Can an 84 Rabbit diesel climb a mountain???

[shaskill]

So I have this high mileage 84. On flat land it is great for the get to work job. 40-45 mpg so can't be in too bad shape. 1 qt. oil every 700  miles with some blow-by into the air filter. It cannot climb however. I have to go from 1400 ft. to 3000 ft every day on a major 2 lane highway in VA. Best I can do is 40 mph and if I have to slow down for some idiot playing games, I smoke everyone around trying to get going again on the hill. I have access to a little old ladie's less-than 90k 83 rabbit and am wondering if it is worthwhile to pursue these cars if I have to climb every day. I have purchased a GREASE conversion  and planned to convert to veggie oil. Do I need to move up to a bigger VW with a turbo or can a rabbit climb a mountain?
Thanks for the great group.

[jtanguay]

I find that turbo's REALLY help...  It might be the turbolag, but from a standstill up a hill.. my car goes slow as hell.   5th gear going 80 km/h she can tow up a nice hill.  I'd definitely recommend looking into a turbo'd unit, as well as intercooling  On the highway going 120 (your equivalent to 75 mph... ) the car cannot be stopped.  (unless theres some old guy driving nice and slow)  I even find 100km/h (60mph) to be fairly reliable, but on an incline, i prefer at least 110 (i think thats 68-69 mph).  I also use cetane booster from Power Systems (white bottle, some purple on it, that i got from flying J's) and that helps too.  

When the turbo is hot and spooled up, you really notice the power difference.  Takes me about 5 minutes of driving before she warms up.  I took it to the cottage in the summer and even with all the hills and bends, it drove so smoothly through the hills.

Well I hope my experience helps a bit

I hear grease is awesome... everyone driving around you will get hungry! Especially on the highway haha! no more black smoke either... just white  So don't confuse it with your rad fluid.

[caddywompus]

Actually the smoke out the tailpipe of a car running SVO/WVO isn't much different than one running diesel #2, though perhaps there is slightly less and of course the smell.  I install these conversion systems for a living and have owned 5+ personally, and I know you would be hard-pressed to confuse the "normal" tailpipe smoke with the dreaded white cloud of a blown head gasket.

Justin
www.greaseworks.org

[RAMMSTEIN]

It's more a grayish smoke than pure black soot... :wink:

[jtanguay]

thats some pretty dirty svo you're using if it comes out the same as diesel lol...

if you had a nice supply of grease from a chip making factory, you'd be set... they have the cleanest grease there!

[Dr. Diesel]

turbocharging will definitely solve the hill climbing problem, and likely clean up the exhaust as well.