Well I leave tonight, the trip I tried to take last year but couldn't quite get the new motor in and running in time.

The new motor is in and running excellent, new shocks, tires, elephant racing bushings, brakes, and a whole lot of rust repair, painting and clean up, and a year later.

Leaving at 2:00am heading for Las Vegas, stay there Thursday get some rest, then on to Albuqurque Friday - Sunday with my son and two grandsons

Then Sunday night leaving for Atlanta Tx, to visit my Daughter and two granddaughters.

Here's the route

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Then back to albuquerque on Thursday, one more visit with the grandsons, then friday to RRC in Durango , Sunday back to Vegas, and Monday back home. Hope the 914s up for it.
The route back

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A little over 4000 miles and 60 hrs of driving

If anyone wants to get together along my route, My cell (916) 834-6574


See you in Durango.....I hope.

Jeff

God speed my friend!

Wow! Be careful and keep us posted.

Excellent!! Best of luck and I'll see you at the RRC!

Check for concealed weapons...can't be too careful.

What a terrific trip. God speed, beautiful weather and no tickets.

Jeff,

I'm in Dallas, so if you need a place to stop at and check out your car let me know.
Have a safe trip!

Thanks everyone, should be a fun trip. I'll try and post updates along the way, not sure about pictures, just have my iPhone.


Sunrise first day on the road

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I found the desert

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Jeff

Good luck Jeff and be safe. I leave tomorrow night for Lincoln, Ne, where I will attend the SCCA Solo Nationals and stay until Thursday morning. From there I will make the journey to RRC in Durango. From there I will go to Albuqurque and back across 40 through Texas, Arkansas and in to Memphis. Only a little over 2800 miles and 43 hours of driving, but still a good journey in a 914 with no ac and 98 degree temps. See you at RRC!

See you in Durango!

East Texas, huh? Beautiful part of TX. I've got a sister in Athens (bout 30 min's east). Enjoy yourself, take your time and have a safe trip. You've earned it!

Well made it to Vegas.

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....and the car died.

Pulled up to a stop light, engine died....won't start.

Haven't checked anything yet, too damn hot here.
Sitting in a McDonalds trying to cool off.

Anyone in the area that can lend a hand, my cell phone is on
916-834-6574

I was having fun

Jeff

Damn sorry to hear that. When I drove my 914 across the desert, I did at night when it is cooler. I heard if you run the heater the engine will run cooler. Don't know if that is true. Good luck.

Had that happen to me Sunday. Vapor lock is not our friend. I let it cool for about 15 minutes and it fired right back up and made it home.

Yep looks like that's what happened, had an idea that was the problem, I cooled off the car cooled off, started right up drove the last 2 miles into town, got a room at Hooters, guess I'll stay here tonight.

Car in the garage

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Walked down to Diablo's and met John (vegasracer), he was nice enough to buy me a few beers, thanks John.

Back at the room thinking about dinner then bed, head for Albuquerque at 2:00 am

Jeff

Glad it was nothing serious. I feel your pain. Well sort of. Actually it was Slits who felt your pain. We went thru there when it was 107 when his died ; in 5 o'clock rush hour ; on the I 15

Happy Motoring Jeff. I will see you again in a week.

Man I'm jealous. Love a good road trip. Wish I was going to be seeing you at RRC. Happy trails

4000 miles makes my two hour drive seem way short!

RRC is going to rock this year (as always)!

Drive safe and have fun!

wow, yes please take a few photos....but try not to use Andys camera

Leaving Vegas heading for Albuquerque
Hopefully I'll make it there before it gets too hot.

Day 2 Hit rain

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Found a 5 mile traffic jam in the middle of nowhere

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Jeff

Not a recommended solution. When I was in AZ for a while vapor lock was a standard problem. I installed a small valve on the fuel lines so I could release the pressure. Vapor lock, stop, turn the valve, and start the car. Worked quite well. But there are obvious drawbacks to venting hot gas vapor on a hot car! I eventually routed the discharge hose so it could be vented a few feet from the car. Overall while effective not a great idea. But may be better than being stuck on the I 15!

Safe travels Jeff. It's supposed to be hot here today (mid-90s), so good luck and if you get stuck somewhere let me know. I might be able to help: (505) nine eight zero, four eight eight two.

Thanks might be calling you, isn't there a 914 shop in Albuquerque ?
I need my TPS adjusted and I lost all my dash lights

Otherwise the cars running good, should make Albuquerque around 12:30

Jeff

*all* your dashlights? probably a fuse.

Nope, not a fuse...have to look into it tomorrow.

Well made it to Albuquerque, car was really cutting out climbing the hills.
Got here called Jon (madswede), he gave me the name of the shop here in town.
Talked to Russ at PMCI, really nice guy, seemed real knowledgable.

Well turn out they were loading his 914 race car and heading out of town so he couldn't look at the car, but he was nice enough to spend some time on the phone with me asking about the symptoms, then said....pay attention this might help some of you out....smack the MPS with the end of a screw driver while the car is running.

Says he sees it a lot with the altitude here if the MPS gets stuck it can't adjust to the elevation change.... Started my car smacked it twice..on the second smack the cars idle drastically changed, for the better...so I smacked it a couple more times for good measure car is running perfect again

Makes me want to go for a drive

Thanks Jon, and Russ.
Really appreciate all the support and help from everyone, makes a trip like this less stressful, knowing there are people along the way willing to help...this site rocks

Got all checked in, went and took the grandsons out to dinner.

At the La Quinta

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Tomorrow to the park to practice for little league, then a double feature iron man/superman.

Grandsons in front of my daughter in laws house
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Lunch at the 66 Diner

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Be here till Sunday, then off to Texas.
Might meet up with some Dallas members on the way through if I have time...for sure if I break down. who said that.

One more then bed.

Jeff

Visit in Albuquerque went well, stayed too long though...started raining a little.
Cars packed and I'm off to Atlanta Texas now, 13+hrs
Should make it there by 10am. Cars running perfect, still haven't taken the time to figure out the dash lights....just carry a small flashlight.

Back on the road, going thru Dallas...more rain

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Almost to Atlanta Texas

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Jeff

You're welcome! Glad I could help at least by making the appropriate connection for ya. Russ is a good guy, he's quite busy with racing as a priority (ye gods we should all be so lucky!), so sometimes his shop can be hard to get into. I'm glad he helped ya over the phone. I'll file that fix under my list of things that can/have been fixed as such (actually only one really comes to mind, and that's a low-P fuel pump). Something about the altitude, for sure, but I also think the ubiquitous dust has a thing or two to do with it. Germany has some places where the altitude makes for rare air, but out here it's like that everywhere. Plus, there's the dust, as I said.

By the way, here's Russ's "Pink Pig" 914 race car. 3.6 with I dunno which 901 transmission he's on in this one. I think he finally went for a 915 WEVO conversion.

Made it to Atlanta Texas around 11:30am central time, LOTS of rain on the way, my extreme summer tires didn't handle it to well when the heavy stuff would come...45 mph to keep on the road...quite the lightning show too.

Car ran great, at least with the rain I didn't have to worry about vapor lock.

Shower, quick tour of the new ranch, some lunch.....now

At daughters new ranch
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The back pasture
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Back pasture, Thru the trees on the right is a stocked pond, on the left a deer hunting area with feeders and blinds.
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Shop/barn looking from the back pasture
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Started the foundation forms and plumbing for the new house
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Daughters horse training setup
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Her wild Mustang she's training for a show in Dallas next week, and her barn
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The Shop

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Car in the shop, its smaller than his 4 wheeler

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Son in laws business

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For all your plumbing needs

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Youngest grandaughter, oldest was away visiting

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Went on a boat ride to dinner....I could almost hear the banjo music

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The family!

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Jeff

Regarding your dash lights...

The dash light fuse is shared with the license plate bulbs. If you accidentally swap the power and ground leads on the license plate bulbs, you'll blow the fuse and this will take our your instrument lights.

Thanks, but the fuses are good, had a problem with the center console gauges before I left, ground came loose, fixed that the day before I left, didn't notice the lights didn't work till I went to use them, probably related to the ground wire issue, just haven't taken the time to take it apart to check it out.

Might pull it in my son in laws shop tomorrow and check it out.
Been using a GPS iPhone app for my speedometer, since mine is off by about 10mph, and it has a light, so haven't really needed them anyway.

Jeff

Even if they are good, turn them with your fingers while they are in the sockets. Sometimes that's all they need.

Left Atlanta Texas last night around 9:30, drove all night and made it back to Albuquerque this morning. Man that's a long drive.
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Back at La Quinta
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Have time for a nap then off to take the grandsons to dinner.

Made it in time for little league practice

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Looks like I'll need to wash the car in the morning before I head out for Durango.
The drive to Texas and back trashed it, but it ran great all the way there and back.

Put the car in the shop yesterday, it finally cooled down, had to glue my rear view mirror back on, guess it couldn't handle the heat. Then I finally started tracing wires for the dash lights, found one wire pulled out of it connector, and the connector that plugs into the fuse panel was hanging loose. all fixed now.

Jeff

Went and washed the car this morning, looks better.....on the outside.

Went to visit some friends before leaving, their new house

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Packing up then hitting the road for Durango, google says about 4hrs
Then it's party time.

On the road

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Jeff

Well my 4 hr drive turned into 71/2 car kept vapor locking.
Guess the first thing I need to do is relocate the fuel pump.
Missed the BBQ but enjoyed the parking lot festivities....and nothing that happened was my idea.
Great group of people......glad I finally made it.

At RRC, the hotel

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Packing to leave

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Jeff

Rig something up to scoop air from under the car and blow it over the fuel pump. Tin foil?

with Mark. The thing about the high desert isn't so much about the temperature (it gets hotter elsewhere, or at least as high temp-wise) as it is a problem of reduced heat removal with the lower density air we have round here. Low density, low mass of air, which means reduced heat removal. So logically air flow needs to be increased. Lower air density, and thus ambient pressure, could affect or exacerbate vapor lock too. Probably need a "high altitude air flow increase" kit put together or at least a thread of advice for RRC and Rt66 events!

Out of curiosity, have you tried swapping out the fuel pump relay after the car dies?
I seem to also remember someone (DD perhaps) carrying a bottle of water to pour over the fuel pump to cool it off.

Before the conversion, I hit mine with a hammer. Only went through two of 'em too.

Eric and I have been talking about ways to increase air flow to the fuel pump.
Came up with disconnecting the J tube from the heat exchanger, turning it to point towards the pump, and use the heater fan to blow air on the pump.
Just have to disconnect the rest of the heater tubes so it doesn't blow hot air into the cabin.

But might not need to, going home through SLC, then across through Reno.
Weather show pretty mild temps going that route.

Following Eric to SLC tomorrow, if it dies we'll unload his car and put mine in the trailer and continue on to his shop, and install a new pump ( in the front trunk ) then head home from there.

If all goes well with the lower temps then I'll keep going and make windover Nevada, then drive the rest of the way Monday.

18 hrs and 1100 miles to home.

Jeff

What a generous offer! That Eric is such a great guy! If you have to drive his car make sure the hood pins are in....

I'm off Monday if you need repairs in Reno Jeff...

Well Eric and I left Durango around 8:00am Sunday, took the route through silverton since we missed that drive.
Coming into Silverton

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Breakfast

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Stopped for some sight seeing

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Heading for Salt Lake City

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Made Utah

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Stopped for some lunch...they look closed

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So we went around the corner to Rays and got a burger

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Car ran good, temps were milder and hit a little rain south of SLC.

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Made it to SLC around 6:00pm, Eric turned off for home, I was going to continue on to wendover and spend the night, but when I got there I wasn't really tired so I kept going.

Started getting tired just before Reno, pulled into a rest stop and snoozed for a couple of hours, then continued on.....next thing you know my car was in my garage

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Now time for some sleep.Thanks for everyone's help, had a great time at RRC, was nice meeting everyone.

Till next year.

Jeff

Good to hear you made it back without probs!

Thank God! you made it home safe and sound especially your car made it home after those several issues with the vapor locked. I was able to monitor your updates/status during your vacation drives since the other week.

Well, at least you have peace already because you got home without trailing your car and not getting sick by having a good health on those days.

Have a lot of rest and God Bless!

Noel

And so you're not working on my house today because...

A slave driver, he is.

There may be some simple ways to cool down the fuel pump if in fact that is what is going on.

First, look at mooneyes hotrod shop for an aluminum finned cover that could wrap around the pump and provide a heat sync...that may be option one.

Another option might be to put a finned fuel line in place from the firewall to the pump, and again from the cold start injector to the pump.

Cooling the fuel will then cool the pump...so extracting a few degrees in both the inbound and outbound lines may overcome this issue in the extreme desert temps you are experiencing.

One more idea might be to drill out a 2 inch hole in the engine shelf directly above the pump and run a hose from the little deck lid grill thing that does not move, though and inline sump fan (west marine) down to the fuel pump.

Combine something like that with an aluminum finned heat sync cover and you may get the temps down to acceptable levels.

rich

just so people don't think I am smoking something.
Pic of a fluid cooling line...there are many types of fuel heat syncs....summit racing has a few...but I have seen better than this quick search discovered.