Transportation - Part 2 - or "Trip, Take 2" - 10/05/2013

After much time and preparation, I flew down to San Diego to make the drive back to San Francisco with the wagon and a Pontiac 400 in the back.



The infamous pepper tree in Steve's back yard strikes again and we decided to power wash the car off to get as many webs, widows, and pepper tree droppings as possible. Also found where the leaks were: the front windshield and all 4 doors do not leak at all. The tailgate also does not leak and that small hole in the roof does not let water into the car. The driver's side rear glass has 3 spots where it drips water in, I did not see any obvious signs of water being let in on the passenger side rear glass.



Before a long trip, prep work is essential. Car goes on lift, all fittings are greased, all underside components inspected.



The factory engineering drawings for dual exhaust on a wagon: apparently cancelled before start of production of this model year. This shows how the engineers wanted it routed.



Not bad work by the shop, almost matches the drawings perfectly. They routed the pipes in a way that there are no stresses on them when mounted up and you can easily access the starter without having to move the exhaust out of the way (which is nice).



Car is ready to go!



Time for fun! But before that, we nap. I head out at 9:15PM and caught a cat nap from 7:20 until 9PM.



And home! Made it in at 6:15AM after driving all night. I don't really like it, but it's the ideal way to travel. Just me and the long distance truckers on the freeway.

Not a bad trip. Car got between 12.5 and 15MPG on the freeway doing 74-80MPH and needed zero effort to do it. Amusingly at the beginning of the trip the gauge cluster lights were all burnt out or ceased working except for the non-working fuel gauge and oil pressure gauge - I shone a flashlight periodically to verify the speed and temperature. By the time I hit LA, the temperature gauge light had started working and once I was 100 miles from home the alternator gauge light had started working, giving a little light to shine on the odometer trip but not much else. Kind of amusing. Car flew up Grapevine at 65MPH keeping a steady 210 degrees the entire time. Can't beat that with a stick.

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Last updated October 6th, 2013