Moment Of Truth

[Barabbas]

I've had "Doris" about 6 years now.  In that time I've slowly upgraded/repaired her (12 volt, disc brakes, dual M/C,  George Asche O/D and carbs, new fuel & water pumps, new interior and of course new WWW radials).  I've driven her about 11,000 miles but always within 100 miles of home--now it's time to venture out.  Tomorrow, I will take her on a 400 mile trip from NE Indiana to the Toronto burbs.  I've put new plugs in her, reset the timing (4 BTDC), topped off the engine oil,  transmission oil and lube.  A few weeds ago I had the front end aligned and brake fluid flushed and replaced.  I've renewed my AAA membership and have my cellphone charged--I'm ready to go---wish me luck.  I'll report back Monday with tales of my nearly 1,000 mile round trip

 

[JerseyHarold]

Have a great trip and keep us posted.

[pflaming]

I sure would like to trail behind. Watch the temp gauge,  the oil pressure, and don't drive her hard and she'll take you  there and back.

. 

[De Soto Frank]

Ditto Pflaming's suggestions.

 

Slow & Steady.

 

 

Good luck !

 

[greg g]

Are you going into Canada at Detroit, or continuing north to Port Huron/ Sarnia?  When we went tot he POC meet in Detroit from Syracuse, we went through Pt Huron.  The drive across Canada from there is a very nice drive, with service areas all along.  That business with the bridge and border crossing between Detroit and Windsor look very scary to me.  Might be worth the extra 20 miles or so to go up to Port Huron.

 

Good Luck and Happy Motoring.

[Barabbas]

Greg--I'm planning on Port Huron--I share your reluctance to use the Windsor Bridge/tunnel, I much prefer the open roads to the urban traffic

 

I will try to heed the advice of slow and steady, and I will definetly keep my eye on the temp/oil gauges

[GlennCraven]

How exciting! Good luck and I'll keep my fingers crossed for trouble-free travel!

[greg g]

Just a note, if you make it to Pt Huron, remember that is the location of the POC National Event next summer.  So you should be able to put that event on your schedule...............

[pflaming]

When driving tractor as a teenager, dad told me to watch the gauges, if they were dirty that meant I needed to clean them, that way I would periocically look at them. I still clean the gauges on my cars.

 

I grew up in the 50's. I learned that a vehicle has a sweet spot, a place where all parts are comfortable at the same time.  Aft er a few miles, when all is warmed up, I push my truck a bit faster than I think I should, I feel a bit of strain at this point, then I start backing off until all sounds and feels smooth. TO me that is the sweet spot. I remember that mph. 

 

Yet each time I take a 35 + mile drive I always push it a mile or two, just to make certain it isn't getting lazy on me. On a long run, I lock my foot and let it run just as steady as I can. One can use the throttle as a speed control but I don't think it's safe. 

 

Have a great trip. 

Edited August 16, 2013 by pflaming

[Don Coatney]

Have a good trip. Fresh engine, overdrive, disc brakes, forget this nice and easy stuff. Drive it like a rental as it is a lot more fun.

 

However you might want to back off a bit on the timing. Keep an open ear for pinging at 4 degrees advance.

[De Soto Frank]

My De Soto has a 4.11 rear, and regular 3-speed;  it is happiest at 50 MPH, in its present 105,000+ mile condition.

 

I have a fairly un-scientific theory about "maximum happy cruising speed" for old vehicles: where the speedomoeter needle is vertical, or half-way across the speedo scale.

My De Soto speedo tops at 100 MPH (yeah, right !), and 50 mph is pleasant.

 

My buddy's 1940 Chevrolet speedo also tops at 100 mph, and anything above 50 mph, it's like Bill Cosby's '52 Dodge "Captain America" : "Hey ! Cut it out! "

 

My '28 Model A Ford  has 3.78 rear, and will do about 60 mph flat-out on level road, no wind, where she's turning about 2,800 rpm,  but she's a LOT happier at 50 MPH or less. 

Once you get to know your car, I think you'll figure-out where the sweet spot is.

 

Happy Motoring !

 

De Soto Frank

 

[oldodge41]

Hope you are having a great trip, enjoy!

[Dan Hiebert]

If you're not in a hurry (and haven't left yet to read this), you should go into Canada (and back into U.S.) using the Marine City/Sombra ferry. Costs $6 vs. the $3 at the Blue Water Bridge (Port Huron), but worth the trip and extra cost for the scenery and ride across the St. Clair River, AND even better there's never much of a line for Immigration/Customs in either direction. These nice summer weekends mean huge lines at the "regular" ports of entry.

[greg g]

Looks like Mopars have been using the ferry for a few years.   The Lowell D was named after one of the ferry service's Owners.  Ferry was built in 1946 and still shows as being in active service.

 

 From the Ferry Website, looks like a D24 ready for crossing.

[Barabbas]

Man What a great trip!

The weather was perfect -high 70s, blue skies and big puffy white clouds, and most important Doris ran great.  On the trip to Guelph, Ont I took it easy; kept her at 60-63. No problems, temp and oil guages were rock steady.  Oil pressure stayed at 50 psi all day except when idling it went down to 25 which is pretty typical for Doris.  The Temp stayed on the low end of normal (P23 temp guage doesn't have numbers just an acceptable range mark)-at the  20 minute border crossing the temp crept up to mid normal.

Doris seems to have a wide range where she runs nice and smooth except for 63-66 or so where there is a low freq vibration that you can feel in the seat of your pants.  Not terrible but noticable to a gear head.

On the way back I drove as Don suggested--68-72 with a brief run up to 78.   Again everything was steady and cool.

Overall for the 819 mile trip I averaged 21.1 mpg--better than I expected.

Only issue that I had on this trip was that I lost both front wheelcovers -- I have Wheel-vintique wheels on the front to clear my Disc breaks and apparently the OEM wheelcovers can work their way off the wheels.

 

I have to say I had more fun than I've had in a long time--I was pleasanlty surprised at how comfortable the chair type sitting position in these old Mopars is on long trips.  I really expected my right knee and hip to be a little stiff and sore since I don't have cruise control but I had absolutely no pain or stiffness at all.  Also I had forgotten how well the old "60 airconditioning" works.  Driving with an open window and resting your elbow on the car door is as good as it gets.

[Don Coatney]

A big Thumbs-up!!!

[GlennCraven]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like a blast!

[pflaming]

WOW, Now that you've got it all warmed up, why not fall in behind Don and BIlly and SEE the COUNTRY? 21 mpg, impressive. 

[Barabbas]

21mpg- Yes I was very surprised I only get about 16-17 around town 

Also used less than a 1/2 quart of oil for the trip-another nice surprise-

[greg g]

So did you take the Ferry???

[Barabbas]

No, I didn't.  I love Ferries, used to live on the Olympic Peninsula where ferries were a part of life.  So I thought hard about it but, it appeared to me that the trip home from Marine Mi was going to involve a lot more urban driving than the Port Huron route--I may be all wrong on that but just looking at the map, I didn't see an easy path thru Michigan

[Don Coatney]

What route did you take going and coming? If I recall when I drove my Plymouth from Fort Wayne to Detroit we traveled 24-127-12. Route 12 could have been a very busy this weekend as there was a NASCAR race at MIS.

[Barabbas]

I took the simple route--I-69 to Port Huron via Lansing & Flint.  It's a little longer but generally much less traffic than going via Ann Arbor & Detroit.  Normally when I'm just day trippin' I prefer the two lanes but when I have to make miles I stick to the expressways