<VV> Minneapolis and back

[J R Read_HML]

The wife is not really into cars, BUT she IS into the White Sox.  I cut a 
deal with her that we'd go see them play the Twins on Wed and Thursday if we 
could take the trip in the convertible.  She agreed.

Unfortunately, the trip was not as uneventful as I had hoped it would be. 
About 200 miles into the trip I heard a rather loud buzzing from the rear. 
Let off the throttle and the Rs only came down to around 2500.  I'm pretty 
sure that I know what THAT is all about.

Sure enough, the fan bearing has walked upward and is holding the throttle 
cross shaft open.  Removed the air cleaner, pounded it back down with a 
rubber mallet, reinstalled the air cleaner - and off we go.  Ten to fifteen 
mile later, same thing - Oh, this is going to be a LONG trip!  This time, I 
left the cross pieces in place (a 140) and parked the air cleaner on top of 
the spare.  I reached the fan pulley with the end of the mallet handle and 
bonked the bearing down again.  After that, I kept the speed under 60 and 
only had that happen one more time.  We got to the ball park just in time 
for the last ten minutes of the Sox batting practice.

The trip home was LONGGGG.  I started out at 65 just to see how things would 
go.  After about 45 minutes to and hour, the fan crept up again.  So, the 
rest of the trip stayed in the 55 to 60 range with preemptive bonks on the 
fan pulley at each stop for food, fuel, whatever other reasons.

Somewhere outside of Eau Clare WI we hit a piece of debris in the road.  Saw 
it at the last second and tried to straddle it.  I thought I had gotten away 
without damage, but about a mile later we had to pull over to change the LF 
tire.  Big gash on the inner side wall.  Still don't understand why it did 
not go down immediately on impact.

Stopped in Beloit at George (and Jackie) Johnston's place - just a mile or 
two off our route - and picked up a new fan bearing and a pair of top cover 
gaskets.  I still have not looked under the car for any other possible 
damage.

Ten miles from home, it started to rain - of course the top was down!  Was 
able to see where the darkest clouds were and altered the route a bit - 
managing to avoid any more wet stuff from the sky.  The return trip took 9 
hours.

So, right now I'm going to have to wait for my wife's memory to fade a bit 
before I can talk here into another 850 mile trip in the Vair.

Oh - you get pretty darn good gas mileage when you stay under 60.  Averaged 
21.9 for the trip - in a 140.

Oh, the Sox won on Wednesday and the 4 game series ended 1 win Sox and 3 
wins Twins.  A sweep of the Sox would have knocked them out of first place.

Later, JR
CCE CORSA CORVANANTICS SCG member
'61 Rampside Standard 4/110
'65 Monza Convertible 4/140