, and temperature differences, type of gas we put in the tank, and how I
> weigh more then Karl.
> >
> > But, is it kind of possible that there really is something to the wheel
> diameter and MPG?
> >
> > Remember all the 1970 adds telling us to be sure our tires were
> inflated?  Were they tricking me?  OK they probably were.
> >
> > OK, the tire inflation might be about friction not diameter of tire,
> they didn’t say.
> >
> > I think the solution is that Karl should drive over here to VT and we do
> a drive side by side with the vans, then we switch wheels and do it again.
> Both at the same time of day, gas from the same station, and the vans
> matched for weight.
> >
> > No bra on either van, same mirrors, same wax on the body.
> >
> > We can do this!
> >
> > Karl, we can do it before West River Westies July 2025.
> >
> > And your van sounds nice.  How did you ever end up with that engine? I
> only recently learned about those European versions of our water boxers.
> >
> > Eric
> >
> >
> >> On Nov 17, 2024, at 2:26 AM, Karl Mullendore <tdiguru@WESTYVENTURES.COM>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Other factors are mine is a Multivan poptop, at 4300 feet, and a good
> running
> >> 112i with factory Digijet, totally stock except for the 4-hole
> injectors. You
> >> have a slightly larger engine at sea level running GW's whatever they
> threw
> >> together which may or may not achieve as good mileage ever.
> >> Karl
>