Bonneville 2012 or Bust

[arcosine]

Hi Ken,

Did you make it to Dave's place?

[JethroBodine]

Yup. Got here about 3 local and run into a gully I couldn't traverse about 1/2 mile from his door step and had to back track around town. Hot! Seems to be back to the origional MPG. Guestimate is around 66mpg. Metromizer has found a set of injectors( THANKYOUTHANKYOU) that he's going to bring to Bonneville(THANKYOUTHANKYOU).

Varn's place is awesome! Right up my alley! Woods and trails to walk. Had a great afternoon resting, chatting, and even got to play guitar for a while.

Terry's meet up was great. Had TONS of fun talking and checking out each other's cars( we all envied the Insight). This is turning out to be a trip for the ages( despite the leaking injectors).

[Varn]

Yep he called me and said he was on Jasper. I couldn't remember where jasper was but found it on my map...

He got to the creek ford and didn't think he should try it there. The water is down but the banks are very steep.

We routed him around and he found injectors from metromiser. Good deal He showed me a few things about changing the injectors including the cones. He said his tolls were costing him as much as gas. The good news he was "out west" and the tolls had ended. We are going to fuel him up and wish him luck. Any wagers on what his non-turbo jetta can do in one mile on the salt. The altitude at bonneville is what, close to 5000 feet.

My guess is 92 mph.

What ever the speed I know his trip is mostly about the trip and not the absolute speed he gets in the mile. I think of Zen and Art of Motorcycling.

[Tango Charlie]

Ahh! Glad to hear that you made it to Varns safely, and even happier that you've got injectors waiting for you. Thank you, Metromizer!

[arcosine]

That's good news.

Humm, so the hills are steeper in Missouri than Vermont .

Dave, that is a good question, I would assume that Ken will take the 500 lbs of stuff out before running. 92 mph is the official published top speed for a 1990 non-turbo diesel Jetta, but the run up is only a mile. He has a higher 5th gear though, and a boat tail. I think he will still be accelerating at 1 mile and won't be blowing out black smoke, 88 mph.


Have a great trip Ken.

[320touring]

Lets have a wee guess on this, eh? place your bets now..



88 mph arcosine

92 mph VARN

104 mph 320touring

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by 320touring

Lets have a wee guess on this, eh? place your bets now..



88 mph arcosine

92 mph VARN

104 mph 320touring

At the 1 mile mark? 100 mph.

[Frankencar]

It's a bummer my clutch is quite near dead, but not a bummer why! . I will not be making it out this year. I know 130mph was quite easily in my sights...


I wish you the best of luck out there! take tons of pics!

[metromizer]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

At the 1 mile mark? 100 mph.

I'll through my hat into the ring and make a guess...

1) I think Ken is a Diesel mechanic by trade, so the engine is likely tight, pump is timed, and running good. A decent set of non-leaking injectors are on their way, so the engine will likely be running on par with a broken in 1.6.

2) Bonneville is 4200ft elev, and the temps are predicted to be in the high 80's-low 90's, reducing the air density, raising the corrected altitude to, I don't know, 5800ft maybe? normally aspirated 1.6's weren't exactly race machines when new. Compared to sea level, the engine will be down on power from say 10:30am until after the course closes for the day.

3) The 1 mile course that Ken will be running on isn't exactly perfect for the 1.6, boat tail, and tall gears... he will still be accelerating through the speed trap, just after the 1 mile marker. I'd like to see Ken given permission to run all the way out to the 2-mile marker (the 150mph club course), to get up to terminal velocity, where the boat tail and other aerodynamic changes can shine. The officials aren't likely to allow that, but it will be worth asking Carlos and company at the staging lanes after the mandatory 'sub-100mph check out pass' (Carlos is a VW gear head who comes over from England every year to volunteer for this event, super fun and nice guy!)

4) I'd like to see early morning runs, Saturday and Sunday, when the air is coolest. I wouldn't save the runs for latter in the meet, as Sunday and Monday show 20% chance of thunder storms. Bonnevile salt flat weather is unpredictable, the race course is essentially a flat lake bottom/ catch basin/ retention pond for a 10mile radius. If it rain hard for a couple hours, the meet can easily rain out.

So, there's my thought process... If Ken can get through tech on Friday, be at the driver's meeting at 8:30am, get in line and be race-ready Saturday morning (good air) I'm guessing the oil burner will go 85mph in the standing 1 mile. With some tweaking, maybe reduce the amount of toe-in, more aggressive drag-race-style-driving, increase in fuel pressure (or whatever the Diesel guys do to push more fuel through those engines) maybe 88-90mph?

I'm a Diesel novice... who can tell me what it takes to inject propane into a NA Diesel? Does Ken have a pyrometer?

Never mind, Ken needs to drive this thing home, a hastily assembled propane injection system is probably a bad idea.... but certainly a good topic to bounce around the campfire

[metromizer]

hahahahaha! The author mentions a na 1.6 vw retrofit using salvaged parts from a BBQ and a Coleman bottle hahahahaha!

http://www.mrsharkey.com/lpg.htm