Joel and all,

I keep my personal red line at 4K.  Subjective, yes, but I seem to get
reasonable life out of my engines.  I usually downshift on hills around 3K,
which puts the engine right back up to 4K.

Incidentally, found out, quite by accident, that there is a governor which
kills the engine at around 5200.  Topped a hill and forgot to upshift on the
other side.  The engine will catch again at around 4800 (about the time your
adrenaline redlines).

Karl Wolz

----- Original Message -----
From: Joel Walker <jwalker@URONRAMP.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 1999 11:17 AM
Subject: Re: Waterboxer rebuild survey Update! (more data please!)

> > Is there particular RPM, acceleration patterns etc which are better for
> the motor than others?
>
> on the 86-91 models and the 85 WLE's with tachometers, vw shows the "green
> zone" to be from about 2000 rpm to 4000 rpm. going below 2000 rpm would be
> considered "lugging" the engine and puts a lot of stress on the internal
> engine parts (better to shift down a gear and get the rpm back up into the
> "powerband" of about 3000-3400 rpm).  above 4000 rpm, and basically you're
> just wasting gas, especially in 4th gear.
>
> yeah, i know ... lots of you folks run 5000 rpm in 4th gear, zooming down
> the highway. but in my test with an 86 and an 88 bus, above 4200 rpm, and
> your mpg drops off pretty sharply. better (in my opinion) to cruise along
at
> 3800-4000 rpm and let everyone else pass you, while you get a couple of
mpg
> better.
>
> for acceleration, i try to run each gear up to about 3600 rpm or so, 4000
> rpm if i'm in a hurry, before shift up. sometimes, like when trying to get
> onto an interstate via an entry ramp, i've had to run it up to almost 5000
> rpm because i was going uphill slightly on the ramp, but  i don't like
doing
> that as a regular practice.
>
> when slowing down, if the rpm drops below about 2400, i start looking to
> shift down a gear.
>
> just my peculiar way of driving. :)  of course, having a tachometer in the
> dash helps a lot. i used to have to drive my old 80 bus by "ear", which is
a
> bit more uncertain ... then i installed a tach in it, and found out i was
> kinda deaf. ;)
>
> joel
>