Wow,
What a few weeks it has been. I'm sorry I haven't been updating the thread as frequently, but the moment the bug was "ready" I had to go into emergency car-prep and organizer mode for our Annual "Hagerty Spring Thaw Classic Car Adventure". This year Warwick, my business partner, and I were pushing the limits a little too closely. First up was the Bug, a whole brand new build which required three unplanned motor pulls and the unplanned tear down to replace the bearings. That set me back by at least a week, which meant helping Warwick out was becoming a problem. On Warwick's side we had his '66 Alfa Romeo Duetto which needed rear brake work. The left rear caliper was locking up so I tore it off and rebuilt it. Oddly enough the same problem continued. Alfas are famous for needing a flex line replaced to solve rear axle lock up, but the strange part was it was only the left side that was a problem. Never-the-less, the car was put up on axle stands again so I could do the rear flex line. Following that the brakes released properly (odd) but it had to come in a
third time for a full brake bleed. I guess once we free'd up the rear the air in the front became apparent!
With the Alfa ready to go, we focused on Warwick's '66 Austin Mini. With just three days to go before our event it still had no interior, a new motor puking oil, no brakes, no doors, no hood and no engine lid. First up was fixing the motor. When the engine was built one of the oil-galley plugs was pulled to clean out the block from any machining. The galley was threaded and a bolt installed with gasket and sealant. Unfortunately the 75psi of break-in oil pressure was pushing oil past the threads at an alarming rate. Different sealants were tried, and then finally as a last-ditch effort before pulling the motor I pulled out the tubes of Permatex Cold Weld (JB-Weld's competitor). I hate to use cold-weld on a new motor, but with the event fast approaching we were running out of time. 12 hours later, Warwick and I both crossed our fingers as he hit the starter. Sweet! No oil leak! I then made him a temporary gauge holder to house an oil pressure gauge, Audi Voltmeter and coolant temperature gauge. A spare Stewart Warner tach was popped onto the dash so he could monitor his break-in and ensure he was running at different RPMs on the way to the start. Warwick was working on the car 18 hours a day. His buddy Martin was putting in daytime hours and I was working evenings. All along the two of us were pausing to do last-minute event items such as hotel changes, meal confirmations, cancellations and wait-list entries. It was a crazy blur!
At some point I managed to have my buddy Gord swap the 165-series tires from my hubcap style rims over to the late-model super rims. Still 4.5" wide, but more in the style I prefer. There were plans to refinish them before the Spring Thaw event, but those were quickly shelved with all the other crazyness going on.
Thursday afternoon (April 26th) came, and while I worked on final changes with our entrants Warwick hit the road in the Mini to break it in on the way to our start location. He made it about 40min down the highway before calling me to say the car had died. Diagnosis procedures were relayed over the phone and via text as I loaded the car and raced down to help him out. In the rush to leave I managed to completely forget any tools, and thus planned to do the 1200km driving adventure with no jack, no wheel wrench, and no tools or spares! I did have a clutch cable, but that was going to be pretty useless without any way to install it
By the time I had arrived Warwick had diagnosed the problem as the coil, and soon after a fellow Mini buddy dropped by with a spare. Off we went to prep the start! Well, actually I went to the hotel and started drinking beer with some of our Entrants while Warwick hit a buddies shop for a late night alignment, fuel pump repair and the manufacture of rear wheel spacers to stop the rubbing. Nothing like finishing the car at 11:30pm the night before!
With the morning came 73 classic cars, 148 people and the start of what has turned into
the fall event of the Pacific Northwest. Our Fourth Annual Spring Thaw started in Hope BC, travelled to Sun Peaks on night one, from Sun Peaks to Penticton BC on night two and then back to Hope for the finish. The event attracts everything from cars you wonder if they'll make it, all the way to very expensive and rare european machinery. Amazingly all entered vehicles managed to make it to the first night's hotel stop...which is a first for the event. The bug was running flawlessly, though I will admit to driving it much easier then I have in previous years. I decided that I really didn't want to be the "Hard Luck Award" winner, which is given to the team which has a catastrophic failure during the event. Much of the first day was spent playing on the roads with a friend's 356. Dave recently installed a new motor and was also "being easy" on the car with a self-imposed 4500rpm rev limit. By the end of the day it was clear both of us had to flip our mirrors if we were the one leading...the car in the back was clearly pushing the rev limits higher and higher!
My co-driver had bailed for the Thaw with relatively short notice, and with the craziness of the weeks before I never got around to inviting a new one. So, Ernie jumped in the right seat to take care of map duties for the weekend. He was pretty quiet the whole time, but I have to say he was about as accurate and useful with the directions as my regular co-driver!
Day two was a day of swapping cars between myself and Duncan's TR7. I've always wanted one, as dad had a project TR7 when I was a kid, but have never had the opportunity to drive one. At first I realized you should never drive the cars you dream about...coming from the bug the TR felt like it was floating all over the road...but soon settled into reviewing the car on it's own, instead of comparing it, and came to enjoy it quite a bit! Duncan and I also worked on tuning the dampening for the rear suspension on the beetle. Having a second set of eyes to see what the car was doing and comparing it to what I was feeling inside was a huge help. We've dialed out much of the widowmaker handling and the car is becoming quite predictable under throttle and when sliding.
Day two also saw our first catastrophic failures. Warwick's Alfa blew out it's centre driveshaft bearing while his mom was driving, and was the only fully-terminal issue for the whole event. The car was towed to a local town, where one of our entrants offered the use of their enclosed garage for as long as required. Tucked away safely, Sue and Lorrie began jumping into the back seats of whatever classic cars they could. On the Spring Thaw, no one is left behind! Gerry Frose, who painted my bug, also had a big failure on day two. His 1980 Rabbit decided that the inner CV balls would look far better bouncing down the highway as opposed to inside the joint where they could be useful. Parts and tools were acquired from 2 hours away, and while rather sunburned, they managed to get it together and even beat me to the hotel (via a shortcut) for night #2.
Day three for me was rather short. Someone on the organizing team had to skip ahead to greet guests at the finish, and since I haven't done it on the other three years it was my turn! I left 15-30min before the first cars were out, but that didn't keep me from watching my rear view mirror the entire time on the first road. I always warn guests on the day three driver's meeting that the brake pedal is going to be a little longer today, and my car was no exception. Going deep into the corners had double meaning on this run! Ultimately, however, the car performed flawlessly and it was a short while later that my co-driver and I were able to enjoy our first meal of the weekend. It didn't last long though, like all my other meals on the weekend it was quickly interrupted by organizing duties. Cold food taken in bites over a period of hours...that's the eating habits of an organizer!
Following the Thaw the week has been a whirlwind. I wrote down a 34-point list of things I needed to prep by Friday night. Connor spent much of the week crossing the items off the list with me each evening...and the local Rally Shop, Rocket Rally, filled in the blanks during the day for me. I think we un-mounted and mounted the equivalent of 20 tires over a three day period! Some of the major highlights of the week:
Rally Tire rims painted, Pirelli tires mounted.
Hand Brake lever handle completed by my buddy Scott.
Spare tire strap was sewn, and finally installed.
I fixed the stripe on the engine lid. It took 4 tries to lay without bubbles or tears...but then promptly split the next morning!
And the big one was seats and belts. I needed a non-ratty set for the weekend, and time was running short to work out some options. I ended up calling another ralliest in town, Brandon, and asked to borrow his seats and belts. Took two nights to modify my seat mounts to fit the wider seats...but the interior is looking far better. Sorry the photo is so dark, meant to take another in the morning and forgot.
With that, I packed the car and prepared myself for waking up at 3am...