Long trips..., Should I try? I'm I a wimp? Options

[oldschool]

This was out of the blue...My wife and I planned a trip to Santa Barbra ( about 2.5 hours )Trip She said LETS TAKE THE 914! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) ....My car drives ok, but man I don't know about driving her that far (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)
I'm I just a wimp....It was on a flat bed trailer before.If you know what I mean.\Not to sure if I can trust her. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[ClayPerrine]

Ok...let me chime in here.

Past 914 trips for Betty and myself.

Hurst Texas to Huntsville Alabama for MUSR 9. 690 Miles, 11.5 hours. 2 different 914s, and the only problem was the dash lights quit on Betty's car.

Hurst, Texas to Albuquerque, NM for the Atomic Ramble. 625 miles. 10.5 hours. One 914/6 conversion. Only problem.... Broken Turn signal switch on my six.


Hurst, Texas to Vonore TN. For MUSR 11. 877 miles. 14.5 hours. Betty's car ran perfect, including the trip down the Tail of the Dragon. Mine made the trip on a trailer, as I knew I had an oil leak, but didn't want to miss the event. My car broke a clutch cable on the Dragon run.

Hurst, Texas to Salt Lake City, UT. For Porsche Parade. 1222 miles, 21 hours. Betty's 914 developed an engine knock in Dalhart, Texas, 10 hours down the road. We hauled it home on a U-haul trailer and replaced the engine. Started over and had to fix the oil cooler leak in Salt Lake. Ran fine for the rest of the trip, including the AX where I won first in my class. Found out the problem with the original motor was due to age on the cases. It just flat wore out with 340,000 miles on the clock (not including time with the odometer broken).


Our future trips...

MUSR 13. Short trip for us. Just up to NE Oklahoma. Both 914s are going.

Hurst Texas to Traverse City, MI. Porsche Parade 2013. 1228 miles, 20.5 hours. Going to Parade next year.

Hurst Texas to Monterey, CA. Porsche Parade 2014. 1648 miles, 27 hours. I want to take both cars. Not sure if we will or not. But we both want to drive our cars on the track at Laguna (Corkscrew!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving-girl.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) )


I even pulled the head on her motor two days before we left for one MUSR to fix a pulled exhaust stud. Had it back in the car the next night. Drove the whole 4 day event with no problems.


Frankly, 2.5 hours is a a local afternoon drive for us. We take our 914s to Mineral Wells for Autocross events, and that is 1.5 hours.

Just drive it and stop worrying. A 914 is too much fun to let sit in the garage.

[Dave_Darling]

Past 914 trips for Betty and myself. ...

I recall a MUSR either in Arkansas or Oklahoma where the alternator decided not to work any more. You couldn't find a spare alt, so you bought a plug-in charger to charge the battery overnight in the hotel. Also a spare battery just in case, but the Optima lasted your whole trip.

I think that may have been the year that Yoder drove out with no cooling flaps on his engine; he removed the engine lid and had it in the passenger seat.

--DD

[ClayPerrine]

Past 914 trips for Betty and myself. ...

I recall a MUSR either in Arkansas or Oklahoma where the alternator decided not to work any more. You couldn't find a spare alt, so you bought a plug-in charger to charge the battery overnight in the hotel. Also a spare battery just in case, but the Optima lasted your whole trip.

I think that may have been the year that Yoder drove out with no cooling flaps on his engine; he removed the engine lid and had it in the passenger seat.

--DD

Actually, upon further checking, the alternator only blew a diode. It was still working, just not at 100% efficiency. I was able to return the uninstalled, never used spare battery when I got home. That was also the ramble where it poured rain the whole time, and I was not about to change an alternator in the pouring rain.

Still have the battery charger. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)