Driving Across The Country

[BigTruck1956]

Hey folks,
So I am going to be driving one of these:
http://www.international-auto.com/im...venmeyer-2.jpg
From Sacramento, CA to Boston in about 2 weeks.
(The car is a 1969 1.6L Fiat sport coupe).....and yes I know im crazy.
Ill be taking a full tool set with me, as well as a plethora of spare parts, and my fairly extensive knowledge of the workings of this car.

Has anyone done this drive before? Ill be basically taking I-80 to Ohio or so where I will switch to I-90 and end up in Boston. Ill be doing it in 5 days/4 nights.
Any tips? I've never done a drive like this before.
thanks in advance

[maleficent]

I haven't done it in years... but my younger brother went to college in Chicago, being the good bid sister that I was, I would drive him out to school and pick him up at the end of the school term. (My parents paid mileage)

I never minded driving, so it was fun. I could do NJ to Chicago in about 14 hours, taking I-80 the entire way. I'm sure the contruction that used to be there thru much of te PA drive is over... going from 3 lanes to a single lane surrounded by concrete barriers with a big ass truck riding on your tail at 80 miles an hour was always fun.

When you cross into the Ohio border.. Be very aware of the speed limit, I'd probably invest in a decent radar detector (Not sure if they are legal in all states,but having one is helpful) I picked up more than one speeding ticket crossing the ohio border where the speed limit dropped by 10MPH - it was like shooting fish in a barrel for them.

Enjoy yourself on the trip.
Give yourself enough time on the trip.
Driving at night is probably easier and less traffic than days.
Pay attention to you and your body, a tired driver can be more dangerous than a drunk driver, your reactions are slowed, and you don't see what you should see, DON"T DRIVE TIRED.

[Disk_Pusher]

I've driven from Boston to Flagstaff AZ, so it's a much different route.

Aside from what's written above, which is most important (never drive tired), make sure to bring some interesting courses on tape (the teaching company is my fav) or some music you can sing along to - anything to engage yourself. I found singing along to my (crappy) Japanese pop or doing language tapes (I like pimsleur) helps keep me free of the road haze. Perhaps you've always wanted to learn Cantonese? Now is the time! :-D

Most of all... have fun. On my drive I stoped at more weird local community college muesems than I can count, and it was great.

[ngdawg]

The construction in PA is NEVER over...it was there in 1968...it's there now-they just moved it down the road a piece

[bigwolf]

enjoy what you see along the way. Driving across country gives you the opertunity to expirence true americana. Stop in as many small towns as you can. Talk to the people. You will meet some awesome people that way. I did the drive from Maryland to WI about 4 years back and it was a blast.. best 4 day road trip that I have had.

[BigTruck1956]

thanks for all the advice folks. its definately appreciated.

Ill give you all a rundown of the adventures when its over

[BigTruck1956]

Wow, I had forgotten about this thread, and I just stumbled acoss it. After reaching Boston, i wrote this little synopsis of my adventure. Its long, but somewhat entertaining. Enjoy.





The story of my 1969 Fiat: Davis CA to Boston MA in 6 days.

I started my journey on May 24th, 2005. I had just gotten a job Lincoln, MA which required me to commute about 16 miles every morning and afternoon. Needless to say, a vehicle was necessary. For various logistical reasons, buying a car in Boston would be difficult, so my best option was to drive one of my vehicles from my home in Davis, CA to Boston.
I decided on my 1969 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. The car has a 1971 1.6L engine and about 75,000 miles on the odometer. (My other option was a truck that was slower, older and got significantly worse gas mileage). I spent the weekend of the 21-22 of May preparing my car for the journey. I assembled a toolkit, and performed routine maintenance such as and oil change, chassis lube, and other tasks. I also replaced the clutch cable, a notorious weakness on 124s.
I left my house on Tuesday, May 24th at roughly 9:30 am. Heading east on a full tank of gas, the car performed well. I averaged between 60 and 70 miles per hour. Despite its full trunk, the Fiat pulled well through the sierras. I filled up my second tank of gas just east of Reno Nevada. As I got deeper and deeper into Nevada, I began to see fewer and fewer vehicles and fewer signs of life. The speed limit increased to 75. This meant however that the trucks went about 85 and the few cars I did see seemed to be going about 95. I increased my speed to probably around 75-80 although I don’t think I ever pushed it past 80. I passed through Nevada, and filled up again on the Nevada-Utah border at around 11pm. I cruised though most of Utah, and checked into a hotel on the east side of Salt Lake City at around 1 am. The next day’s travels took me slightly north through Wyoming. I passed though Wyoming, then detoured south at Cheyenne towards a friend’s home in Denver, Colorado. During that leg, I noticed my headlights were not turning on. After a short roadside diagnosis, I found that one of the leads going to the hi-lo beam switch had become disconnected. I was back on the road in 30 minutes. After spending the night in Denver, I headed east through Nebraska and into Iowa. I detoured north to Ames, where I spent that night on a farm owned by friends of my parents.
After leaving Iowa, the next destination was Buffalo, NY, where I was to stay with a friend from school who was home for the summer. I headed towards Chicago at about 70 miles per hour, the temperature was low and oil pressure was up. Just after a 3 hour traffic jam around a central Chicago toll plaza, my engine shut off. I pulled off the road and inspected the engine compartment. I soon noticed that the primary ignition lead had pulled out of the coil and had arced, making the end of the wire a blackened mess. I pushed the wire back in and the car started. After about 30 minutes, I found an auto zone, where I replaced the lead. I then continued towards New York. The car cruised well through most of Indiana. As I pulled into a gas station, I noticed that the engine was running a little rough. Upon inspection, I found the carburetor covered in engine oil. At the time it seemed that the engine breather oil separator had ceased to separate oil and the oil was traveling up the breather and into the carb. At the time I attributed the roughness to be a result of oil in the engine. I disconnected the breather, topped off the oil and cruised on. As I drove on, I noticed that I was losing a significant amount of oil. Then engine was dumping oil out the breather hose at the rate of about a quart every 40 miles. I reconnected the breather, hoping to decrease the oil loss. Meanwhile, my engine was still running rather roughly at idle. (High speed cruising was not adversely affected). As I passed through Ohio, things seemed to worsen. My engine was running rougher (I later found that this was attributed to oil-fouled plugs). The car developed a shudder that gradually increased. I inspected the tires and suspension, but did not notice anything out of the ordinary. I figured the shudder was a result of the engine running roughly. I pulled into Cleveland at around midnight, realizing that there was no way I would make it to Buffalo. I had an engine that was barely running and a low cell phone battery. I called my friend, and told him I would not make it that night and checked into a hotel.
I left the next day on an engine that was running on 2-3 cylinders with the goal of reaching Buffalo where I could hopefully diagnose my troubles more closely. The going was slow as I was pulling over every 40 miles or so to refill the oil. Also the shudder I had developed the previous day worsened. I began noticing chunks of rubber flying out of the front right hand wheel well. I pulled over to find that about 2/3 of the tread had separated form the tire. I put on the spare and drove on. The ride was much smoother. Just outside of Buffalo, the engine began to shudder and die intermittently. I figured that all of the oil going into the engine had burned a valve. I was about 3 miles from my friend’s house. After being questioned by a police officer, I chugged to my friend’s house at around 1 in the afternoon. After a little relaxation, I removed the plugs to find them all badly fouled. I replaced them and the engine ran better, but still a little rough. By process of elimination, the reached the conclusion that cylinder 3 was not firing.
After doing a little research online, I reached a new, much worse conclusion about the state of my engine—damaged piston rings. That explained the excessive blowby which caused the oil to be forced out of the breather, as well as the cylinder not firing properly. I was now running on 3 cylinders, and felt that I would be able to make it to Boston. I had to figure out some way to reduce oil loss however. After a little thinking, I devised an oil catching device that would still allow the blowby gasses to be vented. I removed the coolant overflow container and strapped a gallon oil container in its place. I extended the breather hose across the engine and stuck the end in a hole I cut in the side of the oil container. This allowed the oil to collect in the container while the gases escaped. Every time I stopped to refill the oil, I just removed the container and poured the oil back into the engine. This is how I traveled from Buffalo to Boston, stopping at rest stops to refill the crankcase and then pushing on.
I passed across the New York- MA border without a hitch, but several miles into Massachusetts I began to experience vapor lock (or at least what I though to be vapor lock; I haven’t completely diagnosed that problem yet). Essentially after every few hills, the car would begin to sputter and die. I would simply pull off the road, wait to several minutes and then restart the car. Finally, at about 1 in the morning, I pulled into my parking lot behind my house. I had made it. The car logged 2700 trouble-free miles and the last 550 on three cylinders. I am currently in the process of repairing the car. A compression check confirmed my suspicions: 150 psi in cylinders 1, 2 and 4, 70 psi in cylinder 3.

[amonkie]

I recently drove from Phoenix, Arizona to Rochester, NY - after reading your story, I am EXTREMELY thankful I had no mechanical issues on my drive - but there is a difference between a 2004 and a vintage car ... thanks for sharing!

[Rodney]

My wife is standing over my shoulder shaking her head at the madness of attempting a coast-to-coast trip in a Fiat. She had an 850 Spyder of about the same vintage of yours, and had all the same problems on road trips around the southwest back in the late '60s and early '70s. The vapor lock experience you describe is _very_ familiar to her. And she says she's happy you survived!

[Psycho Dad]

Taking that car on that trip... Man you need to post in the "Post your balls" thread because you got a set of big ones.

[BigTruck1956]

Haha thanks guys. It's Italian engineering at its finest, eh Rodney? This whole adventure has since been filed in the "note to self: dont do ever again" file.

[JStrider]

killer trip man!

i make the drive from Lubbock TX to Bakersfield CA every christmas/some summers in a 93 ford explorer... not quite a 60's fiat but shes showing her age...

[Gabbyness]

Dude, you are the man. Seriously, that is impressive.

[n0nsensical]

I can't see how buying a car in Boston could possibly be any more difficult than that

[CaliLivChick]

I drove from the SF Bay Area to Orlando, FL twice last year, once to move me out, and once to move my boyfriend out... fun times. Five days at 12 hours/day, 3500 miles each time. With the right person, however, it was a great time, and I can see how people take RV vacations. =)