Re: Followup: 84 4KSQ giveaway

[Autobahn01@aol.com]

AKA: 1780miles and a parts car...

First off, my thanks go out to Jim Kerr not only for donating a quattro for
recycling, but also his hospitality as two ragged travellers rolled into his
driveway. We left Jim's place refreshed, cleaned-up, and with a rundown on
Ohio MV code :).

Upon hearing of Jim's offer, I called out my longtime codriver and
wrench(Stott Hare). I told him I had a potential road trip that would result
in a replacement LR door for his scratched blk '84 4000q. Without a pause, he
replied he'd come down from Maine and meet me in an hour. We selected a
vehicle, actually his daily driver got drafted into the chore since it just
completed a troublefree tour of NH-to-FL-to-IO-to-NH last month, and headed
out. We did roughly 860ish miles to centre-o-nowhere Kenton, Ohio in an
equally rough 12hrs. 

But you never really know what rough *sounds* like 'til you've travelled the
return trip in a mirror image car with 3 bad wheel bearings and brakes that
howl and pulsate like Unka Bart's cat caught under a Swedish rocking chair.
All of this brought to vivid life by front windows that went down but alas,
not up.

Lest Jim think the return trip turned me jaded, not a chance. Heck, the car
deserves to be restored based solely on her return performance! We did the
preliminary checkup at Jim's place: shook the suspension, topped fluids,
replaced plugs(can't get used to paying real money for W7DC's), hardwired my
radar detector into the sunroof, and posted the temp plate I'd quaffed off
another of my rigs. Jim saw us out to the nearest petrol station, surely to
fuel his desire to see 'ol rust make it out of the county.  :)

I'm not much of a believer in premonitions, but... as our two rigs were
parked(running) at this station, Stott and I manage to miss(literally) his
car roll, slowly, inexorably away. We were engrossed in some electrical
work(forgivable on an Audi, right RDH?) and somehow missed his car roll away
from the pump, away from the station, across a two lane road, and softly come
to rest against a grassy berm between a stone wall and a light pole. No harm,
no foul, but surely we've used up our good luck for this trip. Stott agreed,
and assigned me to the rescued '84. Mental note to check e-brakes on all our
cars...

Uneventful progress retracing our steps 'til NY. I found the new acquisition
to be solid/predictable and blessedly free of most of the shifting glitches
of tired '84's.(Note: good trans and driveline, thanks Jim!)  She did a
respectable 85mph behind Stott (drafting Nascar style) until some
construction site on Rt(17?). Now my old Escort and Stott's Uniden have
served us *very* well o'er the years but sometimes you need a gentle nudge to
update to the Latest&Greatest Tm. Our nudge came in the form of the NY State
Trooper who whipped out of the construction site to chase us down. After
greetings and explanations he explained that he was giving our lead car a
ticket for speed as he got Stott with the laser six times. His case was cut
and dried, mine was a la carte. The trooper announced he didn't have a laser
hit on me because of  my proximity to Stott's rear bumper, ahem. He did
however,  pick up on the fact that the temp plate displayed on my driver
didn't quite match the vehicle. I reassured him that the year/make and model
were identical. The VIN# and color weren't critical, were they? Why yes, I
felt the spiderweb in the windshield was safe for the road. It's on the
passenger side, and I had no intention of carrying passengers...

He let me coast with speed +10, saving us all the hassle of Misuse of Plates,
Following Too Closely etc. Sounds good to me! About $75, and no NH
reciprocity, what a bargain. Note: increase figurative purchase price from
120$ in petrol to 120$ + 150$fines.

Nightfall starts to set in, and so do the gremlins! It's getting increasingly
difficult to climb hills or pass with full throttle. I can't hear the engine
over the wheel brgs and wind noise. I start to fear for the clutch. We'd made
a pact earlier in the day. If she threw a rod or gave up the ghost in any way
substantially, we'd pull over and whip off anything of value right
there(trans/diff/door handles :). Sorry Jim, but we didn't figure she was
worth sending a ramp truck into NY for. 

Somewhere around Binghamton,  we pulled off the highway after I had to drop
to fourth to climb a steep incline. I feared the worst, mentally making plans
to jump ship. Who do we know in NY, and just how far away *is* Dan's house
anyway! :^)

Doing roadside diagnostics I heard a higher RPM cutout that could have masked
itself as clutch slippage during passing. We swapped out the plug wires with
an expired set in the trunk. No change. I drove out the fuel mixture plug
with a punch in an attempt to adjust it with a long phillips screwdriver.(Can
almost hear Scott cringe). Noticed that unplugging the DPR had no effect on
the idle quality, quick check revealed no power at the harness and logic
brought us to the fuse panel. Somehow no24(KE Jet) had migrated into no25
position(open). That fix brought back the full throttle powerband at the
expense of idle quality, a bargain in my book at that hour. 

We're now behind schedule and running to make up time. Doing quite well, at
least until VT and the last straw. Stott leads and I chase, through the
Vermont hills, thinking of home just round the corner. Either my lights are
getting dimmer or I'm just more tired than I imagined possible? Probably
both. We break out a meter to reveal the alternator has expired in grand
style(no load 11.6, load 9.8v). Stott performs the emergency
regulator-ectomy, but she's a goner. We play the battery swappin' game and
limp to Keene, NH under the cover of running lights. It's 3:30 Monday
morning. Stott and I look at each other with a growing certainty that while I
may make to work on time at 8 in Concord, he'll never make to Portland ME on
time with me in tow with a dead alternator.

So it's there she sits, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, resting at a
friend's apartment with only an Ohio title and a tired NH temp plate to show
for it.('Cause the odo gave up long ago :) It'll be at least a week before I
can pry myself away to grab another battery and drag her home in daylight;
but when I do, she's earned a place of respect in the yard. (Next to the
200TQ)

Epilogue:
I got home at 5:15, and still got in a 2hour nap!
Stott got to work by 10, which is kinda on time in the computer biz.

Thanks a million, Jim! I've no idea how many miles that motor's got, but she
pulled with the best once that FI prollum was worked out. I'd do it all again
in a flash!(just not this week-end!)

PS: Stott, we still on for Mt Washington this week-end? Your car or mine?
 :^)


Regards,
-Chris Semple