ZIP TRIP

[SBD]

I figure this is as good a place for this as any.....

A friend of mine died and there's going to be a memorial service for him in Loveland, Colorado at 2:00 this Saturday. It's a little over 500 miles/8 hours one way. It's about another 2 hours farther to Colorado Springs where I have a brother and sister living. I'm going to leave Friday morning & drive to Colorado Springs to stay the night. Then I'll drive to the service Saturday then back to the Springs for the night. Back home (about 9 hours) on Sunday. I'll be going by myself and I plan to drive my Kelmark. Am I crazy???

I've been working on cars as a hobby for 40 years. I've owned this car for about a year & a half and it's not my first VW. In that time I've put a little over 3,500 miles on it and have taken it on several trips of 200 miles or more without incident. It has new tires. I've replaced everything on the front end from the ball joints on out. The only old parts are the beam, torsion leaves, torsion arms, and steering box. It has a new master cylinder. New shocks. I have electronic ignition. I've replaced the coil and have a new fuel pump. I've also replaced nearly all of the rubber fuel lines (I can't remember for sure if I replaced the one from the frame to the engine but all of the others have been replaced). My plugs & wires have about 3,000 miles on them. I just changed the oil. Valves are adjusted but the engine is a 1970 so it doesn't have a doghouse cooler and I have no idea how many miles are on the engine. It runs well but uses a small amount of oil.

The weather is supposed to be in the 50's for most of the time. I'm going to try to put a new coat of Rain-X on the windshield. I figure I'll take some extra oil, a basic set of tools (basic to me can get me through a fair amount of trouble), as well as a spare distributor and some electrical stuff like wire, connectors, crimpers and such, spare fuses, a drop cloth to throw on the ground if needed, some mechanics gloves, paper shop towels, and hand cleaner. Plus a flashlight and a blanket, can of fix-a-flat, my cell phone, a couple of spare fan belts and some tunes. Any other suggestions? Maybe a bullet to the brain?

[A6ULdv8]

[SBD]

[quote="A6ULdv8"]

[EVfun]

[Skulptorchaz]

I say "go for it". Sounds to me like you just want to be prepared, prepared for an adventure. I still ride a '47 Knucklehead as my daily driver (weather permitting) and I keep tools with me all the time. I even keep a fair amount of tools in all my vehicles (I have several). I do what I can to not need them but I am always ready and willing to help someone else. My father taught me that by example.
So yeah, I hear the sound of adventure in your post and think go for it! Just be a boyscout and be prepared.
[i]"Life is Experiential". [/i]

[167luckycharm]

Carry a spare coil and clutch & throttle cable too. Sorry for the loss of your friend. We've reached a point in our lives when life stops handing things to us, but instead, begins to take things away.
Good luck on the road trip!
_________________
Humble Pie, it might be good for you, but it always tastes like sh!t
See my 009 Distributor page on Facebook, search for VW 009 Distributor Discussion
http://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-009-Distributor-Discussion/499742640126712

[LeeVW]

Add a tire pump that runs on 12VDC and you will have most of the items I carry when I use the buggy as a solo vehicle for off-pavement exploration. I say go for it, you will be fine.

Lee

[SBD]

I've read your replies and suggestions. I also posted this question on another forum. Some of the suggestions overlap. As far as my concerns about what might break, the main thing would be the engine. It's a total unknown because I haven't been inside it. Years ago I had a 40 horse (my 1st VW) drop the #3 exhaust valve when I was 50 miles from home. Other than that about the worst that's ever happened with my VW's is the occasional bad coil or broken throttle cable. I'm glad cables were mentioned. I hadn't thought of them but now I'm going to toss in a spare clutch & throttle cable. I have some tire plugs and a 12 volt compressor but the car doesn't have a 12 volt power socket. I might throw the compressor in and look for one of those sockets with a set of battery clips while I'm on the road. It could come in handy. Maybe I'll find one at a truck stop. I've also got a brand new coil sitting here I can take. I wish I could pack the rear wheel bearings before I go. That's something I haven't been able to do yet since I bought the car. But it won't be happening. No time.

Like most things, I'm going to look at this as an adventure. I'm 56 years old. Can only afford to be so cautious.....

[RedBaronofRedBud]

Good luck on your trip. It sucks that its under these circumstances, but you will have a great story and an adventure.

I always carry my AAA card and a multimeter along with most everything else that's been mentioned (big bag). If you don't have AAA, most insurance companies offer a roadside assistance which would be similar. One last thing is the fuel filters and fire extinguisher....heaven forbid that needs to be used.

Safe travels and let us know how it went.
_________________
Or you can call me………Tim

My two pennies…your mileage may vary

I’m not a complete idiot, there are parts missing

[SBD]

Charging the camera right now & will try to remember to take a pic or 2 along the way. I have an extinguisher mounted between the seats. Talked to my brother & he's picking up some steaks & beer for supper tomorrow night. I've got to double check but I'm pretty sure I put towing coverage on this car when I insured it. Hadn't thought about the multi-meter but it's easy enough to grab. Still have to pack the car, what's one more thing going to hurt? Of course I've got my cell phone & credit cards.

As far as the circumstances, yeah they could be better but this will give me a chance to maybe meet up with some people I might only see once or twice every 20 to 30 years. Unfortunately, as we get older, funerals are one of the few things we seem to find important enough to drag ourselves away from everything else to attend.

[SBD]

I'M BAAAACK!

[RedBaronofRedBud]

Must have been a good trip? Any stories or pics to share?
_________________
Or you can call me………Tim

My two pennies…your mileage may vary

I’m not a complete idiot, there are parts missing

[Skulptorchaz]

Sooooooo.... how'd it go???
Expiring minds want to know!

[ALB]

Do we get any details?
_________________
On a lifelong mission to prove (much to my wife's dismay) that Immaturity is Forever!!

[SBD]

Okay, here's the rundown. I left home around ten in the morning, maybe 9:30, Friday. I arrived in Colorado Springs sometime around 7:30 (IIRC) local time. The only REAL problem I had was that my ignition switch (and the push-button starter switch the PO had wired to the starter and mounted in the dash) both quit working the starter. I stopped at a rest stop on the Interstate sometime Friday afternoon and the car wouldn't start. Either turning the key or pushing the button would show about a 25 amp draw on the ammeter but there was absolutely no noise from the starter solenoid. And this was with a rebuilt Auto-Stick starter from Advance Auto Parts that's only been on the car since the end of October (about 1,200 miles when this happened). So, a guy at the rest area gave me a push to start the car and I just didn't shut it off until I got to my Brother's house.

My Brother cooked Rib-eye steaks on the grill & we stayed up WAY too late listening to Beatles VYNIL albums on his awesome stereo with a TURNTABLE, TUBE AMP, and KLIPSCH speakers!

Saturday Morning I jiggled wires and everything I could to make the starter work without spending money & then we went to a parts store where I bought some terminals (I brought bunches of them with me but didn't have some of the ones I needed!) some piggy-back connectors and a push-button switch. I wired it up in the trunk next to the battery. For the rest of the trip, every time I started the car I had to set the brake, turn on the ignition, give it a bit of gas, then go to the trunk & reach down to push a button until the car started up. Oh, well, it works! Got it finished in time to get cleaned up, change clothes and drive like hell for 2 hours through NASTY Denver traffic and make it to the memorial just by 2:00, which was when it was scheduled to start. Then everybody milled around for at least an hour before they started.

Left Loveland around 5:30 and drove through the NASTY Denver traffic again (How do you people that live there do it??? ) for about 2 1/2 + hours to get to my sister's house & then sat up talking to her until almost 2 in the morning. (Later realize that all I consumed for the day was a few crackers, some dip, some veggies from the veggie trays at the service and several cans of Mountain Dew! Oh, there was one cup of STRONG coffee while working on the car that morning too!)

Got up Sunday morning and got a later start than I planned. Stopped at a Big Lots store to buy a bottle of STP 4 cyl. oil treatment (I'll get to that) then on to a 7-Eleven for gas and a sub sandwich for the road (& more Mountain Dew )and it was maybe 11:00 by the time I actually got out of town. Followed a strange route home. Stopped at a convenience store in Grand Island, NE for gas and ended up standing out by the gas pumps talking with a guy about my car and cars in general for almost an hour! I needed the break anyway. Then I wolfed down a meal at Long John Silvers and drove the last 180 miles or so home. Got there right at midnight.

Other than the starter problem the car did fine. I DROVE THE PISS out of the thing for just over 1600 miles in 3 days and it never complained. There were a lot of 85 mph blasts, sometimes up to 90. I drove with my foot all the way in it a lot of the time. I was really surprised that it didn't lose any more power than it did in the mountains. It got a bit warm but not to where it pinged or caused a problem. With it fully warmed up, the (electric, don't know how accurate) oil pressure gauge showed 20 lbs. at 3,500 rpm +. It blew some oil and I could smell some blow-by through the heater when I was really pushing it once-in-a-while but as far as I know this could be an original untouched 1970 motor. Before I started the trip I changed the oil and used 10W-30 Quaker State Defy oil. Before I started back I added some of the bottle of STP to the motor because it was low and then I topped it up with oil and over-filled it some (I was on a slant). The car ended up blowing some oil out around the pulley but since it only did it on the trip back I'm thinking it was due to the over-filling.

My worst tank of gas gave me about 27.4 mpg. The best tank was 35.6 mpg. They all hovered right in that range. Haven't filled up since I got home so I don't know about that last 180 miles.

Sorry folks. I took the camera with me but never took even 1 photo.

[Skulptorchaz]

Glad it all worked out.
Yet another adventure for the books.

[GS guy]

Glad to hear the trip was "relatively" uneventful SBD. Sounds like it was a good one, desite the hiccups, and of course the reason it had to be taken.

Surprised no comments about crowds forming at your gas and rest stops? Kelmarks are pretty unique - especially just out on the highway somewhere!

Sounds like it's time to jump on the HP motor build, and maybe a new starter switch!

Jeff
_________________
70's vintage Deserter GS buggy - undergoing transformation to Super GS!

[SBD]

There weren't any real crowds along the way. I got a few comments about the car. And a few people took pictures of it. One guy asked if it was a Kellison. 3 teen-aged guys with skateboards in the Big Lots parking lot said it was a cool car. As far as the starter switch, I plan to completely rewire the car (hoping to get after it when the weather warms up a bit this Spring) and have a look at the switch then. Not sure when I'll get on the motor but I now have almost everything I need to build a 2110 from entirely new parts (not counting some minor things like cooling tin). Basically I'm just missing the heads and some parts you just can't get until mock-up.

But I've been known to drag my feet too.....

[RedBaronofRedBud]

Glad it worked out and you was able to complete the trip safely and relatively trouble free. Its always something, but being prepared and knowing your vehicle has its rewards.

Sounds like you had a good time with your brother and sister! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us! BTW, did the STP help your oil pressure?
_________________
Or you can call me………Tim

My two pennies…your mileage may vary

I’m not a complete idiot, there are parts missing

[SBD]

I really don't know that the STP helped all that much. Might have bumped it up a little. But with the way I was pushing that poor old motor I felt a bit better knowing it was in there!