2,600mi Test Drive (DEN-LSR-Detroit)

Oddly enough, the stovebolt seems to like the open highway much better than city driving.
She got about 15mpg @ 65mph, which isn't bad considering how much I was hauling home.

I have to recheck the city consumption, but I blew thru 1/3 of a tank today running errands!

Maybe it'll get better tomorrow, because I dropped off all of her parts this evening!

With a bit more tuning, I think that I can improve the city mileage.

 

Glad to hear you made it back safe, awesome trip!

 

Awesome thread Larry!
I talked to my dad when he got back home and he was telling me about his adventure with Holmes, but then he told me about your adventure and I just happened across this thread when I was lookin' for info on the Georgetown Hill Climb...How fun man. I love it and the car and the wheels! I drove my buddies '64 Impala from Denver to Oklahoma back in HS. It had a 6 cyl and 3 on the tree too. It was a blast! What you did was nothing short of an adventure ;D
As for my last road trip to NM, I managed 16.9 mpg in my '55 Ford 312 2bbl, which is ok, but what was so funny about it was that Dad's '55 Ranchwagon with a Cleveland 351 2bbl, and my Uncle's '68 Camaro 396 4bbl, all got the same MPG...wierd!

 

THANKS so much for hauling my shit home AND delivering the stuff to the house. VERY much appreciated. I see COOKIES in your future sweetie.

Also, was great to hang out with you in Texas. Looking forward to doing it again soon.



The flatheads heads loaded on the floor in back

 

Finally had a chance to put the Impala on a hoist for a proper inspection. I knew about the rust hole in the driver floor that got kicked open by my boot heel during the drive home. I needed to know what else was lurking down there.


Here's the LH side & it looks like the brace is the worst of it.


The RH side will need a bit more work, as the brace is bad here too & there are a couple holes in the rocker inner.


Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

I have some flathead parts if you are looking for more

 

Very cool trip.. As another road-tripper/test-driver in my '65----I always like to see someone else driving via the seat of their pants to get a ride back to life.. Very cool...
-John

(just one memorable pic from my journey 18 months ago..)

 

After putting another several hundred miles on the ol girl, we've kept withe the theme of fixing bits ss the miles roll up.

We put new frt suspension bushings in her, along with new ball joints. The problem is that it was freakin late & we were in a hurry to get home. Our hurrying led us to forget to trim the front coils... :what:

So... we will be taking the front end apart AGAIN to trim coils after Sins of Steel this weekend.

Last week we had a "Carb Party" @ CaptnScarlet's place. When I got home I noticed glossy/shiney spots all around the Impala.

The bastards had broke out the Mothers & polished up random bits of the moldings & paint! Crap, that resulted in a number of late nights hand buffing trim & cleaning the oxidation off the paint.

I REALLY hate to admit it, but they were right. The old girl has a nice "glow" about her now.


SinglefingerSpeedShop.com

 

Great thread! I missed it the first time around!

 

Old flatheads heads by chance? If so perhaps we could meet at the old Jackson dairy for an ice cream and do a hand off one day?

 

I do have a set of extra heads that you are welcome to if you want them. I am not a flathead expert by no means but I do know these are late 40's early 50's with more bolts than the early ones. The block they came off of needs a sleeve in a cylinder but heads seem to be OK

 

What a comedy of errors today has been...

Decided to change oil in the Impala, because of the fact that I have read about Rotella reducing the ZDDP levels in their diesel oils. Rotella was all the old guys had available in CO, so I ordered some cases of Amsoil Z Rod into the shop back here.

I only use filters that are Made In USA, which really limits the selection of brands. Wix is my brand of choice.

Not having screwed with a 235's canister filter in a while, I totally forgot that the filter can has to get drained manually. After I opened everything up & the oil was draining, I remembered that I had tossed out my last gear oil pump, because it was cracked. Now what?

I tried to make a siphon out of an oil jug & some hose, but it didn't work very well. Crap!

Then I remembered a box of my ex-wife's crap in the corner. She cooked a lot & sure enough, her turkey baster was in it!

Worked great, but can you imagine the look on her face if she had seen what I was doing? She'd have been so pissed that I can't stop laughing.

SinglefingerSpeedShop.com

 

Glad that old car is getting some love.

 

Thanks for the monolog on the journey home. Reminded me of the trip I took across Canada from NY/Pennsylvania back to Michigan when I was 16 years old and driving my newly built av8 '29 coupe.
Love your '62 and Ryan is right.............white letters IN.

Frank

 

This thread has got to be one of the most enjoyable ever posted here. A damn good first person perspective of the entire adventure. A great read!! No BS, just a well written narrative. Thank you for composing the story of your voyage in your Chev.

 

The summer hot rod season officially starts today in Detroit! Between Billetproof & the Nostalgia Drags @ Milan & a summer kickoff party later today, it'll be a great weekend.

I thought that I was ready to go a couple of days ago, so I fired up the Imp, went to pull out & then I quickly remembered why I parked it where I did. The damn brake pedal went right to the floor. Apparently, the midnight shop elves never got around to fixing it... CRAP!

I already had a new Master Cyl & other parts in stock, but I decided to do a quick inspection to see what the real issue was. The inspection showed that the stock routing of the RF Brake Hose had an odd loop that allowed it to contact the inside of the tire when I turned hard right. This worked OK with the stock wheels, but the new Cragars are 7" wide & most of the offset was inboard. I'm amazed that it lasted 4000 miles!

CARS Inc was the only place that had new Hoses in stock & made there before they closed yesterday. I got put them on late last night. but hopefully I can find a "volunteer" to help bleed the brakes with me today.

I have a few other items to fiddle with, then I can head off to greet the new season. (even if it is another cold, grey, cloudy Michigan day)