45miles on the end of a tow rope!

tevake · 02:13 PM

This story started yesterday. When I thought that the SC Targa that I have been working to get back on the road over the last year (after a 11 year layup), was finally ready to be driven over to the other side of Kauai to get a new safety check and a new registration. It was going to be a milestone, all legal , and good to go.

It drove flawlessly the first 30 miles to the shop to get the safety check. But then had trouble getting started. would crank but not start. I ended up pulling the fuse for the fuel pump, then cranking it a bit till it fired. I had learned this when sorting some fuel pressure related issues that I had thought were sorted all ready. Put the fuse back in and continued on towards the County building in Lihue.

I was feeling pretty good at this point. the car drives well, the new brakes are stopping great, the engine pulls strong and runs smoothly. yep I was feeling good.

So I go in to do the registration. I knew this was going to hurt, 11 years of back road taxes plus penalties. All because the PO had put it into storage with the plates on the car. I knew this was coming but it was still hard to plunk down the 1,200 plus dollars to get through this. Well I paid up and walked out with the new Title and registration in hand. Walked out to the parking lot to the shiny red and black targa waiting there for the now legal drive back home. Or so I hoped.

I hopped in and tried to fire it up, with no luck, Bummer. So back to the fuse trick and crank and crank. nothing. Over the next 3 hrs I tried every thing I could think of all to no avail, nothing. So finally I called a friend who lives near by to come give me a tow to his house, thinking that it surly would fire during the tow, Not one splutter, nothing. We parked it in my friends driveway, and he tried to loan me his sons beater car to drive home for the night. But I had had enough car troubles for one day, so I hitch hiked , very quickly too, to the North Shore (All that hitching hiking Karma coming back, I pick up folks all the time, even in the porsche) It is a small island here, and we try to help each other out.

Hang in there with me. This is getting a bit long winded, I know.
So today my main go to buddy and I drove over in my tundra with some tools to get the targa one way or another. Turns out there is no spark. Coil bad? I just don't know.
It will be much easier to sort at home.

So we hooked up a tow rope and headed out in mid day saturday traffic heading home.
Whew, what a drive. We tried to keep a gap from the car in front of us to avoid any quick stops. But you can guess that along the way other drivers thought that gap was just the chance they were waiting for and the pulled out in front of us or tried to cut thru from the other lane to cross thru the traffic on our side of the road. There were some exciting moments. But mainly it was the challenge of keeping an eye on the tow rope at all times so as to not get the dreaded slack.

At any rate an hour later we were pushing the shiny red targa back into the garage safe if not perfectly sound.
I know that I will get into sorting out these electrical issues soon, or may just wait till my porsche guru comes to visit in june, to have him help me.

But I did want to share that it is possible to tow our cars, its just not easy. It takes a coordinated pair of drivers, and some luck with those other crazies out there.

Cheers Richard
I don't know where the paragraph indentations went, sorry

Aurel · Aurel's Garage

Did you check the green wire that connects to the distributor? Those are notorious for failing on SCs...

Hugh R · 05-01-2011, 07:14 AM

I did a tow rope ONCE, never again. That was 40 years ago, or so.

1990C4S · 05-01-2011, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh R

I did a tow rope ONCE, never again. That was 40 years ago, or so.

Ditto. Scariest thing I've ever done. Why wreck one car when you can wreck two?

tevake · 05-01-2011, 07:29 AM

Yep, I can see now why most folks just call a tow truck or get a trailer. It was a bit stressful.
I haven't even look at it yet to figure out the problem. The green wire is a possibility, coil or wire? I'll have to get out the books to see how to diagnose. Electrics are not my strong suit.

Cheers Richard

onlycafe · 05-01-2011, 10:03 AM

how long was the rope?

tevake · 11:32 PM

We had about 15' between the the truck and the 911. So I was definitely in the draft.
So I had to watch out for times when Ivan, driving the truck feathered the throttle or while coasting down hill. With no wind on the front of the car it really wanted to creep up on the truck. I tried to drive just to the left of the truck so I could see a bit of what was going on in front. Ivan did a good job with hand signals, which helped a lot.
He also runs a kayak tour company here so he does a bunch of towing an unwieldy rig. so had a soft touch while driving.

Speaking of wrecking two at one time, I was thinking if things went bad, should I try to move over to take it on one fender. to make for an easier repair. Not good.

Cheers Richard

Zeke · 05-01-2011, 03:54 PM

Just check the wire, no need for a book. If that's not it, then the book.

Super_Dave_D · Super_Dave_D's Garage

It always amazes me when I see this being done that its actually legal to do.

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

Oh, man. I feel for you. Hope you get it solved. Did that when I was 16 -- about 80 miles behind a 1947 International pickup (grand dad's work truck).

Christien · Christien's Garage

I've done that twice at Mosport, once almost a complete lap. I can't remember what happened the first time. The second time was after installing a new MSD ignition box (at the track) and testing it out, I had one wire not quite tight enough and a few laps loosened it enough for me to lose all power.

JJ 911SC · JJ 911SC's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by tevake

... But mainly it was the challenge of keeping an eye on the tow rope at all times so as to not get the dreaded slack...

When towing a warship you don't want the tow cable to be out of slack...

tevake · 05-01-2011, 10:39 PM

Thanks Milt, and Aurel for the green wire suggestion. I had a good look at it today. It may have been replaced already. It's the same green thruout its length and supple, no sign of heat damage or cracking. I may switch out the good coil and coil wire from my coupe tomorrow to see if that is the fix. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers Richard

Zeke · 05-02-2011, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christien

I've done that twice at Mosport, once almost a complete lap. I can't remember what happened the first time. The second time was after installing a new MSD ignition box (at the track) and testing it out, I had one wire not quite tight enough and a few laps loosened it enough for me to lose all power.

Oh, does being on the dead end of the strap count? I've got a couple laps at Willow doing that. Talk about thinking all eyes are on you, especially after oiling down a couple turns.

URY914 · 05-02-2011, 01:33 PM

My dad pulled me home on a 3 hour rope pull years ago. My VW Bug sucked a valve on my way to Road Atlanta for a Can-Am race.

The trick is to run the rope or chain through a 2" steel pipe. That way you can't run into the back of the front car.

tevake · 05-02-2011, 03:12 PM

Paul, that is such a good idea. It would have taken lots of the challenge and risk out of the tow.
Well I have switched out the coil and coil wire. Plus had a good look at the green wire, which seems to be in good shape. so far no go.

I guess its time for the book now Milt. I've just put new batts in my multi meter. And will spend some time reading up on these matters electrical to see where to look next.

Cheers Richard

mattdavis11 · 05-02-2011, 03:27 PM

Been there done that. After a while you tend to get pretty good at it. The best memory was about 160 miles with my Ram Charger pulling a Land Cruiser that was towing our flat bottom boat. We were longer than the semi's.