QUESTION concerning FUEL OCTANE ????

[kmclemore]

On that 'valvetrain issue'

when that happened to our old VWs (always Number 3 Exhaust valve, whose cooling air was blocked by the oil cooler until 1971) we would buff those scuffs of with a wire brush, and paint the piston blue for increased crank speed....

Yeah, I was just gonna bondo that hole and leave it at that, but I figured hey, why not really do it right? So I soldered on a brass patch and popped that baby right back in the motor.


Not.

[baldbaby2000]

The nice thing about the air cooled Volkswagons is that you can loose a cylinder and still drive. I went almost a year on 3 cylinders. The engines are pretty gutless whether on 3 or 4 cylinders.

[Catigale]

No VW beat my 1983 Diesel Vanagon for the gutless awards....

huge box, windage and 48 HP diesel...

putt putt putt (actually clack clack clack)

32 mph though

[Chip Hindes]

32 mph though

Sounds about right, unless you were going downhill with a tailwind.

But what kind of gas mileage did it get?

Badumpbump, yeehaw!

[Catigale]

[baldbaby2000]

No VW beat my 1983 Diesel Vanagon for the gutless awards....

huge box, windage and 48 HP diesel...

Sounds like my 1969 VW bus...as areodynamic as a shoebox!

[waternwaves]

As a kindly old volksmaster (farstuffflinging)

I just delivered my 1972 VW van (that I have had since 1978) to the next carefu owner who can baby it.

But.

Aerodynamically speaking, I have have had split level homes with better aerodynamics.

and motorcyles with more power.

[Catigale]

OOOhhh...that 72 Bus was a baddie....

They went to that old Porsche wannabee engine with the twin carbs that liked to wear out the throttle plate bushings...life was never good after that.

They also forgot to put the access panel on top of the engine in 72, so you couldnt get to that engine for s****

The only bright side of that car was I had a seriously Hot girlfriend who had one, and she kept coming back (lurid details deleted) since I was the only guy in town who could fix it....

Ok, I smeared grease around the bushings which stopped the leaks for about a month, and told her to bring it back in a 3 weeks for optimisation.

I didnt charge her cash at least......

My daughters are learning how to fix their own stuff



Am i going to a bad place when its time or can I beg off as a hormone overloaded college student???

[kmclemore]

Am i going to a bad place when its time or can I beg off as a hormone overloaded college student???

You're burnin', pal.


And to think, I thought the "Oil for Food" scandal was bad....

[Robert]

The VW micro-bus aerodynamics are cleverly designed so that you can't exceed 55mph even if falling off a cliff.. its a safety thing.
..
and you can pull up right behind a box truck and shut off your VW's engine as long as your going where the truck is going it gets its best fuel efficiency that way.

[waternwaves]

oh the wonders of that bus.......

if you had the leaking bushings........and a stuck carb float.....you could do some dangerous things.........gas tank above the engine.....gravity would drain the fuel through your engineonto the garage floor.........got to be very careful turning on the garage lights after setting a while.


and Cat, there was plenty of joy to be had........ I added a VOA air conditioning system to the van..............take the top 5 hp off an already paltry and anemic 62 hp engine (When new) and waddya got??, but if you could get it to altitude........ say +8,000 feet, and really lean out the mixture, it always suprised people the performance increase.... because drag decreased faster than hp. (should have figured out a way to scoop and funnel that supply air in from the nose.)

I also developed a wonderful sitting posture working behind the engine with my arms extended, working totally blind........ could replace that far plug by feel, thermostat wiring, balance carbs by feel and rpm shift..... it definitely was a female personality,l engine that required lots of hands on attention (runs from looming flaming).

The engine was a bit of a aberation tho...... they changed out the crank from the 914, 411,412 and gave us that higher torque range,

As nostalgic as it was...... I am not ever going to load up 6 adults again in it and go wine tasting while smelling oil burnt onto heater boxes.......
Give me a nice Expedition or Excursion or Suburban......... I'll be fine.


(DELETED CONTENT.....................................)


as it is I didnt trade it for any cash or anythign of value.....

[Robert]

8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van, I owned two of these wonder vans. They were powerful with their 90hp motors, except when driving from Florida to Michigan over the mountains running on just one side of the flat six air cooled motor. When I got to MI, I discovered three rocker arms laying free in the dead head, the third cylinder on that head had only 8psi on compression check. I had difficulty with the heavily loaded van to get over the mountains, getting down in the single digit speeds in the steepest parts. I kept the gas pedal on the floor the whole way. Down the mountain I could get up to speeds in excess of the speed limit.
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I built a new engine for it from junk yard parts before I left Florida, it would not run, the problem was the used cam shaft had sheared its key and the valve timing was off. So I took it apart, split the block again and GM's Tech Center re-keyed it for me. Upon installation the cam shaft and crank shaft would not turn freely, because the cam shaft gear was squashed a bit bigger in diameter in the pressing process. I shaved some gear teeth thinner with a dremmel until it turned freely and re-assembled the whole engine. This time it started right up.
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Later in Idaho, I had been using this 8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van for off roading to fishing spots. My fishing buddy would walk ahead and use a stick to check the depth of hazzards like mud. This 8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van would go places that made S-10 4x4 pickups turn back. It was excellent in snow up the mountain for skiing too. My fishing buddy's dad and uncle came to visit. On the way to one of our favorite secret fishing spots, the two track road off road was very steep, I had to ask them to get out and walk so my van could get up the incline.
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The 8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van was a copy of the VW. Mr. Porche designed the engine for 300+hp and Chevy detuned it to 90hp. When I built my engine from junk yard parts, I had special pistons made and some other items to try and get more power. I got 30000 trouble free oily smoke free miles from it, then it started to use oil. I finally traded it for a new 1984 Isuzu Trooper in San Diego. If I still had that 8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van, it would be worth much more money than when it sold new.
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On another fishing trip the right rear wheel lost traction when the cliff edge road fell away under it. I quickly opened the driver's door and hanged on it to stop the van tipping over and down the cliff. My brother and cousin were inside. I had them come out the driver's door and hold the van from tipping while I went to the cliff edge and put rocks under the right rear tire until it would hold long enough to roll the van forward to safety. That was a very nice trout fishing spot.

[Robert]

I almost forgot the Octane issue with my 8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van. The special made pistons had cutouts for valve clearance and supposedly a higher compression ratio. Well, my 8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van did not like low octane gasoline, and it had not an engine computer. The distributer is just inside the little engine trap door at the rear, making it fairly easy to adjust timing advance when the fuel was good and retard when not good fuel. I adjusted the timing after most tanks of fuel trying to get more power.
..
Another thing that was a first for me on this van: radial tires. I was quite used to sliding a haripin turn on my way home in the 8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van. When my bias ply tires got worn, I decided to try the Big-O new kind of tire called radial and a tread pattern rated M&S all season. When I hit that hairpin turn expecting to slide I got real scared nearly rolling my 8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van because the tires held on like they were glued down. The radial tires were silent compared to the screachy bias ply and provided a more comfortable ride too. I have used only radial tires since.
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Last one for this 8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van. On a trip I frequently made driving from Idaho to Michigan (drive 20hr, sleep 8hr, drive 20hr) I was warned via my CB radio not to go East across Wyoming because of ice and snow. I, being young and adventuresome, of course ignored this warning. I remember going down hills next to 18 wheeler trucks at 20mph to 30mph and just for fun counting all the tires under those trucks that were not turning, just sliding, down the mountain. My van had no traction troubles, but I did keep my speed very low after seeing the trucks sliding down the road, some of the trucks only had a couple tires turning all the rest sliding for miles.

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

Robert - What model van did you have?
If you mentioned it above, I must have missed it.

[Robert]

Mine was the 1964 8 Door Greenbriar Deluxe Corvair Van.
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My second van was not eight door and was purchased only to prove a point to my friend that you can offer 1/4 to 1/2 the asking price to a used car dealer if you wave some cash under their nose.
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