It was probably the bow wave you were generating creating drag on the
mud flaps. 55 is terminal velocity under those conditions.

: >

On 6-Nov-06, at 8:52 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> Date:    Mon, 6 Nov 2006 15:52:26 -0800
> From:    Curt Newsome <tele2222@YAHOO.COM>
> Subject: Wet Weather Woes
>
> It's raining like hell here in Seattle and I
> unfortunately had to drive the Problematic ('85 Westy)
> to work this morning.  While it rains frequently here
> it doesn't generally rain this hard and the standing
> water on the freeway was impressive.
>
> About halfway to work on I-5 I started to notice a
> lack of power, could only make about 55 floored and 45
> uphill.  When I exited the idle still seemed ok -
> maybe a little rough - but I had no acceleration.
>
> The van ran great yesterday and I'm assuming (hoping)
> that it's the excessive water.  I have new ignition
> wires, cap and rotor - beyong those items what is the
> most likely culprit?  Any way to make it less
> susceptible to this problem?
>
> Thanks as always,
> Curt News