Socal Mini Iron Btm trip report, long winded, delete at will

[FergO2k]

All in all a great day, 10 roadsters, with the typical range of equipment, including Eric's 302 V8, Stephen Wan with a cleverly home fabbed bimini top, Tom Prather's styling cues (blacked out side trim with narrow red stripe down the middle, LED taillites), Ron Eastman in his 'textured' 1600- which ripped it up with the best of us, a new addition on Tony Stockler and his wife in their 1600, and Iron Btm vet Peter Harrison and his girlfriend. (they headed home with cooling system concerns, or maybe the reluctance to hear all of the 'mad dogs and Englishmen' puns had he come thru to Taft, which was upwards of 100F when we got there)

The day started out with newly intro'd Vinh stating his 1600 wouldn't pull past 4k, because of running too lean, and watching in amazement as Stephen was able to adjust both mixture screws without taking off the air cleaner. I may have to ask him to fish out that 5mm postie wrench I dropped down between the body and inner fender....5 years ago!

Great folks all around, Stephen being brave, not knowing when or if the 'dogs' in his 4-speed would lock up again, which they did at the top of the first mntn range. He had brought all equipment along (including jack stands and a drain pan), and completed the job during our impromptu 45 minute stop, but they promptly locked up again, so his day was done and headed home. (to Irvine from Palmdale, with only 3 useable gears, I am sure there is a good story their too. Probably just took it easy and drove along with the MG's and Triumphs on the way home!)

'Course we were on a fwy frontage road, so an out-of-contact roadster owner stopped by, interested in selling his 67.5 1600....(but that may have changed while he sat and talked and looked around!)

Some great driving roads, a few more acts of attrition due to wiring and fuel delivery, but made it to the tiny burg of Taft in the Central Valley just in time for noontime heat and eats at the 50's diner. Taft makes the term "B-F-Egypt" a reality, not only in isolation, but the dry desert climate and plethora of oil wells. A local MGBGT owner with keen eyes (and good taste) saw our cars and called his roadster-owner buddy to come by and see the crowd while we were there.

We split at that point, with the majority headed back the way we came, but Victor, myself, and the Stocklers heading thru to Ojai and a welcome ocean breeze north of Ventura. Traffic thickening was a hard pill to swallow, but roundtrip from my house was 14 hours, and I know no better way to spend it.

The driving was incredible.
Last year I found myself on-off the brakes a lot, constantly unweighting different corners and losing momentum, ending up in a wrong gear, bogging while re-gaining speed. I followed someone earlier in the day doing the same, watching the body roll, corners get unweighted and the balance of the car shift, and decided to try another approach.
Following Eric, (no shortage of hp and torque there!) and using his brake lites as downshift cues and staying off the brakes, I got to tossing the car about thru turns, listening to tires roll more towards the sidewalls, and having quite a blast. Had I let Eric get away, my non-existent skills at reading turns would have made for a much more tense, slower, and more cautious time. I'd have to say I know this because at the next stop 30 minutes away, I got out to wobbly knees, heart pounding, and sore cheeks and dry teeth from a constant mouth-open smile!

After getting caught in LA traffic on the way home, my clutch went out 4 blocks from home - again - (happened on my solvang return trip, but 16 miles from home). I went out today to find all the newly replaced slave cylinder joints nice and dry, but a nice little slice right across the hose.
Ahh well, my date at the weighing scales with Eric to learn more about the front/rear balance of his roadster/302 might get delayed a day or two.
Hope to see all for another real soon, Fergus O, 69 2000 -- ridden hard and put away delighted, HB, CA

[ppeters914]

Nice write-up. Almost like being there!

[eastmedia]

Excellent run

That road from Frazier Park to Taft was intense. A great turnout and sorry to see a few drop, but better luck next time.

I took out my 68 for her first time actual run (shes been around town for a few months now) and she survived. Found out I probably have a gas tank pickup tube problem. Uphill starved for gas, downhill- bat out of hell!

Check this. Somewhere on the way home my alternator loosened up. This vibrated the bottom water pump bolt loose and slowly leaked out all my water. I didn't discover it until the next day when I went for a post-drive inspection. Time for a passanger side alternator swap?
Thanks Fergus and friends.

Ron

[S Allen]

Very nice of you to share the experience with the rest of us. It sounds like there were the typical things that go wrong but for the most part a good time was had by all. No one got drug home on the end of a tow rope which I guess is highly illegal in the state of California these days. Been there done that a few too many times albeit not with a roadster. Great write-up Fergus.

Steve

[twinight]

Unfortunately the roadster only got a warm up going up angeles crest. As I feared, the "dogs" in the tranny popped out halfway to Lancaster. I trudged on in fourth and kept a decent pace. It was a bit unnerving not being able to downshift in the downhill curves and trusting only the brakes. There was only one stop sign before Lancaster and fortunately everyone in front of me pulled over, giving me the opportunity to pas and keep moving without stopping.
Once we reached Hwy 14, we all stopped and I proceeded to "fix" my problem.
Thanks to all who waited the 45 minutes so I could keep going but it was not meant to be. After a short run on the 14, it was stuck in 4th again. As we exited, I pinged and popped my way up to speed in 4th gear. With a wave, I got back on the onramp going south back to LA.
On the way I considered taking the 5 up to Fraser Park to fix the tranny again and hopefully bed done in time to meet up with the guys at that point. But I remembered the ridge run after Fraser was a sweeping 50-70mph road that begged for fouth gear.

Fortunately I only hit minor traffic on the way home that only came to a complete stop only once. As I approached the 605 on the 5, there was more traffic that forced me to take the 605 south to 405.
I found that 30mph is the slowest I can cruise in 4th gear without pinging to accelerate back up to speed.

Overall it was a great turnout, even better than last year.
And I enjoyed the short portion that I was able to drive.

Here are some videos that I took (hosted by streetfire):

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/ad5d ... d3f887.htm

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/2e49 ... ca4a50.htm

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/89d5 ... d0c75c.htm

[Alvin]

Excellent re-cap. I love hearing about fun runs...no Big Vic?

[FergO2k]

Yikes, how did I forget mention of our Lead Traction Tester!

[Victor_laury]

Excellent re-cap. I love hearing about fun runs...no Big Vic?

Yea I was there. Didn't bring the vid camera, too lazy to even take a still. Chased a very fast Fergus and an Unfairlady-like green monster around. Had fun and the car never missed a beat.

I did manage to get the death-blow rock chip crack, dead center eye level in my windshield, But it's WAY passed time to change that poor pitted thing anyway.

Does 311s want a photo-documentry on Late Model Windsheild replacement?

[Datsundude]

Vic,
If it not too bad I think it can be repair. check with the local windshield guy before you replacing it.


Vinh

[Victor_laury]

No, really, my windsheild has been below acceptable limits for a long time. True, it wasn't cracked till last weekend, but, it well earned a "Crater-Face" nickname.

[Tstockler]

Thanks for the "Sum UP" Fergus, you left out the part where we all enjoyed a hosted breakfast - thanks again.

Steve's video's came out very cool, I'm waiting till he patents his swivel headed camera stick. He appears to be the team McGyver, he should be on the checklist of those things NOT to be left behind.

It may be just my impression, but I believe my "lady" is running smoother, and more responsive after that run through the hills.

The Datsun, not Denice.

Thanks again for including us, and Vic for fixing my photo link.

[ppeters914]

Killer videos, Steve. If those don't inspire folks to move forward on their roadster projects, I don't know what will.

Any chance you're working on adding sound?

[twinight]

The videos should have sound, I don't know what happened.
Not bad for being taken with a digital camera. The lower framerate helps mask with the vibrations.

I also uploaded them to my website. The sound should work with these:

http://www.olsonarchitect.com/roadster/crest1.avi
http://www.olsonarchitect.com/roadster/crest2.avi
http://www.olsonarchitect.com/roadster/pullout.avi[/url]