Toby,
I made a trek to Breckenridge, Colorado from Waterford, Michigan (30 miles
northwest of Detroit) in 1992 to attend Healey International. I made the
3,200+ mile round trip in my 1967 Sprite MKIV. The car was equipped at the
time with a nicely tuned 1275 (Longman head, LCB header, 1.5 SU's, Kent
Cam, 1.5 Rockers, etc...) Unfortunately, I hadn't replaced the rear
differential (It still had its original 4.22 gearing). After 3 1/2 days of
high revs on I-80, I thought that I was going to bounce of a wall (Read, if
you're going to make a long trip, change to a 3.9 or 3.72 differential).
Another consideration on a cross country drive is where will you cross the
continental divide. Even in a modified state of tune, the old 1275 had a
heck of a time completing some of the mountain passes in the Rockies (i.e.
the Eisenhower Tunnel) The engine was starving for air and I couldn't get
much more that 25 MPH during the steepest sections. The water temperature
at the completion of the Eisenhower pass was darn near 220 degrees! When I
exited the (downhill) tunnel the water temp was back to a comfortable 185
degrees.
One last comment, bring tools and spares. On the return trip, just west of
St. Louis, Missouri my ignition warning light came on. I pulled over,
checked the generator voltage output and determined that the voltage
regulator had given it up. I swapped out the regulator with my spare and
continued on my marry way. It was about 200 miles further into the drive
and my ignition warning light came on again. Upon inspection this time I
discovered that the generator wasn't putting out voltage anymore. I hadn't
packed away a set of brushes because I had just had the darn thing rebuilt
before I left! At that point, I continued traveling on battery power alone
to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. I stopped there for the night because the headlamps
would have drained the battery and left me stranded. The following morning
I went to a NAPA dealer and purchased a spare battery for insurance. I
completed the trip from Ft. Wayne to Waterford, Michigan on the original
battery! The lesson here is, you can travel a long way on battery alone
provided you're not restarting your car and using accessories. You will
get a bit anxious as you're traveling alone through America's great corn
and wheat fields, not know when the battery is going to feed that last
charged electron.
I'd say that this trip was an adventure. I didn't know what the outcome
would be, but I figured if something went wrong, I'd just coast to the side
of the road and have a go a trying to fix it.
Go for it, at worst you'll come out of the experience with some great
stories to tell!
Brian Thornton
AN9
AN5
At 12:56 AM 2/23/99 -0800, R. Toby Atwater wrote:
> I wanna thank all of you who helped in the wrench issue, just to
comment, a
>little, I am a Craftsman guy, with one Snap On Tool that is never used,
just hung
>up and looked at. It's so shiny.... I should compare one of these days,
>
>Bigger plans....Has anybody been on great distances with their Sprite?
This summer,
>I have planned a Cross USA trip with a friend, but the car I was planning
to take
>has become unavailable. I have 4 months to prepare the sprite for a glorious
>summer. How reliable are these little cars? Has anybody done it?
>Don't worry about the comfort level. I have done great distances in my
Land Cruiser
>with only 3 gears with out overdrive and no Top or doors. Top Speed: 60-65
mph with
>the engine red lining the whole way and the CD-player full blast. about 3
days with
>sleep stops only.
>Hey also I guess I would have to make some spridget related stops back
east. Say hi
>to some of you guys. I understand the majority of you guys are east coasters.
>
>Maybe see you this summer! See you
>
>Toby
>
>
>
>
>
|