Cross Country Trip with a Mondial 8

The following is actually somewhat dated as I made the trip in 2004 but several friends and F-chatters have bugged me to share my "diary" of the trip. As it is kinda long I will break it up into 3 or 4 postings.

"This is the diary of my trip home from LA to Raleigh, NC with my “new to me” 1982 Ferrari Mondial 8. I took a laptop with me so I could keep some friends and co-workers informed on my progress home with the car.

Thursday – The Start 8/26/04

Well, the seller did show up at the airport. A fact I was VERY pleased about, seeing as he already had the money for the car.

The car looks better than it did in the eBay pictures, actually better than I had hoped. It has a few problems as you might expect with a 22 year old car but all in all not bad.

It is a kick to drive. Once I FINALLY got out of LA the traffic pace picked up. I am planning on going I40 all the way.

From LA to Barstow I averaged just over 80mph and from Barstow to Needles traffic was light and moving along around 90-105mph and the car seemed to love it, I know I did. I covered 270 miles this afternoon (not bad for slightly more than 3 hours on the road) with no car problems. ONLY 2300 miles to go.

More later



Friday 8/27/04


Well, I said this trip would be anything but dull. Some times I hate it when I’m right.

Left Needles this morning headed for Albuquerque, about 600 miles. My first stop was at Ash Fork, about 40 miles west of Flagstaff, AZ. The stop was NOT my idea. The car apparently wanted to visit Ash Fork for a while. Maybe it had some friends there, I’m just not sure. We were going along nicely around 75mph when the car started to gently miss a little and lose power. I stopped at a station in Ash Fork to have a look and it then died.

The engine would spin over but not start. I checked everything I could think of and all seemed fine, but it still would not start. In a building beside the gas station was a repair shop with a guy working there whose name should have been “Bubba” if it wasn’t all ready. I sat down and explained to the car that if she did not start soon I was going to turn “Bubba” loose on her. She obviously thought that was an idle threat, still no start.

OK, time to get serious, I went and got “Bubba”. He walked over to the car, stood at the back as I cranked it over to show him what it was doing, or, more to the point, what it was not doing. Well, the car, now that it knew I was serious, started and ran perfectly. It apparently DID NOT like the looks of “Bubba”. One should always be nice to their cars but sometimes you just need to show them who the boss really is. I thanked “Bubba”, got in and off we went. For the next 350 to 400 miles it ran fine, never a hint of a miss. In retrospect, I think the car was running well just to buy time to plan her revenge.

The Revenge……………………

We were blasting through Grants, NM in the early evening, about dusk, when I heard a chirping/squealing noise coming from behind me. I looked in the mirror and smoke was pouring out of the engine bay. I dove for the shoulder, popped the engine cover expecting to see flames. No flames, very little smoke now, but still that chirping/squealing noise, though no where near as loud. I was only a hundred miles from Albuquerque but Grants looked like a FINE place to stop and spend the night. I slowly drove to the next exit, turned around and slowly drove 6 miles back to Grants, stopping at the first motel I came to. I hope it turns out to be only “the” night. Don’t really know for sure yet what is going on but I do have some theories, none of which I am thrilled about. I will know more in the morning.

Failing to find the problem after getting to the motel, it was pretty much dark by now, I sat down and devised a three part plan of attack. I bought a flashlight, went to dinner, went to a bar.

(to be continued)

 

(Editor’s note: Keep in mind as you read the following that I am an ex-mechanic and shop owner from the 70’s and early 80’s, mostly British cars. The people originally reading this knew this)

08/28/04 Saturday AM

Lucky, I am living proof that it is possible to have both bad luck AND very good luck at the same time.

This morning with the flashlight I found the problem. The rear timing belt tensioner pulley was/is locked up tight. That accounts for the squeal and the smoke, the timing belt rubbing against a stationary tensioner pulley. The good luck? The belt DID NOT BREAK. God only knows why not and probably even he is not sure, as I drove the car a good 8 miles after the first stop.

Automotive lesson for the mechanically challenged: the timing belt turns the camshafts, which open and close the valves. Should the timing belt break, the valves stop moving but the pistons don’t. In Ferrari, Lotus, Jensen and several other cars, the pistons will come up, and with a tremendous amount of force, try to punch the offending valves out of the way. This is NOT a good thing for the pistons to do and they ALWAYS fail to accomplish their objective, generally just making a real mess of things. In most of the above cars, mine included, when the belt breaks you frequently do a total engine rebuild if not a total replacement. NOT CHEAP.

Sometimes when the excrement contacts the oscillating wind generator it is hard to say you are lucky, but I recon I am very lucky. Of course I am also STUCK in Grants, NM until at least Tuesday. So I guess good luck can only go just so far. I will tell ya’ll you more when I know more.



08/28/04 Saturday - 5:00 p.m.
Actually things are going along as well as can be expected here. I found a shop, while not a Ferrari shop, and while not an overly pretty shop, the owner is a very good mechanic with enough sense to be very careful when dealing with something new and willing to take suggestions/directions from me without taking offense. I can tell him what to do and he can do it well. We got it torn down today and I have determined that the mechanic who replaced the timing belts 4000 miles ago should be taken out and shot with a small caliber gun, many, many times. He did so many things so poorly I am amazed I got this far. I would love to be able to blame the seller, and maybe get some financial help from him, but I would bet that he had no clue either. As long as I am going to have to remove the belts I might as well do a full service on it.

I am now back at the motel and searching the internet for parts and will have them FedEx'ed here so with any luck I can be back on the road late Tuesday afternoon. More as events unfold.

PS: You all know of my distaste for summer. The weather here is BEAUTIFUL. I woke up today to 50 degrees and a high of 80 with NO humidity. In the shade it almost feels, dare I say it, cold. 100 miles east and west of Grants the lows are in the 80's and highs in the 100's. After asking around, this seems to be the norm for this area. It is about 6500+ feet here so that may explain it.



Tuesday, 8/31/04 in Grants,

Well, today started off well enough, nice and cool, work on the car progressed nicely but all the niceties ended when the parts arrived. I had ordered enough parts to cover most any eventually, many of which I knew I would not, in all likelihood, need but I wanted to be sure (Grants is a fine little town but I am ready for a change of scenery). Guess what showed up (damn you Murphy)? Everything I didn’t REALLY need arrived (distributor caps, rotor buttons, fuel filter, air filter), a few parts I probably will need arrived (tensioner bearings, cam cover gaskets, cam seals, accessory belts, oil filter), the one thing I can’t go without, the timing belts, were a no show. A call to the supplier revealed that they were out of the belts but they said the belts were being dropped shipped from somewhere else. Great! Where the f____ are they? They said they would check and call me back. They called back in 10 min to say that the company who was drop shipping the belts had a problem with their printer (could not print shipping labels) and, as a result, could not get them out in time. I inquired, rather loudly, if those folks had ever heard of a BALL POINT PEN.

The conversation rapidly went downhill from there with me doing most of the talking (rather loudly). As it stands now the belts are on the way from those folks (I guess the printer got fixed or they found someone to instruct them in the proper use of a ball point pen). Not really trusting them now, I also ordered a set of belts from a dealer in Greensboro. So with any luck I should find myself with more Ferrari timing belts than I have Ferraris somewhere around 10 tomorrow morning.

Trying to be positive, I have experienced new things in Grants. Washing clothes in motel washing machine is something I have never done before. Not exactly fun but a new experience never the less. Eating lunch at a Chinese restaurant owned and operated by Mexicans. I can’t begin to tell you how bad that was. Lunch provided proof to the saying that “you should really stick with what you know”.

My goal as of last Friday night was to get my car fixed and get on my way as soon as possible. After today I have modified that goal somewhat, it is now “Not to grow old and die in Grants, NM.

Wish me luck, more tomorrow from SOMEWHERE ELSE I HOPE.

 

Grants, NM is not the best place in our beautiful country to have your Ferrari break down, maybe not the worst, but not the best either. And this is the BEST shop in town....................
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Wednesday 9/1/04

Anyone out there need a timing belt for a Ferrari, I have a few spares. Belts came in from both places yesterday but I am not complaining. We ALMOST finished last night but decided to wait until this morning. At least that way I can drive it around here for a while to make sure everything is ok before setting out. We should be done tomorrow by 10 or so my time (I hope I don’t jinx myself by saying that).

I will let you know what happens.



Thursday PM 9/2/04,

Who was it that said “If something can happen it will”???? Would somebody PLEASE shoot that guy!!!!!

For almost a week I have had a Willie Nelson song going thru my head “On the Road Again”. Well today was the day.


It started off very well. By 11am the car was together and RUNNING, Running very well I might add, it was music to my ears. Then some SOB came along and shut off the music. While it was running fine it also had developed an oil leak a Texas oil driller would be proud of. Leak is really not the proper term, gusher would be more like it.

I may need to revise my earlier opinion that Jimmy was a very good mechanic.

Jimmy, the owner and head wrench (mechanic) had F___ed up. He would not admit what he had done (I have a REAL good idea what it was) and I did not press him toooooo much (I had not paid the bill yet). Anyway, to his credit he did all he could to cap the well without redoing virtually everything he had done to this point. He did manage to stem the flow to a slow, but none the less steady, drip.

Choices at this point,

I could………
A) tell him to redo virtually everything and stay in Grants for 2 more days,
B) Tell him not to worry about it, suck up all the courage I can muster and head off to NC with a case of oil in what passes for a trunk,
C) Shoot the SOB,
D) Shoot myself for being crazy enough to try and drive a 22 year old Ferrari across the country.

The thought another 2 nights in Grants quickly eliminated option A.

Option C had a lot of appeal but then I would still be in Grants. You see, while Grants has several local tourist attractions it also has 3, yes 3, prisons. The population of Grants is something on the order of 6000 so either the town of Grants has NO political pull what so ever or the police there are VERY busy. I think it is a combination of the two.

I am sure option D has several proponents out there and not without some justification. But seeing as it was me making the decision I chose not to “seriously” consider D.

That left me with option B. To that end I am now in Albuquerque!!!!!!!! I left Grants at 5:30 or so and Albuquerque is only 80 miles away but it is NOT Grants. Good restaurants, with something much needed at this point, alcohol!!!

I was walking back to the motel after food and several very cold beers tonight and stopped at gas station/mini market to buy some laundry detergent. Yeah, it is that time again, but now I am an old hand at this so no problem. Leaving the station I had a choice, I could either walk out the driveway or take a shortcut across the grass border around the station. I chose the grass.

Have you ever had one of those days, or in my case weeks, when it seems someone is trying to tell you something? I apparently did not see the “Keep Off the Grass” sign if there was one. As I was about halfway across the 15 foot grass border I apparently set off the grass’s automated self defense system. My left leg was nailed with a jet of water as numerous water guns came alive. I made a dash for the safety of the sidewalk and continued my walk to the motel shaking water out of my left shoe.

They obviously take their grass very seriously around here.



Friday Morning 9/3/04

It is about 8am and I am headed out.

Going down the highway there is a large puff of smoke every 1 or 2 miles as the dripping oil hits the exhaust system but the car is doing fine otherwise. There will not be a mosquito alive along I-40 between Grants and Raleigh, but what the heck, I AM MOVING AGAIN.



My goal for today is Oklahoma City, wish me luck,





Friday PM 9/3/04

Well, the Willie Nelson song “On The Road Again” is out of my head.

Today was the kind of day I was expecting/hoping for from the start. I covered a little over 700 miles from Albuquerque to Fort Smith, AR (and probably did in a few thousand mosquitoes while I was at it). Other than being an annoyance for the folks behind me the oil leak has caused no problems.

Just in case you think I am the only person crazy enough to go across country in an old car, there is another. Carol, my wonderful wife, is flying to Little Rock, AR tomorrow morning where I will pick her up (assuming the car makes it of course). We will continue heading east stopping somewhere between Memphis and Nashville, TN. Sunday we will push on to Raleigh. At least that is the plan.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Later,

Paul

(Editors note: Here is a picture that will keep you awake at night. The shop crew in Grants. Jimmy is on the far right.................
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As I mentioned earlier, Grants does have some tourist attractions and here is one of them, a nice big Wine Tasting. Being a wino I had to stop in. Now I am sure that someone in New Mexico makes good wine but I never found it here............
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Saturday 9/4/04

Company, I have company. Carol arrived at The Little Rock airport at 12:45 today and we then continued our eastward trek.

Again today was a day with no problems, well, almost no problems. It turns out the air-conditioner drain is stopped up. I guess it has been stopped up since day one and I never noticed because out west there is NO humidity in the air, hence no leak. Now that we are in the land of humidity equaling the temp there is PLENTY of moisture for the A/C to remove and it now puts all of that moisture on the floor on Carol’s side of the car (at least the car has some compassion for its driver). I should be able to cure the leak before we leave Nashville in the morning.

Nashville, TN was the goal this morning and we achieved that at 7 this evening, stopping about 10 miles outside of Nashville on the Raleigh side. We just finished dinner at Uncle Bud’s Catfish Restaurant & BBQ, a good old country joint that has never met a food that can’t be deep fried. Our cholesterol levels are up at least 20%.

It is hard to believe but tomorrow I should be able to sleep in my OWN bed. I sure am looking forward to that!!!!!!

Paul

PS: I have looked everywhere in Nashville, at least everywhere along Interstate 40, but NO Elvis.



Sunday, 9/5/04 Home at last,

Carol and I got away from Nashville, TN at 9am for what we hoped would be the last leg of the LA to Raleigh trip. The weather was a slight overcast which meant it was not hot. This was a good thing as I was not able to repair the plugged A/C drain (could not get under the car to reach the drain hose). The car was running reasonably well and we made our first stop just this side of Knoxville for gas and a few Tennessee lottery tickets. The stretch of I-40 going through the NC mountains was a fun drive, especially the twisty bits. There was not much traffic and no Highway Patrol in sight, which was nice seeing as the speed limit of 55 in that section was largely ignored.

We stopped in Asheville the see a friend. I got to show him my old new toy and I got to see his, not as old, new toy, a 1996 Porsche 911. The Porsche was beautiful and looked brand new.

At 3:00 we said our good byes, got in the car to head for Raleigh. It was at this time we discovered that the car really liked Asheville and had no desire to leave. It would not start. After several attempts to get it started, Carol noticed fuel dripping from a place fuel should not drip from and repairs commenced. Seeing as my friend is a SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) race car owner and driver (Formula Ford), he has a full complement of tools which helped tremendously. We stemmed the fuel leak and finally left Asheville shortly after 5, the car again running reasonably well, but knowing there was a fuel injection problem which could not be completely cured until we got home.

About an hour out of Asheville the car started to develop a miss, due to the injection problem, that got worse the closer we got to Raleigh. We stopped for gas at the intersection of 54 & 55 in Durham shortly before 9pm and that is where the car said “I have had enough”. 2543 miles down and only 20 to go, and it WOULD NOT START. No amount of bribery or coercion would convince it otherwise. Having little in the way of options late on a Sunday night, we called a tow truck. Dean’s Towing arrived at 11:45 or so and loaded up the car for the last 20 mile leg of the trip.

After all this car and I had been through, seeing it enter my driveway on the back of a flat bed truck was more than a little depressing. Just not the manner of homecoming I had envisioned.

But I am home, and sleeping in my own bed after 10 days on the road, that is a good thing!

Paul

 

Thanks Branko,

It has been an interesting two years car wise, but yes, it is now pretty well sorted. Several electrical problems were more than a little challenging but the mechanical side of things has been no problem (oops, there I go jinxing myself again).

I would do it again in a minute.

Paul

 

I would love to see the article if you can find it!

Paul

 

"By the way, what was the source of that big oil leak?"

At the time I believed it was one of two things. A cam seal on the front bank installed incorrectly along with a front bank cam cover gasket that had either been broken during installation or shifted out of position as the cam cover was being tightened. After I got back to Raleigh I discovered a third possibility, the front cam cover may have been loose.

When it was first cranked up there was a steady stream hitting the ground. To be honest, I don't know what Jimmy did to slow it down as I was outside beating my head against a wall in frustration. I later found several of the domed cam cover nuts broken where they had been put on the wrong studs and tightened so much that the stud broke through the dome of the nut. So I think it safe to assume that initially the cam cover was loose and he then just tightened the s--h out of the nuts. The cam seal continued to leak one or two drops per mile.

Paul