[T3] Sophy's Invasion Shake-down Run

[John Jaranson <jaransonT3@comcast.net>]

<x-flowed>Last Saturday I needed to travel back home to Minnesota for my Gram's 
funeral and decided the 1700 mile round-trip run would be a good 
shake-down for Sophy before the Invasion.  Besides, if you have to 
travel without air-conditioning (the Escort wagon's quick working long 
ago), you might as well go in style.

The good news...

Sophy run great the whole trip without any major issues.  Averaged 
better than 25 mpg and cruised at 70-80 mph the whole way.  She even 
performed well in the huge thunderstorm I drove through on the way home 
last night.  I had a blast.

The issues I discovered and need to address before the Invasion 
trip.....

On the way back at the first gas stop, I noticed an alarmingly large 
puddle of oil under the right side of her engine.  I had occasionally 
gotten a few small drips on that side during daily driving but nothing 
like this.  Only source for the leak I could find was the stock oil 
bath air cleaner.   I removed the air cleaner and it was over-full by a 
1/3 of a quart or so.  I know I didn't over-fill it during the last 
tune-up.  I dumped some out to get it back down to the correct level 
and wiped up the tin below the drain hole in the outer ring of the air 
cleaner.  Didn't notice any more oil leaks til I got home last night 
after another 700 miles or so.  Just checked the air cleaner again and 
it was back to being over-full.

The only explanation I have is that I am getting excessive crankcase 
pressure at high speeds and it is getting blown in through the 
breather.  I have the hose on that connects the breather to the 
air-cleaner.  Any other explanations?  What would cause the high 
crankcase pressure?  The engine runs strong (70mph at 4000rpm, 26 mpg 
or so).  I am going to do a  compression check.  Any thing else I 
should look for?

I need to swap in the 12V wipre system that I have.  Rain-X works 
great, but there are still times the wipers would be nice.

The speedo cable or the speedo itself started really screaming during 
the last leg of the trip.  I ended up reaching under and unscrewing the 
cable and it went quiet.  Of course, no speed or odometer after that.  
Will the cable from a 70 work in my 66?  Is it more likely the cable or 
the speedo?  It did this when I first started driving her and stopped 
after squirting some Kroil down the cable housing.

I also need to do a little water leak detective work.  The driver;s 
side floor got pretty wet in the driving rain storm I drove through 
last night.  I thought I had all the holes in the floors sealed 
up....maybe I missed on.  Might also be the windshield seal, but I 
don't think that is likely.

There are a few other minor things like the light for the tach and the 
highbeam indicator are out.  I want to add a powerpoint for a phone 
charger and maybe throw in the oil pressure gage that I have so I can 
be more like Keith. <G>

All-in-all, I am very happy with her performance and am looking forward 
to the Invasion trip.  Only about a month to go........


Later,
John Jaranson
'66 Square (Sophy)
'70 Fasty (Jane 2 - Type 3 Lead Sled wannabe)
'71 Fasty (Jane -parts car due to rust)
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/carartbyjohn/
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jaransonT3/jaransonT3/
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jaransonT3/2006Invasion/
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jaransonT3/notavwclub/

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