As I continue to work on my daily driver, I am beginning to understand that some spare parts should always be handy. For example, I probably should always carry a spare throttle cable and clutch cable and their associated small parts along with a minimum set of tools. What other spare parts should I consider essential as I start to make longer weekend excurions?

A Triple A card ...................... The Cap'n

AAA card's a good idea, but it's not going to help you if you break down out of cell phone range. A lot of the areas around where I live and travel are cell-dead. Plus, why would I want to sit on the side of the road for an hour+ just to have some dude in a truck man handle my car when I can likely fix the problem myself?

Here's what I carry:

1. Alternator Belt
2. Clutch Cable
3. Throttle Cable
4. Oil
5. Voltage Regulator
6. Spare ECU (yeah, I'm nuts)
7. Spare Relay(s)
8. Spare Fuses
9. Flashlight
10. Electrical Tape
11. Small tool box with as many tools as I can cram into it
12. Extra set of points and condenser in case my Pertronix unit takes a dive
13. Haynes manual

I think I carry a few other things, but that's all I can think of without actually looking.

If it's a road trip and the wife is with me...

a couple of valiums, two nip bottles of scotch and a bottle of sparkling water.

This way she can sit and sip instead of sit and bitch.

1. Alternator Belt
2. Oil
3. Spare Fuses
4. Flashlight
5. Electrical Tape
6. Tool bag with basics
7. Cell phone
8. USAA Roadside Assistance

Spare ECU??? Have you really had an ECU go bad while on a drive? You must have some great "breakdown" stories

I have included most of the items listed with the exception of the voltage reg and the points. I have fried a Pertronix unit, so I think I'll add another Pertronix set to my list. And the one I really forgot from all of your lists was the Alternator Belt. Good thinkin.

I also carry a set of wheel chocks, so that I can make sure the car aint goin nowhere if I'm underneath working on it. I think the only item not mentioned by anybody was the white flag - used for the dreaded and embarrassing "tow".

If I had these items, I would take them myself and never leave the house!

Hail to thee Makers Mark!

Premium AAA card.....

Beanie Boy (FOG) that doesn't do roadside repairs no more.....

I carry nothing.
Just a few tools, a CC and a cell phone (always)
keep the car in good shape.
replace the two cables if they are old.
Aside from that..you can buy the rest anywhere...
I admit I carry a set of point in the glove box, but I have never needed them.

If you ever break the accel cable, set the car to 3k manually (I used shoe laces once) and drive it home.
If you break the clutch...learn how to shift without it...its not that hard.
Stop lights just add to the challenge.

Rich

I agree with the AAA people. Why do anything on the road. It is just dangerous and a pain in the ass. If you go to the track there is always some good stuff to bring, but not for road trips unless your going a few hundred miles.

interesting that you would carry a spare ECU but not a spare fuel pump.....

I might actually be carrying a spare fuel pump. The cardboard box that I carry in the rear trunk holds many secrets! If not, I should throw my spare in the box. Thanks for the reminder!

I think I am carrying a spare ECU because I wasn't totally confident about the one I had when I first started using it. Sylvie and I took the car up to Tahoe and into NV, so I just wanted all my bases covered. It's one of those things that you cannot pick up at FLAPS. I probably carry a spare MPS as well. Why not? AAA only tows you a 100 miles. When you're out in the sticks that means you're likely being towed to a shop that's going to charge you $100/hr and they won't know how to work on the car. Where are they going to get spares from?

It's one thing if you're always in suburbia, but I take my car way up the coast, to the mountains, through the desert, etc. I need to be able to rely on myself when I'm out in no mans land. Can you tell I was a boy scout growing up?

Love,

So isn't part of owning a car like this and driving it when you go on long trip making sure your car is reliable? I know that all cars have problems every now and again, but if you own a classic I feel it is your resposibility to make sure your car is in good shape before you go out. If something happens AAA is good for towing up to 200 miles back to your home.

My car has never left me stranded, but there's only so much you can do to make sure your car is reliable when you're working with 30 year old used D-Jet parts. It's not like I'm towing a trailer behind me that has a spare engine, transaxle, bearings, axles, etc. I just carry the easy to replace items that I would otherwise feel unprepared not having. "Sorry honey, we could have made it to our destination had I thought to carry a voltage regulator, but now we're stuck getting towed to "Al's" and waiting three days for parts to arrive."

We're planning on taking the car up to Portland this summer. Guess I should just leave my spares at home and bet on the fact that if the car's working good today then it will just magically be fine two months from now when we're a 1000k miles from home. Sure...

Whatever happened to people being self reliant?

It's only 5 miles with the AAA basic roadside plan and only 100 miles with the premium plan. They won't tow you 200 miles back home for free that I can see:

http://www.csaa.com/portal/site/CSAA/menui...0002872a8c0RCRD

"Towing Distance/AAA Plus
Your AAA Plus Membership entitles you to up to one hundred (100) miles of towing from the point of breakdown four (4) times per Membership year. If you require a 5th or subsequent ERS, you will be asked to pay the tow truck operator directly at the time of service for tow mileage that exceeds the AAA Classic towing. The Classic towing limit is as follows: towing to the independent contract station providing the service, to the nearest Approved Auto Repair facility, or up to five (5) driving miles in any direction from the point of breakdown."

Working on the side of the road is not is not being self reliant. It is very dangerous and should be avoided unless absolutely neccessary. Sorry if this sounds like I'm bitching, but I have lost a good friend from a retarded driver hitting him while he was helping change a ladies tire. The guy wasn't paying attention and drifted into the should just a little. However, that was all that was needed to hit the other car.

I did mention in an earlier post that if you are going on a long trip it is good to have stuff for in case something happens. You get towed to a location where you can work on it. However, this post is about a daily driver. Plus, in a club like this if you are going long distance you should bring a list of members as they are most likely going to have the space, knowledge, and ability to help if you need it. I have heard many stories about this sort of thing.

My 914 just took Shar and myself to Scottsdale AZ and back and didn't even hiccup once. And I flogged the snot out of it while I was there. I put it on the lift and gave it the once over before I left. It's pretty damn reliable.

Anyway, on road trips I always carry tools, an accelerator cable and a known good distributor. I also had a AAA card, a cell phone and friends along the route.

Aaamaaazzzzzing .... I didn't know you had friends Gint.

With the helpfulness of this club all you should need is the basics and a cell phone for access to a lap top- to ask for help. In my experience, the more you change on a car to make it perform better, usually the more apt it is to break in the worst place and since you have now "special " parts in it, it becomes more difficult to get going. That is one reason I'm still running points. Easy to fix and small to carry.
Tom

oil, a few tools, the jack, spare tire, and fire extinguisher

hey, never know when there could be a fire (i had one in a 55 t bird (damn fords))

dont worry, the tbird is safe, just small fire, got it fixed


(was at my work)

Randy,

Good list. Maybe more than I would have. Not really "spare parts", but I would add...

Bailing wire
Duct tape/racers tape
JB Weld
Hand cleaner and/or paper towels

A trailer.