Club 80-90 Forums

What needs to change is 'Your Mindset', the button on the back of your head that needs switching from Audi RS to CAMPER MODE........slow down, look around you, enjoy the drive, take a chill pill....tis what it is all about.

Finding 'Camper Mode' is akin to attaining 'inner peace' a Zen like state of well-being and contentedness......you will be able to glance out of the window at those Arctic's as they slowly over take you with a satisfied grin.

Martin

California Dreamin wrote:What needs to change is 'Your Mindset', the button on the back of your head that needs switching from Audi RS to CAMPER MODE........slow down, look around you, enjoy the drive, take a chill pill....tis what it is all about.

Finding 'Camper Mode' is akin to attaining 'inner peace' a Zen like state of well-being and contentedness......you will be able to glance out of the window at those Arctic's as they slowly over take you with a satisfied grin.

Martin

You're probably right! It's only that living in the North and loving the south coast so much the journey there is a heck of a long way at 55 MPH!

California Dreamin wrote: Taller gearing 'WITHOUT' more power is pointless as you will find yourself 'playing tunes' with the engine, shifting up and down at the slightest head wind or incline.
You will also use more throttle to maintain the same speed (because of the decrease in torque from a longer final drive ratio) so your fuel consumption will likely be worse.
Higher gearing only ever works in conjunction with an increase in engine power, ie; going scooby or TDI


Martin

This is spot on advice, I'm also into old scooters, Lambretta's, which came out of the factory with between about 7-12bhp depending which model you had.

Nowadays there are so many different engine upgrades available you can tune them to anywhere upwards of 40bhp! but the one most difficult thing to get right is the GEARING, lads have scooters that are pulling great and they change the pipe or put a different kit on which moves the power up or down the rev range and suddenly it pulls like mad in 3rd but dies in 4th when they hit a hill or headwind.

Fortunately i doubt you really have THAT many gearing options because I assume Aiden only has what VW manufactured available to him so I doubt you will be getting into a situation where the van will never pull the revs in top but as said sticking in a high ratio gearbox doesn't always mean faster cruising.

serenitycamper wrote:
It's 65MPH @ 3500RPM in its currently configuration. 4000RPM is about 75MPH but it's theoretical

So 70mph should come up around 3700/3800rpm which is not far off what my van does, as a matter of interest what sort of speed did you WANT to cruise at?

As suggested perhaps you need to either fit a more powerful motor, not a 2.1 as they are still old and really only make the drive more 'relaxed' rather than providing a higher top speed, or buy a later van T4/T5.

Well after spending £19k on this rebuild I ain't buying a T4 or 5!!!

I wanted to be running the motor at around 3000RPM at 70MPH really, more in line with a modern petrol engine. It's only the cruising speed I want to change really.

serenitycamper wrote:
I wanted to be running the motor at around 3000RPM at 70MPH really, more in line with a modern petrol engine. It's only the cruising speed I want to change really.

That could well be your problem, I guess you picked those figures 'out of thin air' rather than find out what these vans actually do?

You should be able to sit at 3500rpm all day long without damaging your engine and you say your van's doing 65mph at that speed so not really that far off, why not try some bigger tyres on to up the gearing that way?

I can't go any bigger on tyres as i'm already running 245 40 18 tyres, anymore with a lowered bus and I'll hit the arches. It's already pretty close!

No I based my calculations on my 'box, tyres and Aidans available gears and the final drive ratio of the diff which is 71.73MPH @ 3000RPM!!

Minus the fact its shaped like a brick

I dunno, if you throw a brick hard enough it's goes a fair way!!!

My speedo broke on the way home from collecting Keif, so I was using the SatNav as my speedo. IIRC he sat at 65mph quite happily doing around 3700 rpm and I have photographic evidence (wife driving, me with phone) that he was pootling at 70mph before the speedo gave up

He's a 1.9DG

California Dreamin wrote:What needs to change is 'Your Mindset', the button on the back of your head that needs switching from Audi RS to CAMPER MODE........slow down, look around you, enjoy the drive, take a chill pill....tis what it is all about.

Finding 'Camper Mode' is akin to attaining 'inner peace' a Zen like state of well-being and contentedness......you will be able to glance out of the window at those Arctic's as they slowly over take you with a satisfied grin.

Martin

I get that Campervan Zen
I usually hate driving but behind the wheel of the van I could drive forever.

Sorry to hijack your thread mate.

Verne wrote:My speedo broke on the way home from collecting Keif, so I was using the SatNav as my speedo. IIRC he sat at 65mph quite happily doing around 3700 rpm and I have photographic evidence (wife driving, me with phone) that he was pootling at 70mph before the speedo gave up

He's a 1.9DG

Well thats good news. Maybe I'm just being over cautious then?

Just for the info....I'm running the 2.1 on carb on LPG with a rev counter (factory) and a speedo that matches satnav (OMG!!) on standard 14" wheels, 185 r14. (and I'm a girly and I know all that!!)

oh - 5 speed gearbox, hightop caravelle camper.

65 mph in 5th gear is 3400 revs. 70 is just about the 3800 mark.

My logic....drive in the middle of the green zone....3000 revs. This gives me 60 mph. Bit faster than the 56 mph goverened lorries, with enough ooomph to go around them as long as not a particularly steep incline!
If all the needles are at 12 oclock water temp is fine, I've got around 60mph and 3000 revs. if they are all drifting towards 2 oclock...engine's getting hot, revs are getting high...and speed is a bit much....

EM
xx

You still got that EMPI exhaust on?

That won't help matters, they're renowned for robbing power.

Yeah still got it on while we save up for a replacement OEM unit