Club 80-90 Forums

s a long term high mileage DG owner.. raising the gearing wont achieve owt apart from a lot of changing gear.. if it prep for a gruntier engine.. fair enough.. but seeming as you have a camper (heavy) and a high top at that (drag).. then I suggest (like others) you wont get what you want.. putting a 2.1 in under all the "DG" ancillaries will make a vast difference to pulling power..

I ran/run my 1.9DG/2.1"DG" quite reg at 3800-4000.. seems happy there.. but.. much after 4200 seems to be much more of a strain and of course.. its gonna use a lot more fuel..

Just picked up a few more parts to build up a fresh engine for the "works van", but that's gonna get a few other development parts to test also..

Ok well the next obvious question as I'm getting 'don't use a 2.1 cos they're old' and 'using a 2.1 will help'....WHICH ONE?!!!

I'm so confused, all I want is the ability to not slow down to 30 on a motorway hill, thats all.

serenitycamper wrote:
I'm so confused, all I want is the ability to not slow down to 30 on a motorway hill, thats all.

To be fair mate, so are we!

First you wanted to raise the gearing so you can sit at 70mph/3000rpm, well this ain't going to happen with a DG (or a DJ for that matter).

Second you don't really want to go THAT fast, you have already stated you can do 65mph at 3500RPM which everyone has said is ok, is that fast enough or not?

The fitting of a 2.1 will definately give you the ability to maintain speed up hill, to a point, and coupled with taller gearing cruise at 70mph at around 3600rpm like mine does if necessary.

My advice ref fitting a 2.1 was when you were still on the 3000rpm/70mph quest which now seems to have changed into ' all I want is the ability to not slow down to 30 on a motorway hill'?

I obviously think the 2.1 route is a good one because I did it myself but my 1.9 was sh*gged and needed replacing and the 2.1 cost £300 at the time (i got £150 for the 1.9) so not a massive outlay.

They're a lot harder to get hold of now and you're probably looking at nearer £700/£800 for anything any good and then the gearbox rebuild cost.

For a proper performance increase you need to be looking at perhaps a Scooby conversion but that will be nearer £3500 to do it well with tried and tested parts.

If your van is that bad then somethings wrong because even with the standard DG in they should do better than that!

Are you really sure a 30yr old 2ton camper is the vehicle for you?

serenitycamper wrote:I've found this data already using the search option and I understand what these engines were capable of when NEW! My question is simple; is it safe to run the engines at the age they are at 4000 rpm consistently so I can arrive at my destination a little quicker?!!

There is no reason why a well serviced engine that is 30 years old wont fair exactly the same as one 20 or 30 years younger... infact some engines are better once they have thoroughly loosened up

you can do damage to the big end bearings by labouring the engine too hard at really low revs, just like you can by over reving an engine and bending a valve or throwing a rod, I read a post here once where a guy had been told that if he reved past 3000 rpm his engine would instantly explode

I always sit around 80- 85 on the motorway ( 1.9 Dg , ) the van feels happiest at this speed, only requiring slight throttle to maintain this speed, drop down to 65-70 and i need almost full throttle to pick up momentum again, peak power is quite high up the range. We used to call it 'coming on cam'
the revolutions where the engine worked at its optimum .

I change the oil every 2 years ( less than 1000 MPA ) using good quality stuff, the levels are always spot on, tyres, pressures, brakes and everything else is also thoroughly checked . I have no worries at all about the engine going bang. If however my engine was a rattly bag of nails then I would be more concerned

If the van struggled to keep up with the traffic on the motorway then I would suspect that something else may require attention, timing, carb, etc etc.

Every vehicle is different, you can tell when driving if the engine feels okay, in the days before rev counters , change indicator lights, etc etc you learnt to ' feel ' when to rev more or when to back off. The most important gauge is the temperature gauge, this will tell you if you have a problem, assuming it works correctly

pionte wrote:There is no reason why a well serviced engine that is 30 years old wont fair exactly the same as one 20 or 30 years younger... infact some engines are better once they have thoroughly loosened up

you can do damage to the big end bearings by labouring the engine too hard at really low revs, just like you can by over reving an engine and bending a valve or throwing a rod

THIS.

It's kinder on an engine to use full-ish rev range with a light-ish throttle than it is to lug it from low revs, needing a heavy foot to get it to do anything because you're out of the power band. It feels cruel to our DJ to let it lug and chug below about 2500-3000rpm - it's MUCH happier above.

Well..

Quite a few of us have gone 2.1 "DG" and are more than happy with the extra performance up hills.. its why we did it.. (tho some of us still want more..)

If you want to go faster.. then I suggest a Subaru conversion as that will happily sit at 4-4500 all day long and wont require a gearing change...

A WBX can be built to perform a lot better.. but you will have to spend on it..

anything over 70 in a high top will be a struggle with any stock engine.. and will put a hell of a load on the engine...

VW did a good job of setting up gear ratios for the application.. BUT.. has a prev owner fitted something different... without the code its a moot point..

There are many other factors for high speed cruising.. like, better oil cooling, better suspension, lowered suspension, quality tyres, aerodynamic aids.. etc.. as the physics do take over the faster you go.....

You gotta decide what it is you want and how much you are prepared to pay... anything is possible...

Thanks for the advice guys, really appreciate it. I'm going to research what can be done to a waßerboxer to improve their overall performance; some manage to get serious power from these unit in the states, reliably. I only want a little more for hills!!
Next...EVERYTHING in the bus is as it was built, as confirmed by VW so nothing has been swapped out. It is also lowered and stiffened and is running on 18" wheels with 40 profile tyres. It has the chin spoiler which I'm led to believe improves handling at speed. The Dehler roof is actually more aerodynamic than the tin top, which is why they were so successful with regard to fuel consumption. I have a VW press release here all about the different roofs and what their associated wind tunnel result was. Interesting stuff.
Oil cooling is something I'd be very interested in, is there any info anywhere on the subject? Having seen someone actual complete the project would be good too!!
Again, thanks for all the advice

serenitycamper wrote:EVERYTHING in the bus is as it was built, as confirmed by VW so nothing has been swapped out. It is also lowered and stiffened and is running on 18" wheels with 40 profile tyres.

<scratches head>

It has the chin spoiler which I'm led to believe improves handling at speed.

We found no difference at all when we removed it from our Westy hightop. Apart, of course, from not regularly grounding it. And that was at normal suspension height... How on earth do you cope, lowered?

Oil cooling is something I'd be very interested in, is there any info anywhere on the subject? Having seen someone actual complete the project would be good too!!

Have a look over on TheSamba, particularly at some of TenCentLife's posts.

He's the guy who builds and sells what are reckoned to be the best WBXs over there, and doubles the warranty if you install his cooler kit. http://www.vanistan.com/oil_cooler_kits.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OK so i should have said everything mechanicaly is as it was when built.

I smash it into everything! Simples! Although I am going to have to raise it some, it's too low.

Many thanks for the info, will read, and thanks for the link. Guess what I'm doing of rate next hour!?!