924Board.org

[ideola]

Just got KY covered...

Still need:
Memphis
Little Rock / Hot Springs
Roswell
Amarillo
St. Louis

Got all the equipment loaded up tonight. Camera and clothes get loaded tomorrow, along with full system check on the car. Just about ready for departure!
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[ideola]

The adventure begins!
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[ideola]

12 hours of driving finds us safely in Memphis, enjoying some BBQ and live music @ BBKing's Blues Club. Hope to make Hot Springs by 10 PM CST tonite.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[helowrench]

two of my favorite cities, and for completely utterly different reasons.

Rob

[Khal]

[ideola]

We arrived safely in Austin this evening around 6 PM local time. Tomorrow, it's on to San Antonio in the morning, and Seminole Canyon by nightfall.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[helowrench]

I sure hope that you are going to link to an album for the rest of us home bounders to live vicariously.

Rob

[GoodCat]

Alex has you covered, but I'm Indy as well and would be glad to hop out for help if he isn't available in the name of road trips , pm'd
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1980 Porsche 931

[ideola]

Well, we made it all the way home safely, a day early to boot
Thanks again to everyone who offered to help...thankfully, the car performed very well, and we didn't need to call in any favors.

I'll post back later with a full trip report, and yes, there will be pictures, and lots of 'em!
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[El Chato]

Great trip, encouraging to all, these cars go all the way
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1979 924 N/A, Snail Shell
1980 924 N/A
1976 924 N/A

It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

Today's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why.

[ideola]

Teaser pix:

Hot Springs Mountain Drive


Goat Mountain, Big Bend National Park


Paddling the Rio Grande in Santa Elena Canyon

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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[El Chato]

Great Pics, keep em comming,
_________________
1979 924 N/A, Snail Shell
1980 924 N/A
1976 924 N/A

It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

Today's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why.

[ideola]

OK, time for the trip report:

Vital Statistics

• Total Distance: 4,228 miles
  
• Fuel Consumed: 193.105 gallons
  
• Average Mileage: 21.89 MPG
  
• Average Fuel Cost: USD$2.076 per gallon
  
• Fuel Expense: USD$400.81
  
• Lodging Expense: USD$499.06
  
• Food Expense: USD$310.91
  
• Entertainment Expense: USD$497.37
  
• Supplies & Misc Expense: USD$44.64
  
• TOTAL TRIP EXPENSE: $1,752.79

Ignition Issues
On day one, we ran into just a tiny bit of issues between Cincinnati and Louisville. The ignition kept cutting out sporadically, so we immediately suspected the ignition switch. Fortunately, we had the foresight to pack a spare good unit. After 20 minutes, we had it replaced and were back on the road...but the problem returned immediately, worse than before Now we were really concerned...the prospect of dealing with 10 days of intermittent ignition was not appealing.

At the next exit, we inspected all of the wiring for the ignition. As it turns out, we had replaced the main battery terminal bolt before the trip, and the nut for the new bolt was slightly smaller than the original. Apparently, all of the vibration from the terrible Michigan and Ohio highways caused the ring terminal from the primary ignition wire to jiggle its way loose, and slip over the nut...it was kind of stuck in place, so not completely disconnected, but obviously it was intermittently cutting out the power to the ignition system. We disassembled the entire positive battery connection, and re-attached the wires and such in a different order to make sure the connection couldn't come loose again. Voila! Problem solved, not a hint of trouble for the rest of the trip. That was a big relief!

Hot Start Issues
We stopped for lunch at Lynn's Paradise Cafe in Louisville KY (I had the Fried Green Tomato BLT). While having lunch, a major thunderstorm with pea-gravel-sized hail came through, so we were in no hurry. We waited out the storm, and upon departing, the car didn't want to fire up...cranked just fine, but no start. Drat! The dreaded hot start problem! We hadn't had a problem with that previously, but unfortunately, we were plagued with the issue for the rest of the trip. We had brought along some starting fluid, so we were able to get going again. For most of the trip, the pump-priming and pedal-to-the-floor trick worked as long as the car hadn't sat for more than an hour. An hour or more, and starter fluid was the only solution. Fortunately, our itinerary helped us avoid that situation for the most part, but we now had a new issue to chase down upon our return. There wasn't much to be done about it on the road, other than trying as much as possible to avoid having to resort to starter fluid, primarily by carefully timing our stops.

Overall Running
Aside from the above, we had absolutely no other running issues for the rest of the trip, the car performed beautifully. The coolant temp rarely passed the first tick mark on the gauge, only going to the half-way mark the few times we were in stop-and-go traffic. The oil temps tended to hover around 80°C, and only passed the 90°C mark a few times, never exceeding 100°C. Under full cruise, the oil pressure stayed consistently between 4-5 bars, and the battery & charging system performed well, showing nearly 14V charge throughout the trip. The tires handled well in all situations, the ride was very smooth, no vibration whatsoever, and swapping in the replacement steering shaft did wonders for the handling and feel for the driver.

Fuel Economy
We were very interested to see what kind of fuel economy we would achieve. During last year's trip to 944Fest, we had recorded about 21MPG, but those results were uncertain because we discovered that the tachometer has an annoying tendency to sporadically stick. For this trip, we meticulously recorded every segment of travel between fill ups, and cross-checked mileage against Google maps. As such, the fuel economy numbers are still somewhat imprecise, but over a 4200+ mile trip, they seem to be fairly reasonable, especially considering our payload:

• 2 humans @ ~300 pounds
  
• ~50 pounds of camera gear
  
• ~50 pounds of camping gear
  
• ~60 pounds of clothing and personal effects
  
• ~30 pounds of food, beverages, and extra water
  
• ~90 pounds of tools (full toolbox + floor jack)
  
• ~75 pounds of spare parts, fluids, emergency equipment, etc.

We averaged nearly 22MPG for the entire trip, with several segments in the 25-26MPG range. What was puzzling were a couple of segments in Texas where the mileage dipped to under 15MPG. What we noticed later was that many of the stations in Texas only had choices of 86 and 88 octane, and we may have used the lower octane without realizing it. The other factor, was that both of those measurements were based upon very short segments, one being only 54 miles and the other being 155 miles (i.e. the effective sampling rate was probably skewed). As for the higher mileage numbers, we noted a fairly significant drop-off in economy when exceeding 70 MPH, probably at least 3-4 MPG during stretches in which we were driving 80 MPH (there are several long stretches in Texas where the speed limit is 75 MPH, as a rule, we kept our speeds to no more than 5 over the limit).

In any event, considering the weight we were carrying, plus the mountainous terrain in several areas, we were very pleased with the overall fuel economy. At the halfway point of the trip, we pulled the plugs for visual inspection to make sure the thin air at elevation (~4000-6000 ft through Big Bend National Park) wasn't causing the mixture to go too rich, but the plugs looked perfect. We also noted that although the fuel reserve light comes on as soon as the fuel indicator hits the 3/4 empty mark, which seems a tad early, it consistently came on when we had consumed 13+ gallons, so we now have a good benchmark for how much fuel remains when it lights up.

Summary
Overall, it was tremendously satisfying to see how well this nearly 30-year-old car performed on the trip. It was absolute confirmation that the car is ready to be handed over to my son for some beginning-driver-abuse although we are hoping to chase down the hot start problem within the next week or two. Driving through the mountains with all that weight was definitely an adventure...having a turbo would have certainly improved the enjoyment factor through those stretches. The NA motor really has no gumption or pull at elevation below 3000 RPM, so keeping the revs relatively high through those stretches was really the key, which was sure to have an impact on overall fuel economy. By comparison, it makes driving the car on our nice flat roads in Michigan that much more enjoyable!
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[ideola]

And now, for some photos (click title or image for complete photo album):

Hot Springs National Park


San Antonio Missions National Historic Park


International Amistad Reservoir & National Recreation Area


Seminole Canyon State Park


Big Bend National Park


Fort Davis National Historic Site


Guadalupe Mountains National Park

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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[Chrenan]

Did you take all the pictures yourself? Very nice photography!
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1987 951 - M193 Version for Japan