Cliffs: I had a blast, and I'll be back. You should come next time too!
This actually starts a little while before SILV, but bear with me. My '89 Supra with the original, if not entirely stock, 7M-GTE engine in it has been running rather well and really reliably for quite some time, so I figure I'm willing to take the risk of a 3000 mile round trip journey to Vegas for SILV. I drive it to and from work every day, and have been doing so for about 10 months now, on the theory that I'd rather have it break here than 1500 miles away from home.
The weekend before I'm due to leave, I recall that when I installed a brand new fan shroud recently, I couldn't get the electric AC accessory fan to run properly, it was hitting the shroud... of course, here it doesn't really get more than warm in the summer, so I just unplugged it and ignored it. However, I'm a little bit concerned about driving without every possible ounce of cooling in the Nevada desert, so I jack up the car and figure out what the problem is, get it squared away and ready to go. Monday, I head for the office for my last day of work before we head out... and the car overheats on the way to work. I park it in the parkade, open the hood, and it's blowing coolant out the overflow. I figure I've managed to blow the head gasket somehow, but on checking, I find that the clutch fan has gotten caught between the PWR radiator and the new fan shroud. I guess the adjustments I was making the other day were just enough to allow it to catch. I'm SUPER stressed, I'm supposed to be leaving for Vegas in less than a day.
So, I leave it in the parkade to cool off and walk to the office, try to souce some electric fans or *something* that will get it repaired in time to leave. After work, it's nice and cool, I have all my tools already packed, so I tear it apart in the parkade, pull out the accessory electrics, fan shroud, fan, etc, throw the shroud in the hatch, bolt everything else back on, fill it up with water. During the fix I'm talking to a bunch of the local guys trying to source parts, and Randy mentions that he just cut out his shroud to get more room and stuck with the clutch fan. I decide to try this route. I head for home and it drives fine. At home I let it cool down some more, then do a quick butcher job on the shroud, pull it all apart again, re-install the shroud and bolt everything back together.
It seems to be running fine, but at this point my confidence is honestly trashed - I don't know if the overheat has warped something, blown the gasket, or caused some other damage. But I decide, what the hell, if it's going to go at least it will likely be close to home. I throw all my gear in the car, fall into bed for a couple hours, then up again and on the way. Meet up with Randy, Jenny, Brad, and Brent is riding with me. Head for the border to start the 3000 mile trip.
The border guard was literally unintelligible. I'm sure he was mostly asleep, it's 5:00 am and we are the only cars going across. He waved us across after asking something (I still don't really know what) so I guessed and replied "No." Appears that was the right answer!
600 miles into the trip I discover that my clutch is slipping. Give it about 11psi in 4th and the engine just spins. Note to self: 900 miles to go, drive nice and stay the hell out of boost. Maybe I can source a clutch in Vegas and do a swap in the parking lot. Ya, the hotel is going to *Love* us. Meet up with a bunch of Mk4 drivers in North Bend, then on to Pendleton for some more. Driving in a caravan is wicked fun, especially going up hills at speed. No boost sucks, but I find I can pedal it in 5th to about 5psi and still get decent performance. I kept up, anyway!
Pull into Jackpot Nevada pretty late that day, check into the hotel, grab dinner at their buffet, fall into bed and sleep like the dead. Get up the next day, source some breakfast and fuel, and head out. An hour later, Brad runs into problems and his car dies as we are coming into Wells, NV. No offense to Brad, but I'm feeling relieved - Murphy says one car will die on every trip, and I appear to have dodged the bullet! I was *sure* it was going to be me. After a bunch of theories and checks, we discover that his timing belt tensioner is toast. He finds another one and arranges to get it shipped into Wells overnight... everything is set up, so we head out and drive the rest of the way to Vegas, arriving well after dark. Get some food, fuel, and check into the hotel there, then crash. My bed has gremlins in it. The damn mattress keeps sliding on top of the boxspring, and every time it does it feels like someone kicked my bed! Whatever.
In the morning we check out the car wash suggested by Jim Jr, and it's FULL of win. Hand wash, hand dry, interior vacuum, clean the dash, tire spray... hell, they even cleaned my muffler tip, and all for the grand total of $20. Score! Today is the dyno day. Some pretty impressive numbers get thrown around, and I get to meet some cool folks, like Andy from ARZ, Slow66, and a bunch of others. That night we hit up the Bellagio buffet. DAMN fine.
Next day is the show & shine, I take a lot of nice photos and meet a bunch more nice folks (and one asshole). Aaron from Driftmotion actually brought a clutch with him, so I pick that up and breathe a huge sigh of relief - if I have to, I can change the clutch on the road, I've got enough tools to do the job with me. Also pick up a set of new hood struts from Robert at 935 - big thanks to Aaron and Robert for bringing stuff I need to the show! That night is the awards ceremony, where I find out that Kieth is actually a semi-professional comedian, as long as his throat is lubed with a drink. Turns out Nick from California pretty damn funny too, damn near ended up spitting my drink through my nose a couple times, and that shit STINGS.
Went on the cruise on Saturday, and my camera pops up a "Memory Card error" on the way. A great big WTF? Stop by Bestbuy and get them to check it on their PCs, sure enough, all my pics from the start of the trip until now have been abducted by David Blaine for one of his vanishing acts. Fuk. Buy another card, at least I can get some vids at the races on Saturday night. Go to the drags to watch - no way can I run with a slipping clutch! It's crazy, I lose count of the number of cars that break. Ryan Woon breaks TWICE. Randy breaks his car on the first run, his fan hits the radiator and guts it like a fish. Some kind soul offers to put Randy's car on his trailer to get it back to the hotel, then spins out in the rain on the way back! No damage done, though, so we end up in the In-N-Out burger, laughing about our escapades.
Next day we start out trying to find a replacement radiator so Randy can drive home, and we aren't having much luck on a Sunday in Vegas until Jose offers to DRIVE out from California with one. What an awesome guy, he's on my list of people I'm taking on a cruise after I win the lottery for sure. We walk up and down the strip while he is on the way, eat lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, watch the lions in the MGM Grand, pick up a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradelli's, walk through the shops at the Venetian. Good times... and more importantly, relaxing time. Head back to the hotel and spend some lazy hours in the pool until Jose gets there, then bolt in the radiator, fill it up, grab some food at Jack in the Box and head out. It's after 9pm by now, we're 12 hours behind schedule but we figure we'll make it back to Jackpot.
On the way out of the city, my headlights die. Crap. Stop by a gas station and do an emergency rewire. Add another hour to the amount we are behind schedule. Head out again and it's all good. We stop in Wells at 3am, grab a room and get 5 hours sleep. Next day we burn through the rest of Nevada, stop in Twin Falls, Idaho, to check out the canyon and change Randy's rear brake pads... a mere 20 minute job with three people who know what they are doing. Through Oregon where we get pulled over and a stern talking to by a rather friendly Oregon State Trooper for speeding at night in the mountains.
Washington state kicks our asses though... miserable weather coming through the mountains south east of Seattle - heavy rain, fog, and sleet makes for the worst 100 miles in my life. Randy pulls the chute in North Bend, finds and hotel room and some rest, Brent and I push on for home because we both have to be at work in the morning. The weather clears up and it's pretty much clear sailing all the way home - which happens to be at about 4am, Brent has to be at work in a couple hours, I have to be at my office a few hours after that.
But the important thing is that we made it, none the worse for wear, and had some great times with friends old and new!
I don't have much in the way of pictures, (A big Fuck You goes out to OCZ Secure Digital Ram cards) but I sure have a crapload of vids from the drag night, and I'm getting it up on youtube slowly... Here's a teaser, the fastest car at the event, with a mere 1080hp, he runs 8.11 at 175mph!
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=WHBc-zmhvA8
This actually starts a little while before SILV, but bear with me. My '89 Supra with the original, if not entirely stock, 7M-GTE engine in it has been running rather well and really reliably for quite some time, so I figure I'm willing to take the risk of a 3000 mile round trip journey to Vegas for SILV. I drive it to and from work every day, and have been doing so for about 10 months now, on the theory that I'd rather have it break here than 1500 miles away from home.
The weekend before I'm due to leave, I recall that when I installed a brand new fan shroud recently, I couldn't get the electric AC accessory fan to run properly, it was hitting the shroud... of course, here it doesn't really get more than warm in the summer, so I just unplugged it and ignored it. However, I'm a little bit concerned about driving without every possible ounce of cooling in the Nevada desert, so I jack up the car and figure out what the problem is, get it squared away and ready to go. Monday, I head for the office for my last day of work before we head out... and the car overheats on the way to work. I park it in the parkade, open the hood, and it's blowing coolant out the overflow. I figure I've managed to blow the head gasket somehow, but on checking, I find that the clutch fan has gotten caught between the PWR radiator and the new fan shroud. I guess the adjustments I was making the other day were just enough to allow it to catch. I'm SUPER stressed, I'm supposed to be leaving for Vegas in less than a day.
So, I leave it in the parkade to cool off and walk to the office, try to souce some electric fans or *something* that will get it repaired in time to leave. After work, it's nice and cool, I have all my tools already packed, so I tear it apart in the parkade, pull out the accessory electrics, fan shroud, fan, etc, throw the shroud in the hatch, bolt everything else back on, fill it up with water. During the fix I'm talking to a bunch of the local guys trying to source parts, and Randy mentions that he just cut out his shroud to get more room and stuck with the clutch fan. I decide to try this route. I head for home and it drives fine. At home I let it cool down some more, then do a quick butcher job on the shroud, pull it all apart again, re-install the shroud and bolt everything back together.
It seems to be running fine, but at this point my confidence is honestly trashed - I don't know if the overheat has warped something, blown the gasket, or caused some other damage. But I decide, what the hell, if it's going to go at least it will likely be close to home. I throw all my gear in the car, fall into bed for a couple hours, then up again and on the way. Meet up with Randy, Jenny, Brad, and Brent is riding with me. Head for the border to start the 3000 mile trip.
The border guard was literally unintelligible. I'm sure he was mostly asleep, it's 5:00 am and we are the only cars going across. He waved us across after asking something (I still don't really know what) so I guessed and replied "No." Appears that was the right answer!
600 miles into the trip I discover that my clutch is slipping. Give it about 11psi in 4th and the engine just spins. Note to self: 900 miles to go, drive nice and stay the hell out of boost. Maybe I can source a clutch in Vegas and do a swap in the parking lot. Ya, the hotel is going to *Love* us. Meet up with a bunch of Mk4 drivers in North Bend, then on to Pendleton for some more. Driving in a caravan is wicked fun, especially going up hills at speed. No boost sucks, but I find I can pedal it in 5th to about 5psi and still get decent performance. I kept up, anyway!
Pull into Jackpot Nevada pretty late that day, check into the hotel, grab dinner at their buffet, fall into bed and sleep like the dead. Get up the next day, source some breakfast and fuel, and head out. An hour later, Brad runs into problems and his car dies as we are coming into Wells, NV. No offense to Brad, but I'm feeling relieved - Murphy says one car will die on every trip, and I appear to have dodged the bullet! I was *sure* it was going to be me. After a bunch of theories and checks, we discover that his timing belt tensioner is toast. He finds another one and arranges to get it shipped into Wells overnight... everything is set up, so we head out and drive the rest of the way to Vegas, arriving well after dark. Get some food, fuel, and check into the hotel there, then crash. My bed has gremlins in it. The damn mattress keeps sliding on top of the boxspring, and every time it does it feels like someone kicked my bed! Whatever.
In the morning we check out the car wash suggested by Jim Jr, and it's FULL of win. Hand wash, hand dry, interior vacuum, clean the dash, tire spray... hell, they even cleaned my muffler tip, and all for the grand total of $20. Score! Today is the dyno day. Some pretty impressive numbers get thrown around, and I get to meet some cool folks, like Andy from ARZ, Slow66, and a bunch of others. That night we hit up the Bellagio buffet. DAMN fine.
Next day is the show & shine, I take a lot of nice photos and meet a bunch more nice folks (and one asshole). Aaron from Driftmotion actually brought a clutch with him, so I pick that up and breathe a huge sigh of relief - if I have to, I can change the clutch on the road, I've got enough tools to do the job with me. Also pick up a set of new hood struts from Robert at 935 - big thanks to Aaron and Robert for bringing stuff I need to the show! That night is the awards ceremony, where I find out that Kieth is actually a semi-professional comedian, as long as his throat is lubed with a drink. Turns out Nick from California pretty damn funny too, damn near ended up spitting my drink through my nose a couple times, and that shit STINGS.
Went on the cruise on Saturday, and my camera pops up a "Memory Card error" on the way. A great big WTF? Stop by Bestbuy and get them to check it on their PCs, sure enough, all my pics from the start of the trip until now have been abducted by David Blaine for one of his vanishing acts. Fuk. Buy another card, at least I can get some vids at the races on Saturday night. Go to the drags to watch - no way can I run with a slipping clutch! It's crazy, I lose count of the number of cars that break. Ryan Woon breaks TWICE. Randy breaks his car on the first run, his fan hits the radiator and guts it like a fish. Some kind soul offers to put Randy's car on his trailer to get it back to the hotel, then spins out in the rain on the way back! No damage done, though, so we end up in the In-N-Out burger, laughing about our escapades.
Next day we start out trying to find a replacement radiator so Randy can drive home, and we aren't having much luck on a Sunday in Vegas until Jose offers to DRIVE out from California with one. What an awesome guy, he's on my list of people I'm taking on a cruise after I win the lottery for sure. We walk up and down the strip while he is on the way, eat lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, watch the lions in the MGM Grand, pick up a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradelli's, walk through the shops at the Venetian. Good times... and more importantly, relaxing time. Head back to the hotel and spend some lazy hours in the pool until Jose gets there, then bolt in the radiator, fill it up, grab some food at Jack in the Box and head out. It's after 9pm by now, we're 12 hours behind schedule but we figure we'll make it back to Jackpot.
On the way out of the city, my headlights die. Crap. Stop by a gas station and do an emergency rewire. Add another hour to the amount we are behind schedule. Head out again and it's all good. We stop in Wells at 3am, grab a room and get 5 hours sleep. Next day we burn through the rest of Nevada, stop in Twin Falls, Idaho, to check out the canyon and change Randy's rear brake pads... a mere 20 minute job with three people who know what they are doing. Through Oregon where we get pulled over and a stern talking to by a rather friendly Oregon State Trooper for speeding at night in the mountains.
Washington state kicks our asses though... miserable weather coming through the mountains south east of Seattle - heavy rain, fog, and sleet makes for the worst 100 miles in my life. Randy pulls the chute in North Bend, finds and hotel room and some rest, Brent and I push on for home because we both have to be at work in the morning. The weather clears up and it's pretty much clear sailing all the way home - which happens to be at about 4am, Brent has to be at work in a couple hours, I have to be at my office a few hours after that.
But the important thing is that we made it, none the worse for wear, and had some great times with friends old and new!
I don't have much in the way of pictures, (A big Fuck You goes out to OCZ Secure Digital Ram cards) but I sure have a crapload of vids from the drag night, and I'm getting it up on youtube slowly... Here's a teaser, the fastest car at the event, with a mere 1080hp, he runs 8.11 at 175mph!
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=WHBc-zmhvA8
