Convention Adventures

new 07/21/2004

Convention was great! Thunderhill is excellent, and IMHO safer than Gingerman if you run off. 3.1 miles long, and actually kinda easy on brakes & tires.

The caravans to & from were an adventure, but we made it only 1.25 hours past schedule on the way in. I totaled about 5,400 miles for the trip. The only day of travel without car trouble was the last day (yesterday) coming home. The "trouble" list is as such:

Saturday 7/9:
Starts out with Tony Fullone's '98 refusing to start for a few minutes at the rest area where we pick him up. Later, Paul Nimz is dumping tranny fluid in Nowhere Iowa. Turns out to be a $.99 gauge to test pressure on the test port (150 psi or so) that he didn't remove after running the test. The gauge self-destructed. Ben Bentley drove many miles to get a 1/8" pipe plug.

Sunday 7/10:
Ben seemingly tosses a wheel weight and has horrendous vibration. Got delayed at lunch while he fruitlessly looks for a tire store on Sunday in Nowhere Nebraska. We all gas up.....Kirk is the only one to get the alky-based 87 octane (I & others get the 85 or 91 octane). 30 miles past lunch, in Farther Into Nowhere Nebraska, Kirk's car dies. After a 2.5 hour delay, it appears to be a dead fuel pump. Some scrambling on Kirk's part finds the local (Kimball NE) mechanic who has a tow truck. We leave the car, and Kirk makes plans for a rental for the convention, and will pick up the car on the way home. Later looks like vapor lock.....maybe too high of an alky content, together with an old fuel pump and 98-100-degree temps. The mechanic doesn't replace the fuel pump, and Kirk keeps kicking himself for the new fuel pump at home on his workbench that he never had time to replace before the convention!

On a side note, after getting rid of the plain-jane Impala rental that he got in SLC, Kirk picks up another Impala with a 3.8 motor and slightly better suspension. He does a fantastic driving job with it in the Advanced group at Thunderhill!!

Monday 7/11:

Tony's '98 dies within a mile of out lunch stop outside of Battle Mountain Nevada (voted "The Armpit Of America" per their billboard!!). Determined to be a weak battery, combined with his VAK that keeps the alternator off during the climbs up the mountains in 99-degree heat. Luckily, Battle Mountain has a NAPA. Tony buys a new battery to carry, unplugs the VAK and never has another problem. Also along the trip, e ran over some dead truck tire carcasses, and the car ahead of him kicks up a piece that shatters John Semchena's plastic drivers mirror mount on his '02 Maxima (this was his only problem the whole trip). After finally breaking off a day later, black duct tape holds the dangling mirror to his door.

Friday 7/16 (return trip):

Larry Eck's '97 starts overheating climbing the mountains in east CA. Once we past Reno, He & Kirk go out and find a new reservoir cap (for those who don't know, the Gen 3s have a pressurized reservoir where the radiator cap resides). 25 miles farther, in the desert were it's HOT, as well as In The Middle Of F**king Nowhere, Larry's car eventually dies in clouds of coolant & oil smoke. We leave the car and Larry & family eventually driver John's Maxima to Chicago. Latest story from the Ford dealer in Fallon NV is that the motor has no compression and is toast. Larry will ship it home and get another motor.

Saturday 7/17:

We stop in Kimball NE for Kirk to pick up his '91+. Drives good until a rest area. Tony then drives to car (we have to drop off Kirk's Impala rental in North Platte NE), and it dies shortly after the rest area.....but luckily near an off-ramp with gas. Kirk's car stumbles into the gas station, and after 5-6 gallons, never has another issue for the rest of the caravan.

Sunday 7/18:

The last day, leaving Grand Island NE we had NO car issues!

Every car had an issue of sorts. On the way out Kris Angermeier's '93 had very intermittent A/C, then didn't start a few times in Vallejo. Bob Harris has a seemingly dying ATX in his '93, but made it through the caravan and track event despite it. My car momentarily didn't start after dinner with Al Fitz on the way out. It did the same at the Utah border, but Kirk recognized the issue and unplugged/reconnected the 4 connectors under the fan shroud and it started. This also happened once on Saturday on the way home. I will clean the contacts, degrease with dielectric, then tape them (the one big one had broken clips). That was my only problem, and was very good for a 186K '94!

We finally met with Al Fitz on the way out, and on the return. It was nice to meet Al for the first time, and I want to publicly thank him for his hospitality on our trip!!

Ron Porter

If I may add an amendment to your post.

My gage was not a $.99/150 psi gauge but a freebee 350 lb gage. Attached to the high pressure side of the tranny valve body I meant to only have it on for testing purposes before the convention. Forgot to remove it and the Mighty Gen 3 blew it to pieces. :)

I also had starting problems when leaving the hotel in Cali on Friday. Turns out my fancy 15V booster drained the battery after I left the key in the on position and the alternator was not charging due to corrosion on the field power plug to the alternator.

Other than that a great time and a caravan to remember.

Paul Nimz

This is a cross post from Tech-SHO. I was obviously lucky as hell to be part of the Porter caravan. Again I especially want to thank John Semchena for allowing my family to stay together during the trip home. He rode with Kirk - hmmm not sure who was punished more??

Kudos' also to Ron for a well run, well planned, disaster filled caravan. I'm glad I was a part of it. Well until the return leg in NV anyway.

My thanks once again to all who helped out their in the blistering heat of the desert, and those who have sent me information on replacing my nuked engine. She will be back, and trust me, better than ever.

U.L.

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