Back in beige

[jamie]

Early Christmas present!

Gray, who is storing my car in his garage, got my tank refurbished. It looks amazing.

[jamie]

A very sketchy plan is forming...

This week I am working in Michigan. Rather than fly back home at the end, I've booked a flight (four hours in the wrong direction) to San Francisco, so I can drive the car to the port in LA. The lure of a road-trip, however brief and pointless, is too much.

The sketchiness of this plan increased significantly on realising that the shipper's office closes at 4pm on Friday. This gives me approximately 10 hours to cover 365 miles in a car I've so far only driven for 20 minutes.

And the other thing - it has a charge problem. I didn't remember this until the previous owner reminded me a few days after the flight was booked.

So I've bought a new generator and regulator, and will attempt to fit them, in the dark, on Thursday evening.

All this compounded by the fact that getting the car transported was only $400. But that isn't the point - I want to (try to) drive my car to LA. I think.

[Bootsy]

You crazy kid

[Gary71]

Ship it from New York or your plan isn't mad enough!

I'd be tempted to buy two spare batteries get them fully charged along with the original pair then run them one at a time until they die. The car will work just fine on one battery so disconnect the other. If you are running during the day the electrical load is really low so you might make it...
Good luck!

[Bootsy]

Ship it from New York or your plan isn't mad enough!

I'd be tempted to buy two spare batteries get them fully charged along with the original pair then run them one at a time until they die. The car will work just fine on one battery so disconnect the other. If you are running during the day the electrical load is really low so you might make it...
Good luck!

Wise words although too sensible for young Lipman?

[Jonny Hart]

For added drama take the 101 through Big Sur, at night, in torrential rain, with rockfalls.

I don't recommend hitting a rockfall, driving 30 miles of coastal road on a space saver, running out of petrol, or staying in a hillbilly log cabin in a power 'outage' with the cast of Scooby Doo. Ask me how I know!

Go team beige!

[jamie]

Ship it from New York or your plan isn't mad enough!

I'd be tempted to buy two spare batteries get them fully charged along with the original pair then run them one at a time until they die. The car will work just fine on one battery so disconnect the other. If you are running during the day the electrical load is really low so you might make it...
Good luck!

Wise words although too sensible for young Lipman?

I was totally going to do this - been recommended it by a friend in the know.

Go Team Beige

[Gary71]

(however if you break down my excuse is I'm a mechanical engineer, not an electrical one, so don't listen to me! )

[jamie]

But you are a Bentley engineer, so you must be good. Press and Special told me so.

[Gary71]

er... maybe!

[jamie]

Arrived in San Francisco. It's colder here than Detroit, and Gray says there's a storm coming, so may be in for a Johnny-type experience. I've given up on the idea of getting it to LA tomorrow - there's just too much to do.

We fitted the tank this evening and got the beastie running again. Now to sleep. Tomorrow we tackle changing the generator...

[jamie]

Red sky over San Ramon, California. Jet lag. 5.30am.



New regulator and generator fitted today due to charge warning light on the dashboard. Four years of Renault ownership makes me so grateful to Porsche - everything cleverly positioned so it's easy to get to, same nut and bolt sizes across the board and so on. The French just don't do this.



Had the new bits fitted in a couple of hours, but the charge light remained on. A few hours later, my host John Gray and I had discovered that the gauge left of the tacho isn't original - it's from a 911. It has also been wired-in by someone that doesn't know shite about wiring, because the charge light was connected to the regulator, then to the cable that runs to the handbrake switch. We fixed that, and the light started working as it should. I love it when things get fixed.

So it turns out we probably didn't need a new alternator. Waste of money? Maybe, but if I hadn't gone sniffing around back there, I wouldn't have found this:



(I fitted a new belt).

By 5pm or so it was ready to drive, but was still missing headlamps, having thrown the original ugly US-spec units in the bin last time I was here. Stupid. We fitted the sealed-beam units from Gray's 3.2 Targa, but left the red trim rings off. It looks weird, but the whole car is a friggin pig with its rust holes and faded Fuchs and cardboard-box-coloured paint. I took a drive down to the local hardware store to buy some more bits, and also check everything was in order. The car seems fine, but I'm still pretty nervous about the 400-mile trip tomorrow.

Off for a few hours sleep, then hitting the road on yet another sketchy adventure...

[left4dead]

...but the whole car is a friggin pig...

Don't be so hard on her, Jamie. I'm very jealous of your lil' pig.
Hope she gets you where you need to get and in good time.
Godspeed.

[jamie]

1/3rd of the way there...

[johnM]

Looking good Jamie.

Anyone tell you, you take a mean pic.

Kind regards.