Hello from Bognor Regis

[AndyP]

Hi, Ive not long been into Rascals but picked my 1st one up off ebay a few weeks ago. Since having it ive fitted a new cambelt, oil & filter and air filter. Ive adjusted the tappets and strobed the ignition in to 8 degrees BTDC. This weekend me and the family travelled down to Weymouth for a few days hols. The van does seem to be quite jucy??? ie 340 miles for £45!!!! From full it does 100miles to the half way mark on the fuel gauge, travelling at a steady 65mph. Is this good or bad for one of these vans ?
Cheers
Andy

[J J 007]

hi andyp i went to titch,s place in shropshire from southampton averaged about 36/38 mpg at 60 mph ish,these van are not very streamline,guess you might get slightly more if you run at about 50 mph,heard tails of 45/50 mpg not in my experience

[Dell Boy]

Welcome to the site. I delivered the latest refurb to Southampton the other week from London. I used twenty pounds worth of fuel travelling at 56 to 70m.p.h. I didn`t clock the milage but what with getting lost i reckon I did about 120 miles.  You dont get much petrol  nowadays for £45.00!!!Derek.

[ody]

I only recently got myself a rascal and they are thirsty little buggers.. but considering it has the aerodynamic properties of a brick I'm not going to grumble.   I'm going to do a complete engine rebuild later next month which I hope will reduce the fuel usage.. if not I'll get some MDF and build a nose cone on the front to help deflect the air resistance.

[J J 007]

did a rebuild 2 years ago got a lot of bits of ebay, can,t say i noticed a difference in mpg but i only do 4 miles a day,so i only fill up once a month

[ody]

did your engine have high mileage / did you notice much wear on the big end bearings, piston rings, bores, valves etc.. ?

[J J 007]

it had done 112000,had a ring break that was the only reason i had a rebuild,the bores,crank had no wear,replaced pistons,rings,big ends small ends,water pump,cambelt tensioner,had already done head,and radiator.so far so good fingers crossed

[ody]

cheers jj.  I've got about 135k on mine so after what you said I'll just take the covers off and have a look and do a compression test before stripping it down just in case.

[AndyP]

Hi all and thanks for your replys  The main reason I asked was my better half followed me down to Weymouth in a 1400cc Metro. She put £30 petrol in her car and had fuel to spare after the round trip even with the car full of kids!
We are planning on taking the Rascal from Bognor to Dover over the channel and off to Brugge in the next week, Ive tweeked the tickover & mixture screws and fitted a new dizzy cap & rotor arm now and It does seem to run a little smoother. Will see how it does on this run 

[J J 007]

just to give you a little joy,i bought my van off 2 aussies who had toured europe in my van for 2 months trouble free,so can be done with a little luck hope you have the same

[>>CHOP<<]

theres no reason whatsoever that it will break down they are a robust little engine.....it will be fine dont spoil your journey listening and worrying about it...

[AndyP]

Cheers guys  will let you know how we get on.
Happy Rascaling
Andy

[ody]

I agree with CHOP, the engine is bullet proof but don't let that lul you into a false sense of security.. make sure you keep the regular checks and maintenance up and like any engine it'll look after you.

[AndyP]

Hi all, got back home last night after a 400 mile round trip costing around £80 in fuel. The weather in Belgium was pretty poor and was running against very high winds for most of the way. The Van ran very well at 50+ mph but has developed an anoying misfire in the lower gears/ rev range, and became very spluttery. Added a dose of Redex to the fuel on the motorway last night to see if that would help clean up any probs in the carb, but is still misbehaving. Time for further investigations 

[J J 007]

just a thought check the caps that screw onto the plugs, had one come loose caused similar problem,jenxy had the same problem,at least you got there and back good news