[T3] great weekend drive

[Mike Fisher]

We did 648 miles from Eugene, OR to Redding, CA and back.  Except for
a blowout on a rear tire coming down the fast downhill from Mt. Shasta
to Dunsmuir the square ran good.  Thanks to Les Schwab for staying
late Saturday to get us on 2 new rear 195/70/14 tires/tubes for the
trip home Monday!

On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 7:30 AM, Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:
> On 5 Sep 2011 at 23:12, Bryon Garvin wrote:
>
>> I did have the 12 point star driver and a torque wrench and did them to 25
>> ft-lbs.  I think I read that right in the Bentley.  If did that wrong,
>> please tell me.
>
> I just checked, too, and that's exactly right.  ;-)
>
>> I felt that it was tremendous mileage and much better than I expected.  But
>> I guess if it matters, remember that it was ethanol-free, 92, and I was
>> driving no more than 60 mph because of the roads that I take to get there
>> and probably 1/3 of it was around 50 mph.  There was a somewhat of a
>> tail-wind on the way, but really, I was fighting some buffeting from the
>> side most of the way there.  I'd basically say "no" to having a tailwind.
>
> Your 34 mi/gal still seems high. I did tests a few years ago driving
> at 65 and 60 and got about 28 and about 29 respectively (with gasohol
> in an AT '73) but I was driving the same cars in the 70s when almost
> all gas was ethanol free and never got close to 30 unless I had a
> tailwind. Ethanol has about 10% less energy content and there's maybe
> 10% ethanol in your gas, so the overall difference in energy content
> is 10% of 10%, which is only 1%, or less than we can usually measure.
>
> The change in energy content only becomes noticable with high
> concentrations of ethanol, like E85, which you shouldn't be using.
>
> If your odometer was slipping, that would reduce your mileage, not
> increase it. Filling the gas tank to the same level, before and
> after, is critical to this measurement.
>
>> I'm interested to hear your response Jim because currently, this would be
>> the best mileage I get out of any of my cars on the highway and that
>> includes my 96 Jetta.
>
> I'm surprised, but pleased, that your Jetta doesn't do better. Which
> engine does it have? If it usually goes on trips where you can travel
> at 70 mi/hr +, then that makes a significant difference.
>
>> I'm going to keep driving to this station and running 92 ethanol-free just
>> to see what the around-the-town mileage is.  I don't mind paying that money
>> at this point if I'm getting that kind of return on the investment.
>
> The 21 mi/gal you get around town is exactly what I get around town,
> so that seems to indicate that there's nothing really wrong with your
> car. If your car is an MT, then that would give you a couple mi/gal
> edge, especially on the road.
>
> I hope you'll do more trips and get us more data. I'll be pleasantly
> surprised if the 34 mi/gal number holds up as a long term average.
>
> --
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
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