> The most sustained gradient I have encountered in the western US is
> Montezuma Grade on the east slope of the mountains near San Diego...it
> averages ~8% for 10+ miles.

That grade has big barrels of water for boiling radiators located in
turnouts every ... what? 1/2 mile or so? Things probably predate
Interstate 8 thereabouts.

>   I'd just change the oil..I usually change my oil after a prolonged high
> speed journey anyway...

That's my plan.

>   That section of California can get really really hot!  I raced my black
> car once at Thunderhill Raceway Park, near Redding, on a day when the temps
> were recorded at 123F!  My oil temp went just above 300F.  I bought ice
> water circulating cooling vest to wear after that race.

Had a bandanna on me head Jack Sparrow style, kept it soaked with water.

Interestingly, driving southbound, from Weed, Calif. (3400 ft.
elevation), down to Redding, Calif. (400 ft. elevation), there were
steeper, albeit shorter, grades which slowed me down more than going
north, which was more gradual. Nothing quite beats the visceral thrill
of climbing steep, hot grades on an Interstate in first gear at 32 mph
with cars and oversize pickup trucks coming up from behind at 70 mph and
blowing by. Keep the emergency blinkers on, hope they see you before
they rear-end you, and watch the engine temp.

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
Bend, Ore.
1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.

Sent from my kitchen.

On 09/06/2011 06:26 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
> The most sustained gradient I have encountered in the western US is
> Montezuma Grade on the east slope of the mountains near San Diego...it
> averages ~8% for 10+ miles.  I took my one test ride in a Diesel Westie on
> Montezuma Grade and was passed, going uphill, by my 55yr old wife riding her
> bicycle..
>
>    I'd just change the oil..I usually change my oil after a prolonged high
> speed journey anyway...
>    That section of California can get really really hot!  I raced my black
> car once at Thunderhill Raceway Park, near Redding, on a day when the temps
> were recorded at 123F!  My oil temp went just above 300F.  I bought ice
> water circulating cooling vest to wear after that race.