Shoot out preperations...

[IncorpoRatedX]

I'm making the 4 hour drive to Norwalk in the Galant this year, the car has been 100% reliable since I got it, put a lot of miles on it last year. This year however, it's mostly been parked so I'm trying to go over everything with a fine toothed comb and tie up some loose ends.
I've had this annoying minor drive train vibration that I've been hunting for some time now, it's really faint but just enough to drive me insane on highway drives, I fear the 4 hour drive might push me over my edge. I guess I could just turn the music up. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

So far it has:
brand new front axles
newer rear diff & axles
all new brakes
rebuilt and gone through driveshaft
newer lower milage transfer case
ive had multiple transmissions in it

this weekend im putting power steering back in the car (was gone when i got it) and changing the solid 6 puck clutch out for a street disc (help soften any vibrations)

Hopefully I can get this car on-par for a comfortable ride, the auction on my montero ends tomorrow night and I havent planned what to drive for the rest of the year yet... Look for me at shoot out, if i still have hair that likely means i fixed the vibration and didnt rip my hair out on the ride over!

obligatory late night picture after a test drive:

 

[PolskiVR4]

I've always really liked your car so I can't wait to see it at the Shootout.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

Thanks! driving yours out?

 

[GSX_TC]

See ya at the shootout Josh! Goodluck on your trip too man, I'm driving 35 hours myself.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

I hope to hell you have cruise control, i considered reinstalling mine just for this drive haha.

I'll have a spare alternator, coil pack and ignitor, tps sensor, cam positioning sensor and other various parts, as well as my mitsubishi road side tool kit, incase anyone winds up in a bind.

 

[GSX_TC]

Nope cruise control no worky, but I have a lil trick I do with my foot where it's the same as cruise control.


But yeah man glad to know you'll have parts. I won't have many. But I will have tools galore and a floor jack and fuses etc etc

 

[strokin4dr]

I drove the rhd egg from seattle to savannah ga with no cruise and less than 100 hp /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif I remember having to give the right foot a break multiple times on some of the long straight stretches of road out west. Left foot on the gas in a rhd car that I was just getting use to was a bit awkward but necessary!

 

[turbofonz]

Good sh*t.

I just got my a/c working in my vr-4, I would LOVE to take it on the 10+ hour trip to Ohio, but I'll be in a 1g instead, because I'll be racing.

VR-4 is SUCH a better cruiser than a tin can 1g /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[KiNgMaRtY]

Car looks great! Wish I could go too but I can't take time off of work.
Wow a 35 hour drive, hope you have a someone to take turns with.

 

[GSX_TC]

Well it wont be non stop Lol. im driving to oklahoma first to meet some more DSM buddys coming from texas , then im gonna crash and get some rest then leave to ohio from there. either way its gonna be pretty tiresome though

 

[cheekychimp]

Quoting KiNgMaRtY:
Car looks great! Wish I could go too but I can't take time off of work.
Wow a 35 hour drive, hope you have a someone to take turns with.



Lightweights! ... Try 5000 plus in 3 weeks and most of that driving was done in less than 7 days because I spent quite a few days out of the driving seat, ask Aaron, Curtis, turboflanagan, MistaVR4, Toybreaker, Terry Posten, Ren, Myles, Jojo, Jeremy and the rest of the crew ...

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif Seriously though, 35 hours is a heck of a trip and I did have cruise control. I also had a huge f*** off wagon with an automatic transmission. It was a boat but it just ate miles and the front seat was a sofa. Car looks great Josh by the way. You could try those solid bushings that torque solutions or Garfield sells. They made a difference on my drivetrain in the daily driver.

 

[DR1665]

Quoting GSX_TC:
Well it wont be non stop Lol. im driving to oklahoma first to meet some more DSM buddys coming from texas , then im gonna crash and get some rest then leave to ohio from there. either way its gonna be pretty tiresome though



Hat's off to you, sir. Assume you'll be passing through PHX sometime, Tuesday/Wednesday, then? I've been flying to the Shootout since 2004 because I've never had the time off work to make the drive happen. It would be nice to have a partner, so we could drive straight through, but I just can't justify burning 80% of my annual PTO driving to Ohio for a weekend of drunken shenanigans in a hotel parking lot.

Maybe next year, though, for the 20th anniversary. Hmmm...

See you fools next weekend. I'll be the big guy in the yellow 2GNT shirt or the only person there wearing a Gearbox Magazine shirt. Your cars will probably end up on Twitter via GearboxMag Twitter feed. Just saying...

 

[4thStroke]

Quoting cheekychimp:
Quoting KiNgMaRtY:
Car looks great! Wish I could go too but I can't take time off of work.
Wow a 35 hour drive, hope you have a someone to take turns with.



Lightweights! ... Try 5000 plus in 3 weeks and most of that driving was done in less than 7 days because I spent quite a few days out of the driving seat, ask Aaron, Curtis, turboflanagan, MistaVR4, Toybreaker, Terry Posten, Ren, Myles, Jojo, Jeremy and the rest of the crew ...

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif Seriously though, 35 hours is a heck of a trip and I did have cruise control. I also had a huge f*** off wagon with an automatic transmission. It was a boat but it just ate miles and the front seat was a sofa. Car looks great Josh by the way. You could try those solid bushings that torque solutions or Garfield sells. They made a difference on my drivetrain in the daily driver.



Lightweight!

2 summers ago 4 of us made the nonstop (other than fuel and food) to New Jersey in a dually Duramax and a trailer with 2 cars inside. It took us 46 hours each way pretty much. 6,000+ miles in a week. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[SleepinGVR4]

I remember that Spence, You met me and my buddy chris (BoostedAWD91) at TurboTrix.

 

[cheekychimp]

Assuming you shared the driving, that's roughly the same i.e. 1500+ miles in a week each, compared to my 1800 miles a week (I think I did 5500 miles overall). But I did most of the driving in 'blitzes'. I started off with one huge run from Grafton Vermont down to Cleveland Ohio. One shared drive up to Chicago and then to Davenport in Iowa with Aaron. Then solo from Cleveland to NYC and back down the East Coast to Norfolk Virginia before hitting Clarkesville, Tennessee. Then a few days later, I drove from Tennessee back up to NYC (I think I might have gone via Cleveland and crashed at Aaron's again ... but I'm not sure) and then back into Boston.

 

[4thStroke]

Quoting SleepinGVR4:
I remember that Spence, You met me and my buddy chris (BoostedAWD91) at TurboTrix.



That was a good time! Me and Joe had to slip a little Grey Goose in our Arizona tea that day to keep our nerves cool from being so strung out from the drive.

We got to NJ in the morning, slept a few hours, then Luke had to get exhaust for his new Duramax to keep the EGTs down for the drive back. We swapped the whole TBE in the parking lot at the motel, then I think we were off to Turbo Trix for a few hours to meet up with the guys from Turbo Trix and Marco.

Being in a vehicle for 40+ hours straight does something weird to a person.

 

[CutlassJim]

Seriously Josh you put together a good car. I loved the Nordic blue? one that you had before this.

 

[Whoodoo]

If we are doing 'one ups' on the long drives, I'm pretty close to what you guys have done. Last November, I made the trip from Seattle to Binghamton, NY in a week AND my car was broken into the first night of the trip. I left on a monday afternoon.Tuesday morning, the car had been broken into, so I had to get a new front window before I left Spokane. Made it to South Dakota that night as planned (at 2am, but was met by a great board member with beer on tap and a hookah, Weave you rock). The rest was smooth sailing and I was in Binghamton on friday around dinner time. So, 2800 miles in 5 days and in the luxurious embrace of a base model, no cruise, no a/c, and no cd player, hellhole of a 2004 kia spectra no less. Granted, I had my future wife waiting for me so I was a little more than motivated /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

EDIT: btw love the car. Silver with evo enkeis is the tits.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

Quoting CutlassJim:
Seriously Josh you put together a good car. I loved the Nordic blue? one that you had before this.




Thanks man! I do too, that car has finally fallen into capable hands and should be daily driven once again, i was getting worried it would be lost forever.

update: car has power steering now, love it so much.

also,
Quoting cheekychimp:
You could try those solid bushings that torque solutions or Garfield sells. They made a difference on my drivetrain in the daily driver.



I think this is my next step, when you said that i went straight out and put it on jack stands after remembering that I had forgotten to check my drive shaft angles, i thought I had checked those bushings but it turns out the rear most has some play and the front has minimal, but it's there. Hoping I can get these before shoot out!

 

[Galantvr41062]

It would be a 720 mile trip one way for me, next year I might go, and I would only have to bring 2 55 gallon drums of E98 along.

~John