The Shake Down

You know the story-Your thrashing away on a project car and the goal is just to get it to a certain show by a certain date. Its what keeps you up with late nights, makes you spend all your money, and keeps you determined to get it done. For my Merc (sorry to post about her again), the goal was Paso Robles 2005. The project included totally new flathead motor, new dual intake w/ rebuilt carbs, rebuilt trans, re-cored radiator, and electronic ignition.

What happened? What usually does: The motor goes in the car a few weeks in advance, but the ‘shake down’ bites you hard. Its the small issues you can’t seem to foresee until your 100 miles from home and managed to pack everything but the right tools to deal with it. Man, it stinks. Especially when you just want to get ‘there’ on a hot Summer day. You’ve got your dad and your buddies following you in their fine-running cars, just waiting on the side of the road for you as you scratch your head and diagnose, standing in the heat.

We left the Bay Area on that Memorial Day weekend, Friday morning, and pulled over SEVEN times in 200 miles. It started about 40 miles from home with fuel starvation. Full tank, gas in the line, electric and mechanical fuel pump working, so what gives? Three more stalls, and I decide to take it all the way apart, down to the base of the carbs. Somehow a perfect sized pebble had lodged in my metal hard line splitting to the two 94’s. Frustrating, but an easy fix.

Back on the road, another fifty miles later and one temp gauge launches past 220 degrees and the distinctive smell of burnt coolant fills the air, spraying the cars behind me. How did I forget to tighten one lower radiator hose clamp? How fun is it to remedy that with steaming antifreeze everywhere? 15 miles later it pops off again. More coolant loss, more steam, more stress. Am I going to crack the block on my new engine? Will we get to Paso before nightfall?

Somehow we make it to the Spring Street drive-in that evening and everything is swell. I’ve got a sad story to tell over burgers and the filthy hands to show for it. The rest of Paso weekend proves to be break down-free, and the Mercury redeems herself. I absorbed some good lessons on that road trip, and remembered that life is usually learned in the journey, not the destination.