[DeTomaso] Thank you SOBill - Second Verse.

Dave Londry davel at emspace.com
Thu Oct 1 02:33:43 EDT 2009


Mike Thomas wrote:
> Good job!
> Let us know how the drive went.
> Mike
>   
Thanks Mike - very nice straight-line.
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Rolled it out Tuesday morning and hit #1 East from Vancouver.
Now this is really a scenic drive - but if you've done it 100 times it's 
also a 4lane snoozer.
It's better when you come off the Fraser Valley floor and climb up 
toward Hope.
(and Beyond Hope is a town called Spuzzum - neat non?)
Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton is an interesting 80 mile drive with 
lots of elevation change as you cross the coastal mountains.
Has quite a bit of traffic and some speed checks,
 so you might as well look at the scenery while you follow the Skagit 
river to its source at Allison Pass and then the Similkameen down to 
Princeton.
The Pantera was running like a train, so the only excitement was 
listening to it. Didn't even burn enough fuel to top it up.
Had to stop at the Brown Bridge Pub for Irish Stew and a Guiness, and at 
Cowboy Coffee for an espresso jolt.
You keep on following the Similkameen  as it heads toward the Fraser at 
Oroville WA,
 then head up the range that guards the Okanagan Valley.
This is pretty cool. You're in dryland now - cattle country.
You can see a long way and you can let it stretch out a bit here.
Down into Osoyoos and you're in wine country - bigtime.
In this strip (Osoyoos-Oliver-Okanagan Falls), dirt is about the same 
price as gold.
Stopped at my in-laws in a senior's settlement near Oliver. I get 
treated like royalty there; what can I say?
Spent the next day taking aging gearheads for joyrides, and senior 
chicks for appearance rides into town.
Pantera still running like a train. 19 mpg(US) so I'm still a bit rich 
at cruise, or I've been exercising the accelerator pumps a bit.

Load up on 94 Chevron and set out for home (both of us a bit heavier 
than when we arrived).
Oliver to OKfalls is a short run down the valley floor.
OKfalls to Keremeos - this would be a gorgeous 4th & 5th gear road,
 but way too much chance of getting picked off, so just look at the 
great mountain scenery.
Back to Princeton and now the prize-surprise, whatever.

Highway 35A from Princeton to the Okanagan Connector is fabulous.
Nice smooth top, lots of elevation changes, no traffic, no RVs, no patrols.
39 miles of left, right, up, down, and more and more and more.
2nd, 3rd & 4th to 4500 rpm in a few spots.
It's so quiet you scare the horses, but don't be flying off it. That 
will hurt a lot.
Next time I'm mounting a camera.
I get 22 mins of VGA on an 8G flash card so it will be a race I can't 
quite win.

Over to Merrit on 97C. Back to 4 lanes and great scenery - Ho Hum.
- need some lunch and a coffee boost at the Merritt corner

Now for the thrill seekers - The Coquihalla Highway from  Merritt to 
Hope would make a wonderful ORR kind of venue.
4 & 6 lanes, 71 miles, climbs up to 4100 feet. You could get it up to a 
jillion here. but the speed limit is 68 (100ks).
Every once in a while you see an SLK Merc or an M5 asking for it, but 
you can stay kind of unobtrusive at 3800 in 5th.

Back down into the Fraser valley now and the snoozer back to home.
Ta Da - wife, kids and dog all waving us into the garage.

Never got a water temp over 190 so maybe I'd better look at a but higher 
thermostatting.
The only event was coughing up 1/2 quart of 15W50 Mobil 1 during the 
sustained 4000ish rpm part.
The restorer-from-hell even managed to wreck the breather cap.
He bashed the side in to clear the overflow tank,  which pushed the 
separator plate off to one side.
Oil was splashing straight onto the fibre filler and then dripping right 
out into the draft.

So the question is:
With Moroso valve covers and the hole with the hard rubber insert on the 
right bank, what's a good scheme to send the oil back down the hole?
Swap the valve covers around and just get another breather cap? Are the 
covers symmetrical?

dave





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