what's normal (aircooled power, etc)?

[rudar]

Hey all,

I've had my westy for about a year, but really don't know what's normal running shape for it. It's an 81 aircooled, used to be california emissions and is now some kludge

With new tires and a timing tune-up (should have done that a while ago; it was at about 3-ish rather than 7-1/2-ish BTDC...) the cylinder head temperature gauge is no longer scaring me by all going up to 450 at slightest incling of a hill (well, it actually was never *quite* that bad; the DPO mounted the gauge in front of the passenger, so I've been looking at it an an angle that adds 50-ish degrees to the reading if looked at from the passenger seat...)

So today I drove her up the Sea to Sky highway to Brittania Beach, and the temperature gauge never went above 350, and oncoming trucks didn't send me swerving all over the road, and on most hills I could sorta maintain 80kmh (50mph), except the steep hill climing out of Furry Creek, which smacked my speed down to 60 or less (35-40mph). Checked the truck warning on the way home, and the hill was rated 8%. So is this about how slow and lumbering these beasts just are, or should I be trying to tune it to get more power? As I said, I don't really know what's normal. I hear people talking about getting better mileage by cruising at 60 or 65 rather than 70 (mph), but maybe they're all driving wasserboxers? Because I don't think my aircooled could do 70 on a downhill with a tailwind, and even 60's pretty unlikely if there's any inclines on the road (which in B.C., there always are, of course...)

Also, from Brittania, we drove up some logging roads that got fairly steep, and then kinda got stuck a bit on a water bar. I'm sure with a competent driver, she could have gotten through the ditch, but all she had was me... So while extricating myself from that, I revved the engine a bit and briefly got a strong smell of smoke, but didn't seem to do any damage. Turned her around and parked, then went hiking. On the drive back down, the oil light came on on the steepest bits of the road. I *thought* this is just because it was so steep that all the oil sloshed to the front of the sump and the tube picked up an air bubble, rather than it really being that low, but I added maybe a half-cup just to err on the side of not running her dry. Now that she's home and parked on the level and cooled down for five or six hours, the oil's maybe 1/8" above the top mark on the dipstick. So, any thoughts on whether I made the right choice? I've heard you really don't want to overfill these guys, but I'm assuming you don't want them running air through the system on steep downhills. Does anyone drive backroads with the aircooleds? Does this happen to you, and what do you do about it?

[cnskate]

If you are concerned about power check your valve adjustment and fuel/air mixture. These two things made a big difference on mine which was running too lean. Maybe double check the distributor advance? I could run the freeway from Bellingham to Seattle at 70 all they way except for that big south of Mount Vernon if I wanted to, but my mileage would plummet from 20 to 16 or so, and I think it would shorten the life of the heads.

I would drain that extra oil if it were mine, my seals are pretty drippy as it is.
_________________
"Wherever you go, there you are."