<VV> The Route 66 adventure - Part 6 of ??

[J R Read_HML]

About 15 or so miles before Shamrock TX, the car began to run really 
terrible.  There was a fair amount of backfires and it felt as if it were 
running on 1/2 an engine.  I limped into a town by the name of Lela.  A 
really small town with the only thing open being an old fashioned 
combination gas station, grocery store, and restaurant.  This was probably 
around 8:30 to 9:00PM

Upon parking in the light and opening the engine lid, I saw a fair amount of 
foamy, whitish oil on the front shroud.  This had apparently come from the 
breather cap which was positioned up near the center of the front shroud.  I 
also saw that I had neglected to replace the dipstick back at Conway TX 
where I had added a quart of oil.  That was about 35 miles ago.

So, it looks like the new owner (me) may have screwed up big time.  I see no 
trace of the paper towel which was used to check oil level and now wonder if 
I had left it in the engine compartment or not.  The engine does not seem 
particularly hot, in fact I believe that the whiteish oil spray is probably 
an indication that it was running on the cool side.  Perhaps that is because 
the dipstick was not in place?

So, I first set about removing the cover plate from the oil cooler to see if 
there was paper towel fragments in there on not.  I got one of the sheet 
metal screws out, but could not get to the other with the 1/4 inch drive set 
and did not have a flat 5/16 wrench in the tool box.  I would have had to 
move the alternator in order to get to that screw with the tools I had. 
About the time that I discovered this, a young man pulled into the 
store/station in a pickup.  He took interest in my predicament and if I 
would follow him home, he had tools there.

I did that, still running very poorly even though the engine had certainly 
had time to cool down by then.  This makes me think even more strongly that 
the poor performance is not heat related.  Anyway, a half dozen blocks from 
the store down gravel roads with no street lights and we are in his 
driveway.  It turns out that he runs a small engine repair business out of 
his home.  This, to my mind, is a good thing as he is used to working with 
air cooled engines (just smaller ones).

Got the cover plate off and he made me keep the 5/16 wrench.  I'd like to 
get it back to him, so if anyone knows a mailing address for Ty, the engine 
repair guy, in Lela TX, please send it to me.  Anyway, there was not sign of 
paper towel anywhere, so I feel fairly confident that it was not sucked into 
the upper shroud.  We then proceeded to diagnose the miss and found the 
rotor to be a bit brown (possibly corroded) along the outer edge.  Replaced 
the rotor and it did seem to help, but still had a miss.  Ended up finding 
that the coil wire and the contact in the top of the coil were quite rusty. 
I surmise that the engine compartment had likely been cleaned at a quarter 
car wash and the car driven only a short distance back to the seller's home. 
Not far enough to dry things out.  So, we cleaned the contacts with emery 
cloth and I was back on the road.

Made it to Shamrock without further difficulties.  Had a couple cold ones 
and turned in.

The following morning, I ran the engine for a while to warm it up.  Nearly 
running right, but just not quite there.  Double checked all the engine 
electrics and decided to swap out the coil wire.  Now it was running good. 
Had breakfast and a coffee to go and was back on the road.  At this point, I 
had traveled 1,309 miles.

I'm pretty far behind the original plan, about a day.  At Oklahoma City, I 
could have taken a left and gone NE up Route 44 which would have cut off 
some time and miles.  I probably should have done that, but instead, just 
continued on 40 (Old 66).  I got to Memphis TN around 8:30PM and decided to 
go cruise past Graceland.  I first stopped at the visitor center just at the 
foot of the bridge when you arrive in Memphis.  I was trying to get some 
pics of the large Elvis statue there, but the place was closed and the flash 
just bounced off the window and all I was getting was the reflection of the 
flash.  The guard saw me and let me come inside for my pics.  He also told 
me how to get to Graceland

Well, I got off track a bit because the route he gave me had a poorly marked 
detour and I went through some pretty scary parts of town.  Once I sorted 
things out, I was turning around in a Holiday Inn (better part of town) 
parking lot when the clutch cable snapped. I pulled out the trusty CORSA 
directory and found 4 people listed in Memphis.  One did not have a phone # 
listed, but I called the other 3 looking to see if a clutch cable could be 
located.  I was unable to locate anyone that could help.  The folks at the 
Holiday Inn were very nice and even let me park up under a porch area which 
was very well lit.

I jacked the car and pulled the carpet on the passenger side and the short 
heater duct.  I was totally amazed at the condition of the floor under the 
carpet.  I looks like the day the car was built in there.  So, despite the 
fact that I'm broken down, I'm even happier about my purchase!  However, 
once I got to the clutch cable I found that, even though it appeared to be 
new, it had already been previously repaired.  I think that I had mentioned 
earlier that the clutch pedal seemed to require about twice the normal 
amount of left foot push than what would be normal.  Later that night I went 
through the paper work that came with the car and that cable had been 
installed only 4,000 miles earlier.  So, now it has broken twice in 4,000 
miles.  There is definitely a problem here.  The engine is going to have to 
come out anyway, for a noisy pilot bushing.

So, I'm more or less in downtown Memphis.  I'd previously tested shifting 
without clutch and was not successful at that.  I don't know what clutch is 
in it or if it is properly installed.  The engine supposedly has 30,000 
since rebuild, so I'm guessing that the clutch likely has that as well. 
But, I just could not get it to shift clutchless when I had tried it earlier 
and was not about to attempt that in the middle of an urban area like 
Memphis.

Time to call in the reserves.  Dom Perino was able to book an early morning 
flight and come to my rescue.  I'd traveled just over 2,000 miles at this 
point and I obviously spent the night at Holiday Inn Select.  Had I taken 
the Route 44 course, I probably would have been in Saint Louis rather than 
Memphis when the cable let go.  I know a few folks there and probably would 
have found help locally rather than have to buy an air ticket for Dom.  I'm 
just glad he was able to make the trip.  This was Monday night - still 
nearly a full day behind the original planned schedule.

Pics of Elvis statue at:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hmlinc@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/e993


End of part 6.

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Later, JR