> Greetings. Just brought home my new 81 Westy
> yesterday.  It is in great shape, lots of new stuff on
> it.  I have been driving a 74 Westy for a couple of
> years and am curious about the hi-way speed of the 81.
> It really seems to struggle on the hills, even ones
> that I considered to be very slight grades the van did
> not take them well, quite often I had to down shift to
> make it.  Is this a common Vanagon trait or should I
> be looking into some things?

Without driving it, it's hard to say. But your '81 is likely to be a bit
more sluggish than your '74, as it has roughly the same horsepower but
weighs more.  Do a compression test; that will tell you a lot.  Readings can
sometimes vary depending on the particular gauge and other variables, so
don't sweat it if you don't get exactly what the manual says you should.
Mostly you're just looking for relative consistency from cylinder to
cylinder.  You want the readings to be within 10 or 15% all around.  If
compression is relatively even all around, and not horrendously low (i.e.
under 100), then this is about what I'd expect of a typical used aircooled
engine.

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  (215) 234-VWVW
  www.busdepot.com

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