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2-11 August 2020 - An Ending

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  Eventually,  All Good Things Must Come to an End: Although I, and I'm sure several of you, wish that my cross-country gallivanting could continue forever, time runs out quicker than I ever could have imagined. It has been over a month since I first set out on my trip, even though it feels like only yesterday that I was throwing my bags into the trunk and tapping the rev-limiter on the first (of many) on-ramps.  ~10500 Miles Down   2 August 2020: In what should be a surprise to no one at this point, the Cougar brought me quickly and safely to Long Beach Island, NJ. Well, that was after we made a brief pit-stop in NY before we showed up! I decided to make the ~200 mile detour because I could get a instant COVID-19 test at an UrgentCare in Yonkers. After you've driven over 10,000 miles, what's another 200, right?!  3 August 2020: Well, it finally happened. After 10,000 miles of driving without a spare tire or plug kit, I finally found a nail on the road.      Thankfully,
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30 July - 1 August 2020

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Radiator Flop, Roadside Win, and the Beginning of the End: All things, both good and bad, must come to an end eventually... But we're not done yet! 30 July 2020: My original plan for the day was to re-inspect my brake repair and install my fancy new Be Cool radiator and it's electric fans in an attempt to finally cure my 'almost but never completely' overheating issue. As a quick summary, I run at about 210-225 on the highway @ 80mph with the AC on. Although I do not have a shroud, which is making my around-town driving even more frightful, the fact that I am running that hot at highway speeds tells me that I need more total cooling capacity. My thermostat is only a few months old, so it is very unlikely that it is the culprit, and although it is possible that there could be a restriction in my block caused by buildup/contaminants, I have no way to test that theory and it is not something I can fix by myself.      All that being said, I brought the radiator and fan kit
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27, 28, 29 July 2020

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I Finally Got Rid of Those Pesky Drum Brakes: Just not the way that anyone would recommend... 27 July 2020: Waking up in the woods by yourself is always an interesting feeling. Firstly, you are never the first one up; all the woodland creatures and insects have been up since sunrise and are now making quite a racket. Secondly, you realize once again that you are very alone. Based on the location of other campsites and the complete lack of people I had seen on the trek out, it was likely that I was the only person for at least 5 miles in any direction. That doesn't sound that much in the age of 10 speed automatic transmissions and jetliners, but when you're on foot that distance represents 1-2 hours of walking, or much more if that fall you just took broke your ankle instead of just bruising your pride.  Fun Fact:  If Ken falls in the forest and there's no one around to hear it, he still makes a (very loud) sound.     So I packed up camp and started the 10 mile trek back t
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26 July 2020

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An Italian Tune-Up and The Tail of the Dragon: I've been pretty busy since my last update! Leaning into the Throttle on Corner Exit on the Tail of the Dragon 26 July 2020:  In the last update, I changed my spark plugs in an abandoned rest stop in an attempt to cure a persistent misfire issue. While that seemed to have cured it for the rest of that day, on the morning of the 26th I was still noticing some occasional stumbling. Well, figuring that there was probably a certain amount of the ash that covered the spark plugs elsewhere in the combustion chamber, a buildup that would be aggravated by the fact that I purposely avoided full throttle (for the most part)  since I was technically breaking in my clutch and didn't want to put any extra strain on my AC/PS belt, I decided that an ol' fashioned Italian tune-up was in order. So, after the next fill-up, it was AC off and windows down, lightly bouncing off the rev-limiter (set to 5800rpm on my MSD box) as I rejoined the highwa
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25 July 2020

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The Cougar Weight Loss Program: Want to lose 10 pounds in one day? It's easy! Just change your spark plugs in an abandoned, shade-less rest stop when it's 93F outside! But we'll get to that later...      The Best looking Spark Plug of the Bunch     As those of you who have read the rest of my blog know, my Vintage Air HVAC system stopped sending power to my AC compressor yesterday afternoon. So after some Starbucks parking lot troubleshooting and a new relay didn't solve the issue, I spent a good chunk of time in my hotel room that night reading through the instructions for the installation of the system. It was all new to me since I had only installed the AC parts in the engine bay (compressor, condenser, and associated lines), whereas the previous owner had installed all the interior components. Now, if any of you had known the previous owner of this car, that statement would concern you. I'll spare everyone the details, but this guy really did not know what he wa
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