New to List - have questions...

[scirocco at vintagewatercooleds.com (Eric S)]

Woo hoo!  Another Coloradan!

The 84 should have a close ratio gearbox, yes, and that will account for
some economy differences.  You probably have a 4K code tranny, which
accounts for the crisp acceleration, and high rpm at highway speed.  Cheap
trick is, people swap out the 5th gear only, with a taller one, to give
better cruising RPM and economy.

But, I have to say, even what you are getting is pretty darn good!

Does your 84 have a full size spare tire?  Or a mini spare?  If you have a
10 gallon tank, you should have a full size spare, and that makes your car
a "early" 84 (it was a split year for a few changes).

-- 
Eric
www.vintagewatercooleds.com

79 VW Iltis
81 Rabbit Truck 2.0 16v
81 Scirocco S (TDI Swap project)
90 Corrado TDI
91 Cabriolet (2.0 Crossflow swap project)

Klun John said:
> Hi all!
>
> I'm new to the list having just purchased an 84 'rocco from our VW
> mechanic.  We have a 1986 Jetta (bought new) with about 400+K miles on it
> (we're retiring it in March) and an 84 Vanagon GL bought from our wrench 3
> + years ago.  Bob- see below- rebuilt the 1.9l Vanagon engine using real
> German bearings and sodium-filled valves.  The Vanagon is my daily driver
> (100 miles R/T) and she runs smooth and fast for a waterboxer.  My mpg
> with the stock 4-speed tranny is 23-25 in the summer and 20-23 in the
> winter from a 16 gal tank.  By the way, our mechanic's name and address
> are (shameless promo for a fantastic mechanic):
>
> Bob Birkholz
> Grand Mesa Imports
> 1526 Hwy 50
> Delta, CO 81416
> Tel:  970-874-5794
> E-mail:  gmi@doci.net
>
> The rocco is an 84 MKII I guess.  My wife looooooves it and it's her daily
> driver!  Bob replaced the original engine (had over 200K miles on it) with
> an '85 Jetta that had 100+K miles.  Everything else seems stock.
>
> The question:
>
> I went looking through the 84 specs on the .org website and gas mileage is
> supposed to be around 36.  Rocky is getting 28-29mpg and with a 10 gal
> tank, it doesn't give us much range.  I noticed that the transmission
> gearing is a little different from our Jetta's (which has a 14 gal tank
> and gets 35-37mpg) with it's gearing set up.  Would the Jetta's 5-speed
> with its gearing get me the better mpg in the rocco?  I realize we would
> miss the 'instant' response of the rocco gearbox but the Jetta's was no
> slouch either in her heyday.  I notice the tach reads 3800 at around
> 65-70mph whereas the Jetta's was at 2800-3000 for the same speed.
>
> Any Ideas?
>
> John Klun
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