Road Trip Advice for Newbie

Rain:  if you have an IM, this might not be an issue, but otherwise bring some blue painter's tape to tape the top to the windshield.  DO NOT tape down more than 1/4" or you could strip out your wipers in a driving rain.  Ask me how I know.

Heat:  Plan on it not doing much

Headlamps:  Drive with them on

Stops:  Plan on gassing up about every 2.5 hours.  The fuel gauge is not linear & will give you a thrill.  Most tanks hold about 8 gallons.

Sidecurtains:  Expect them to suck.  Bring Shamwow/towels  (see rain)

Roadside emergency card

Cell Phone

Cell phone charger (if you have a plug, otherwise backup battery).

Sunglasses & Sun Screen (maybe you'll get lucky)

Have a great drive.  Sounds legendary :-)

Welcome to the Madness! On the highway keep the rpms between 2500 and 3500 rpm. Don't lug it when the engine's working;the fan has to turn fast enough to keep the engine cool when it's under load. Does it have an oil temp gauge? 225 or 230' means back off the rpm's a bit as it's getting hot! Put premium in the thing! Don't cheap out; it could lead to severely shortened engine life. Have a couple extra quarts of oil with you, and check it every time you gas up.

 

 Some tools will be a good idea; a wrench (or socket) and screwdriver to be able to change the fan belt (get an extra fan belt too) is essential. You won't go very far with no fan belt, as it turns the cooling fan (inside the shroud) as well. If it has points in the distributor then make sure it's been tuned up recently; again, think of trying to find parts (points and a condenser) for a 35 or 40 year old car in the middle of nowhere. Does the firewall in front (front is front of the car, so as you're looking at the engine from the back the firewall is behind the fan shroud, toward the front of the car) have a 6" (or so) hole in it? If it does you shouldn't have any overheating problems if it's in good tune and you don't push it too hard. 

 

What size is the engine? Stock carburetor? dual carbs? Were you given a spec or build list for the engine? Is it a swing-axle or independent rear suspension (irs)? Color? Wheels? What size tires? We really need a pic or 2 here...Al

 

Other people will chime in with ideas; I've gotta go back to work.

PS- Hope it goes well. You'll have a blast! Do you have company?

 

 

X2 on Tom plus

 

If a VW powered car, and if you have not driven one for long drives, keeping RPM's at about 3000-3500 will help keep that cars temp in line.  If it doesn't have a sump or cooler know that you are only working with about 3qts of oil.  If the weather is to be cooler on your drive, a blanket works well to wrap your legs in.  Over night, if you are at a hotel and it is raining ask the front desk if you can leave it under the eve out check in, they might be cool with it (have done that on motorcycle trips).  If you can drive top down, ear plugs are a good thing.

 

The day I picked my car up I drove 550 miles back to Reno.  Only thing to remember is FUEL...  about every 150 miles just to be on the safe side.  Plus you will need to get out about that often to look at your awesome f'n ride and take pics.

 

Safe Travels and welcome to the madness.

 

Stephen 

Al beet me to it.

That's ok, you came up with some great points of your own.!

Awesome advice, thanks guys. Based on your feedback I will definitely be adding to the list of things going into my hand luggage. The vehicle is close to brand new, with 550 miles on the clock and a 1915cc H4 engine. I can't figure out how to post pics to the forum but it is this car at Park Place in WA:- http://www.parkplaceltd.com/sp...al_~ExteriorColor_/1

 

PS - thanks for the rain advice Tom. It's likely to rain between Bellevue and Portland, then sunshine all the way back home 

We've seen pics of this car before. If you can find out anything about what cam is in it and what the valve sizes in the heads are we can give you an idea of powerband and what the redline will be. Also ask if it has a counterweighted crankshaft. The ad says the engine is all new, so a build or spec sheet should be available if you hound them for it. 

Welcome to the madness. Where in Norcal are you headed? There are a few of us around the valley and Sierras. I am at Lake Tahoe and you have already heard from Steven in Reno. Terry is in Grass Valley. Terry sponsors a fun rally in the Summer that I am looking forward to. We are all part of the madness and are here to help. My name is Noel. 

Hi Noel, I am in Emeryville, CA. I'm looking forward to being part of the madness and meeting up with some of my neighboring speedster owners,. Just got to get safely back from WA first!!

Chris

I lived in Seattle for 35 years. My kids are all still there. My wife is up visiting right now. I used to work for a company (now defunct) that was HQ'd in E ville. Are you coming down the coast? It will make for a much more pleasant (cooler) drive. These beasts are not a lot of fun on the freeway at sustained speeds. The gas tank is actually 10.2 gallons, but it will hit empty at 8 so you do have a 2 gallon reserve. That is the way VW engineered them in the first place before they had gas gauges. There was a valve below the tank to switch to the reserve. As was mentioned earlier the gas gauges tend to fluctuate a bit except for very full or very empty. 

 

I would love to take the coastal route but I've got limited time to do the drive so I was planning on a fair proportion of the trip being on freeway.

Love the looks of that car.  Nice Outlaw.  Congrats.

beautiful car, as my grandmother used to say:

  "drive it in good health."

Chris, great car, love the look!  Thread drift....Is Buccis on Hollis still in business?

Lived on our sailboat at the Marina and we loved going there for dinner, many years ago.

 

Drive safe.

Art, I believe it is. I've only just moved to the area from downtown SF, but I ate there last year and it was a great experience.

There used to be an old Prohibition era speakeasy in the neighborhood. There was dog asleep on the entry that never moved. The valet put a sign on him that said. "this dog is not dead."

Hey Chris,

I'm in San Jose.  That's a really young Vintage Speedster and may still have some things that need to be tightened and checked out.  I would recommend driving it around locally for a bit so you can have Park Place look it over if something doesn't feel right. 

 

You're in for a great "Motoring" experience. FYI, "Motoring" is what you really do in these cars. It's loud, rough, sometimes dirty, but fun.  It should not be confused with "Driving". "Driving" is something that happens in a cushioned, climate controlled isolation bubble with cruise control.

 

You should start a thread and update us along the way. Oh, and if you change your mind I know a hauler who will delivery it for about $600 on that route.

-=theron

 

 

Chris...here's a caution:

 

DO NOT, NEVER, EVER, reset the tripmeter display while the speedster is in motion

Thanks Theron, I'm looking forward to the 'motoring' experience. I used to live in the UK and owned a Caterham Superlight for many years so I'm used raw thrill of a classic car.

 

Carl, I appreciate the tip. Dare I ask what happens if you do reset the tripmeter while on the move?

 

With only 550 miles on it there may be a few things that aren't sorted yet.  Having said that, if it were me, I'd only bring a couple of towels and tape in case it rains, and my AAA card.

Check the condition of the fan belt before you head off and make sure the oil is topped up. 

Very important:  Drive around for a bit to make sure everything is working as it should (throttle, brakes, clutch, tranny etc.)

 

If you listen to all of these nervous Nellies you'll have to buy a small trailer, to pull behind your speedster, so you can carry all the tools.

OK here is the solution to all this advice. Take the car to Redmond European and have them check it out prior to closing on the sale. I hope you still have a weasel clause. Monte is the owner and has more air cooled experience than anyone in WA. He was the Porsche Dealer Svc Mgr in Seattle in the past. He works on all of the local Porsche race cars as well. His phone #is (425) 376-2655. He is located near the end of Hwy 520 on Redmond Fall City Road, 5 miles  east of Park Place Mtrs. It took me a couple of years to sort out all of the issues with my VS. These are hand built cars and all have problems. I had transmission problems, electrical shorts, and leaking axle seals. You need to think that you are buying a finished kit, but it is still a kit. Park Place buys these direct from VS and then does there own mods to increase the value and their profit. They are saving you a lot of time, because most of us have done many mods ourselves. I would have paid a premium for that service when I purchased. If you call Monte, tell him Noel sent you in. Peace of mind is worth a couple bucks before a trip. 

Chris, Blankinship succinctly nailed it... "it breaks"

 

These are 'VDO' quality in appearance only. the gearing is plastic and won't tolerate being reset to zero if the shaft is rotating (car's in motion)...but as Tom mused "it's probably broke already!!!"....so grin and bear it and join the club.

I second this! I know the boys over at Redmond European. If I was too busy to work on my own vehicles, this was the ONLY place I'd take my Audis and Porsches too up in WA. I used to live on Lake Sammamish Pkway so it wasn't too far away either.

Noel, thanks for the recommendation. The car is fully paid for and the guys at the dealership have promised to give the car another look over before I set off, but there is nothing like the reassurance of a fully independent inspection. I'll give Monte a call. Thanks Chris

Chris, welcome aboard.

Why don't you bring that bad boy down to the west coast gathering in SLO, June 6-8. 

 

Terry

I was just reading about the event - looks like a lot of fun! I gather that the hotel is fully booked, are there other places nearby?

 

Chris - Nice Car! Welcome to the Madness. It would be awesome if you could join our group in San Luis Obispo. The experience would certainly cement your love of the car and this group.

 

I think the event hotel is booked, but contact Scott Cramer (SLOFUZZ) via the info on that 'Event's thread and he can help you get squared away. Looking forward to seeing your at one of our cruises!  

Thanks Jim, I'll contact Scott. There is a chance that I'll be out of the country around that time, but if I'm in CA I'll definitely try and make it.

Roger That! 

Beautiful car. Welcome to the madness and good luck on your drive home. 

 

When I read Stephen's line above it made my day, and Theron's description above is spot on! This is what it's all about.

Would this do it, Ron?

 

PERFECT!

OK, things haven't gone quite as planned. My first flight on Friday was canceled and the second had to return to SFO after a 'minor' fire which forced an emergency landing. Third flight left 2 hours later so I arrived in Seattle ready to pick up the car on Saturday morning. Great experience with Park Place Ltd, Dave my sales guy spent 4 hours with me making sure I was good to go for the journey south.

Comments so far on driving a speedster for the first time. Surprised about how much room there is for a guy 6 foot 2" guy. learned very quickly to ignore the speedo which overeads by 5-10mph (when it works!). I've very quickly learned to become obsessed by oil tempature. Probably shouldn't admit this but really struggled to climb MT Ashland and keep oil temp in accetable range. Stopped for 1hr to cool the engine and realized that I had driven the last few hours with the handbrake on! No wonder it didnt feel very responsive at altitiude. Other newbie observations, I have driven 600 miles and seat is more comfortable than my BMW 335D daily driver. I've also learned that my Jamobox bluetooth speaker can't compete with the wind noise so I have resorted to audio techica noise canceling headphones to protect my sanity! The other major lesson learned is that everyone loves the car. I have stopped in some very local gas stations on my trip and people have gone out of their way to help me. Only 200 miles to get home tomorrow. I think my first upgrade will definitely be an oil cooler as I'm not enjoying the oil temp paranoia!

Just curious, where's the E brake handle ?

under the dash. I should have known better but **** happens!