<VV> The Route 66 adventure - Part 4 of ??

[J R Read_HML]

The original plan called for me to meet with my nephew in Flagstaff in the 
mid morning on Saturday.  He lives in Tempe (near Phoenix).  Since I was on 
10 and NOT on 40 (old 66), I gave him a call and told him to stay put - not
to go up to Flagstaff.  I got into the Phoenix area around 10:30 - 11:00 am. 
It was finally getting warm enough to put the top down and I did that.  But, 
FIRST I needed to adjust the clutch.

Most of my time was on the highway, but I was running into a problem at 
stops.  The pedal would not go down far enough (had to get the floor mat out 
of there as it blocked pedal travel and then I was putting a serious dent in 
the carpet) to be able to shift smoothly.  Along the way I was trying to 
practice shifting without clutch (as I could foresee a problem), but I could 
just not get the hand of it.  I know that I've done it before - but it was a 
long time ago - and I was not 2,000 miles form home at the time.

Anyway, we adjusted the clutch pedal to the top - where it belongs - but the 
swivel piece at the bottom end of the
cable now bangs on the body every time the clutch is depressed.  So, 
readjusted to the point just before it would touch the body.  This gave me 
clutch engagement at about 1/2 pedal and that seemed like it would be fine 
for the balance of the trip.

Top goes down, a few pictures taken - find them at:

 http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hmlinc@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/4873&.dnm=5309.jpg&.src=phWe then went to lunch (on me - I AM his father's brother).  By the timeeverything was done and I was on the road again, at least threehours(probably more) had passed.  I had allotted about 45 minutes - maximum.So much for plans.  Anyway, the next "scheduled" stop was to be AlbuquerqueNM.  The New Mexico club was having a "shine and show" type even that dayand I had previously been in contact with Geoff Johnson about the remotepossibility of me showing up there.  I had told him that it was doubtfulthat I could make it in time for the show.  He said "not to worry" as someof the folks would likely hang around after and it would be just fine if Ishowed up late.  Well, I did - about a day late!  But, I'm getting ahead ofmyself with that comment.  When I left Phoenix, there was some strange ideain my head that I would get to (what I figured would be lucky) Shamrock, TXthat night!Going back to the "original" concept, the idea was to follow old 66 - whichessentially meant Route 40 - and to make appropriate stops at "icons" of 66.With that still in mind, I set off from Phoenix (no time to look for PhoenixCharley - I heard he moved anyway) for Flagstaff in order to link up withRoute 40.  Mission accomplished (at least that part) and I'm headed Eastagain on 40.  Things are looking OK if you ignore the fact that I'm about ahalf day behind the original time schedule.  That's OK, if I get home atnoon on Monday everything will work out JF!On down the road..... something sort of weird was going on.  Car was runningfine on the road, but not so fine when I had to slow for an exit.  In fact,I was getting backfires in (what sounded to me like) the right primary.  Oh,isn't that the one (he told me) with the sticky float?  I know how to fixthis!  Rap on it with a screw driver handle, right?  OK, don't even have toopen the "emergency" box.  There is a screwdriver in the glove box - whichis there to open the trunk because the lock is not in place.On the ROAD AGAIN... part of a song?  Anyway, several miles down the road(top now up because of threatening looking weather, including occasionalrain) and things still don't seem just right.  It is most noticeable onuphill grades (well, of course).  At this point (don't recall exactly), butI'm somewhere between 4000 and 6000 feet above sea level.  The best gas youcan buy is 90 octane.  I was not getting ping - but I also was not gettingmuch (if any) performance.  Finally, on an uphill, right hand curve - it allbut died (and a fair amount of backfires going on) and I pulled over to seewhat the H the story was.I'm in the hills and it is windy and sort of moist - cool and getting cooler(by the moment) air.  There is a storm moving toward me and I can see thatit will be here soon.  It is just off my left shoulder and I can see theengine deck waving in the breeze while I try to sort things out.  Now thestorm is on top of me, so I close the deck and dive back into the car.  Thewind has picked up A LOT and I'm about 600 yards (I think - because there isa curve there) from the crest.I sat there for about ten minutes and the weather is getting worse as timegoes by.  Finally, I try the key and it starts.  Runs like C at idle, butsounds good when you step into the throttle.  No one seems to be comingtoward me at the moment, so I mash on the throttle and get decent response.Off I go!  Seems like, so long as I stay in the secondaries, the car runsOK.  So, GOOD, that will at least get me off this mountain side.That worked and I stopped for gas at Winslow AZ.  Found that the leftprimary linkage had lost that "Jesus" clip - so I was only getting secondaryon the left side.  Oh!  THAT explains what was going on in the rainstorm onthe hillside.  Anyway, Winslow WAS on my itinerary - just expected to bethere 24 hours earlier.  Went to bed after a couple of beers, and took somepics the next AM.  One is now my desktop background.They are at:http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hmlinc@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/f0d3&.dnm=f3ec.jpg&.src=phEnd of Part 4Later, JR