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Posted by: fat73 Oct 23 2006, 12:55 PM

I left Tampa on Saturday 12:15pm and 600 miles and 9 hours later was at my home town in Tracy City Tennessee. No problems to report except that by the time I got there the exhaust/muffler bracket was a little loose causing some racket, and the intercooler plumbing needed to be re-secured. Other than that no problems along the way with the WRX conversion. The first fill up was at 200 miles (since my guage is not working) and the verdict is......6.5 gallons. Not bad, ~30mpg at 80-85mph (with several short blasts into 3 digits). The second fill yielded 34mpg. Managed to get a couple of high speed passes at the local home town quarter mile (Highway 41). Blew by 125 a couple times (easily) but that is not a quarter mile speed since I was already rolling. And at 125 there's ALOT left in the car, just not enough courage in me yet. Yesterday morning I managed to get the muffler/exhaust stabilized and the intercooler plumbing secured. I've trashed the electronic trunk lock after getting the trunk stuck locked 3 TIMES yesterday. Finished installing a pull cable last night around 11.

Today I'm in Nashville (about 720miles in to the trip), and will be leaving Tuesday afternoon for Kansas City. I plan to leave Kansas City late Thursday or early Friday heading down to I 40 in oklahoma (avoiding potential bad weather in Colorado/Utah). I plan to be in Vegas sometime on Sunday.


By the way, the fall colors in Tennessee are absolutely unbelievable right now. I'll be posting some pictures soon.

See ya at S.E.M.A.
Ed aka W9R1

Posted by: watsonrx13 Oct 23 2006, 02:19 PM

Ed, congratulations on the first leg of the trip....

Looking forward to seeing/hearing from you when we get into Vegas....

Have a great trip.... ... and ...



Even if the pics are of the fall foliage....


-- Rob

Posted by: VegasRacer Oct 23 2006, 03:06 PM

Bring it on Ed.
See ya when you get here.

Happy Motoring

Posted by: fat73 Oct 23 2006, 07:55 PM

Some pics of the first leg. These were mostly taken in Tennessee near Grundy Lakes in Tracy City. It's near Monteagle (6 miles east) and about 2200 feet elevation. Driving pics were near Manchester Tennessee (about 60 miles south of Nashville)

Ed aka W9R1

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2954914440076795939IfgFIw

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2008246860076795939dZFGvf

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2289843940076795939aDoCPw

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2151661840076795939pqZkti

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2699283710076795939TPhtDe

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2451775170076795939kPuoer

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2099150030076795939iWOfSL

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2265872620076795939NKILGt

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2986294780076795939ysHKml

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2609463650076795939iYWhvr

Posted by: fat73 Oct 23 2006, 07:56 PM

more ...



http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2107025090076795939VOEpUJ

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2064133740076795939hknhiG

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2953375020076795939mtDYgI

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2594158220076795939mNpInD

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2168515330076795939PiXvNI

Posted by: URY914 Oct 23 2006, 08:14 PM

Ed...



Attached image(s)

Posted by: fat73 Oct 24 2006, 03:43 PM

Well the trip is taking a slight detour since the storm from the Pacific is supposed to barrel through the midwest Wed and Thursday. I'm flying to Kansas City and then back to Nashville (have some work to do) and then it's off to Vegas from Nashville late Thursday night or early Friday. Not much of a detour but it saves me a couple of miles and pretty much eliminates the necessity to drive in the rain if the weather holds as advertised.

ed aka W9R1

Posted by: watsonrx13 Oct 24 2006, 04:58 PM

Ed great pics.... I sure miss those fall colors, they look awesome....

-- Rob

Posted by: ThinAir914 Oct 25 2006, 12:02 AM

QUOTE(fat73 @ Oct 24 2006, 02:43 PM)

Posted by: fat73 Oct 25 2006, 04:52 AM

QUOTE(ThinAir914 @ Oct 24 2006, 10:02 PM)

QUOTE(fat73 @ Oct 24 2006, 02:43 PM)

Well the trip is taking a slight detour since the storm from the Pacific is supposed to barrel through the midwest Wed and Thursday. I'm flying to Kansas City and then back to Nashville (have some work to do) and then it's off to Vegas from Nashville late Thursday night or early Friday. Not much of a detour but it saves me a couple of miles and pretty much eliminates the necessity to drive in the rain if the weather holds as advertised.

ed aka W9R1

I'm confused... part of that sounds like you are driving, but changing routes... part of it sounds like you are gonna park the car and fly. Somehow it just doesn't sound like a "slight detour".

Posted by: VegasRacer Oct 25 2006, 05:27 AM

Hammer Down, Good Buddy.

We'll keep a light on for ya.

Posted by: ThinAir914 Oct 25 2006, 08:14 AM

QUOTE(fat73 @ Oct 25 2006, 03:52 AM)

Posted by: turboman808 Oct 25 2006, 01:04 PM

Looks like your exhaust is done like mine is.

Hope ya had fun in Nashville. I love that place. Food is great, Music is off the charts and the women are all blonde!

Posted by: fat73 Oct 25 2006, 07:25 PM

QUOTE(turboman808 @ Oct 25 2006, 11:04 AM)

Posted by: fat73 Oct 25 2006, 07:27 PM

QUOTE(ThinAir914 @ Oct 25 2006, 06:14 AM)

QUOTE(fat73 @ Oct 25 2006, 03:52 AM)

I'll be driving from Nashville to Vegas starting late Thursday or early Friday, and hopefully will miss the rain.

Cool. Give a yell on my cell when you get to Flagstaff - if only to say "Hi, I made it!". I don't think you are gonna have much time to spare, but my schedule is pretty flexible so I can drop what I'm doing and meet you to at least say hi, shake your hand, and see your car.

Posted by: fat73 Oct 26 2006, 09:13 PM

Latest update....I'm a little over 1000 miles into the trip. The weather was really crappy today, so I didn't take new pics (except for one great sunrise at about 33000 feet). Started my day in KC at 2am, and managed to get back to Nashville very early 8am ish(good thing considering the number of tornados reported in KC today). After two days of sitting at the airport the engine fired right up (no surprise). The nice thing about this engine is that there was literally no tweaking required once it started. We have not been in limp mode once, and really there's nothing to adjust. And did I say this before...no oil leaks. The car is still very clean underneath, even after a couple thousand miles. A far cry from a "carbed" Type IV. Anyway, back to the trip....Took care of some business in Nashville, visited an old custom motorcycle fabricator/professional photographer friend in Franklin Tennessee, then it was off to Memphis around 4pm...I made it through the rain to an exit in Arkansas called Forrest City around 9pm (took an hour to get out of Nashville on I40). Looks like the rain will end here after midnight. This was the first real test of the car in the rain since we put it back together, and it did fine. It's still running very cool, and it's very stable even right at speed limit+ speeds in hard rain. And the seats are fabulous . I've owned 3 914s and every one has just about been impossible to travel in for long periods of time because of the seats.

The next stop over will probably be near Amarillo Texas on Friday. Then possibly Flagstaff on Saturday. Still gotta look at the map and decide how far to drive.

If there's anybody else along I40 between Little Rock and Vegas that would like to say hello when I come through that hasn't already contacted me, just pm me and hopefully I'll see it in time or maybe catch you on the way back.

Ed aka W9R1

Posted by: VegasRacer Oct 26 2006, 09:21 PM

Happy Motoring.

Enjoy the journey, and keep posting your progress.






Oh yeah....... and take more pictures!

Posted by: fat73 Oct 27 2006, 10:38 PM

Update....Amarillo Texas. The weather cleared about the same time I left Arkansas this morning. Been in 3 states today, and am not far from New Mexico. About 800 miles to go. Car is still fine. Still getting about 30mpg. Lots of new pics at http://community.webshots.com/user/fat73 . Here's a few.

Ed aka W9R1 - I'm pretty tired...think I'll go to sleep now...(modified Forrest Gump line)

Here's one for you early Thursday morning.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2673899130076795939CdBOHB

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2060762670076795939ZGsCgJ

and another


http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2715622310076795939exiZGO

sunset

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2874236070076795939CkvQmA

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2523801860076795939uhOqmy

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2263022760076795939xUDMSY

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2969447930076795939QZEDKu

Not bad but RVing would be better with a carrera GT on the trailer
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2844879890076795939PNZWum

Posted by: SGB Oct 27 2006, 10:54 PM

Ed -
these are great pictures!
The paint on the WR914 is really GREAT. Very complementary to the lines of the car. If your return takes the same route, maybe you can stop for beer or coffee (or both- in series, not parallel) on your return. I'm in Huntsville, about 100 miles south of Nashville. I know an EXCELLENT bar-b-que not far from I-65 if you come through near eatin' time. They don't serve beer, but you will get a food buzz from all the unhealthyness of fried stuff and smoked stuff. I;ll follow your thread to see whats up closer to your return...

Posted by: VegasRacer Oct 27 2006, 11:34 PM

I Love Road Trips

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2451775170076795939kPuoer

Posted by: fat73 Oct 28 2006, 06:48 AM

QUOTE(SGB @ Oct 27 2006, 08:54 PM)

Ed -
these are great pictures!
The paint on the WR914 is really GREAT. Very complementary to the lines of the car. If your return takes the same route, maybe you can stop for beer or coffee (or both- in series, not parallel) on your return. I'm in Huntsville, about 100 miles south of Nashville. I know an EXCELLENT bar-b-que not far from I-65 if you come through near eatin' time. They don't serve beer, but you will get a food buzz from all the unhealthyness of fried stuff and smoked stuff. I;ll follow your thread to see whats up closer to your return...

Posted by: fat73 Oct 28 2006, 06:52 AM

QUOTE(SGB @ Oct 27 2006, 08:54 PM)

Ed -
these are great pictures!
The paint on the WR914 is really GREAT. Very complementary to the lines of the car. If your return takes the same route, maybe you can stop for beer or coffee (or both- in series, not parallel) on your return. I'm in Huntsville, about 100 miles south of Nashville. I know an EXCELLENT bar-b-que not far from I-65 if you come through near eatin' time. They don't serve beer, but you will get a food buzz from all the unhealthyness of fried stuff and smoked stuff. I;ll follow your thread to see whats up closer to your return...

Posted by: ThinAir914 Oct 28 2006, 11:23 PM

Ed made it here to Flagstaff at about 4:30 p.m. MST. We had dinner together at my place and he's on his way west early tomorrow morning. The car was continuing to do very well. It's nice to put names & faces together, especially when the people you meet are such great folks!


Attached thumbnail(s)

Posted by: fat73 Oct 29 2006, 08:47 AM

Amarillo to Flagstaff in about 8+ hours. If I'm not mistaken I left Amarillo about 10:15 EDT, and arrived arond 4:30MDT. Uneventful trip. Many thanks to Ernie and Linda Devries for the hospitality and a look at a very nice great sounding 914 in my favorite 914 color - yellow. It was a good chance to stop and unwind a little. AND Linda has a killer sewing machine that rivals any CNC machine. After visiting there I drove on to Williams Az and will leave there shortly for Vegas.

Here's the start of the Amarillo - Flagstaff leg on webshots. Lots of pictures of dirt, rocks, long straight roads and beautiful landscapes. Would have had a picture of a 530BMW that kept bugging me, but he got a small lesson in acceleration from 80 so he never got close enough.

It's easier just to post the link to the starting pic in the album and let you page through from there. There's about 80 new pictures.

Ed aka W9R1

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2962450220076795939WiBheo

Posted by: fat73 Oct 29 2006, 11:44 PM

Vegas baby...yeah.

Made it...

Spent some time at Renegade today cleaning out the car and getting the car ready for the open house for SEMA. Today was a great drive from Williams AZ to Las Vegas. I highly recommend it. The pics start here (and there's lots of them):

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2474082370076795939XppgCz

ed aka W9R1

Posted by: URY914 Oct 30 2006, 07:55 AM

Great job!

Posted by: fat73 Oct 31 2006, 11:04 AM

I was honored to be visited by John Peterson yesterday at Renegade Hybrids and allowed to see/touch/smell the famous Elvira and chat with John for a few hours. There's nothing like a clean BLACK 914/6. It's always great to meet 914 people regardless of what drivetrain they're running. What a great club.

John was nice enough to post some of our visit on the SEMA 2006 pictures thread so I won't bother to put them in here. But here's a start on the update to the overall road trip site from yesterday if you're interested.

Today should be a good day. Halloween in Vegas, where I understand that some people just paint their costumes on.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2278890190076795939CYZJDJ

Ed aka W9R1

Posted by: VegasRacer Nov 3 2006, 01:06 AM

It was my great pleasure to meet you Ed.
I really like your car. Drive it and enjoy it.

Have a safe and fun trip on your journey home.
*(your new wheels look )


Attached image(s)

Posted by: fat73 Nov 4 2006, 08:04 AM

Well I'm back on the road again. Made it from Vegas to Amarillo Friday.

That picture John posted of me (taken by surprise) is me at the drill press at Renegade frantically trying to drill a hole through a wheel lock because the @#$#%! lug was too long and I couldn't get the lock tightened on my new wheels. Take a look.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2394408920076795939OcbEuP

There's a TON of new pictures in there.

Ed aka W9R1

Posted by: fat73 Nov 5 2006, 07:19 PM

Left Amarillo Saturday am and essentially drove straight through to Tampa, arriving Sunday afternnoon. Whew....long trip, but the car did great.

Started at 930 miles
Ended at 5827 miles

4997 Miles....close enough to 5000 miles

Was in a hurry and get home...

Posted by: watsonrx13 Nov 5 2006, 08:29 PM

WOW.... glad you made it safely, looking forward to seeing you again in 2 weeks....

-- Rob

Posted by: neo914-6 Nov 5 2006, 09:18 PM

Nice meeting you Floridians! Your long distance trips are inspiring.

Posted by: VegasRacer Nov 6 2006, 05:47 AM

QUOTE(fat73 @ Nov 5 2006, 05:19 PM)

Posted by: mrdezyne Nov 6 2006, 12:01 PM

It was great to meet everyone and enjoy a nice dinner with fellow 914 enthusiasts from across the country.

Ed, thanks for the ride! With a fresh set of shoes (295/30 18 I believe?) this little subie convert could spin them at will. It was very inspiring and just what I needed to get me back on my project.

John, thanks for picking me up at the hotel for dinner. Elvira is a BLAST! Super clean ride and every bit as fun as her photos look. It was great meeting you and I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Felix, great to finally meet the man behind the machine. I visited the NEO first thing each morning and last thing before I left the show each day. There was always a crowd around enjoying your work. I wish we could have left a recorder running all week to hear some of the comments, its amazing how little people know about 914's....

Scott, thanks for letting us invade your shop and meeting us before dinner. I'll be keeping you updated on how the 2.5 N/A goes in the months ahead.

I'll post my pics in the photo thread later today....

Posted by: fat73 Nov 6 2006, 06:17 PM

QUOTE(mrdezyne @ Nov 6 2006, 10:01 AM)

Posted by: ThinAir914 Nov 7 2006, 12:56 AM

Glad you made it back safe and the car continued to do well. Sorry I missed you on Friday. Linda told me you called on your way through. Unfortunately I was working. It was great to meet you!