Westy Vacation
The story of one family's summer vacation that went terribly right!

BY KEVIN LEWIS

If you have ever pondered the idea of taking a road trip in your classic air-cooled VW - don't hesitate. You will soon be reminded of why you have a love affair with these great vehicles, and also discover that there are many others out there that do as well. On our trip, we were constantly stopped and asked questions, or given praises about our Westfalia bus. People will wave at you, and give you peace signs and thumbs-up everywhere you go. When it is time to refuel, someone always comes over to share a VW story with you. When finished with your road trip, you will have made many new friends.

We have a '71 VW Westfalia that just gave my family of five the best two-week vacation of our lives, covering 3,000 miles of some of the most spectacular scenery in the U.S.A. Our bus is set up with the stock running gear that has all been recently gone through, and the interior is original Westfalia that has never been restored. The engine has been upgraded to a 1904cc, and I chose CB Performance's Quick Tune single 40mm throttle body fuel injection system so that the factory air cleaner mount could be left intact. For our purposes, the engine and injection system were designed with camping trips like this in mind, and the combination far exceeded my expectations.

The specs on the engine include the fuel injection heads, much like the "Mileage Motor" engine you've seen in the Hot VWs magazine, although we went with a slightly larger valve combo due to the larger displacement of the engine. They ran 40min intake and 33mm exhaust valves, with single high-rev springs, and titanium retainers. The ports were also cleaned up and blended to the valve seats - we wanted to keep the ports smaller and velocity high for better torque. The CB Performance "Cheater Cam" was chosen due to the great mileage results in the Mileage Motor '72 Beetle. The heart of the engine is CB Performance's 74mm 4140 forged crankshaft. 5.500-inch Super Race Rods, forged straight-cut cam gears, 28mm racing lightweight lifters and 30mm full-flow oil pump, along with Mahle 90.5 forged pistons, and Manton .035-inch-wall chromoly pushrods. The compression ratio was kept low at 7.5:1 due to the heat concerns of pushing this heavy beast over the Continental Divide. After he finished assembly of the engine, on the dyno we found the performance was just what we needed - 130-foot-pound of torque and 100 horsepower. Installation went smoothly, and a thermostatically controlled atomic cooler was added for peace of mind.

Starting in Visalia, California, we went north over the Kit Carson Pass (elevation 8,574 feet) where the bus climbed the Sierra Nevada mountains like a billy goat, and we maintained 50mph - which was slightly over the speed limit due to the winding road. I was no longer the slow guy holding up traffic on the mountain! We traversed through northern Nevada, Idaho, and over the Grand Teton Pass into Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This pass was the greatest challenge, with windy switch backs and a 10% grad for what seemed like an eternity. The speed limit varied from 15 to 25mph, and there were some slow trucks struggling to make it, but we were going strong. I stopped at the top of the pass to check the engine, everything was working great and it was running cool enough to grab the dipstick!

We drove to the majestic Grand Tetons and spent a night at the base, and then on to Yellowstone Park. I had no idea of the many wonders in this park. We spent five nights camping there and each day was filled seeing the many sights. We had bison walk through our campsite and elk grazing just across the river. Every day new wildlife was spotted and more natural wonders visited in our Wesfalia. This park is so much more than just Old Faithful! After Yellowstone we headed across Wyoming and into Southern Utah. I wanted to stay in a cooler climate, so we kept at an elevation of 7,000-8,000 feet through the colorful and amazing Utah Canyon Country. We finally had to come down and brave the desert heat, busting out the spray bottles filled with water to keep each other as cool as possible. It was 112 degrees through St. George, Utah, and all the way to Las Vegas, where we decided to stop for the night. It was the 4th of July, so we walked the strip and celebrated with what looked like a million other people. That night we opted to get a hotel room for the first time on the trip, so we could get some sleep in a cool room, leaving early in the morning to beat the heat, and make it home by lunchtime.

I have to say that the injection system worked flawlessly the entire trip. It automatically adjusted the air fuel ratio at all altitudes, maintaining the cruising air/fuel ratio at 14.7 at any altitude. When we were driving at 7-8,000 feet, our mileage was a stunning 25.6mpg, and the average mileage for the entire trip just topped 23mpg - and the bus was loaded down with camping gear, food, clothes, fishing gear, skateboards, spare parts - the list goes on. The same bus with a stock 1600 never got better than 21mpg on flat land, and did much worse than that at elevation. Now we had great power, and better mileage than most SUV's on the road. Starting the bus was never an issue, hot or cold, at 9,000 feet or near sea level. If I had anything to change about the bus, it would be the gearing. With a freeway flyer transaxle mileage could be up near 30. Currently, at 70mph the engine is turning 4,000rpm. I would prefer to see that around 3,200.

I would not change anything about our VW family road trip adventure, and I look forward to the next one! I would like to express my most sincere thanks to Rick, Pat, Alex, and the CB Performance machine shop for all the help in making this dream Westy vacation a reality.

(Editor's Note: Kevin is an employee of CB Performance)