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A gearing story:
When I first got my VS, it was also pretty much undriveable on the freeway — nearly 4000 rpm to do 70.
Some research proved the '3.88' was not at all as advertised (although '3.88' was painted on the outside of the case in two places).
We pulled the engine, put some tape on a tire sidewall, put the stick in 4th, pushed the car down the road one tire rotation, and counted how many times the tranny driveshaft went round. A lot more than it should have for a '3.88', it turned out. Eventually, we tore it down and found, besides a '4.12' r&p, it also had a 0.93 fourth.
Another complicating factor was the Chinese repop speedo said the car was going much faster than it actually was. But, using a GPS app on my phone, a real 70 did come up at nearly 4000 rpm.
Eventually, we subbed in a gearbox with a gen-u-whine 3.88 and a .89 top gear. I still have to do nearly 3400 rpm to hit 70, but my tires are a little smaller (in diameter) than most -— 175/65-15.
I'm hoping to help this a little. I've just gotten some of those spiffy V190 alloy rims and some 175/70 Vredesteins (taller sidewall than previous tires), so revs per mile should drop a bit.
Don't know if this has any bearing on the problems you're experiencing, Phil, but if there's a lesson here, it's that there are a lot of potential sources for error in the gearing game.
And around here, being able to cruise comfortably and quietly at 70 is really the bare minimum for easy freeway motoring. You need to be able to get up to 80-85 pretty easily, too, for occasional merging and passing situations, if nothing else.
I've had this car up to three digits occasionally, and it will get there pretty handily with just a modest 2-liter, and at under 5000, but this is an engine that speaks to you, and what it is saying over 90 is not really repeatable in polite company.
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