ROAD TRIP>>> AGAIN. The continueing adventures of 635 and Paveltolz

[JiFaire]

Outstanding, Paul! Thanks for sharing with us!

Jim

 

[Burning oil]

Sounds like fun. I love a good road trip. Have a rough plan to road trip though UT and up toward WA later this year or early next.
Stay safe.

 

[Missy Good Wench]

have a great trip.

Thanks a bunch for sharing the wonderful Pix

Missy

 

[btfarm]

Thanks for the updates Paul. Always a pleasure to read your travellogues

 

[Paveltolz]

Thanks all. Leroy, you are welcome to stop in on your way through. Job prospects have come in while on this trip that have me working either out of my home, in Dugway Proving grounds, UT (long commute but no moving) to 29 Palms or Carlsbad CA. I should have hit the road sooner. Seems the further I get from a good internet connection/cell phone connectivity, the more important calls I miss.

We drove a wopping 65 miles to the drag races this morning. We hit some bad mists and fog that turned to rain and the fuel gauge went from full to empty and pinned there. The other gauges that share the circuit and ground at the front of the truck in the engine bay are reading fine so the connector either has a poor weather seal or I have a wire exposed in the loom going forward from the fuel sender connector at the frame rail. When we stop at Ted's friends home tomorrow, I'll get under it and start tracing stuff and cleaning with electrical cleaner and sealing up stuff.

We were joined by Ted's buddy Jack who is a Senior Chief Petty Officer in the Naval Reserves. They are old friends, trucking buddies and car nuts. He's got a beautiful 1969 RS/SS Camaro he's got in prestine condition and he's making it even better. His friend from work, Dean, came along and enjoyed the insanity that is Ted and, apparently Jack too and then there was his experiencing his first ever drag race. Ha ha.

Anyway, tomorrow is touring around the LA area visiting friends and then heading up the coast.

 

[Burning oil]

When the trip gets closer I'll let you know & maybe get that damn FSU fixed!!:mad2:

 

[Paveltolz]

When the trip gets closer I'll let you know & maybe get that damn FSU fixed!!:mad2:

I think that this time it IS an errant ground issue related specific to the circuit and most likely at the connection. I'll run it down. Guys, I'm sure the MFSR is fine. I've had an issue that seems to be specific to the truck. Seems that having a unique vehicle sucks at times. I'll pick up a can of dilectric to seal weather packs externally and use electrical contact cleaner to get at the actual connections and trace both wires in the looms as far back as time will allow and continue to do so till it gets sorted out. I know that with the mileage I've been getting that I need to fill up every 330 miles and I zero the trip meter at each fill up. Easy doing and no worries if it has to wait till we're back in UT.

 

[Paveltolz]

Plan Change:
Ted's managed to catch a cold. He's blaming Sunshine (sorry Paul, you knew it would happen sooner or later).

So, we're blowing town this morning and plotting a course that is more North by North East through Las Vegas and up towards Salt Lake City and home.
We'll RON (remain overnight) in Cedar City and may have to wait out a storm 'till the roads get cleared off or just chase the plows first thing. But, if all goes well, and why should it, we should be back at Ft. Livingroom in time to stay out of trouble with the Frau for missing Valentines Day. Guess I should pick up a nice new socket set or welder for her...since she didn't like the double bag vacumme cleaner I got her last year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twivg7GkYts

 

[Raleigh]

Good call on the welder Paul. every gal needs a good welder, you know for when you are not home:love:

 

[Brooklyn Tow]

The best part is when he's in front of the review board and they replay his "gift crime".....(The thigh master) and he's got a full head of hair.

When you see him in the "dog house" he's BALD!
:haha::lol:

 

[JiFaire]

I'm not sure about the welder, Paul .. I make a point of never buying Alicia anything she can throw at me or hit me with (don't ask...). I never thought much about being electrocuted, but that doesn't sound like fun, either

Stick with soft, fuzzy things. :hihi:

 

[OrionThade]

I think I'm with Paul on this one ... lol. If I hadn't just bought her some plane tickets to Atlanta for a convention she wants to go to in April (which will be a tax write off for me, but don't tell her that), I'd do the same thing.

 

[Paveltolz]

Thanks for the support and warnings. Think I'll settle for a nice dinner and quality time. Hope she's back from work in time to have some before the food gets cold....

Ok, we picked up Ted's $30 part yesterday morning in Brea CA. Not a bad deal considering they ended up charging him only about $15. So at least the trip was worth it. Think of the money saved on S&H by driving 2500 miles, fuel, food, hotels etc. But the real purpose was to have a great time and see the races at Pomona with old/new friends and we did just that.
On further review of the trip ahead and the onset of some winter storms that had traffic on I-40 preparing for shut down, we grabbed the part, topped off and headed north figuring if we got shut down in Cedar City UT or there abouts we could ride it out. We got into a moving clear spot of weather outside Vegas with great tail winds and rode it all the way in to home last night. Got it right around 9pm so with the time change we had about 12-13 hours of travel. No side roads or sight seeing this time. I was trailing one Semi through a snow squall outside Nephi UT with snow so thick I was just following his tail lights as the center and fog lines and the deliniators were invisible except at the corners of the truck. I don't like driving by brail and with the snow looking like "dits" and the center line like "dahs" I was beginning to copy Morse Code. FOCUS! Thankfully it only lasted a few miles and we were back in to light flurries and rain the last 50 miles to arrive "Safe at Home Plate."

Ted headed out on his own this morning to back track behind the storm to get the stuff from CA to take up to WA before heading back inland to Ellensburg. He should be 'home' Saturday or Sunday. So this thread is now his to post up on as he sees fit and thanks for traveling with us on another one of "Paul and Ted's Most Excellent Adventures."

Some Happy Snaps of the last couple of days.

Old School side by side Twin engined rail dragster. Interesting that the engines are reversed to couple the power in a unique way:


Leaving CA and getting a glimpse of the storm ahead:


Hole in the storms provides an interesting shot of the Mormon Temple in St. George UT:


Leroy, When things under the truck dry out, the gauge works fine. When the roads got wet and it dropped back to reading empty again I also noticed that my tailgate light bar was also acting up. We had stopped for a nature call and the reverse white LEDs where lit when it should be showing just the RED running lights (truck was in "PARK." I hit the HID Reverse light overide ("work lights" or TDD [tailgater deterrent device]) and those worked as they should. However, the light bar's red and white LEDs were activiated. It is my belief that your products are working as advertised and it is a different device having a problem that is manifesting itself in the fuel gauge.

My belief that it is related is because this morning the truck has dried out and the gauge and the light bar are working fine. I'll get it run down to 'ground' (bad pun) but, again, I don't think the issue the MFSR, rather, the MFSR is inadvertently alerting me to another problem. I'm guessing it more along the lines of the light bar's control box has developed a leak in it's weather seal; it is getting wet inside and feeding a power to ground which is on the same frame rail the gauge's female connector is attached and, apparently, additionally grounded. Of course this morning, the truck has dried out and everything is functioning as it should. So, since it is all functioning correctly and the roads are dry, I'll get the annual safety inspection done and then try and induce failure at the gauge connector and or the control box for the light bar using a water filled sprayer. Of course, I'll inspect everthing first and I'll find a hole in the control box from an errant rock that got tossed around back there....

 

[Burning oil]

Thats some beautiful country.
Check your grounds and PMD. Sorry PMD is muscle memory :hihi:

 

[Paveltolz]

Too funny.

 

[Paveltolz]

Found the issue. Wire with rubbed off insulation allowing contact to ground when wet...solution was to splice and isolate. Leroy is building me an MFSR so when it arrives I'll make a permanent fix to the issue.

 

[635]

I had better chime in on the next leg of the 'trip'. First, I drove my 81 Chevy 2wd short box, 250 in-line 6, with the A833 3 speed and overdrive and 3:08's. I left Paul's place and made it to Elko, Nv. Checking the weather for Donner and seeing that the next day would be better traveling. I didn't check Elko weather and woke up to close to 6 inches of snow. My pickup had a hard time going down hill to get out of the snow. Driving west on 80 at about 35-40 for an hour then the roads cleared up and into California and across Donner, but I didn't stop to eat! Then to Vacaville for the evening. In to San Franciso, the next morning, to pickup up come classic books for my sister and then north up highway 101 to Eureka for the night. Next morning was just a drive up 101 and stopping in Forks, Washington for the night. Next day at Port Angeles at 8am, dropped off the books, and left at 10:30 and headed home to Ellensburg stopping on the east side of Snoqualime Pass for snow removal. Getting here shortly after 5pm.

 

[JiFaire]

Wow, that's some drive, sir! Glad to see you back home, safe and sound.

Love those old 250s, BTW... couldn't out-race a skateboard, but they just kept on chugging along.

 

[Sunshine]

“Oh yeah, Leave me behind will ya. Well look what I found instead and no, I’m not dropping a 6.5L in it!”

This is KQQL... I took a flight to Bergen on the west coast the other day and purchased this 1955 MK VII M "Ugly Duckling", very,very clean, DOHC Straight 6, XK120 motor with 190 horses. the Mk VII M won The Monte Carlo Rally in 1956.(if you remember).

Because of health and his age of 81 yrs he cant drive it anymore. It came with most of the history & paid bills from the time it was imported from the USA in 1988 to Norway, plus workshop Manuel a tool box full of tools, a new stainless steel exhaust. Seats 6 people, and likes a lot of juice. I paid him the same price he paid for it 20 yrs ago.(not telling).... He said it can stay in his garage until after the winter if need be.

This was after my 2 week trip to Sri Lanka...Sorry internet was soooo sloow..can tell you about it later (hate writing)

There you go....see what happens "U2" That will teach ya to try and blow smoke up my Butt....(words that Ted taught me)

Ted had a cold that must chilled him down a bit and I got the blame I only spoke to him on the phone.. And you was drinking that ginger beer again that makes you fart... Just cant leave "U2" alone...

This is the same engine but not the one in my MK VII mine is cleaner....

 

[btfarm]

That's real sharp Paul! Nice find!