Father and son - cross country trip

[rbcm2005]

Hello Everyone,

I hope that this is the correct place to post this. We have begun to accumulate quite a few great photos during our adventure and I felt some of these were too good not to share. I'm not sure why my iPad won't let me upload the photos directly here. We'll have to sort that out later.

The short version of our story is that I have been planning this trip with my son since he was born. This is Reed awhile back with our 356:

http://www.912bbs.org/index.php?a=thread&s=attach&id=35019

And this is Reed now:

http://www.912bbs.org/index.php?a=thread&s=attach&id=35020

We purchased the car just for this trip last year via European Collectibles and have been very happy with it.

http://www.912bbs.org/index.php?a=thread&s=attach&id=35021

I always wanted one in silver and red. Love the way this car looks.

Anyways, we are off and on our way from Nor. Cal. To NYC. More pics. And stories to follow!

[b2524]

I believe my brother and I used to own this 912 years ago. We've followed it since we sold it.
not that we are stalking it.....

[kinein]

i bought my first porsche from european collectibles from chris

[kinein]

1979 911 sc

[rbcm2005]

So we left Redding California Wednesday night with a champagne send off courtesy of my wonderful wife...



Notice the sweaters we had made for the occasion. We're calling this adventure the Mele'e Miglia. I have five kids so we plan on making this an ongoing endeavor.

Our first stop was Reno Nevada:



We did not arrive in Reno until after midnight - had a decent sleep over at the El Dorado and then headed out (later than we planned) to get across Nevada to the Salt Flats and then on to Salt Lake City for the night.

[Plecostomus]

You should make a stop at the Vegas Bunny ranch and make it a trip your son will never forget.

[t6dpilot]

Great past and present shots on that 356. Have a great trip. I did this with my dad and my 69 in 2009. Great memories.

[daepp]

Have a great trip guys - that looks like an awesome trip.

Nt quite as extensive, but my 15 year old and I did an 1,000 mile road trip down as much of Route 66 as we could - it was a trip neither of us will ever forget.

Take lots of pics!

[b2524]

Scott,
here is what your car looked like when I had it.

how is this for irony: The second picture is the 912 I bought for my son, 69 that is silver with a red interior. Originally his car was Aga blue so it will get repainted that color sometime in the distant future. UCSB comes first.

[ShakinJoe]

Keep the pics coming

[Seabear]

Love the Reno shot, have a great time, be safe, and post many pics.

[rbcm2005]

Leaving Reno on Thursday morning we crossed Nevada fairly uneventfully heading to Utah. Our primary goal for the day was the Bonneville Salt Flats.



Not too much to report for all the distance we crossed over the width of Nevada...




We were glad to make it to the finally see the salt flats




Upon arriving at the salt flats we were initially more than bummed out when we were informed that we would not be able to take the car all the way out onto the flat for a chance to run the car wide open due to a motorcycle event that was going on at the time. We were however able to get the car out far enough for some cool pictures and after seeing all the salt we picked up in just a short time we thought better about taking it all the way out there.










After we left the salt we were able to wash the car up right there at the truck stop next to the highway and then made it on to Salt Lake City for the night.

[tdskip]

Great thread - keep the updates coming!

[rbcm2005]

Leaving Salt Lake City we drove north through Idaho and the southeastern edge of Montana to the west entrance of Yellowstone.







Heading east we crossed the Continental Divide and headed down the best driving road that we had come across so far descending down into Cody Wyoming.



We really enjoyed Cody - We highly recommend The Cody Hotel - wish we could have stayed longer. We had a great meal Friday night - Buffalo Burgers, took some more photos Saturday morning and then headed out to Devils Tower. On the way we drove through some of the best twisty roads and scenery that we had been through yet.



It took several hours to drive across Wyoming. About half way through we stopped for gas in Buffalo Wyoming. That is when we had our first (not last..) problem with the car. We stopped briefly for lunch - no problems there but then after driving a mile down the road for fuel the car would not start. The battery was good, all electrical seemed to work but then when we turned the ignition... nothing.

So then we pushed the car up behind the back of the gas station up hill and bump started the car. Our theory at the time was that there was a problem with the ignition switch or the starter solenoid. Regardless we had a schedule to keep up with so we worked our way up to Devils Tower careful not to stop the car unless we had a good hill to help us bump start the car to life.



Not everything we have seen on the trip lived up to what we expected. However Devils Tower was even more impressive than we imagined and offered some great photo opportunities.







Leaving Devils tower we headed southeast toward Deadwood and Sturgis. The drive into Deadwood was beautiful. There was a nice, newly paved, smooth winding road through the beautiful black hills of South Dakota. We liked it more than we thought we would. However, maybe it is because we are not Harley guys but Sturgis was pretty much forgettable. We opted to keep right on going, still hesitant to stop the engine with little confidence that it would start for us and headed down towards Mt. Rushmore.

More pics. and stories tomorrow. For now we have some mechanical issues to sort out. To begin we are still having issues getting the car to start reliably. Our mechanic has told us that he thinks the solenoid is not functioning properly when the starter gets hot. This seems to make sense as the car would not start last night when we arrived in Custer State Park but started right up with no problems this morning. Then again during the day today (our longest driving day yet at 13 hours) the car would not start. We left it setting for an hour while we had lunch and then it started right up again. We did try tapping and rapping and cursing the solenoid while the other of us tried to start the car but it made no difference. Just letting the car sit is all that seems to work. Tonight again when we parked the car it would not restart. We will have to see how it goes in the morning. Any input any of you may have would be appreciated.

[Grady Clay]

Kent & Reed,

Yes, the problem is with the starter/solenoid when hot.
The fix is to replace the starter/solenoid with a Bosch rebuilt unit.
As a corollary, make sure the battery connections & grounds are in perfect condition (including the ground strap at the transmission.
Be sure to tighten (clean?) the red wire at the B+ terminal.
There must be good connections at the yellow wire at the solenoid and ignition switch.

You might get us to organize a ‘pit-stop’ starter replacement at an upcoming overnight stop.
I’m sure there is a Pelican/PCA group on your planned route to help and have the parts ready.

Great trip.
We were ten days in and around Yellowstone and Grand Tetons in July (snow everywhere), including camping in the Bridger N.F. and other.

Drive safely.

Best,
Grady

[rbcm2005]

HELP NEEDED. - so we now have charging system problems - gen. Light came on last night. Fan belt good. Currently in La Crosse Wisconsin but on a holiday with no good leads for parts or service. Planning to try to limp in towards Chicago today but will likely need parts and or repair help ASAP Tuesday morning. Does anyone have connections with a good Porsche mechanic in the Chicago area?

[tdskip]

This picture says it all;

[tdskip]

Originally Posted by rbcm2005

HELP NEEDED. - so we now have charging system problems - gen. Light came on last night. Fan belt good. Currently in La Crosse Wisconsin but on a holiday with no good leads for parts or service. Planning to try to limp in towards Chicago today but will likely need parts and or repair help ASAP Tuesday morning. Does anyone have connections with a good Porsche mechanic in the Chicago area?

Sounds like the generator itself needs attention. You can probably limp along by running the car off the battery and then charging the battery at frequent intervals.

The generator may just need new brushes - others will weigh in here.

Make sure to post this on the 356 forum as well.

[Joe Bob]

On the starter, use a local rebuilder....remans suck.

Good luck on the alt. Do you have a digital volt meter in your bag of tricks?

[sixbanger]

Hey hope your having fun. As I read and see the pictures I feel like I'm right there with you.
If you have bad brushes try to push down on them and see if you can got the light to go off. You might use a screw driver.
Sorry to hear about the problem This happened to my once and I was driving a 59 bug up that way once and low and behold the light came on and I thought I was in trouble. The 6v battery worked fine for a while.I had to stop before it went totally dead. I was standing there next to the road out in the middle of nowhere. I was thinking and looked down and saw a chunk of tire rubber and thought HEY I can cut small chunks out and fit then on top of the brushes then set the spring down on the rubber to put more pressure on the brushes and it worked altho we had to push start the car to get running.It worked all the way back to kansas city.
GOOD LUCK Hope this helps.