It's Getting Close

Tick, tick, tick..... the clock is ticking towards our leaving for Texas and on to Mexico. Our lists tend fluctuate, they grow longer, some things get done, things get crossed out, and then it starts over with a new list. This will be a busy week getting all the last bits and pieces ready to go. It's time to start finding all the spare parts, tools, fluids and oils, and everything else that we'll load down the truck with. These are scattered all over the shop at the moment, and need to become one big pile. There's a short list of things left to do to the car, like a thorough nut and bolt tighting, and a wax job to make it all pretty for the car show in San Miguel Allende, among others. I'll tell you more about the car show later. I'm all worn out just thinking about this, a little nap and I'll be all better.

Next Time: The Road to La Carrera Panamericana

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I Got Mine!

As one of the great philosophers of the 20th century once said, "I got mine, don't worry bout his". Of course you all know that was said by the late, great Godfather of soul, James Brown. I'll borrow it to tell you we made a trip to the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento to secure our tourist cards and car permits. On our last trip for the Chihuahua Express, because of a new trailer, it became a mini-marathon to get our paperwork. We had everything in order, but the Mexicans aren't too keen on temporary registrations, they want to see some good ol' metal license plates! This time we decided to try for the permits here, the upside being that they speak English.

We got up early and gassed it to be there by 8am when they opened. First thing is the tourist card, all good, no lines, I'd even made copys of our drivers licenses and credit cards like they wanted. Unfortunately, at 5:45 am, I wasn't at my sharpest, and left Rick's VISA in the copier! D'OH, you idiot!! For the car permits, the bond has to be in the name of the registered owner. Kindly, our clerk let this pass, mostly because we had to wait an extra three hours for her supervisor to call back about the Chevy's VIN number not being long enough. That was almost a fumble but, all's well that ends well and we came home with the goods.

Next Time: It's Getting Close

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Gremlins

We are about 14 days until SS El Platillo Volador sets sail for a 3 week cruise of Mexico. The gremlins are creeping around these days, causing us to unexpectedly have starter problems. I've been putting miles on the car, just so we can try and discover any last minute frets. This one popped up suddenly when Matt drove the car home, and then on me in a parking lot. It was not going to start, even after beating mercilessly on the starter and finally had AAA on the phone ordering up a flatbed. One last try, while waiting for the operator to come back on, and it fires right up. Needless to say, a new starter is on the way here. We are on the virtual to keep the gremlins in check.

Next Time: I Got Mine!

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One Step Backwards, Two Steps Forward

We have had to take a small step backwards to make a leap forward in finishing some needed repairs.One of the old bugs in the car has been an oil leak at the main seal, it's been there since creation. We tried to fix it before the Chihuahua race, and thought it was a done deal, but it came back and has been a worry since. The main seal is between the oil pan and the block, at the back of the motor where the flywheel is connected to the crankshaft. A leak here could mean oil getting on the clutch disk, and then, that's all she wrote. The leak never seemed that bad to me, I mean, hey, what's a couple of drops, but Rick has a thing, so it was time to dig in and find the problem.
In taking it all apart, we found that a roller bearing that sits inside the end of the crankshaft had started to slide out of itself, not good, the flywheel needs resurfacing and the clutch was toasted. In this particular block, there is an adaptor plate used to house the main seal, this is where the problem originated. The idea was that maybe this adaptor wasn't right and to replace it. Because the headers have been changed, we could now completely remove the oil pan with out having to take out the motor and get a good look at things. Unfortunately, everything looked fine, no cuts or wear, no visual problems. OK, now what? Well, someone decided to do something almost unheard of and very unusual in engine building, read the directions! And there it was, in black and white, it said, "remove the locating dowel". A locating dowel is a round, one inch piece of medal, used on most of the GM blocks to center the main seal. With this particular adaptor, it's not used. As far as the clutch, we tossed out the Ram clutch we used and went with one made by a small company called Superior Clutch , they make a Kelvar disc that's supposed to be top notch, we'll see.

Well, after just a small freak out, one of the oil pan bolts wasn't tight and there was still a leak, we think we have a major problem solved. I put about a hundred miles on the car yesterday and no sign of any oil, wheeew!

Next Time: Gremlins

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El Platillo Volador

El Platillo Volador, The Flying Saucer!
What you are looking at is a postcard we had made to hand out to the mass of fans we should encounter during La Carrera, clamoring for autographs. And if not, we're good on Christmas cards this year. When we first bought the car, one of the things we noticed was that there was an alien head sticker or a Grayling for you Area 51 fans, on the back window of the Chevelle. This was significant, in that it gave us a means to name the car. I think this is a good story. There was a guy from Mexico who worked at the shop, so I asked "How do you say UFO or flying saucer in Spanish"? He was a little perplexed by this, and didn't quite get what I meant. Finally, after a bit more coaxing, he got a big smile of understanding on his face, and said "Apaches"!! Whoa, oh man, that goes deep into the psyche of a Mexican, way back when Apaches came across the border and and took a few pilgrims to Planet Arizona. I thought it was a great answer.


Next Time: One Step Backwards, Two Steps Forward

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Summer Sabatical

I've been on a bit of a layoff from the blog since we got back from the Chihuahua race. I wouldn't exactly say I've been fiddling and nothing has been getting done.We've been doing enough things to the Chev to keep a little busy, and now that we are about 30 days out till we leave, it's time to get back to writing about what's been going on.

Now if I can just find my notes........

Next Time: El Platillo Volador
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Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

It's been a summer of making some big and small changes to our car, things that even if you saw it before, you might not notice. If you look at this picture of the Chevy, you can see we have added a few nifty stickers to our ride. Once we get to Oaxaca, I'm sure we'll find a few things for the local Picasso's to add on.
Some of the new additions include, a Terratrip rally computer, so I can really get confused navigating. We have changed the exhaust headers from full size Hooker Headers to shortys made by JBA. This was because the Hooker's were the lowest point on the car and scrapped bottom on most every "tope" in Mexico during the Chihuahua Express. The jury still out on this idea. The clutch linkage was reworked taking it from needing to be god-like to push it in, to semi-superhero status. Some of the smaller fixes are, we reattached the window nets so if the door actually did fly open, we would now probably stay in the car. The gas petal was repositioned to eliminate a day long foot cramp and the fuel filter moved so it can be changed in three minutes rather than fifteen.

One thing we had overlooked was the breather on the rear end. The stock GM one was left on for the Chihuahua race, and the car got little greasy on the bottom side. That was changed to a long breather tube, with a catch can. We've replaced and repaired our auxiliary fuel pump, which also gave us problems in Chihuahua.

There's been some lights added, a third brake light, and LED bulbs to the regular brake lights. And also, a nice, bright red oil pressure light, in case it all goes bad.
There's a few other things I'm forgetting, but it's work in progress, right up till October 26th, about 8AM.


Next Time: Summer Sabbatical

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