Here's the link to the RAT Torquer Tour Map. http://www.aircooledtechnology.com/crosscountry/
It's about 3100 miles from Cleveland to Sacramento taking this out of the way, grueling route that we have chosen.

For those unfamiliar, this is the ultimnate test for the engine that we built for the current "Type 4 Torquer" build up series for Hot VWs magazine. Its a 170 HP daily driver with 180 lb/ft of reliable performance.


Day 1, Sun 5/21/06:
* Cleveland to Carrollton, GA for a quick stop at the Atlanta Bug Fever Show
* Thru Birmingham, AL to Indianapolis, IN

Day 2, Mon 5/22/06:
* VolksBash show
* On to LN Engineering in Momence, IL for a chat with Charles
* Push on to Lincoln, NE

Day 3, Tue 5/23/06:
* Grind on to Breckenridge, CO

Day 4, Wed 5/24/06:
* Hit the hills through Steamboat Springs and Dinosaur, CO to Salt Lake City, UT (looking forward to this part )

Day 5, Thurs 5/25/06:
* Take it home to Sacramento, CA through Reno, NV

We'll be updating the map as we go to show status and creating linked pages with details along the way. The logger will be recording CHTx4, EGTx4, AFR, O/T, Fan Inlet Temp, RPM, Speed, 2Axis Acceleration, and GPS Location. We'll get the car weighed and do a cost down measurement to determine the drag coeficient and rolling resistance so we can calculate road torque and power. The pages linked to the "thumb tacks" on the map will have screen shots of this data as well as reports on oil changes, mileage, weather, road grade, and altitude. We'll be taking pictures and some in-car video as well. It's going to be a virtual reality show

Since we'll have wireless internet connections (and our own network in the car) feel free to email us if you want to meet us somewhere along the route, the email addy we'll be at is onthego@aircooledtechnology.com

If we have time we definately want to go a tad bit out of the way and data log a trip up Pike's Peak!

We'll be monitoring this thread for those interested in meeting us along the road for a quick stop to see the test gear and the engine..

The final destination is the Sacramento Bug O Rama next weekend in Sacramento California. If you are in the area come out and meet me, see the engine and our insane test gear that is installed in the "Starship enterprise" for this bad ass datalogging excursion!

Check out the site often, we'll be uploading information almost hourly from the road!

Looks like a fun trip. Can't wait to see the in-route updates

See you next weekend

If you need any tips on places to eat/drink holler, several places in town that make good beer, not a heck of a lot near the track though

Have a safe trip and don't forget to post.

Myself and the navigator wil be taking turns driving and running the data acquisition systems so we'll be very busy most of the trip... we will ost updates on the site as often as possible, as long as we have a connection to the net....

Its gonna be a fun trip!

Jake

Good luck and have fun. We'll see you Friday or Saturday in Sacramento depending on whether we go see people in SF. I'm just heading out to the garage to check the valves, CV joint bolts and anything else that might be loose.

Dave

Looking forward to meeting you, Dave.....

This is kind of like my bachelor trip/party... The last chance I have to go wild before tying the knot June 11!

I'm gonna make the best of it!

Damn Jake... you had me excited when I read from Cleveland to Sac...

OH DAMN he mans Cleveland GA.. not Cleveland Ohio...

Crap I thought I was going to get to meet Jake and the crew (of 1).

Watch the triple digit speeds on the highway and have a blast!!!

Jake,

I would love to meet with you however briefly when you get to Truckee just West of Reno. You might even want to take a twisty road detour and go 395 South to 431 (Mt Rose Highway) into the Tahoe Basin. Views and a beatiful not straight road, 8,200 elevation at the top. Either way, I would love the chance to meet you.

Merrill, Keep up with the trip progress and email us when we are getting nearby- we'll shake hands and haul ass!

The route you mentioned might be a good alternative, by that part of the trip we may be out of time, especially if we head to Pike's peak..

Glad to see that your coming through Salt Lake, hope I have an opportunity to meet you while you in town. I was wondering if your planning on spending the night in Salt Lake if so I would love meet you and treat you to a meal. Will be a fun trip, hope all goes well and you have no problems on the way. Good Luck and looking forward to maybe meeting you.

lincoln to breck. man, that's a haul. lucky it's not late july with temps and humidity in the high 90s. have fun jake.

k

Good Luck!

What kind of sustained highway speeds are you shooting for? 70s, 80s, 90s, 100s?

Spoke

They will vary. The entire purpose of the run is for test data so we want to vary speeds along the way to get a better isea of what speedVs load Vs engine tuning really is.

We are also testing 6 different synthetic and dino oils on the run and doing oil analysis both before and after the trip..

I would say the average speed will be in the 70s more than likely.. I want to sustain 90+ for a few miles in Nevada though..

have a safe journey....I'm about an hour away from Sac. hopefully I can figure out a way to get up there and meet you.. (playing Mr.Mom now, not too keen on the idea of taking the twins up there with me )

The road up Pikes Peak will put 2 years of dirt on your engine and undercarraige.
Merrill's route is much more Teener friendly.
Just my 2cts

JT

I'm not driving a teener- It's a 66 Beetle

If you want to torture test on big, steep hills, you can catch Kingsbury Grade(Right by Tahoe) HWY207 or something, it links 395 and Hwy 28(Which circles Lake Tahoe). Mt Rose Hwy (431) has some of the best views of the Lake and would only add a little bit of time to your trip. Near the spot where Hwy 431 and 395 meet is Hwy 341, which is the old Ferrari hillclimb road, very nice pavement, quite the hill to climb.

BTW, if you drive all that way, and don't see Lake Tahoe, it would be a crying shame. It is one of the most Beautiful Spots on the planet

Going up Pikes Peak, dirt road and all might deposti a lot of dust, dirt on your oil cooler and leave you standing next to a puddle of Mobil 1(or whatever) in the middle of Eastern Colorado.

There is a road that goes sort of obliquely from near Albequerque to SLC, near 4 corners, Zion Park and some of the scenery that made the Duke famous SLC to Sacto is a loong haul, start early, that desert West of SLC is pretty nasty, well patrolled by the Beehive State's finest too, especially near SLC.

JT, where in the Sierra Nevada are you?
Jake, I flew to SLC and drove my current car home- 10 hours of driving. We didn't have a speedo, so after installing one I figured we were doing 60-70. The guy i bought the car from said he had driven SLC to Reno in 5 hours! I have personally done it in 8.
If you came over Mt Rose, you could head down the East shore to Hwy 50 to Sac. Again a few more turns and very nice scenery.

Is the car staying and you guys flying back? or are you driving it back?

Or did you move? (lol)

Whats your expected MPG?

Fuel injected or carburated engine? (FI for on road tuning would be sick.)

GL!

Damn I wish it would have been the I-40 route across there. I would have loved to have met you. Not to mention my shear curiosity at the cooling for the DTM in 100 degree panhandle heat. The heat is the motor killer in my world. Days like today act like a blast furnace on an aircooled.

Good luck and have a safe trip!!!!!!!

One of the things I'm out to prove with the data is that ambient temps don't effect head temps very much at all, and also to find the real relation degree for degree with ambient temps and oil temps..

This will be an annual trip for me from now on, each year a different course with a different engine- next year it'll be a 2771cc Nitrous engine.

wow. i pulled out the atlas. breckenridge to dinosaur via steamboat is no minor cruise. you're going to be tired at the end of that day.

k

Jake, have a safe trip, we'll look forward to your progress reports.

Jake,

I don't know you, unfortunately, but I'm sure that human fatigue will be a factor as much as mechanical fatigue.
Take care of yourself, please don't hurt yourself for the sake of proving that you build strong engines !
I will follow your progress with great interest, and I wish I was doing what you're doing !

Michel Richard

Thanks... I'm good as long as I stay hydrated....

I work sometimes for 3 days straight with only a coupkle hours of sleep- I'm pretty used to not getting any sleep when doing my work. I have been known to stay at the shop for two solid weeks working and only leave to grab chow..

Bet your right foot will have cramps.

Just did a 4000km, each way, trip to BC...2 1/2 days each way...have fun.

Maybe fab up a throttle/cruise control? Depending on how you have the linkage and cables, it could be easy, or not so much so

Looks like you did okay the first day. How was the weather, it was shitty here in southern Ontario. Best of luck!

Jake and his co-pilot Bill camped over at my place last night and they woke up bright and early at 4 am (actually a little before as they were about ready to leave when my alarm went off). We spent the afternoon tooling around town in a few of my cars and a few trips to farm and fleet. Also took them over to the shop to see the office and my father in law's indoor car museum (junkyard more like it). We changed the oil and purged the oil lines and cooler for the oil testing. First leg will be Penn Grade Racing 20w50. It looks and smells like my can of Kendal GT-1 from the 70s. Lastly did a jet change and that's it. Ordered some Pizza and my wife baked cookies and we bs'd until late. They were on the road by 5 am and hoping to make it to CO by tonight. They did have a snag in Indy- they added a third person from Volksbash radio on the way to fuel up and get the car weighed (btw it came in at 2500 lbs fuel and cargo) and one of the rear tires bottomed out with the fender and wore a channel in the tread, so they had to scout out for a new tire. It set them back a solid 3-4 hrs.

If you're able, it would be extremely useful to gather data regarding altitude and it's effects on cooling. Because it does. Those of us at altitude know this, but I've never seen a decent analysis or data collection effort.

Good luck in your travels. I can't get away to meet up with you.

I bet he makes it up somehow.

Merrill,
We are just below Shaver Lake about 6 miles off Hwy 168 .
About 5000' elevation.
On road made for Teeners!

JT

Hey no fair. when I went by that sign it was snowing like a SOB. 10:30 at night and I was scared for my life. windshield wipers cutting a hole in the snow building up on glass 2 inches thick. Scared to keep going but even more scared to stop as I might not ever get going again.

So that's what it looks like.....

JT, thanks, I'll have to look on a map.

Jake, feel free to call toll free (866) 464-5637 if you have time for a handshake in Truckee. It would help if you called from Reno so I have time to get there.

MIssed this thread entirely... musta went through last night.

You sleep, you weep!

http://www.aircooledtechnology.com/crosscountry/

Shows Omaha Nebraska still, but probably out of signal range. There may be hope yet.

Does your intended know this?

So the map makes it unclear... probably haven't been able to update it.

If you guys get online and you're still around, call.

Nice looking Bug. I would pay to see the face of the cop that clocks you going

by at 130 mph in it. Be safe and have fun.

Hey, this is Bill, Jakes co-pilot and telemetry specialist. I'm checking in from I-80 out in the middle of nowhere outside Reno.

We've filled Jake's web site with data and can't upload any more for now. We're havin' a great time and the engine is running great. We just blew by a '66 bug going 90 mph.



2900 miles and counting. See ya

nice picture.

"want a crispy creme?"

classic.

k

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

3,450 miles in total.... 1.4 Gb of data was collected in all!

I did ALL the driving myself while Bill was in the back seat with two laptops and all the weather gadgets!

The engine ran flawlessly- not a single issue and ZERO maintenance was performed that was not being done for scientific purposes...

Today we hit the flatlands in Nevada and ran 50 solid miles at over 90 MPH, temps solid as a rock! I will be posting a full trip summary tomorrow, I'm still screwed up from 23 straight hours in the driver's seat on Wednesday!

I feel like I just climbed Mount Everest with one hand tied behind my back- the trip couldn't have been more perfect!

Impressive. Looking fwd to the data analysis.

-pt

Woweee!
I also never saw this thread. Oh well. Are you guys driving back, Mr. Raby?

Nope.. The engine is sold to a local here. I'm pulling the engine Sunday night, then flying home Monday and having the car shipped back. I can't aford to lose another week driving back home..