Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles

[4Gears4Tires]

Good thinking on your little Vangloo space heater combination.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[Blaque Jacques]

Did a month long road trip Dec 7 to Jan 7. My wife, 2 daughters (5 & and myself. From home in Moab through J-tree, N Baja, up the Cali coast. Xmas with family in Alameda and Sta Rosa and back to Moab by way of Lone Pine and Death Valley. 4k Miles. Had a melted oil cooler hose outside of Flag that set us back half a day and a flat tire on a gravel road in Baja trying to get to an old Mission. Otherwise the Van ran like a charm! 18 mpg for the whole trip w/ a big duffle on the luggage rack. GW 2.2 waterboxer.

I've had the van since 2013 and completed 7 or 8 >1k mile trips, including to Cabo and back. Back in 2002 I drove my '78 bay westy from Tucson to Puerto Escondido and back (6k miles total) with only one flat tire to show for it. I've had great luck roadtripping in my busses.

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86 2wd Westy GW2200. 97, 99 02 EVC. Lots and lots of bikes

[jlrftype7]

Made our Chicago to Helotes Texas trip in one piece, 1300 miles approx.
Didn’t use a drop of coolant ,nothing broke, all previous work leading up to this trip really paid off.
We turn around and head back on Friday, hopefully with same results...
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[1988M5]

1991 tin-top GL 155K on chassis, 15K on rebuilt engine (over heated badly by PO), automatic.

SF to AZ 3,700mi round trip.

Power steering rack lost its’ lunch. Replaced on the ground with el cheep-o plus toe and go alignment. Also CV joint started making one per rev pop on super steep grades, massaged the boot to get grease back into the joint, haven’t touched it after that.

BK

[shadetreemech]

1928 miles portal-to-portal, California, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and back.

Flawless performance by "Miss Dorothy". Need some power steering fluid.

Punched a couple holes in a Nokian 215/60R15. Pulled off the road to let cars pass just outside Jerome, Arizona. Shoulder was undermined, I caught it getting back on the road. 15 minutes later we're rolling on a 14" rim spare the rest of the way back to SoCal. Time for a 15" rim spare.

Dan
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'84 GL 1.9
'01 Volvo V70 T5
'88 Westy - "MZDRTHY"

[16CVs]

2450 miles round trip from Redwood City, Ca to the Gulf coast of Mexico and back in one week.
Van ran exceptionally well getting an average 18MPG in a Syncro Westy with a 2.2 Subaru and 15" BFG's
First real trip after head gaskets and an over the top Transmission rebuild. Since changing my interior I had to get rid of one of my 2 batteries and reconfigure my solar set up. It did a fantastic job of maintaining my one Trojan 135AH battery and powering the TF65 Fridge. I did manage to somehow snap an outer front CV cage. Luckily the trip did not require 4WD so I pulled the axle and drove on.
Safely back home,I need to De mud the van and clean it up. Always looking for the next adventure.

Stacy
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1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread.

[Low-Pez]

A friend and I drove our Westies 2900 miles round trip with no issues at all. Had a great time. Both have Subaru 2.5 motors.
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Steve
36 Buick Coupe, 84 Westy, 84 Doka, 66 Nova SS
low-pez.com

[campism]

[dobryan]

1200 miles thru Baja the third week of March 2020. No issues.

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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

[maueman]

1983 air cooled 2wd 2.5 Subie conversion. Went 2000 miles rd trip.... Over heating, Blew the expansion tank apart. Head gaskets replaced in Pennsylvania. Headed home but started to blow blue smoke big time with oil dripping out of all the exhaust pipe connections in Virginia on I81. Towed it home the rest of the way to Florida . It was late Saturday afternoon, rented a U-haul truck and trailer. Got home 12 hours later and it was just a clogged PCV valve.....bummer Expensive 4 week trip..

[4Gears4Tires]

That's a terrible end to the trip. I hope the rest of the trip was a blast.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[natejohn]

Back in late June early July, we took our 1990 Westy on a week long trip through British Columbia over the Rockies and into Alberta. Visited some family there and then went on to Drumheller, and then back home.

Covered about 1500 miles with some camping stops along the way. No issues!

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1990 Vanagon Westfalia

[vanagonjr]

Well, last post by me in this thread was actually 932 miles, this time it’s 928 miles.

Long 400 mile day to camp on the St. Lawrence River @ Grass Point state park with about 5-6 other VW’s, but namely Dan From Syracuse and his mom right next to me.

Really enjoyed talking to Dan’s mom and getting great future NY travel tips from Dan
1st Trip of the year due to Covid. No problems at all (Flint reversed 1.8T & Passat Trans), except a wiper fuse. Well, also broke an awning fitting.

I’ll try to add 70 additional miles on my next trip...

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John - 86 Wolfsburg Westfalia "Weekender"
Flint reversed 1.8T W/Passat 5-Speed
LiMBO (late model bus club) www.limbobus.org
LiMBO is on Facebook too! https://www.facebook.com/groups/
FAQ thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=525798

[kourt]

4,500 miles over three weeks in July 2020, from Austin, TX to the Uintas in Utah (summiting Kings Peak) then on to camping with family south of Great Falls, MT, then to the high point of North Dakota (White Butte) and then onward to the Wind River Range in Wyoming for the WY high point (Gannett Peak) and finally back home.

The latter half of the trip was done with my climbing buddies--they drove up from Austin in a nice Eurovan.

kourt

[rowan]

My wife and I drove a rented minivan from home (Knoxville, TN) to Saranac Lake, NY to purchase and drive home a 89 Syncro tintop. Made without any
major problems. I knew that the gas guage didn't work but still managed to run
out of gas with 154 miles on the tank. I was sure to reset the odometer and fill up at around 200 miles after that! Unclear why that happened. From the time we picked it up until we got home we drove a bit over 1100 miles. I haven't checked the MPG just yet.

Syncro is basically stock. Everything (ac, pw, pdl, etc) works except the drivers side power window which bit the dust around West Virginia.

r
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Rowan

89 Syncro - Juniper Mackenzie

09 Honda Fit - Finnie
17 Ram ProMaster - John Hordle

[cvrbob]

In my 1983 air cool,Last year did 13,567 miles around the country left Ca.in April and returned in Nov only problem was a bad alternator which when out in South Dakota and my AAA 200 miles got me towed to Air Cooled Express in Nebraska visited every state, the longest stay in Moab & Cape Cod.
This year left in June to go from San Diego up the 1 & 101 along the coast to the Columbia River across to ID, MT, WY, CO, SD,ND, then back to MT and the Glacier Nat Park , back down to WY,CO, UT, AZ back to Ca, don't have the mileage as my odometer broke as I was leaving at my first gas fill up . Made up over at least 7 or 8 passes over 9,000 ft and two over 10,000 no problems except for climbing those passes in 2nd gear and 20 to 25 miles an hour, but then that is why I 've owned for over 25 years , I don't push it

[campism]

Welcome! Sounds like a fun trip or two.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[cvrbob]

Kourt, looks like we both went along the same roads, Did you stop in Thermopolis, WY along the Wind River free Hot Springs Bath.

Vanagonjr, was in the New Bedford area last year ,clambake in Dartmouth , brother in Westport, loved that Lee's market.

campism, Thank you great to be retired and go where and when I want to

[bobbyblack]

Pix later, but just got to Golden CO, not on the most direct path from NE Iowa, so ~1075 miles, no troubles.

Getting "Special Guest" status at a gig tomorrow evening in Denver at an outdoor wine/dine event 6-7. 3800 Park Ave, West.
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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

[jimf909]

^^^ I think you've shot past me in miles, bobby. It's been a quiet year for my van with COVID. A few drives to Idaho and back but no weekend trips, no daily commute. I have made it my remote office so I have over 150 days in the rear bench seat.

Enjoy your gig.

Just about 306K miles heading over Snoqualmie pass to Idaho...

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- Jim