Good thing the engine behind me isn't running otherwise I'd be deaf.
It's late and the day was long. Briefly: Went to the local Ronald McDonald House in Colorado Springs and donated to them the proceeds of the Type III Invasion, $1229!
Brian getting the receipt for the Ronald McDonald donation. Good work, Bri!
Then Brian, Dave Whitaker in his Type 34, and myself headed west. Long and boring and HOT!
In case you forgot how boring south Wyoming was, here's yer reminder.
The excitement came at 9:45pm this evening at roughly 1 mile before Evanston, Wyoming. I dodged one deer in the road but the second one hit MY CAR!!!! Luckily, it was only her head that took out my left side view mirror and lightly brushed against the body, so no dents. I'm pretty sure that she's dead by now. I'm surprised that Brian didn't hit her (I was leading the pack) as she stumbled to the right side of the road but he said all he saw was what he thought was a tumble weed go by.
Okay, it's late and I don't have time to put up pictures so, again, that will have to be later. G'nite! [Author's Note: Pictures added 28June2012]
Because of the engine issue I had with my baby and that she’s
now running again I can catch up on the events. I will add pictures later when I have time.
Here we go…
Thursday, 21June2012 (a.k.a. Day 6)
Brian wanted to do some sight-seeing so we got into my baby and headed
west. We toured the Indian cliff dwellings
and it was neat to see.
The cave dwellings.
Colorado Springs is a pretty location and the Indians had a nice view.
Grain processing and storage(?) built into the rock.
Built by the Indians as well, the structure now serves as a museum and gift shop.
We then went back towards Colorado Springs and stopped at
the Garden of the Gods park to drive around it and take in the sights. Though it was cool to see the rock formations
it was also frustrating because you could only stop at designated pull-overs,
even though the road was wide enough for two cars. However, since people hiked and biked there
the right lane was for non-automobile traffic and that meant no parking. There were a number of people who seemed to
be in a hurry so we would pull over and let them by. They didn’t seem to care about what they were
missing I guess.
Me escaping the intense sun under a shady boulder.
That evening we had pizza at the host hotel under the tent
the hotel put up for us. Many people had
filtered in from close by and abroad by that time. The hotel was filling up with VWs and it was
starting to look like the Type 34 wasn’t a rare vehicle after all as we had at
least four show up just that evening.
Plans were made for the trip to Pikes Peak. Rich was local and would lead our small group
of five cars to the mountain and on up.
Friday, 22June2012 (a.k.a. Day 7)
Yahoo, Pikes Peak day!
The following cars lined up in the morning for the Pikes Peak run:
Rich, John, Keith, Brian, myself, Peter & Dave in their
diesel Jetta wagon, and Mike & Jake’s Squareback being towed behind their
truck. I had Sam and his friend Brandon as my passengers.
The group leaving the hotel for destination Pikes Peak!
Rich leading with his Type 34, followed by John in Sophy and Keith. Brian, Mike, and Jake were behind me.
Lined up and ready to climb!
Brian (vwfye), Mike (Shakey), and Keith blocking my view!
We arrived at the toll booth and Mike & Jake unhitched
their Squareback. Mike was going to
drive up while Jake would take the rear in case anyone broke down he could
tow-strap ‘em to a safe location. My
baby was spewing a trail of oil and my concerns for her were high. Topped off the oil and we were on our way.
We made it to the ranger station and had to pull into the
parking lot. Rich’s Type 34 was having
issues. In first gear, foot to the
floor, he was barely making 15mph. The
air couldn’t be that thin for the 1500cc engine; our 2.0 liter engines were
doing rather well. Rich decided to leave
his car there and hitch a ride with Brian.
We then rode up to the top.
Rich's Ghia resting in the shade at the Ranger Station.
The road was fun with serious hairpin turns and only a few
drop offs that didn’t have guard rails.
We all made it to the top. Having
a fully paved road was nice. We had the
rag top back and the we were really enjoying the open top ride. The top was dirt/gravel and we could see a
defined drip trail that led up to my car.
Uhg. The view was great and the
temperature was in the upper 50 degrees F with a serious wind. We checked out the cog train and got to talk
to the engineer (1 of 3 in the entire country).
Got some souveniers, hung out, and didn’t move around much since we were
all really out of breath – at over 14 thousand feet it we were all light headed
and trying to catch our breath. I saw a
guy with a Ducati Multistrada Pikes Peak Limited Edition and we chatted about
his bike for a bit. He had rode his bike
from Georgia and said it was a very comfy bike.
All the dubs made it, even the chase vehicle (truck) driven by Jake.
Pikes Peak Limited Edition Ducati Multistrada.
An in-line 6-cylinder diesel engine motivates the cog to pull the train up to the top.
John talking to the engineer, 1 of 3 in North America. Nice job security.
The Pikes Peak Type III Invasion Motley Crew Contingent made it!
We headed back down the mountain and my on one of the
hairpin turns my oil pressure dropped to zero and my oil pressure idiot light
went bright red: Not good. Now, when going down the mountain you need to
use engine braking to assist with the normal braking so you don’t cook your
brakes. With no motor now to assist I
had to coast down hill and at every turn out I stopped to let the front brakes
cool a little otherwise they would over-heat and fail, giving me no brakes
(this is true with any vehicle). We
finally coasted into the ranger station parking lot with every one wondering
why I had taken so long. Naturally Brian
and I forgot our two-way radios so…
While the cars were cooling down Brian checked under my car
and popped the left valve cover off.
Sure enough, the bottom of the gasket got sucked in and that was causing
my oil leak. We put in a new gasket and
all was good.
But still no oil pressure.
Damn.
So I removed one of the oil lines and filled it with oil to
prime the oil pump. Still no oil
pressure. Unscrewed the oil filter to
check for oil. Yup, there’s oil in it so
oil is flowing. Then we took the oil
pressure sensor from another car and replaced mine and fired her up. The idiot light went out. Ah, bad sender. Cool, put mine back in knowing that I did
have pressure, just my sensor was bad.
Easily replaceable later. So we
loaded back up into our cars and headed back to the toll booth. No oil leaks from my engine, yeah! Brian and I decided to head back to the hotel
while the others decided to check out the Garden of the Gods.
East bound on highway 40 we’re toodling along when suddenly my
tachometer drops to zero, my idiot lights light up, and my engine dies. I quickly turned off the ignition rocker
switch to kill power to the engine, threw the car into neutral, and coasted to
a stop on the side of the highway. I
told Brian my issue and he was surprised as he saw no smoke nor oil come from
my car. I looked under my rear seat and
found the power feed wire had shorted out and a 6” section had fried, opening
that circuit. After cutting the bad
section out and joining the ‘new’ ends together my car still wouldn’t start,
though the starter would click. Mike and
Jake had shown up and couldn’t help so the two guys that were with me went with
them back to where ever and I called Triple A for a tow. Less than 15 minutes later they were
there. Oh, the temp during this time was
in the upper 80s/low 90s. Miserable.
Uh-oh!
The tow truck dropped me off at the hotel and we began to
investigate what was wrong with my motor.
She simply would not turn. As a
last resort after failed other trouble-shooting we dropped the engine and
removed the clutch & pressure plate.
The guys held the engine while Brian tried to turn the engine from the
flywheel. Fail. The engine was frozen; wouldn’t budge. Not a good sign.
Lot’s of hypothesis were thrown around and two different
guys offered their engine to me so I could bolt it into my car and use it to
get home.
Saturday, 23June2012 (a.k.a. Day 8)
This is the day where we all meet at the park, the ‘official’
gathering. Brian and I got up at our
usual early time (because no hotel curtain we know of can keep the sunlight
out) and head out to the park to claim the gazebo and unhook the cable that
blocked the access road, allowing all of the Type 3s to park in a row and
closer to the gazebo (all other vehicles had to park in the normal parking
lot).
A pair of 1500 Club Notchbacks from...get this...CALIFORNIA!
Jim Adney's tech session: How carburetors are superior to fuel injection. Just kidding, it was on trouble-shooting fuel injection.
Brian counting the donation money.
The Invasioners.
Though the weather was hot (upper 90s) everyone had a good
time. Cars and owners got to meet and
chat with each other. Jim Adney gave his
fuel injection tech session and we had the silent auction for Type 3 / VW
stuff. Pedro, Jack, and their boys came
up from Sad Diego, CALIFORNIA, with their 1500cc Notchback in showroom
condition and drove it around. Saw some
new cars and faces. It was a really good
time. It was there that we decided to
use Shakeys (Mike and Jake’s) engine, our Option B, because it would basically
be a plug-n-play install into my car as our Option A engine would require my
flywheel, engine hanger, and probably the fan housing which would be more work
and thus time.
Towards the evening when the temps were a little lower we
dropped Shakey’s engine in the hotel parking lot and put it into my baby. Lots of on-lookers and help…a kind of
unscheduled tech session. It was past
midnight and we were very tired so I hit the starter and the engine turned over
– YEAY! We didn’t try to start it as
there was some wiring I would need to do but that would easily be done in the
morning. The engine spun and that’s all
we needed.
Sunday, 24June2012 (Day 9)
Since Shakey’s engine has an alternator on it, hooking it
into my electrical system was a snap.
After a couple cranks the engine was purring right along. Brian and I drove her to the park for the
Sunday 1/2-day gathering and when we arrived we were greeted by everyone
cheering. It was a good feeling to be
functional again.
Many people were leaving Sunday, thus it being a 1/2-day. So nothing special went on, just lots of
talking. Brian needed to hit the
pharmacy so we then went to Walmart to pick it up. When we got back to my baby and tried to
start her she wouldn’t catch, just crank.
Brian diagnosed the problem as vapor lock, which made perfect sense in
the +100 outside temps. He got some
water from the store and poured it on the fuel pump and lines. That cooled the fuel down, removing the air
bubbles, and she fired right up. Whew!
Later that evening I took the muffler and full-flow oil
filter loop off my engine and we loaded my engine into the back of my baby. The car is in full-cargo mode, meaning the
back seat is down, so my engine can rest forward the rear wheels. She’s ready for home.
Sorry volks, when your car pukes an engine your day just turns bad.
I made it up to Pike's Peak and down but on the way back to the hotel the car died. I coasted to a stop and got AAA on the phone to get me a tow. COP BAIT did get a sheriff but she simply made sure we were okay and had a truck on the way -- no hassle. Engine is on the ground and I've got a couple options for a possible 1600cc (stock) replacement to get me home. Won't know more until tomorrow. So pictures and updates are delayed until further notice, sorry.
Not the kind of view I like to see; it's generally not going to be good news.
Oops...sorry, had a good day sightseeing, then meeting volks as they arrived and by the time I was ready for bed it is too late to write about the day. Didn't even get a cigar, phooie! Tomorrow we're driving up Pike's Peak and afterwards I can write about today, which will be yesterday by then. Until then, here's a couple gratuitous pictures from the Garden of the Gods...
Day 5
Know what I liked best about Laramie? Leaving.
It was a short driving day for us (yeay!). Traffic was scary going down through Denver but after our fuel stop in Castle Rock we entered beautiful, forested hills. Ahhh, it was like being back home, only five thousand or so feet higher.
Now this is a pretty sight: Hills, winding road, and lots of trees that are green and taller than 8 feet.
Find the airplane. Yes, we're near the Air Force Academy.
Arrived at the host hotel, Springs Inn, just as the day was warming up. Unloaded and relaxed. Met Rich, who is Bob's dad. He came up from Texas. And Marion and his wife from Georgia. Oh, and Dave & Annie Hall from England. Yes, a Type Three'r from ENGLAND is here (any one from the ol' DDB reading this?). More volks will be arriving tomorrow; it'll be a good crowd.
Rich, Brian, and I walked to the Phantom Canyon Brewing Co for lunch. That's where we'll be having Friday night dinner. Good food and a few decent single malt scotches.
Walking distance from the hotel. Party on, Garth!
The evening was spent with a nice, thick, mello, Padilla Series '68 out on the patio. On the patio I also met Sven, from Germany, who's here with his friend Michael for a physics conference. It was really neat to get his input on America's roads and driving (apparently we're pretty laid back and have wide roads).
Day 4 – This is being posted today instead of last night
because we had NO internet service. I wrote this up last night.
Wyoming: The Land Of
Nothingness!
Okay, at least the southern
part. More on that later…
I topped up my brake fluid reservoir and also got a spare
gallon of 15w-40 diesel motor oil (cuz it’s high in Zinc) and Brian got some
bungee cords to secure his hood, then we left south Ogden, Utah, and finally
trekked eastward into hills and valleys…you know, scenery and winding
roads. It was a very nice change of
pace.
No need to click the picture, it's just the welcome sign to Wyoming.
After we crossed into Wyoming -- along with +35mph winds --
Brian’s hood popped up AGAIN so we pulled into Evanston to put some more bungee
cords on it. The parking lot we used was
an old gas station converted into a fireworks store so we went inside to check
it out and use the restroom. Ended up
chatting with the owner and we saw a LOT of super-duper-really-cool fireworks –
the kind that would land me 25 to life in prison if I shot them off in
Oregon. We did buy some non-fireball
shooting types that are Oregon legal:
They launch little army men that parachute down. I got some neon sparklers and some other
parachute-style fireworks that I think the kids (okay, me) will like.
If there was only some way I could sneak these puppies into Oregon.
Three different parachute, Oregon-safe, fireworks for me, er, the kids.
We stopped in Green River at Penny’s Diner for lunch. That was one of our stops from the last
Invasion two years ago. Nothing exciting
put probably what contributed to our future sleepiness. Oh, the NASCAR contingent was west
bound. We stopped at Little America so I
could check it out and saw more NASCAR haulers.
I wanted to get a picture of my car with one of them as a backdrop but
by the time we got out of the gift shop they were done fueling and were parked
next to other trucks so there wasn’t any space.
Bummer.
Penny's Diner.
We eventually got out into the greater vastness of nothingness
known as southern Wyoming. Driving in
the winds with 18-wheelers screaming by us was fatiguing and we were really
sleepy so we took a 30-minute nap at a parking lot on the side of the road
(literally). That really helped out and
we were able to trudge onward. I
commented that there seemed to be far too many trucks on the road and they were
getting annoying, like pulling in front of a line of cars so they could pass
another trucker 2mph faster. When the
2012 Corvette in front of you mashes on his brakes to an 18-wheeler cutting him
off you know they don’t care about anyone but themselves (which seems to be
much of society today). Anyway, Brian
told me later he decided to count the cars & truck coming the opposite
direction and he stopped at 60 trucks vs. 40 cars.
We hit Laramie at about 7pm and filled up. Brian was deep into his gas reserves and that
last stretch of nothingness (where some trailer folk actually eek out a living)
was 219 [actual] miles and had my baby gulping down 8.37 gallons of fermented
dino juice. We decided to hit Cheyenne
and spend the night there but when Brian turned on his headlights he got a
plume of smoke from under his dash sooooo we’re now spending the night in
Laramie…in a motel that has no internet service and no Sprint phone
service. Oh yeah, the winds picked back
up and there’s no where to have a cigar.
And the bathroom fan doesn’t work so we have that door and our room door
open to air out the failed fumigation experiment Brian and his butt executed in
there.
I don’t like Laramie.
-- Pictures along the way --
Because I was bored and I want some Ohlins shocks for my Ducati.
More borning lay ahead. Windmills are to old Volkswagens like heads on spears are to humans. Unfriendly territory.
Yup, more boredom ahead.
Wheee! +50mph winds for my fatigued body, yeah! Thankfully they were mostly tail winds.
Today was basically uneventful and BORNING. I like these little trips because they allow me to see different places in the US, especially the places where I would NOT want to live! I can check southern Idaho and northern Utah off my list of places I would not live (we already know Kansas is one of them). Eastern Oregon, sorry to say, is one of those as well. I guess living west of the Cascade mountains has spoiled me. I love the greenery, the winding roads and temperate weather. Hope I haven't offended too many volks; it's just my opinion.
See the flags? That's how windy it was.
There was a strong west by south westerly wind which was, thankfully, a tail-wind for us. So our mileage was positively affected. My best mileage was 28mpg. With only two stops for gas my total for the day was 13.16 gallons, with just over 219 miles on the last fill up (8.0 gallon fill). Oh, I also dropped from 91-92 octane to 87 per Brian's recommendation. No pinging. Tomorrow we finally head into the mountains (yeay, curves!) so we shall see how the engine handles the load going up hill.
Oh yeah, at a rest stop we looked at the small puddle of oil under my car and it's coming from in front of the engine so we know what that means: Main seal. Uhg. I should be okay for the trip and can replace it once I'm back home. Anyway, oil loss isn't terrible. I did notice that the backing plate on the left rear wheel is wet looking and a check of the brake fluid reservoir shows a drop in the level so I have a small leak back there. Let's hope it doesn't get worse.
Stitched panoramic view of BORING, between Idaho and Utah.
Dinner was at a great Italian restaurant, Zucca's. We each had a seafood spaghetti and mussels that were great. Cigar for the evening was a 90+ rated Alec Bradley Prensado...which left me disappointed. It started off great, rich and spicy like a smokey chilli pepper but after a little while it petered out. Like, I couldn't keep it lit! I'd light it, get a good draw, then only one or two more and phthft, nada! Brian was there and saw I tried and tried to no avail to keep that sucker alive. Not happy with that. Let's hope that was a bad cigar and the other one will be okay.
Okay, here's a video when we were bored today. It's Brian in his Notch running with magical tires:
We left our first gas station at 9:10 and made good
time.Then Brian’s hood unlatched.So we pulled over and he pushed it back down
and we were back on our merry way.There
is a safety hook so we weren’t worried about the hood flying open – them German
engineers are smart volks.But a bump
later and it unlatched and we were on the side of the road, pushing it back
down.And repeat.So annoyed by the frequent stops we pulled
out some duct tape and further secured the hood.Nope.It came undone again a little later.Uhg.After some fiddlin’ around
we saw that the catch was ‘sluggish’ so
we sprayed some oil on it and worked the release…yup, that’s what it
needed!The catch was now moving back to
the locked position like it was supposed to and it held the hood down.We were back to uninterrupted driving.
Two small sections of scary gravel along the beautiful Umpqua stretch weren't fun.
Long stretches of uninterrupted driving.Yawn.
Temps were in the upper 80s so the drive was a tad on the
hot side but not unbearable like prior drives.We both are leaking a little oil but I seem to have more coming from the
center line of the engine and a little from the right side.I did need to add a ½ quart of oil mid-trip
and will likely need more in the morning…which reminds me, I need to check the
oil sump cover and make sure the acorn nuts and drain plug are snug.At least my tires are less than two years old
and holding up, heheheh.
I had quite a few long, straight stretches with a purple Notchback in my sights.
Gas mileage for me was in the mid-to-upper 20s so that’s
good.We made it to Ontario, OR, about
6:30 Pacific time, 7:30 Mountain time as that is the time zone we’re now
it.I put in 20.02 gallons of 91 octane
in my car today.
The day ended with a nice Carlos Torano (Exodus 1959) cigar
sitting behind our cars in the parking lot, enjoying the cool evening air.Let’s hope the rest of the trip is
uneventful.Yawning is a good thing when
you’re driving a classic vehicle cross-country!
