hey now,

i drove my 1974 VW bus on it's first out of town trip in 2 years. i left
Raleigh with a friend and headed east towards Clifts on the Neuse State Park
near coast...pretty cool place and an easy, flat drive. The van ran well, not
burning oil and was real cool. then i headed back to raleigh, dropped my friend
off and proceeded on towards greensboro. NO major problems with the engine.
yeah!

a couple of things need working on.

a) i think i have a small whole in a cabeurator hose. in the cooler night air
and in the morning the engine idled real low until it warmed up and then was
a very steady idle.

b) the gas milage was awful. when i left raleigh for the coast, i had between
3/4 and a full tank...when i got back to raleigh...after about 120-150 miles--
i didn't keep a record like i shoulda...i was on empty just about. and i went
60mph almost the whole way. the milage to greensboro was better, i filled up
the tank and only used a 3/4 of it on the trip...with alot of in town driving.
so what would cause me to be getting bad gas mileage. could it be the problem
in a) above? there are no leaks in the fuel lines. i really hope this can be
corrected.......or a 6 hour trip will cost me like $48 in gas!!! i'm estimated
that on the highway i had like 15mpg from raleigh to greensboro. i won't
know for sure until i fill up the tank again and keep an accurate record.

c) i loved sleeping in the van! wow...will i ever need my tent again? just need
to make some modifications and i'll be set. i keep on hearing about folks using
some type of heaters in the air cooled vws. is this a gas heater? what should
i look to buy? any ideas?

take care,

jonathan