Carlsbad Caverns

Two topics to convey, technical and fun. I'll focus on the fun and touch on the technical, although the technical is really weighing on me right now.

The car isn't running perfectly, but nonetheless we headed up from Carlsbad, NM to Carlsbad Caverns National Park (about a 30 mile drive each way). We got to walk down the "Natural Entrance" of the cave, over a one mile descent that goes down over 750 feet of switchbacks. Once down, we did another mile self-guided hike of the "Big Room." This was filled with interesting formations, but most impressively a big room! After lunch back upstairs, I went out to the parking lot to work on the car for about 45 minutes while the kids and Grandaddy spent some time at a park movie and checking out the visitor center. I came back inside in time for the ranger led "King's Palace" tour with a highlight of the complete darkness -- the volunteer light dimmer was Carter.

Kyle finished up a junior ranger book and got his badge, and then we headed to the Bat Flight. I learned today that the less precipitation there's been, generally the smaller the number of bats that come out of the cave. It has been drought-like for quite some time here, so there were barely any bats. No big mass at all. Oh well.

The caves are a neat place to see something completely different, and of course it's great to be in 56 degree air when it is 100 outside!

Technically, in a nutshell, the vapor lock is no longer the issue I'm chasing. I may be chasing that issue later, but now the car is fouling plugs. The little job I did in the parking lot of Carlsbad Caverns was to wirebrush the 12 exhaust plugs. By the time I was back at the motel the plugs were fouled again, so the car is running rich, even on just the dual-SU pumps (not using the auxiliary pump).

I had a pretty serious fuel leak I was uncomfortable proceeding with, but tonight I think I've remedied that with some teflon tape on the threads of a fuel filter "cap." If we can proceed without this leak, I'll continue to trudge on carefully but with an eye to finally solving the issue. This rich running is not sustainable for the remainder of the trip -- I need to fix this!

Carlsbad Caverns

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