Long Drive Checklists

[55 Fargo]

Hi all, what does everyone think is the best practice for determing whether there old Mopar is a worthy of a longer drive ie more than 50 to 100 miles.

I am interested in going for a bit of a longer cruise, but often wonder if she is fit enough for the task.

I have had not too much trouble on the ditances I have driven about 50 to 60 miles round trip at the most so far.

So what might any of us look at before embarking on a longer road trip with our cars, especially if the drive trains have miles on them......Fred

[aero3113]

Rockwood, knowing all of the work you have done to your car I do not think you will have any problems at all. Check all fluids,tire pressures and keep a spare fuel pump in the trunk. If I needed to drive to the west coast in my 50 Plymouth I would take it in a heart beat

[aero3113]

Also you have those nice seats to sit on now. Nothing to worry about.

[Young Ed]

Fred Carmon and I will probably take my coupe on our honeymoon trip all over WI. In some ways I trust it more then our two daily drivers. The coupe only shows about 90K miles over all and only 12 on the rebuild. The daily drivers are 160k and 190k.

[greg g]

Drive it 60 miles then see if it will do one more, if it does drive it 60 more and so on.

Good belts, hoses, proper lubrication, good oil pressure good cooling, go for it. Nothing like watching the miles climb and the gas gauge going toward empty. Fill her up and empty her out.

[55 Fargo]

Hi Ed and Aero, my engine has miles on her, the diff has miles too, the engine leaks a little more oil than I would like, I have to fix that this spring.

She runs well enough, could use new tires, lots of new things, but lots of old stuff too. The fuel pump is old old old, and I have not replaced it as of yet.

I don't want to go on a long distance cross country trek, but would like to go with others on a cruise of a couple hundred miles would be nice.

I do tend to drive slow, at about 55 mph, I have a 3spd trans and 3.73 rear end in my 3500 lb Chrysler Club Coupe.......Fred

[55 Fargo]

Drive it 60 miles then see if it will do one more, if it does drive it 60 more and so on.

Good belts, hoses, proper lubrication, good oil pressure good cooling, go for it. Nothing like watching the miles climb and the gas gauge going toward empty. Fill her up and empty her out.

That is a good plan of attack Greg,the belts and hoses are new, I have really good oil pressure, when it's real hot in summer,she will run a bit hot, especially if going with the a strong tail wind, but she stays around 175 -180 most of the time on hot days.......

[Young Ed]

Fred the fuel pump might worry me some but the rest is pretty standard. If you leak oil bring some with. Mine leaks trans fluid so before a long drive I have to check that.

[aero3113]

Is the oil coming from the pan gasket? It won't take to long to replace that before the drive. I must have pulled my pan down 3 or 4 times in two weeks when I was having my pan welded. I finally just replaced the pan.

[55 Fargo]

It is coming from the pan area, not sure if iy is the rear main, most likey it will be part of the problem.

Now this engine is a 1951 model, so not sure gain, if the seal can be removed in it's entirely witha sneaky pete, or ifthis calls for the flywheel to comeoff, inthe latter, will not remove upper seal, just lower seal. I do think the pan is the culprit from the way she leaks.

The diff leaks a bit, need to replace pinion seal, but will check all fluids as I always do beroe any driving season and throughout driving season.

Thanx guys for the info......fred

[Merle Coggins]

I do tend to drive slow, at about 55 mph, I have a 3spd trans and 3.73 rear end in my 3500 lb Chrysler Club Coupe.......Fred

Fred,

I have a 3.73 diff in my truck and I can run it down the freeway at 70 - 75 without any problems. (I'm running 235/75R-15" tires) Once you get your interior done it won't sound as noisy, or "busy", and you'll feel more comfortable letting it rev up higher. High miles or not it's likely to be more reliable than you think. Rebuilding your old fuel pump with a kit from Antique Auto Parts Cellar, or carrying a spare may not be a bad idea, but other than that you shouldn't be afraid to cruise all day.

Merle

[Joe Flanagan]

I love hearing this. It's very inspiring. Looking forward to the day when I can do the same.

Fred, I recently rebuilt my fuel pump using the kit from Antique Auto Parts Cellar. It wasn't that difficult. Mine is the dual action type that operates the wipers as well. If yours is the standard pump, it's a bit simpler.

[blueskies]

I've driven my car a bunch of very long road trips, three or four in the 1200 mile range, and one 3300 mile trip to Tulsa and back. I carried my old distributor, a fuel pump, head gasket, and my well packed tool box in the trunk. Other than a freak fuel pump failure (brand new pump...) I have yet to need anything out of the trunk.

I think with some simple preparedness, your car should be good to go.

Pete

[james curl]

I packed one of every thing that bolts to the outside of the engine when I took my 4600 mile trip in 2007 to Calif. and on to Bonneville before returning home. The only problem encountered was after driving in the rain all day the windshield wipers would not turn off. They are electric aftermarket unit, the wiper tower gaskets leaked and allowed the water to run down the wires to the switch and shorted across the hot from the key to the hot to the wiper motor so that even turning off the switch would not break the circuit. Would have to reach under the dash and unplug the hot to the wiper motor until it started to rain again. After the switch dried out the wipers worked just fine.

[hkestes41]

Fred,

When I did my 800+ mile trip to the HAMB drags last year all I did was check all the fluid levels and tire air pressures. Carried a small toolbox in the trunk with a set of hand tools, ratchet/sockets, and screw drivers.

Also had a box with a couple quarts of oil, a gallon of water, a flashlight, some shop rags, a package of baby wipes (to clean dirt/oil off my hands) a beach towel to lay on if needed, and a roll of duct tape (if you can't fix it duct it ).

Only had one minor problem on the trip. I was nunning about 65 mph on I-44 about an hour from Joplin when the I heard a clunk and then a squeeling noise from under the hood. Luckily I was only about 1/2 mile from an exit. Opened the hood and saw that the bolt for the upper altenator bracket had snapped at the end where it connected to the engine.

Got a screwdriver out of the toolbox and wedged it and the end of the bracket between the water pump/block with the handle against the altenator and drove the rest of the way to my parents house. Next morning welded the bracket with a new connection point.

That is the beauty of these cars older technology. While it may have more miles on it and be closer to failure, it is also much more simple to fix on the side of the road.

I will be making the trip again this summer without an hesitation.

[Joe Flanagan]

Wow, you guys have taken some long trips. In my case, practically everything on the car will be either replaced or rebuilt. So I don't think I have to be so concerned with old things failing. My own errors are more of a concern, I think. If I made any, I hope they're not in any major areas. One thing I left as is was the seal where the driveshaft goes into the rear end (pinion seal?). I suppose that could give me trouble. I cleaned up the generator but did not replace any parts. I had it tested and they told me it's good. I don't know anything about the voltage regulator. I painted the cover and bolted it back on to the firewall. The inside of it looks like new. I don't know how many people are left in the USA who don't carry a cell phone, but I'm one of them. That will change when I start driving my car. Then, when I'm confident that all is sound, I'll get rid of the cell phone.

[greg g]

Propably helpful is a pound of courage, a pint of adventure, a couple of Tums and according to Taxas philosopher and country singer Delbert McClinton

Sometimes all it takes is a leap of faith

Sometimes you've go to believe

Before you see the proof

You can wait a lifetime

For a moment of truth

Sometimes all it takes is a leap of faith

So far we have done Syracuse to Rhinebeck and back 500 miles

Syracuse to PA 300 miles

Syracuse to Burlington VT, 700 miles

Sryacuse to Charlote, NC, 1300miles

Syracuse to Detroit, MI 1800 miles

Syracuse to Virginia, 700 miles

Sryracse to MD 700 miles

These are all plus or minus with some touring at the location.

Plus attending some regional events that clock over 100 miles there and back.

Remember these used to be all people had.

There seems to be alot of concern about throwing a rod, spinning a bearing or what ever

is that any more of a concern than heading out in your new Toyota?????

[Joe Flanagan]

Nice post, Greg. I think maybe the concern is among those of us who have rebuilt our engines and are newbies to this hobby. I don't suppose I'm a newby to the hobby anymore, but when I rebuilt my engine I certainly was. It was the first and only engine I've ever rebuilt, though I hope to do more. I remember when I was doing it, I felt like I was working with nitroglycerin: One false move and . . . . All the warnings about keeping everything absolutely spotlessly surgically clean and the precise measurements, etc. made me feel like a single impurity or even a minor misstep would lead to ruin. And it might. Tends to make you a little nervous. Maybe it's just inexperience speaking.

[Jim Yergin]

Joe,

What could possibly go wrong?

Even so, I managed to drive it 3,000 before this happened.

Jim Yergin

[TodFitch]

Its all been pretty well covered by previous posts but I'll add my $0.02 anyway.

If you've just gotten your car together after restoration or major repairs, start with short trips to verify that you have everything back together properly.

Then for the long trips pack your cell phone and AAA+ card for emergencies. And, most importantly, take a long the county maps for the route: They will show alternative roads that will be a lot more interesting than the major highways and freeways that are shown on the state level maps. Most of the fun of driving an older car is poking along looking at the sights and that is a lot better on the back roads than on the main highways.

[Joe Flanagan]

Jim, that's exactly what I'll be thinking of for the first few months of driving my car.

I still would like to know what caused that.

[blueskies]

...My own errors are more of a concern, I think. If I made any, I hope they're not in any major areas...

Like you Joe, I had never rebuilt an engine before. Or a transmission, or...

It drives my wife crazy, but pay attention to the sound of everything whirring around under the hood as I drive. A bad noise is the first indicator of a problem coming on. On the Tulsa trip, I swear that as I covered the miles, the sounds evolved. About halfway to Tulsa from Idaho, this started to really bother me... if something crapped out in the middle of Texas, then what? But as I motored along, I got used to it, and by the time I got home I was over it. I have to admit I was a bit relieved to be home without having to do any roadside repairs... but the car handled it without issue.

I drive the car regularly in the summer, back and forth to work, and I don't even think about a breakdown, I suppose because the ramifications of a problem 5 miles from home are quite different from 1000 miles from home, with my young son along for the ride. But I try to think of a long trip as a whole bunch of trips back and forth to work all put together. The car didn't have any problems in 1000 miles of back and forth to work, so there's no reason to think it will have a problem on a 1000 mile road trip to Portland either.

This pic was taken 1,650 miles from home, leaving the city of Tulsa, OK-

Pete

Edited February 3, 2010 by blueskies

[Joe Flanagan]

Thanks, Pete. The only thing I'm concerned about is the early period. Once I know it will go highway speeds and go for hours at a time without trouble, I won't worry anymore. Any time I do a major repair on my daily driver I go through the same thing: A short period of wondering if everything is OK, followed by confidence in regular use.

[JIPJOBXX]

I always have my Camper World tow insurance card ready!

[moparjack44]

It drives my wife crazy, but pay attention to the sound of everything whirring around under the hood as I drive. On the Tulsa trip, I swear that as I covered the miles, the sounds evolved.

Pete

I just turn the radio up .