lancylad Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Sorry to hear about your troubles, guys - we're following your threads with interest. Our little green machine is back on the road. She now has a small piece of Toyota and a small piece of Subaru. Fully functional, and all for a huge cost of $171.00. The guys at Joe's Garage in Cody are amazing! We're off into the park today ...fingers crossed thar all will be good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancylad Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 What a great day, beautiful weather and more great seven roads albeit slow ones, the scenery as I am sure you all are aware was remarkable. Had lunch at the Old Faithful Inn, what an awesome place that is. Terric food and friendly staff, followed by watching Old Faithful do his thing...we amdethe most of the incredible scenery and took lots of shots. We will post some of them on our return to Nanton. Staying in Livingstone tonight then on to Canada tomorrow. The car is running well so no more repairs to report on that front. Good motoring everyone.. Will post again soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzempel Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Today was one for the books. You know the kind...the ones with everything going wrong, and an unexpected ending...? Early this morning, and I do mean early--3:30am, I woke and decided to get an early start on my car. I had left it at the Sheridan, Wyoming ford stealer because I expected that they would be best equipped to discover any useable starter for a Birkin. The standard unit is from an obscure (and so far unidentified) Ford from South Africa. I had been a bit concerned that, while I could afford to fix my car at my leisure, my wife needed to be in Jackson on Friday to fly home. I arranged for her to ride withthe others back to Jackson, so when I left a Oh-dark-thirty, I was assured that I wasn't actually abandoning her in a strange inn 27 miles from the nearest town. When I got to Sheridan, I was a bit early for either the stealer or the local parts counter, so I found a cafe with wifi and both posted yesterday's saga (sorry I couldn't do it earlier, the mountain inn wifi was completely flaky and died entirely when a local transformer blew up). Once teh sun came up, the local parts guys arrived tfor work. I already knew they'd not be able to help me with the starter, but I asked anyway. I was right. I just got blank stares. But, the real reason I bothered them with hard questions was to find out if there were any starter rebuilder businesses in Sheridan. Unfortunately, there were not. that was a real setback. I had counted on a city the size of Sheridan, somewhat cut off from the rest of civilization, to have one. So, I went on to plan two--I called Dick Brink at Texas Motor Works. Dick had a starter in stock, and was more than happy to next-day ship it to me. Meanwhile, as I was talking to Dick, the ford guys arrived for work. No, Sheridan isn't really that small, the two places just happened to be nearly next door to each other. I asked Dick to find out if there were any cross fit starters/solenoids, and he gladly set off for his shop to findout. the Ford guys, on the other hand, were sort of hopping from one foot to the other in excitement, waiting to tell me wha tthey knew. It seems that the newest tech at the stealership had a few free minutes to spare and he started checking the wires. Imagine my surprise and happiness when they told me he had found the original wire crimp at teh solenoid was so poorly done, the wire was only in place from tradition. There was no contact between teh wire and the solenoid. He cleaned everything up and recrimped the wire. The car fired right up yesterday evening, and he took it for an eye-opening spin around the maintenance building. His eyes were still wide when I arrived this morning. So, I was back in the race. I was about an hour behind the other guys, so I wasted no time heading back iinto the mountains. There were, however, two scenic roads between Dayton and Cody. I fell victim to the Fifty-fifty-ninety rule. Whenever you have a fifty-fifty chance at making the right decision, ninety percent of the time, you'll choose the wrong one. I had a great drive down Shell Canyon while everyone else took the upper route. When I re-entered cell-phone civilization, I discovered my mistake (if you can call it that), and arranged to meet in Cody for lunch, which we did. Re-connected, we set out for Red Lodge across the Bear Tooth Highway. The Bear Tooth Highway is another of those superlative roads everyone needs to drive once. We're planning to do it again tomorrow in the other direction. The road's summit crests at 10,960 feet, and there are still snow banks on both sides of teh road. It was a bit chilly as the wind blew across the snow fields, but it was also incredibly exhilerating. I had fallen well behind the other guys because of road maintenance delays and my grandfatherly slow driving. But, I didn't care. It was absolutely amazing. Over the top, the road decends quickly and before long, we arrived in Red Lodge. As we pulled up, Dion was putting the last finishing touches on his alternator replacement. We are a complete troupe again. Tomorrow, we plan to attack the mountain and traverse to Jackson where the tour officially ends. I will be driving home for a few days after that, and will try to keep posting until I get home. So far, this has been an incredible experience filled with amazing people. thanks guys. Until next time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rag1998 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Randall, Thanks for the wonderful posts, visiting the site every day just to see the updates on this tour. Looks like you guys had a wonderful time.. Keep the posts and pictures coming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Life is good! If I had a "bucket list", driving the Beartooth in my se7en would be on it. Like others, I am hoping you guys just keep touring and posting:). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancylad Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Great to hear that you are all back on the road again. Randell, wish you could have had the mechanic I found while we were in Cody, he would have found your problem in no time flat I am sure. Our trip into Yellowstone park was nothing less than spectacular. What an amazing landscape, no matter where you look there is always something to create a visual feast for the eyes and soul. Needless to say our cameras were put to full use. Mental pictures of the old western movies and the rugged landscapes with John Wayne chasing the bad guys thru Canyons and surveying his next route from a cliff top were all flashing thru my comic book mind. Each stop we made had me on the look out for a bear or checking where I was placing my feet just in case there really were Rattlesnakes out here..our stop at the Old Faithfull lodge was well worth it, having lunch in the lodge was a trip back in time the architecture of the place is stunning and a pleasant surprise is the more than reasonable cost of dining there. Our timing was perfect, we finished our lunch just in time to see Old Faithfull do his thing, I love Nature and to see and feel the power of a natural force of the earth is soul inspiring. There is so much to see and do in this beautiful Country of yours we will be back to do and see more. Around every bend in the road was a new sight to enjoy, although I would have loved to travel at true 7 speed around some of them, it was also a joy to meander along these roads and soak in the scenery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75TwinCam Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Keep the posts coming Randall, it's helping me to keep the mundane real world I had to return to in denial. Glad to hear that it was just the wiring in your car (imagine that - dodgy wiring in a Seven! Even one with no trace of Lucas). Wish I was still along. My best to the group. I'll get some pictures sorted and posted in the other thread in the next couple of days. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzempel Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Today was a Very Long Day. It started normally enough, in the usual way. Kelly and I got up early, enjoyed a cup of coffee as the sun rose, then walked to a nice cafe for a light breakfast. After breakfast, we hurried back to the Motel to tell everyone how great the cafe was. At the motel, we learned that Skip and Tom had decided to leave for Colorado right away immediately. Good byes and well wishes were said, and they departed forthwith. Everyone else went to the Cafe, leaving me a few minutes to pack and warm my engine--my cold engine mapping is next thing to awful, so I need some extra time to get heat into the engine or it's essentially un-drivable. After several minutes at high idle, I shut it down. At about the time everyone returned from breakfast, I noticed a small pool of fluid under the nose of my car. Suspicious, but actually hoping somebody's dog had marked my car, I pushed it back to inspect the puddle. The good and bad news was that it wasn't dog pee, it was coolant. Unable to definitively determine the source of the coolant leak, I removed the nose and gathered a crowd. Crowds of concerned onlookers always make things better, don't they? I have a plumber's nightmare between the radiator and the water pump, with scads of hoseclamps and little short bits of hose. The consensus was that one of the clamped junctions must be leaking, so I needed to tighten all of them. Including the completely inaccessible ones. Off came the radiator--well, almost, I unbolted it and pulled it forward enough to tighten all the clamps. As that was being done, a new leak appeared at the crimped-in fan temp switch bung. Wonderful. As Gert, Dion, and Bill all roared off to the Beartooth Highway, I set off in the other direction to find a bottle of radiator stop leak. By the time I found the auto parts store, bought it, and poured that sludge in my cooling system, I was at least a half hour behind. So, up the Beartooth I went. It was still pretty early in the morning as I approached the nearly 11,000 foot top. And it was near freezing. It was so cold, my temperature gauge needle was trying to burrow into the left side to keep warm. Did I mention how my car doesn't run well when it's cold? What a bear it was to keep it going forward...especially when I came upon one or another of those lost souls who have no idea that fivee miles per hour is not appropriate on a highway like that, no matter how spectacular the scenery. I nursed it over the top, and mercifully the temperature rose to comfortable levels as we descended the other side. Soon enough, we were at the north gate into Yellowstone. The cute Rangerette was interested in the Sevens, but hadn't been able to ask questions "when those other guys came through," because there was a line of cars behind them. So, I was still about a half hour behind. As soon as we entered the park, I knew it wasn't going to be a good day. The road speed limit was 35 mph. And, there was suddenly traffic. Bad drive traffic. Drivers who thought that since they had paid an entrance fee they were free to do whatever numbskull thing they wanted to. We had about a hundred miles to cover with those idiots. In the park, we finally saw a bison and an elk. There was a huge crowd at one point, blocking the road. Apparently there was a grizzly in the adjacent field, though it had just gone over a small hump and laid down amidst the flowers so nobody could see it. Great. These idiots were all gathered to look at a bear they couldn't see. Get out of my way. Yellowstone is full of all that neat steamy stuff, but I didn't want to park my car anywhere near it because I don't want it to learn any more bad habits. So, we buzzed through the park, only stopping for the obligatory Old Faithful show. Once it blew it's top, we were off. Back into that horrible traffic and ridiculous speed limits. After Yellowstone, we passed through Teton National Park. I suppose you have to do that to get to Jackson, but there wasn't much to recommend it. I'm glad I didn't pay to get in. The traffic was a bit better because the tourists were all stopped taking photos of themselves in front of the Tetons. Have you ever wondered how lonely those early explorers had to be to name a jagged heap of rock "Large Breast?" Those had to be some uptight folks.... Down teh road and around the corner, and we were back in Jackson. I had just checked into the Motel and Gert called. It seems that after a full day of driving and sightseeing we had arrived at nearly the same time, he at his friends house and I at the Motel. Amazing. Not quite as amazing as my wife, however. This morning, as I poked at my coolant leaks, she struck up a conversation with a woman in the expanding audience. It turned out that they had both gone to the same High School and sung in the same music programs. It just goes to show how small the world is, except when you're driving through it at 25mph behind a lost tourist from Kansas. Tomorrow, Gert, Bill, and Dion all head for home with their cars resting comfortably trailers. I, on the other hand, just can't get enough of these seemingly endless minor mechanical irritations. I'll set off for home in my Birkin. I don't know which route I'll take, but I'm sure it'll be an adventure. Until next time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scannon Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Tom and I made it into Grand Junction at 8 PM. None of the roads go straight from Red Lodge to Grand Junction so it took 13 hours to get here. About 1.5 hours of that was spent stopped at construction sites or for lunch. I think we did about 700 miles. I left early Red Lodge at 7:04 AM and despite a long delay at the construction site at the top of the Beartooth Highway I made it to the Chief Joseph Highway Junction in 61 minutes. I had only five cars/trucks to pass and had a glorious trip over the top. There were only three cars to pass on the Chief Joseph Highway and total time from Red Lodge to the end of Chief Joseph highway was one hour and forty two minutes. Tom took the truck and trailer (of shame) over the short, non mountainous route and we met and put the Miata in the trailer and headed South for Grand Junction. We saw a lot of very desolate terrain as we traversed Montana, Wyoming and into Colorado where things got much greener and prettier. Tomorrow AM we have an appointment at Flyin Miata to test drive the LS2 powered Miata with about 480 HP. Then it is on to Erie, about a 4.5 hour drive on I-70. It has been a fantastic trip, probably the best road trip I have been on. Thanks to Rosie and Gert for planning and setting it up, I'm looking forward to the next one and bringing along the Caterham instead of the Miata. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzempel Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Today was tough. The euphoria of the tour has worn off, and it's a chore to drive the thousand miles home from Jackson. We had a nice dinner last night, choosing Thai over burgers and steaks. I think we're beefed out after two weeks of nothing but. We all slept a bit late, and consequently got a late start. Even though we were traveling independently, we seem to have fallen into complimentary habits during the tour. By the time I was packed and ready to leave, I had decided to just go straight home rather than take any chances breaking down on a super lonely two lane highway through the wasteland. So, I made tracks for the interstate. I took a different route out of Wyoming than I took in. It was beautiful. I followed the snake river for a while, then turned away through the hills. After a few scenic miles, the hills gave way to sagebrush. Beautiful in it's own way, but not my preference. Mile after mile of sagebrush passed, then I was in the Utah red dirt and outcrops. Provo Canyon was beautiful, Provo traffic was horrible but soon I was just doing the boring I15 drone. I stopped in Nephi for a break, and Gert drove up. apparently he and Dion had been caravanning and followed the exact same route I took. We had been playing leap frog all morning without knowing it. Dion stopped in Nephi for the evening, Gert had reservations in Beaver City. I have no plans, so I continued until I was tired of driving. Well, not quite. I drove until the sun went down and other driver's inner idiot came out. I ended up in Cedar City. The nicer motels were all full, and I wasn't willing to stay in on of the lesser places. A nice girl at the Holiday Inn counter called a B&B that her mother likes. I was lucky, not only did they still have one room left, the owner discounted the room rate. At this point, all I want is a dark, quiet bed and a shower to clean off the road grime. All told, I drove about 600 miles today. All I want to do now is to get home and put the Birkin away. Until next time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z3 Stalker Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Good to hear all are almost home or home already safe and sound. Well it's almost time to start planning the next trip in two years time; right Bill:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Any idea who put the most miles on their se7en (exclusive of trailering) on this tour? 600 miles in a day is a lot of driving in one of our little (loud, hot, bumpy, fumey) wonderful cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancylad Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Havn't added the mileage up yet, speedo broke so will have to figure it the old fashioned way. Guessing at about 2500 miles. Randell will have a fair bit of mileage on his car.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomove Posted July 24, 2011 Author Share Posted July 24, 2011 (edited) Well, we are home. Pretty uneventful tow at a good clip together with Dion. He stopped for the night at Nephi, UT. We continued and even caught up with Randall at a gas station in the middle of nowhere on I15. Only a few miles miles later, the engine of our trusty Hyundai Santa Fe cut out from one second to the other. No luck restarting until 10 minutes later. Another few miles on the freeway and it cut out again. AAA tow truck came, loaded the Hyundai on the flatbed and hitched the trailer. He got us to our reserved overnight place at Beaver, UT (only 35 miles away) and told us he has one or two tows a day with this symptom, related to fuel pump overheating. Well, it was somewhat hot and the fuel level was a bit low so maybe the pump did get hot (never done that before but maybe that 8 year old thing is on the way out). Anyway, in Beaver we filled up with fresh cold gas to the top and kept it high: no trouble since. Not sure how we can convince the dealership to replace an obviously working fuel pump on the 10-year warranty but I don't really trust it anymore. To give it credit, this was the first trouble with this car in 8 years. Now...unpack, stock up refrigerator, shower, download/upload pictures, and....back to work on Monday :ack: It was a fabulous trip, as others mentioned. Thanks again to everybody who joined and made it a special event. Now, while we were driving back through the Nevada desert my mind was wandering where to go next in 2013. Eastern Oregon, northern Idaho, western Montana, Glacier NP etc. (maybe into Canada?) just sounds good. Let me think about that a bit. Gert Edited July 24, 2011 by slomove Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedwagon Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 in tank fuel pump cooled and lubricated by gas, anything less than 1/4 tank and the pump is at risk of excessive wear, it will quit again, no question about it and one of these quits will be the last. the dealer should be smart enough to know this and may even pay for your tow. tee heee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzempel Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 (edited) Wow, today was crazy hot. It probably wasn't as hot as South Dakota, but the heat combined with four or five hundred miles of droning freeway full of idiot drivers in big SUVs and pickup trucks drove me to near madness. I left my luxurious overnight digs this morning after a terrific breakfast. Unfortunately, the breakfast made me a bit late leaving. It was aready pretty warm in Cedar City and I knew it would quickly get worse. Even though it was dull interstate, there was still a bit of scenery to look at as the miles rolled by. Southern Utah has some spectacular geoligical formations--I know I was close to Radiator Springs, but somehow I missed the exit. The North West corner of Arizona was also beautiful. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Nevada or California. It was a real chore to press on through the desert, but I was very ready to be home, and there was no other way I'd get there but through the baking heat. It was 98 in Las Vegas, and even hotter through Baker and Barstow. The famous Baker thermometer didn't have any numbers lit, so I have no idea how much higher, but the misery value was huge. I was, however, thankful that I was not going the other direction. The traffic going to Vegas was incredible; it looked like bumper to bumper commute traffic all the way between the Strip and Victorville. Once I crossed the Cajon Pass, the temperature started to moderate, and I knew I was closing in on my final destination. I stayed focused on the goal, and finally reached my driveway. I was exhausted but thrilled to by home. After a quick cool shower, I even feel human again. I'm sure looking forward to sleeping in my own bed after two and a half weeks on the road. My final mileage tally is almost exactly 4,000 miles. The trip odometer reads 4,461 and the speedometer is about 10% high, so... Until next time.... Edited July 24, 2011 by rzempel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Impressive mileage, trip, photos, heat. Not sure what the rest of us will do now for entertainment since the posts here will be winding down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squarefour Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Well I'm back, as well. The trip home was uneventful for me. Thanks again to Gert for organizing it. Thanks to Skip and Tom for the trailer and Miata rides. And Gert, please thank your friends again for the rig parking. My camper did pick up some small furry Wyoming hitchhikers during the tour, whom I hope to murder shortly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomove Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 My pleasure. However, did you check with the Wyoming Fish and Game Dept. if it is O.K. to remove live animals from the state? And did you declare them at the California state line inspection? :jester: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomove Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 (edited) Quick overview of unexpected events (from memory, somewhat chronological, never mind errors and omissions): -- Herb has a broken ignition coil feed wire - fixed on the spot with auto store parts -- Randall's exhaust hanger breaks - fixed with band clamp, is welded later in Custer -- Randall's thermostat housing leaks - fixed with auto store parts -- Derek physically loses complete exhaust - new bracket fabricated in Custer for a few bucks. -- Bill loses speed sensor signal to ECU - minor idle issue, not fixed -- Bob's fuel pump fails - new one found in Custer -- Randall's car has a flat tire - turns out to be a leaking valve stem -- Gert's right front wing stay tube breaks - jury rigged on the spot with 7 hose clamps and several cable ties, holds up until end of tour -- Dion's alternator stops working - 2 days on Skip's trailer until a new 93 Miata alternator is shipped to Red Lodge -- Randall's starter does not work - turns out later to be a bad crimp -- Randall's radiator hose leaks - fixed on the spot by tightening but in the process we moved the fan sensor that started leaking. Radiator leak-stop held up until home. -- Steve's alternator bracket broke on the way home - new bracket fabricated for little money in Cody -- Gert's tow vehicle fuel pump stopped on the way home -- got towed but no fix, worked again with enough fuel in the tank to cool the pump. -- Dion's tow vehicle got rat (or mice?) infested - still working on a solution Summary: everything went pretty well. All part of the adventure.:smilielol5: Edited July 25, 2011 by slomove Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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