[Vwdiesel] Searching the archives (& hill climbing)

[Val Christian]

Intuitively you're close.  You want to look at the RPM/torque curves 
for the engine.  They will be in the SAE paper.  Then look at the 
ratios for your transmission.  If in doubt, measure them statically.
Then for best rate of climb, optimize power (use the transmission to 
get the torque).  50 mph for a downshift may be low.  

The temp may climb because the total HP is ideally at max.  Good thing
you're at low altitude.  Beat the heat by putting a radiator fan override
to force the radiator fan on, like is done for AC.

If you can calculate nominal HP at cruise (70 mph?) then you can calculate
the power needed to climb the hill. Measure your performance against that
theorical need.  You'll take more time, but that's because your transmission 
is not ideally matched to the torque needs of the car, and the optimal power
RPMs/torque of the engine.


Hope this helps a little.

Val

ps: Without any data in front of me, I'd figure 25hp for 70 mph cruise, 
5 hp for engine accessories, and about 20 hp excess.  Then to lift 
2000 # in 1 minute, 600 feet...

you'll probably find you can use about 70% of the theoretically available 
power, if things work out ok.












> 
> Steve asked:
> 
> > If there is another way to do this, I don't know about it, (Hagar's
> > suggestion of searching the archives sounds good, but I have yet to find a
> > search tool to do that on this list, Is there a search utility?
> 
> 
> 
> Google is your friend. Add "vwdiesel site:www.audifans.com" (minus the 
> quotes) to your search phrase.
> 
> I'm just about to go search for any writing about climbing hills in a 
> 1.6 NA (82 Rabbit, 4 speed -- well, the knob says 1-2-3-E but I haven't 
> identified the code). I have just moved to the top of a mountain and the 
> last hill has an elevation increase of about 600' in just over a mile. 
> Hitting the bottom of the hill in 4th at 70 mph and I'm just barely able 
> to be doing 35 at the top with the temperature gauge about 3-4 lines 
> higher.) I downshift to 3rd at around 50 mph. When that starts seeming 
> really slow I go into 2nd for a while, but I'm not sure if I would be 
> better off just leaving it in 3rd.
> 
> Topo map of said hill  (from the 625 at the top to the 1207 near the 
> middle):
> 
> http://mapper.acme.com/?lat=34.540809&long=-86.257267&scale=12&theme=Topo&width=3&height=4&dot=Yes
> 
> 
> Mark
> 
> (P.S. Enjoying Hagar's stories and NASA commentary -- my work email 
> address ends in nasa.gov).
> 
> 
> 
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