What RPM do you cruise at?

[Zeitgeist 13]

I desperately need to re-gear
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[82westyrabbit]

No my van has not been regeared it is the stock transmission out of air cooled van witch is geared higher than a WXB transmission or the automatic transmission. My tires are also a inch and a half taller than stock. I would actually like the gears a little lower. The WXB transmission would be about right. My van was a diesel to begin with and it’s transmission was geared way to low. There are people on here with rpm versus gearing and tire size calculators. But once the job is done I forget those details. When possible I try to run parts I have and my parts collection is all diesel and air cooled stuff. I think you can change the ring gear to regear the automatic transmission but I have never played that game. Someone her will probably chime in with how the automatic works after you regear it. Hoodrat just finished a inline 4 conversation with a automatic transmission and could give you his numbers if he reads this. I think we might have talked about the rpm versus speed on his build thread. Around town my gearing work great. On the highway it will go faster than I want to drive a brick. I pay some on the hills where I will go into third gear and climb the hills at 60-65 at about 3500 rpm. I hope this is not to much information. John

[metropoj]

[clift_d]

With our 1.6TD JX, 215/70 R16 tyres and a 5.43 final ratio, we're generally cruising at 62mph at 2800rpm.
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1988 LHD T25 1.6TD Westfalia Club Joker syncro

[dougass]

2.1 Automatic - typically cruise at 3800-4200 RPM, pending slope & momentum.
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'91 GL - 2.1 automatic named Klaus for weekend adventures.

#klausvan & @thisisklausvan

[bsrad]

3300 rpms at around 65mph. 60-65 is our happy place cruising speed.

EJ25 with stock gears and LT235/75R15 tires.
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Bill

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1987 Syncro Westy
1967 OG Single Cab
1976 FJ40

[Ahwahnee]

Engine alternatives give more power but air drag is drag whatever is trying to move the van.

Imagine standing in the bed of a pick up truck holding a 4x8 sheet of plywood in front of you. How fast would you like to go?

[bobbyblack]

Full stock 2.1 '87, RPMs depend on the day, trip, terrain. If it's a cool day, I can run on the freeway at 4300 - 4400 near 75 to 80 mph. I watch the temp, I've got a digital readout in addition to the stock needle. I keep my eyes on the digital unit and don't push it above 210F. So, if it's a warm day, or otherwise making more heat, like in terrain or altitude, I abide. Complications of course come with use of A/C, and how I am loaded.

Otherwise, most of my miles are on 2 lane roads, at 55 mph, or close, and I don't recall ever having heat be an issue.

I didn't have any trouble running across South Dakota at 84 mph on a 45F night. Engine temp stayed low enough, and the engine wasn't much louder than at 70. That was a bit fast to push her tho, I'd not recommend it.

One thing that I do know, however, is that I CAN get near 20 miles per gallon of gas if I go slow, like 50. Across South Dakota, it was under 15.

-bobby
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[AceTaylor]

Somewhere around 4,150 rpm, 70 mph. Stock 91, 2.1 automatic. Very happy at that speed. Faster than that feels like I'm pushing it. Although it costs about 1.5 mpg vs. 60-65 mph and 3,500 -3,700 rpm.

[riceye]

[82westyrabbit]

Yes my transmission is just a stock DK that came out of a 82 air cooled van. The diesel transmission has a final drive of 5.43. The 091/1 is 4.83 and the air cooled 4.57 according to my Bentley. The gears in side are similar between the three transmission. When I was running a 1.8 GTI engine I ran 23 inch tall tires to get the rpm up. When I went to the Tiico engine adout a year ago I wanted tires with the proper load rating or I would probably still have the smaller tires. First gear is a little higher than I would like it to be. But it’s together and works for my needs and I don’t think it will change any time soon. I have the late model shifter in my van slightly modified in the back so if needed To I can just slide in a late model transmission. I was going to custom build a five speed transmission but when I disassembled my five speed it was going to need a lot more work than I was willing to do. Good luck. John

[Gnarlodious]

Top gear 3100 at 67MPH, turbodiesel purrs like a kitten.
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[AndyBees]

[82westyrabbit]

The shifter mod is no big deal really. I installed the complete late model shifter in my van in preparation for a five speed transmission. When I looked in side the five speed transmission and did not like it. So I reinstalled my old transmission. Then I just cut the end off the new shifter rod and welded on the end off the old shifter rod. If I had a early shift rods I would change both shifter rods to the late stile rods like I did if I was installing a WXB transmission. John

[cmayna]

[dobryan]

There is obviously a big diffference in desired rpm between gas and diesel power....
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[Zeitgeist 13]

I drove my Mom's crappy little Mazda to a wedding today, and it was loafing on the freeway at 2000rpms while going 70mph. I want that kind of rpms in my diesel and gasser vehicles. I don't want to listen to racket droning on relentlessly. The best compromise we seem to be able to come up with in these vans is 3k @ 70mph, so that's the goal...in either a diesel or gasser powerplant.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[jimf909]

Your obsession with low revs is remarkable. You sound like a Toyota owner. Leave the cool cars and motorcycles to folks who understand.
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- Jim

[Zeitgeist 13]

[eyeroll]

I've driven VW vans up and down the entire west coast, from Canada down to Guatemala. I rode a BMW R80/7 from the PNW to Louisiana. I know a thing or two about rpms and freeway speeds. I get that you can endure listening to all that racket for hours upon end, but I choose not to suffer such nonsense at this stage in my life.

Since most of you are driving offbrand ricer engines, for shits n' giggles, try driving your donor vehicle for several hours on the freeway at 75mph, but don't shift into fifth. How comfortable is that? How badly do you want to shift into fifth? I'm guessing none of you would opt not to shift it into fifth...because it's uncomfortably noisy and awkward. That's how it feels when I drive a stock gear ratio Vanagon on the freeways here, where the speed limit is 70mph
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[AndyBees]

Zeitgeist, my 4h gear is about the same as 4th gear in my 2000 Jetta. When I was crunching numbers in an interactive Excel spreadsheet I noticed they would be about the same. So, one day I hit the highway and never shifted into 5th gear to see what it was like. Even in the nicely insulated Jetta with tuned rubber engine mounts, the annoying drone/noise was obvious at 70 MPH.

So, going into my project, I knew slowing down the engine RPMs was going to be #1 due to noise and obviously for improved fuel economy and less wear. And, I knew sound deadening would be a must.

In my conversion Thread at the TDI club, transmission rebuild and upgrade was among the first hands-on things I did.

I agree with you, somewhere below 3000 RPMs at 70 MPH is where sights should be set for anyone doing a TDI conversion. The numbers in the Excel spreadsheet were darn close to real world on the road numbers. The only difference there was no way to apply decibels to the spreadsheet...

My guess is that a Subie conversion would benefit from a bit taller gears/tires as well...... probably wouldn't want to be below 3300 at 70 MPH.
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'84 Vanagon Tin-top, ALH TDI. 1989 Tin-top
1983 Air-cool, 225k miles, 180k miles mine. Seven trips to Alaska from 1986 thru 2003.