WIDSM
15+ Year Contributor
- 245
- 0
- Feb 4, 2006
-
milwaukee,
Wisconsin
Driving from Seattle to Milwaukee in a dsm sounds like a joke, and nobody thought it would happen or that the car would make it out of Washington. Driving a dsm that is far from stock made it an even more unlikely candidate to take on a road trip.
But I wasn't going to hear it. I built this thing myself and I didn't cut corners, I knew it would make it. I loaded up my sea bags and my bike into the back of the laser and my sister and I took off Saturday on the 2500 mile road trip in a car with no a/c, no power steering, no cruise control, and worst of all no radio. On the first day we made it out to Montana without any problems. That eased my mind a little because it was a lot of driving and through the mountains.
We decided to make a few detours on way and drive through Yellowstone and The Badlands, stopping to see Mt. Rushmore in between. Everything was amazing, it was the first time I had seen any of this. We saw buffalo, moose, and all sorts of other animals on the way.
Climbing through the Big Horn mountains was the only time we had any sort of problem. While climbing through the mountains, with the car under a constant load and having to be in 3rd gear because 4th didn't have enough power the car would start to get hot. Well the car must have already been warm before starting the climb because this time we got maybe a mile into the mountains and we had to pull over because it was getting so hot. It wasn't to the point that it was overheating but it would be shortly. We stopped at a scenic pullover spot and I popped the hood and pulled the radiator cap. When I looked under the car I saw it was leaking coolant. I thought we were done for. Upon a closer look, it was the drain plug for the radiator leaking. There didn't appear to be an o-ring anymore. There was a steady stream of water coming out so I had to do something. I remember I had an extra o-ring some where in the car so I began frantically searching. An older couple stopped and asked what the problem was and I told them it was overheating. She said there was a natural spring on the other side of the road. So we filled up all of the bottles that we had and I replaced the o-ring. I had two bottles of water-wetter in the car and I poured those in to. The natural water tasted amazing by the way.
After that we didn't have any more problems with the car and we made it back perfectly fine in the laser yesterday. The car proved a true testament of endurance, not something that most think of when you say 4g63. This car has impressed me since the day I got it, and has been able to take anything I can throw at it. Now I can laugh when people tell me that these cars are unreliable because it has proven to be nothing but that.
I could ramble on more about the actual trip but I won't. I'm sure most of you don't want to read this much.
But I wasn't going to hear it. I built this thing myself and I didn't cut corners, I knew it would make it. I loaded up my sea bags and my bike into the back of the laser and my sister and I took off Saturday on the 2500 mile road trip in a car with no a/c, no power steering, no cruise control, and worst of all no radio. On the first day we made it out to Montana without any problems. That eased my mind a little because it was a lot of driving and through the mountains.
We decided to make a few detours on way and drive through Yellowstone and The Badlands, stopping to see Mt. Rushmore in between. Everything was amazing, it was the first time I had seen any of this. We saw buffalo, moose, and all sorts of other animals on the way.
Climbing through the Big Horn mountains was the only time we had any sort of problem. While climbing through the mountains, with the car under a constant load and having to be in 3rd gear because 4th didn't have enough power the car would start to get hot. Well the car must have already been warm before starting the climb because this time we got maybe a mile into the mountains and we had to pull over because it was getting so hot. It wasn't to the point that it was overheating but it would be shortly. We stopped at a scenic pullover spot and I popped the hood and pulled the radiator cap. When I looked under the car I saw it was leaking coolant. I thought we were done for. Upon a closer look, it was the drain plug for the radiator leaking. There didn't appear to be an o-ring anymore. There was a steady stream of water coming out so I had to do something. I remember I had an extra o-ring some where in the car so I began frantically searching. An older couple stopped and asked what the problem was and I told them it was overheating. She said there was a natural spring on the other side of the road. So we filled up all of the bottles that we had and I replaced the o-ring. I had two bottles of water-wetter in the car and I poured those in to. The natural water tasted amazing by the way.
After that we didn't have any more problems with the car and we made it back perfectly fine in the laser yesterday. The car proved a true testament of endurance, not something that most think of when you say 4g63. This car has impressed me since the day I got it, and has been able to take anything I can throw at it. Now I can laugh when people tell me that these cars are unreliable because it has proven to be nothing but that.
I could ramble on more about the actual trip but I won't. I'm sure most of you don't want to read this much.
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