https://instagr.am/p/BrpxaG2gEZf

So cool

Happy New Year Auto Board!

CPJr and I got to squeak in one of our 2018 goals at the last minute and take a road trip in the Red Baron -Take a pickup completely apart, swap a bunch of parts, put it back together, and drive it across Texas?? Challenge Accepted!

A couple days ago, we packed up enough tools to overhaul the space shuttle and took a gigantic leap of faith with minimal coverage in the event of failure. With no chase car and only 400 miles on the odometer - we struck out for a 550 mile drive to the Metroplex for New Years at the in-law's. 0715 hrs and only one lane open at the BP checkpoint???? C'mon man, what is this? A government shut-down?



CPjr and I ditched the cell phones, GPS, & turn by turn directions. We did it old school. His eyes were opened to the man-art of the FOLDING ROAD MAP.



We stuck to 2 lane roads as much as we could, so at Refugio we took 77A up through Goliad. Downtown Cuero...



When we got in the hills between Cuero and Yokum we started to notice a little sputtering pulling hills in the 2000 rpm range - 60mph or so. At first I was concerned we were having a torque converter lockup issue but then it popped/backfired a couple times and I'm pretty convinced it's a timing issue. Driving a little more aggressively and keeping the rpms over 2k when pulling hills, or just backing out of it and not crowding it prevented the issue.... so we drove accordingly. Had to stop in Shiner and pay homage at Spoetzl Brewery.



We ran through the Brazos bottom a ways, I was shocked how much cotton is still in the fields. Damn. I saw lots of ruts where machines has been in trying it.. can't imagine a crop dragging out this late. At Kosse we ran out in the country and stopped in the old Ebenezer Community church and cemetery. There are some ancestors buried there - it was CPrj's first time where his great-greats are buried.



We pushed on up and made it here in time to catch the second half of Clemson dismantling ND in Jerruhworld. Seems like we did spend an inordinate amount of time doing this though. Putting in that big cam might not have been the best move for economy, but who care about economy this far into it, right? 11.2 fun filled miles for every $2.17 gallon, hellzyeah!



Today I took a field trip and paid a visit to someone who'd helped up along the way with good advice following his build very similar to ours. He's built a really nice shop at his house and just completed a beautiful 2 Door Tahoe LS swap built around a Don Hardy bored/stroked 6.0 short block. RIP any tires doomed to that Tahoe. His '70 C10 sports an LT1 5.7 out of an Impala SS.



So here we are 550 miles from home and I don't think I have enough fingernails left to get us home. I might have before the first half of the Aggie game, but no way now... so at some point I'm going to have to stop listening for some new vibration or rattle and learn to settle in the passenger seat and relax. Even if we do stub a toe on the way home - the trip's been a success because we're having fun and in the spirit of the Auto Board we're subscribing to the the credo...

#driveyoursh*t No trailer queen here.

Wish us luck getting home or be ready to answer the call if we need help!

Pahdz said:

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Old school maps

And people wonder why I'm good at directions, can't beat actual maps

Great story and route!

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Agreed, I go out for field work with younger co-workers and they always scoff at the fact that I insist on taking hard copies of maps for our survey areas. Then we get out in the boonies with no phone signals and they act like I am a wizard or something for being able to navigate with paper.

After a long day that started off pretty sketchy, CPjr and I are back home and happy to report 1,225 trouble free miles for our road warrior. We ventured out for some driving while New Year's Day and made a trip into old town Lewisville by Hale's Speed Shop to see if we could peek what twin turbo beast Nathan Hale is currently working on but his shop was locked up tight. The old feed mill did offer some cool photo ops though.

https://instagr.am/p/BsHH4Jmgg28

Leaving yesterday was beyond sketchy. I was originally worried about freezing rain but it was just a steady early morning rain so we headed out. It took a roll of blue shop towels to keep the window clear until the defroster had enough heat to help in the battle. For a long time we both peeked through this little hole in the center of the windshield.



The side mirrors weren't much help so we picked a lane and rode it out with traffic until we crossed the Trinity River... then we discovered that what we thought was a small drip on his side of the dash was more of a small stream running in the cab. Turns out I didn't get the antenna wire sealed as well as I thought (which is stupid, our radio is bluetooth only, why the hell did I even run it in?) CPjr put more blue shop towels to good use.



It took the first shift down 35 until the rain quit around West. CPjr quickly mastered the art of the custom fold on the roadmap to highlight your route. Do this with a Nav screen!



CPjr took the wheel shortly after the weather cleared. He found us some lunch in Lockhart. /OBlockhartbbqargumentprotected

https://instagr.am/p/BsMeDNrgyVy

Milage improved to 14mpg driving with little wind or a slight tailwind, so that was encouraging. Finally, we backed in to the same spot we left from... 1,225 trouble free miles later*.



* I do want to go back to the tuner and have him do some tweaking. Once we got back around Corpus and headed the last stretch south we stopped noticing the lack of power around 1900-2k rpm@60mph. However, since we'd experienced it we could tell that it was still there - it's just that on flat ground it's not as pronounced. Until we took this trip and got in some hills we didn't recognized what we were dealing with, but I really think it needs the timing adjusted. Hopefully we can find something at the tuner. Above and below that narrow band/combination - it runs like a scalded dog.

When I got in last night every sensory input was pegged. The mufflers drone like crazy at 75+ and we spent a lot of time doing 80. My fingertips felt like they were tingling and I could still hear that droning in my head... it was awesome! This has been one of the most satisfying mechanical projects I've ever undertaken. It was like eating javelina... the more we chewed it, the bigger it got... but budget be damned we can say mission accomplished. It may be relegated to the school parking lot route a while... but when the day comes CPjr and I can get away together for another auto adventure - this truck is ready.

ETA. You know how your one-and-only-love-of-your-life supports such a foolish venture? She combs through the project pictures and organizes them into a Shutterfly hard-back photo book and gives it to you for a Christmas present.

All through the Easter holiday we were out of town with family, but I was had a problem in the back of my mind I just couldn't stop obsessing over... namely that I had blown up our junkyard pullout LS that has been running so well. All's well that ends well and it wasn't anything that serious... but it was educational and gave CPjr and I quite the scare.

First, we have driven the wheels off this thing. It has been in the high school parking lot more days than not since we finished. It always catches me off guard when I'm running from one part of the farm to another and look up the farm road or parked at the local corner store and think 'Wow.... who's badas.... oh. That's CPjr headed to or from school or to a buddy's house". That was always the goal - but it's seldom things measure up to the dreams you have while the work is in progress - this has. We go errrywhere.

https://instagr.am/p/Bv7VF0tA_eK


Slowly the black marks out of the drive, and at the farm road intersection down the road, are accumulating; and that's okay, that's what this was all about and I've left a few of my own.



So far 3,000 miles and the only hiccup was the Easter scare.

Last week, the day before we left town, I took a spin and as I approached the farm, out of the blue, Red started running like crap. It was more than just a miss, it was sputtering and it was obvious something happened and happened quick. I rolled into the barn and let it idle while I listened - there was a lot of sputtering and some rattling - but most concerning was a fair amount of white/blue smoke out of the left bank exhaust. I was worried I'd thrown a valve keeper, broken a rocker, maybe lost a lifter.. I didn't know for sure. I tried to start it for my dad after a while and it turned over and locked up tight on a piston. So then I *knew* whatever it was, I'd dropped a valve. So I went the whole Easter weekend stewing: was it bent, was there a hole in a piston, whatever it was - it stopped it hard.

When I got back yesterday I pulled the valve cover to survey the damage and to my surprise the valve train was completely intact. Everything was where it should be and tight... rocker arms look good, none broken, pushrods all tucked in tight, it was time to look elsewhere. That's when I noticed a wet injector, so this morning I cycled the ignition key and watched as my 50# of fuel pressure quickly leaked off to 0 in a few seconds. That normally takes hours to days to happen - we have an injector stuck open. What I had interpreted as valve conflict was actually hydraulic lock. The offender -



I went to town and picked up an injector, spark plug, oil & filter. Before I put in the new injector I pulled the engine through with a racket and when the #7 intake valve cracked gas ran out of the intake, down through the cylinder, and out the spark plug hole - holy crap. That was a lot of gas. After I cleared the cylinder with some compressed air I put everything back and changed the oil & filter and voila! Back on the road none the worse for wear. Very lucky that things weren't worse.

Many thanks to AgWrangler for helping me work through some of my questions and encouraging me to buy some high performance heads, whether we needed them or not. I'm ordering a posi... TONIGHT, with the money I saved on just SHiPPING those heads.