Moving: Part 1
Well, that did not go as expected.
I had plans. Other than fixing the front suspension bits last year, I’d mostly been dumping every spare dollar I had into the engine fund. There is an annual event the Roadkill guys from Motortrend put on at the Tucson Dragway and wanted to go and maybe even make a pass! However, dragstrip officials aren’t super excited about cars that leak fluid down the track, plus Wifey would not enjoy a four hour trip in a car that dumps more exhaust into the cab than out the back, has no AC and in all likelihood would require roadside repairs along the way. Rather than trusting myself to build an engine then test it on a road trip, the plan was to buy one, exhaust and one of the aftermarket AC kits. I was probably going to run out of money before managing a transmission and gear upgrade, but I figured this would get us down the hill.
Fast forward to April, 2022. I’ve settled on what I think I’m going to buy. I was literally going through my list and making questions I wanted to ask before purchasing when I got the email blessing my desire to work remotely on a permanent basis. We’ve been wanting to leave our little town for a few years now, but the uncertainty of changing jobs has made that a very slow process. But with official approval, the Camaro fund officially transformed into the Buy A New House fund. However, I still got my road trip in Pandora!
We loaded Pandora up with tools, fluids and guitars and Sheva up with plants and other odds and ends in the rain, then took to the road. We took the long way down avoiding the interstates. The best part is, we had zero breakdowns. I did stop once to pull some rust away from the passenger rear tire so it wouldn’t rub on bumps, but that was the only stop for mechanical issues. I ran out of time to fix things like the harmonic balancer having walked a bit and no longer lining up with 0deg at TDC and the vacuum advance canister being frozen solid. She was a bit hard to start when hot because I think the timing is still a bit too far advanced, but she ran great once running! She never got over 190 degrees, handled great and managed 15mpg over a 6 hour 300 mile trip. It was mostly downhill, but still, I think that’s respectable for a 48 year old engine with over 300,000 miles on it. With scattered storms all the way down, we had an absolutely beautiful drive. This is her longest single drive since I brought her home from Colorado 30 years ago!
She’ll have a new home soon and the build can continue!
