Features 26 COOP's Trip to the Salt....High Sodium Diet IV

Cool "Salty T"

 

I do love tales about road trips. Eagerly following. Safe Travels!

BigMike

 

Enjoy the ride good friend!

 

Jethro, I've asked that in a couple places too and haven't got an answer yet. I'm leaving in the morning hauling my avatar to the salt. I'm camping in the gravel parking lot across from the gas station.

Dave

 

I'll keep my eyes peeled Dave..I'll dig up a HAMB t-shirt to wear so I can represent.

 

That's cool. Have a safe trip.

 

Make room for me to come along, at least on the H.A.M.B.
I’ll be following.

 

August 8, 2018

From a motel in Knoxville, IL……

I will bring you up to date with the happenings yesterday and today.

The saying goes something like “it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey”.

Very true in spades for High Sodium Diet IV:

I left home at the requisite 7:30 AM….heading off to another road trip to the Salt. As I said yesterday, 26 COOP was completed yesterday…..ALMOST!!! The evening of the 6th, I was having ignition troubles that out of the blue would not fire the engine. It turned out to be a Chrysler ignition module that stopped working. I always have a spare, so I installed a new one and it fired.

Well, not far down the road, I started having intermittent misses and a loss of fuel from the electric fuel pump as well.

I decided to stop in Mount Airy, MD and, using my GPS found directions to an auto repair place called Spike’s Auto Care. I ended up at the end of a street in a residential area of large lots, at a house with a large outbuilding that could be a repair shop, but there were no signs to indicate that it was.

The car died in the driveway……..

This nice lady answered my knocking on the door and informed me that Spike’s had moved to a different location about 5 years ago. The nice lady was Spike’s wife, Lisa, and I gave him a call. He was too busy and didn’t work on “specialty vehicles”, but he gave me a number for a Chewey’s Performance Automotive.

I called him and he had Holley electric fuel pumps and a regulator. I figured I needed to replace the old Mallory 110 I had installed. Lisa was kind enough to take me to Chu’s and bring me back to her house to fix it on the driveway.

Not too long afterwards, her husband Mike (Spike) show’s up and helps me fit the new fuel pump.

So my thanks go out to Mike (Spike) and his wife Lisa. Part of the journey is meeting new people. I hit a home run with them.

Now back to the ignition module. The replacement I put in the previous night was not firing!!! So I had a replacement with me that I just connected and laid on the passenger side floor with a ground wire bolted to it. It all worked!!! I did not have another hiccup the rest of the trip to Jim Siler’s house and the G&R Tavern. (Note: It still has not hiccupped. I think the ground connection was not so good.)

Yes, there is a Waldo, Ohio and here’s a pic of the G&R:



I love the sign over the bar. It has hung there at least since I first knew of the place in 1974:


Had a great fried bologna sandwich at the G&R with some buddies, even though we didn’t get there until about 8:45 (Siler is the one with the white shorts).



This morning Jim and I figured a better placement (even if temporary) for the module. It now hangs from the top of the kick panel on the passenger side. I also modified the position of the gas pedal which has eliminated the need to press it with the left side of my foot…much less fatigue!



We didn’t leave Jim’s house until about 11:00 this morning. This put us at a jobsite in Indianapolis at about 2:30 where I wanted to show you all a picture of machinery I designed as a consultant for Fairfield Service Company of Indiana, LLC (formerly Fairfield Service Company where I was Chief Engineer from 1975 to 1988). The equipment removes debris from a Combined Sewer Overflow Tunnel system. The rake and clamshell bucket ride in special guides down to 270-feet below grade and bring the debris up to a rolloff container at the surface. It may be sh*t to you, but it’s been my bread and butter.



Jim and I had to get into safety suits…don’t we look pretty?



From there we just pounded on the miles. Still have about 1430 miles to go and want to be in Wendover UT/NV by 5 PM on Friday for the car show at the Nugget (I hope).

The car is running fine. I am getting between 15 and 16 mpg….which is not bad for a vehicle with the aerodynamics of a phone booth. By the way, with side windows and the cowl vent open, it is really hard to keep a hat on and when Siler had his blow off, the little hair he has left really blew around. He fixed that problem:



Pity me. I have to ride with him.......

Thanks for your comments and encouragement.

The Salt awaits……

Irish Jr.

 

Good stuff

 

Too much fun. Thanks for the photos. Safe travels. Snowman

 

Even with the hiccups, still sounds like a great time. Good luck on the rest of your journey... I'll be tuning in.

 

I'd agree....it's always about the journey!!! Sorry for your early gremlins but it sounds like you've taken care of them for now. Love the pictures and trip updates, thanks for taking us along!!!! It'll be well worth the effort this year on the salt once you get there!!! Have fun, and we'll take more journey pictures/stories!!!

 

August 8, 2018 (Part 2)

Well we pounded some miles on today…..834 miles from Knoxville, IL to Cheyenne, WY. It was a long day, so I will keep this short.

Tomorrow we plan to leave at about 5:30 to head across Wyoming and Utah to Wendover Utah/Nevada, right down the road from the Bonneville Speedway….553 miles. I saw on Weather Underground that it is supposed to be about 102 degrees tomorrow and then down to the high 90’s starting on Monday…OUCH!!!

Today was warm enough that we put on bandana do-rags and kept adding water as w drove along….it really felt good!!!!!




I did have an owner-induced hiccup, however. After we gassed up along I-80 in Nebraska, I sensed a raw gas odor. I had not replaced the gas cap and must have dumped the cap on the road. So we looked up a NAPA on the GPS and headed to Lexington, NE, about 20 miles down the road. At the NAPA store, they had a cap that fit in the filler neck, but was too large to allow me to close the trunk lid. So they (unusual for an auto parts store) had some shop equipment and allowed us to cut the clearance on the cap. Hiccup fixed for now.



Then, after taking care of that, we stopped at a Dairy Queen for ice cream cones. There was a young man sitting in a ’53 Chevy pickup. Car guys communicate with one another in unique ways, so we introduced one another just because we are car guys. Luiz, a 21-year-old young man had a problem. Waiting in the drive thru he ran out of gas. His girlfriend was in the car with him. She is heading out of the country tomorrow. She got picked up by her father who was not too kind to Luiz. Luiz was not having a good day…

Luiz had a gas can in the bed, so I gave him a ride in 26 COOP to a gas station. 21 year olds must look on me as a grandfather figure. He loved riding in the car and started talking about the problems with his girlfriend because of this day’s activities. Ultimately he asked me about how long I dated Judy before I asked for her hand. This was weird, but I went along with it. He is a nice kid. The gas was put in the tank, the truck started, and I guess he was planning to ask for her hand pretty soon. I feel like Ann Landers……It’s just part of the journey!!!



We drove until well after dark, and the ’35 Chevy headlights with halogen bulbs did a fair job providing safe vision for driving.

26 COOP is just humming along. It seems to run best between 70 and 75 mph. The bias-ply tires are really running better than I expected.

I promised I would introduce you to Jim Siler, and I had planned to do it tonight. However, it's pretty late and so I will have to cut it short for now. So I’ll close with this phrase from Jim Siler that I have been using for many years:

“Scares me and I’m not afraid of anything!”

You can start using the phrase, now. I'll defer the Siler stories until another day, OK?

Gotta get some shut-eye…..

Talk to you next from the Bonneville Salt Flats

Irish Jr.

 

Incredible journey, Jim. Thanks for taking us along. Loving the narrative.

 

jim were all jealous, but greatful that your doing this! im trying to get my butt to bonniville in the near future. good luck and we will keep an eye on ya! I feel like im on a bob k adventure! carry on please!

 

Wow, that's a boat load of miles for one day in a 26 coupe, great job !

 

Good read!

 

Joined your journey today. Vaya con Dios. Lucas

 

Saw you yesterday at mm 205 in Iowa as I was headed back to Indy. Had read the story the night before in the Hamb Safe trip have fun.

 

and yet one more reason why the HAMB rules... great car, great guys and great story!
Thanks for sharing the ride with us all.

 

Go Team Go...

 

Great adventure, I'm envious.

 

One word...jealous! Stay safe and continue having fun!

 

Won't be long now! Great stuff...

 

This is just a awesome ride!

 

What, no picture of the girl friend? Have a safe/fun trip!

 

Thanks for taking us along Jim!

 

Thanks for the ride along.

 

Good job Jim on putting some serious miles on the new car! Have fun at Bonneville, I have to live vicariously through you all there in person this year. Sucks for me as I have gone almost every year for past 15. But not this year............

Have fun getting your fix of salt and speed.

 

This is the awesome! Have a safe trip. Hope you bring the Coop to OC Cruiser week this fall. I’d like to meet ya and check out the car.