[urq] West Coast UPG, the morning after... (is there a pill for this?)

[Ed Kellock]

Back to work after 4 days of fun, frivolity, and just the tiniest of
frustration.

Friday was long... I left Colorado Springs at 7:30am and we arrived at
the hotel in Park City at 10:30pm.  Lots of good driving in between
though.  Great drive on Saturday.  Great breakfast on Sunday. 
Terrific drive home yesterday.

In the WalMart parking lot in Vail, I replaced a small section of hose
at the back of the valve cover that was split and leaking boost.

In Vernal, UT after at least a solid hour of a near triple digit+ mph
caravan across a wonderful section of state hwy 40, we pulled in for
gas and I discovered a coolant leak.  In one of the turbo water lines,
a leak developed in the short section of rubber hose that is
permanently crimped to a section of steel hose that connects via banjo
bolt to the water outlet on the head.  We only had 120 or so miles to
go so I topped it up and pressed onward.  Had to stop only twice to
add water.  The low coolant level warning works very well, coming on
before temps ever showed any signs of going up.  Saturday morning
found me in the hotel parking garage.

There was a CarQuest walking distance from the hotel.  I bought a
hacksaw, drain pan, oil absorb, some odd bits of hose, two clamps,
some silicone gasket sealer, and some Gojo.  I removed the banjo
bolt/steel line/rubber hose part from the car, hacksawed off the
crimp, cleaned up the line underneath, and reassembled with a new
section of hose and the two clamps.  Turns out the steel line under
the crimp is just like any other that is intended to accept a rubber
hose.  The only difference in the whole thing is that the hose clamp
is replaced by a permanent crimp.  The repair looks absolutely factory
and I am not likely to buy the correct new part.

Mine was clearly the beater of the bunch, even though I believe I was
the only one with working a/c. ;-)  I had no trouble hanging with the
pack; there were two factions of our group, one fueled more by
adrenaline than the other.  Nevertheless we had a cohesive pack.

Many thanks to all, Paul (and Pauline!) for organzing a wonderful
visit to Park City, UT, Brandon for acting as sort of the team leader
in coaxing us all along and keeping the idea alive right from the
beginning, Dennis for the engineering input regarding the coolant leak
fix, Charlie for the spare bit of boost hose, and everyone in general
for moral support, tech input, and the wonderful general comaraderie
which pervaded the whole event.  Even an outsider, Jim's buddy in Park
City, commented on the latter in comparison events of other car
groups.

I first joined the quattro list in about 1995 and have attended many
group events over the years, some more informal than others.  I've
never had a bad experience.  This past weekend was a nice high point
which will serve to punctuate what I hope will continue to be a long
list of similar experiences.

Many pix coming soon...

Ed
Colorado Springs