Cruising speed?

[Foz]

Reading this has opened my eyes a little. Not being a bus owner for too long, a year and half now, and never a previous air cooled engine owner, I tend to drive my bus like a water cooled, which I'm possibly realising now isn't such a good idea!
I tend to cruise at around 65-70mph on the motorway....sometimes 75mph if Im in a rush....ie later for the ferry, or show.

I think, judging from the comments on here, I seriously need to take it a little more easy on the standard 1600TP engine I have nestled in the back.
Thanks for the techy info and statistics.



--------------------------------
Own a Bay?......Feel the love!

 

[Supertramp]

Very informative replies thank you. According to my tach, I do about 2700rpm at 55ish. Is this too low? Plain English please

 

[Alex VW Heritage]

Very informative replies thank you. According to my tach, I do about 2700rpm at 55ish. Is this too low? Plain English please

Yes Ideal is between 3200 and 3400 RPM to keep the fan rotating at enough speed to effectively cool the cylinder heads.

I am also suprised that at 55mph it would be that low an rpm on an early bay gearbox?????

 

[Supertramp]

Very informative replies thank you. According to my tach, I do about 2700rpm at 55ish. Is this too low? Plain English please

Yes Ideal is between 3200 and 3400 RPM to keep the fan rotating at enough speed to effectively cool the cylinder heads.

I am also suprised that at 55mph it would be that low an rpm on an early bay gearbox?????

I'm going to take her out for a run shortly. In all honesty I've never paid more attention to the tach, I just listen to the engine and at 55+ I feel like it's telling me to slow down. I do however have no interior, no mats, a completely bare bus so the noise is probably causing me to slow anyway.

I'll report back after a quick whizz down the motorway.

 

[Madvdub]

Well both my bays sit nicely at 70 on the motorway I've always one eye on the temp never been above 110 degs and for the sceptics I've been doing this for 15 years no problems and not constantly for 15 years lol but 400 plus miles to newquay and occasionally upto 80 for over taking 1600 tp electronic ignition twin ICT s correctly jetted of coarse and get great economy also no worries

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Supertramp]

Ok just did a quick 5 mile trip down the motorway and the engine sounds much better but here is my rpm:

It's on the line just under 3000, and it wasn't until I hit 60 that it started pushing past 3000 and even then only got to around 3200.
So what does this suggest?

 

[StuF]

Ok just did a quick 5 mile trip down the motorway and the engine sounds much better but here is my rpm:

It's on the line just under 3000, and it wasn't until I hit 60 that it started pushing past 3000 and even then only got to around 3200.
So what does this suggest?

Looks the same as mine buddy - 3000rpm for 55mph, although my speedo over reads and I use satnav as the benchmark

 

[68_early_bay]

Ok just did a quick 5 mile trip down the motorway and the engine sounds much better but here is my rpm:

It's on the line just under 3000, and it wasn't until I hit 60 that it started pushing past 3000 and even then only got to around 3200.

That's one Thing on my to do list fit a tacho 8)

 

[StuF]

That's one Thing on my to do list fit a tacho 8)

Once you start adding these unnecessary distracting gauges its hard to stop! :lol:

:shock: :shock:

 

[68_early_bay]

That's one Thing on my to do list fit a tacho 8)

Once you start adding these unnecessary distracting gauges its hard to stop! :lol:

:shock: :shock:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Cool though dude 8)

 

[Myvanway]

They are useful and look cool Stu. 8)
'Your Bus...Your Rules!'

 

[Geeze]

Ours cruises happily at 65 though knock that back to 60 when fully loaded as its getting on a bit
It is one of those new fangled T4 lumps though :lol:

I'm with the vote that says you don't need a mass of gauges if you're basically stock, though I would recommend one of the temperature dipsticks that make the oil light flicker, it gives a good warning that things are getting a bit warm before anything bad happens. As Alex says, a whole host of variables (mostly weather and load!) mean that what is usually a 'safe' speed may not be.

Most budget end gauges (and cool old swapmeet finds) aren't really that accurate. They're fine if they're consistent though, (learn what normal looks like and check for that, don't worry about what it says 8) ).

 

[Dave.P]

very true indeed ...
i put my dipstick temp sender in boiling water and marked it with tippex on the gauge , and it wasnt on 100 c :lol: (vdo gauge and sender) so that mark is what i pay attention to now and try to stay close to it on a run.

 

[Trikky2]

Reading this has opened my eyes a little. Not being a bus owner for too long, a year and half now, and never a previous air cooled engine owner, I tend to drive my bus like a water cooled, which I'm possibly realising now isn't such a good idea!
I tend to cruise at around 65-70mph on the motorway....sometimes 75mph if Im in a rush....ie later for the ferry, or show.

I think, judging from the comments on here, I seriously need to take it a little more easy on the standard 1600TP engine I have nestled in the back.
Thanks for the techy info and stati

On the contrary. You have been using your bus the way it was originally designed and intended for.

A stock 1600 bus will happily sit all day long at 65 to 70 mph. The feeble fifty something horsepower from a 1600 engine meant the engine could be driven flat out all day. This was because, with the restrictions of the breathing of the engine, flat out equated to about half throttle in terms of stress on the engine.

Its perfectly normal for people to get a bit precious with their hobby vehicles.

Any piece of old machinery will become more fragile if poorly maintained or not up to scratch. Being gentle with the machine will make it last longer and its even possible to limp around gently with stuff that will fail at the slightest provocation.

I am quite sure that in a few years we will be seeing posts on the VW forums along the lines of "can you use a Golf Gti Mk1 as an everyday car?" and "is it best not to take it beyond such and such RPM"

This tendency of us old car owners should not be confused with what the vehicle was originally designed for and, in "adequate" condition, is still perfectly capable of.

When I drive my bus slow its to enjoy the drive, save fuel etc. (- thats my story and I'm sticking to it :lol: ).

 

[dub boy]

well i just thought i would put my bit in , run it till it rattles is my motto ,then you can fix it

 

[dub boy]

That's one Thing on my to do list fit a tacho 8)

Once you start adding these unnecessary distracting gauges its hard to stop! :lol:

:shock: :shock:

its kit back from the 80s ,(knight rider) :lol:

 

[BARKING MARK]

That's one Thing on my to do list fit a tacho 8)

Once you start adding these unnecessary distracting gauges its hard to stop! :lol:

:shock: :shock:

Is that an early bay or an airplane youre in with all those gauges....nice knees :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Toad]

Reading this has opened my eyes a little. Not being a bus owner for too long, a year and half now, and never a previous air cooled engine owner, I tend to drive my bus like a water cooled, which I'm possibly realising now isn't such a good idea!
I tend to cruise at around 65-70mph on the motorway....sometimes 75mph if Im in a rush....ie later for the ferry, or show.

I think, judging from the comments on here, I seriously need to take it a little more easy on the standard 1600TP engine I have nestled in the back.
Thanks for the techy info and stati

On the contrary. You have been using your bus the way it was originally designed and intended for.

A stock 1600 bus will happily sit all day long at 65 to 70 mph. The feeble fifty something horsepower from a 1600 engine meant the engine could be driven flat out all day. This was because, with the restrictions of the breathing of the engine, flat out equated to about half throttle in terms of stress on the engine.

Its perfectly normal for people to get a bit precious with their hobby vehicles.

Any piece of old machinery will become more fragile if poorly maintained or not up to scratch. Being gentle with the machine will make it last longer and its even possible to limp around gently with stuff that will fail at the slightest provocation.

I am quite sure that in a few years we will be seeing posts on the VW forums along the lines of "can you use a Golf Gti Mk1 as an everyday car?" and "is it best not to take it beyond such and such RPM"

This tendency of us old car owners should not be confused with what the vehicle was originally designed for and, in "adequate" condition, is still perfectly capable of.

When I drive my bus slow its to enjoy the drive, save fuel etc. (- thats my story and I'm sticking to it :lol: ).

Yes, as you say, they will do that kind of speed fine, but boy does the fuel use go up!! I'm like you....just chill and enjoy the ride (and keep the cost down).

 

[Busman73]

When I drive my bus slow its to enjoy the drive, save fuel etc. (- thats my story and I'm sticking to it :lol

Yes, as you say, they will do that kind of speed fine, but boy does the fuel use go up!! I'm like you....just chill and enjoy the ride (and keep the cost down).

Tell me about it, went down to Devon in a convoy with my brother and sister, both were in modern cars (62 plate Fiesta and a Yaris) so was pushing the van a bit on the way down, so was probably doing 60-65mph, on the way back took it easy cruising at 50-55mph and probably used a third less fuel.
Start pushing them a bit harder and the fuel soon vanishes

 

[fire3500]

It's the fuel that is increasingly bothering me... I'm off to EBI and then to the Alps at the end of June and am seriously having thoughts about the percentage of the budget that will be fuel.

That diesel T25 Westy... it haunts my dreams with it's buddy, T4 Westy TDi... :shock: