A longer day

Yesterday was 14 hours of traveling (including a long dinner), and today was supposed to be 6 hours of driving (plus stops), so a much shorter day. So why is it after midnight and I'm finally finishing up?

Oh, I forgot to mention yesterday's biggest mishap -- when the sunvisor fell off and into my arms on the steering wheel, just as I was trying to merge from one interstate to the other in traffic. Kinda surprised me a bit, but I wish that were the biggest problem I had today!

I've mentioned previously about some vapor lock issues that I've had, but that they've been easily solved by using my auxiliary fuel pump. Well, what happens when I'm running that pump as well and I still experience vapor lock? For quite some time today, we could limp (as in 45mph in a 75mph zone) about 30-35 miles at a time before allowing the car to cool off and start again. We met a lot of folks in west Texas and eastern New Mexico, and we managed to get the car to Carlsbad, NM. I actually had reservations 11 more miles past Carlsbad, but I was ready to stop, plus I'd heard there is absolutely nothing in Whites City where I was supposed to stay, so if I want to enlist the support of a store, mechanic, restaurant, etc. I better stay in Carlsbad.

What is the cause? I don't know. I will say, however, that although the car could run and get me to the next stop (when not experiencing vapor lock), even when not experiencing vapor lock it seemed to be down on power. I've been thinking that if I've got some other restriction, then perhaps the vapor lock just exacerbates the problem....I'm not getting enough fuel as it is, and then it vaporizes.

I did check the fuel filter in the vee of the motor and found it clean. When I stopped tonight, I took the rear couch out and checked the rear fuel filter (by the tank), and while the filter is clean the little bowl the filter sits in had a lot of nasty junk in it -- perhaps enough to be partially blocking the fuel filter and therefore fuel flow. I spent some time cleaning it out and went out for a short test run hopeful that it would no longer be running low on power. No such luck.

After I got back I thought that perhaps I should do a run without the auxiliary fuel pump on. It might be my imagination, but the car felt much better that way. With the aux pump on, while it has generally been fixing my problems, I do smell a fuel odor when running it. I checked both filters and while the rear one wasn't leaking, the front one has a small leak where it tightens. I did disturb that filter by checking it, but the odor was occurring well before I disturbed it. Nonetheless, I removed the filter again and put a brand new aluminum washer in. Still leaks using the aux pump, but I don't think it is leaking when using just the traditional dual-SU pumps.

I should also mention that several days ago, I did my normal daily test of both ignition systems and both ends of the dual-SU pumps at some random part of the drive. The A-side of the SU pumps was not working properly! Tonight, after my little test runs, I decided to see if the A-side would run the car at all. I let the car idle for several minutes running only on the A-side and it continued to run, so the A-side is working. However, it might have been my imagination but it sounded like the car was hunting a bit when running only on the A-side. I bumped up the idle to 1/3 throttle and within 5 seconds the car died. So while A is running it is marginal. Maybe B is marginal as well, but running better than A?

So my theory is that perhaps my dual-SUs are ailing (it should run fine on just one side, but maybe both sides are weak?). The other part of my theory is that perhaps my aux pump is pushing too much fuel through, maybe making the car run a little rough under load. As mentioned in other forums, I had an issue with a previous fuel regulator (Mr. Gasket brand), and now I have a Holley fuel regulator that I installed. My mechanic (Dick Frawley) set that fuel regulator to run at 5.5psi, which shouldn't be too much.

Tonight, I spent about 90 minutes (yes, I checked the watch) and installed my brand new spare dual-SU fuel pump. Started the car up and both sides run fine, but I didn't do a test drive. Since it's after midnight, I did nothing else, but I guess if I'm running rich due to too much fuel from the aux pumps, I might see some evidence on the plugs. I'll have to keep an eye on fuel leaks in the vee of the motor from the fuel filter.

Tomorrow I'll check a few plugs, and then we'll go for a run with just the normal dual-SUs. I'll also talk with Frawley about how to deal with the aux pump and his thoughts on if perhaps I need to throttle the regulator back and if that extra pressure is perhaps causing a slight fuel leak in that fuel filter housing.

West Texas

Lodging in style

The longest day

Today was 582 miles in the heat. We started around 10am in McComb and stopped at midnight in Ranger, Texas. We enjoyed the first leg of the trip which was off the interstate across Mississippi and Louisiana on Routes 98, 84, and then 1 to Shreveport. Ambient temperature in the cabin was just below 100 degrees, and the car ran perfectly at 84-88C and no vapor lock using the McComb no-ethanol gas from Pump And Savor. In Shreveport we filled up at a Citgo with non-ethanol gas and launched across Texas on I-20 at a slightly quicker pace (65 vs 60mph), and it was much hotter (104F-106F in the car). The car ran perfectly for the first couple hours until we got down to about a quarter tank, and from then on and even into the night we had vapor lock issues (which were always solved using the auxiliary fuel pump, but disconcerting nonetheless). Now that we're stopped for the night, we'll start again anew tomorrow with everything fully cooled off and hope for no further vapor lock issues. We planned to fill up with ethanol free gas at a station that was touted on pure-gas.com as having non-ethanol gas, but it didn't...so we went to another just west of Weatherford, Texas. It was expensive, and Abilene (another 60 or so miles west from where we are now) had ethanol free fuel, so we put "only" $75.00 worth of gas in so we can fill all the way up in Abilene.

On a whim, we called up family in Fort Worth, Texas about 2.5 hours before we hit the town and said, "Hey, where's a good place to eat, and do you want to join us?" You can see the picture below of the Brewers (Robin, Lou, and Sarah) after dinner at Hoffbrau's Steakhouse. We had a great visit and hope we can meet more friends and family along the way -- thanks for coming out to meet us!

We really didn't mean to drive this late but once we left Weatherford there just wasn't anywhere to stay so we took the first spot we could find -- The America's Best Value Inn in Ranger, TX. The room was hot so we just fired up the A/C, the fridge was broken so we switched rooms, but alas there is a nice little swimming pool with milky green water, and next door is the Liquor Store!

More tomorrow, as we finally can start taking it easier. Looks to be about 350 miles to Whites City, New Mexico, and after that we won't have any more days (on the way out to Lake Tahoe) at that pace.

Sleeping Kyle

The Brewers in Ft Worth, Texas

Commenting Enabled

I had a few people saying they attempted to comment but were unable. I have changed the permissions from the default and have enabled commenting to all, so hopefully we won't get any SPAM. And hopefully some folks we've met along the way will comment, as well!

Four generations at Mr Whiskers in McComb, Mississippi

We had a great dinner out with Great Grandpa & Grandma Boyd, Grandaddy Boyd and Aunt Patsy, Dad (me), as well as Carter and Kyle. Mr. Whiskers serves great fried catfish here in McComb, MS. We even got put in a nice quiet room away from the main dining area which was conducive to nice family conversation together. Well, until the loudest family of about 15 showed up and took the big table behind us. As I mentioned to the boys before the trip, we'll make memories the whole way, not all of them good. We'll always remember the loud family at Mr. Whiskers, but in the end it is all a good family memory we'll always talk about!

Ethanol Free Gas in McComb!

If you look carefully, you will see the sign in front of this gas station that says "NO ETHANOL." I knew about this station from my Aunt Patsy, so as mentioned in an earlier post I tried to time my fuel stops so I could get here on fumes and get a full tank of Ethanol Free gas, and we did -- 37 gallons worth! Hopefully our first third of the drive starting from here in Mississippi towards New Mexico tomorrow will be completely vapor lock free, even though we do have the auxiliary fuel pump that remedies the issue anyhow.

Checkpoint #1 -- McComb, Mississippi

We have arrived at our first waypoint -- Grandma & Grandpa Boyd's house in McComb, Mississippi. Today's drive was another fairly uneventful, yet long day. I forgot to check the miles driven today, but about 500. Started a bit before 9am and got here a little before 9pm. We had lunch (as posted earlier) at Chad's Family Restaurant. If you're ever driving the Natchez Trace Parkway, consider timing a meal stop at Chad's in Collinwood, TN (southern part of Tennessee on the Trace). Good cheap buffet. Today we had pork chops, mashed potatoes/gravy, fried okra, peas, lima beans, and chocolate cake covered with powdered sugar.

Before we got on the parkway, we did have one brief episode of vapor lock. It wasn't too long after we'd filled up at Hess (which was about 12 cents per gallon cheaper than the other stations all around it). Hmm. The vapor lock occurred as we pulled away from one of the only stoplights that we had. I flipped on my auxiliary fuel pump and that solved the problem immediately. Once we got out of the commercial area and back into open road, I turned off the aux. fuel pump and never had vapor lock again. I filled up again after Chad's in Collinwood. I learned that in McComb there is a station with non-ethanol fuel, so when we got to Jackson, MS I put in 8 gallons so that when we fill up again in McComb it will be a full tank with no ethanol -- but now I'm in McComb and on fumes so our very next stop will be that gas station. Grandpa says it is only half a mile away, and I told him that's good because I think I have three quarters of a mile of gas left. :-)

We've turned off our tracker for the next day because we're relaxing in McComb until our departure scheduled for Saturday morning. We will, however, look at the track of tropical storm Don and see what it looks like for the next few days for our scheduled drive across Texas. If it would do us better to start off earlier to beat the storm across Texas we might leave tomorrow night, but I really hope we get two nights of relaxing here in McComb! If anyone has foresight into what the weather across the I20 corridor across Texas will be for the next couple days, let me know!

We'll post some pics of the four generations tomorrow -- Grandpa Boyd, Grandaddy Boyd, Me, and the boys.

Rain on the natchez trace parkway

Lunch at Chad's

Travel going well but another long driving day. Chad's is a great restaurant just off the Natchez Trace Parkway in Collinwood, TN.

The boys are blogging!

Please also keep an eye on the perspective on the trip from the back seat, being collaboratively provided to you by Carter and Kyle!

Rolls Across America (and back) from the back seat

We started the trip, of course, from Carl's.

Signing out for the night, but here is a quick report. Nothing terribly eventful, and that is a good thing. We put in about 550 miles today, leaving from Fredericksburg at 12:50pm and arriving in Cookeville, TN at about 11:00pm. Thanks to some quick research from Jennifer, we were able to get some good BBQ in Knoxville at Dead End BBQ. Went another ~90 minutes (halfway from Knoxville to Nashville) and will launch again tomorrow from Cookeville to McComb, Mississippi via the Natchez Trace Parkway.

The car ran flawlessly with nary a hiccup, save for the rear accessory power going out, which means the kids don't have their cigarette lighter/power inverter to charge the tablet, netbook, etc. The temperature outside was warm but humidity was very low. Temperature inside the car was about 95 degrees which was bearable with all the water we were drinking and the low humidity. The car's water temperature generally ran between 84-87C which is excellent. Going up Afton Mountain in high gear/overdrive at about 65mph the temperature climbed to almost 90C. At another point through the mountains we had a stop & go situation for about 10 minutes (mostly stop) and the temperature rose and held steady at 93C. Not bad. No vapor lock issues. Lots of nice scenery along 81 in the mountains, too much truck traffic, but the Natchez Trace Parkway will be much better tomorrow.

The adventures really haven't started yet....stay tuned.

Track our progress...we're on the way

http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=10783424458998487164

Preparation Complete

The preparation for 3DL170's trip from Fredericksburg, Virginia to Lake Tahoe and back actually began over a year ago in the disguise of preparation for a 2010 trip to the RROC Annual Meet in Toronto. The car didn't make that trip due to a fairly severe oil leak and was brought to The Frawley Company for repair. That snowballed into a new clutch, head gaskets, valve job, overdrive, and other assorted jobs. The car is now well-prepared for the over 8,000 mile round trip.

We will embark at about 11am today (July 27th) with our first stop at my Grandparent's in McComb, Mississippi. This approximate 950 mile journey should be complete by Thursday evening (28 July).

Participants in the trip include myself, Carter (12), and Kyle (9). Jennifer and Katelyn (6) will meet us in Lake Tahoe on August 12th -- they are the smart ones and flying. My Dad will be joining us for the first week of the trip out, and that assistance driving will be welcomed, as will the chance for all of us to spend a week together!

We will be updating the blog at least daily with pictures and adventures, pending internet connectivity. In addition to the mechanical preparation for the trip, we have a trick setup for internet connectivity -- 3G to my cell phone, PDANet via USB to my laptop, and then Connectify Me providing a WiFi hotspot to the kids' devices. Look for a roving WiFi hotspot (39Rolls) along the highway in the coming month!

Our route will generally go from National Park to National Park, so if you're reading this and live along the route please consider letting us know and we'll get together for a meal. Planned parks include Carlsbad Caverns, Bandalier, Petroglyph, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Sequoia/Kings Canyon, Yosemite, and Devil's Postpile on the way out to Tahoe. The return route likely will make stops at Great Basin, Zion, Bryce, Arches, and Pike's Peak (not a National Park, but worth the ascent!).

Tomorrow once we're on the road, I will post a link to a map that will show you precisely where we are so you can track our progress. Wish us luck!