Vogon Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Back to Vegas last Sunday, arriving at midnight for a Monday morning pickup at SAI. The only gambling was on the weather for the trip home. October through Idaho and Montana is not the best time for this trip. I checked the weather in a number of places, and while temperatures were hitting lows around freezing, I thought the low chance of precipitation was a good sign. There were lots of GT500's lined up outside SAI for their KR conversions: But this was what the trip was all about: The car came out a little dirty, but still looked a lot better than it went in. Still some bugs on the bumper from the trip down at the end of June, but it looks as though they were cleaned off before the stripe went on. The only bumps under the stripe were from the old license plate holes. After inspecting the car, my brother and I took it for a spin. When we picked up my 40th, there was a lot of wheel shake, so I was wondering how these wheels would make out. More shake - back to SAI where they re-balanced them. One of the fronts had no weights at all, which I thought was rather rare, but they said they get quite a few that zero-balance. Another run, and it felt much better. Here's hazy Las Vegas in the background on the test drive: The other I noticed on the test drive was that the car felt so sloooowww... The speedometer was reading 140 km/hr, but it felt much slower. We hauled out the GPS, and sure enough, the speedo's reading 20% high, so at 120 I'm only doing 100. Even after you know, it's very weird. Bud's going to look into sending me another unit with (hopefully) the proper calibration. And as I write this, I don't know why we didn't just try to fix the problem then and there. My 40th Anniversary has the opposite problem: it reads 10% too slow, so 45 mph (US car) on the speedo is actually 50. Did anyone else have this problem when their car was converted? I think MM did, and he got a speeding ticket during one of his early runs. And so did I. After I got back, I was driving the 40th the next day, and got nabbed for 102 km/hr in an 80 zone (60 in a 50). Piss me off, there was no discussion, no warning, just license registration, here's your ticket, "Slow down!" And I was trying to go the limit! the KB and my right foot were touchy that day. So was the cop - there was absolutely no one else on the road for miles except the 2 of us... We got on the road shortly after lunch. We took our stops every half-hour to allow the rear-end gears to cool, as suggested. Shortly after we re-started on one of them, we heard a loud repeating noise coming from the back left of the car. Oh no, another flat, just like last trip? We stopped, everything looked fine, and we couldn't tell what it was. I thought maybe a truck we passed in the median had just started an air compressor as we drove by, it was that loud. We carried on, but checked again later. Look at the white mark on the corner of the brake duct: There's maybe half an inch between the duct and the inside of the wheel. I couldn't get my camera in there, but the inside of the rim was scratched, so we must have picked up a rock and it rattled around like a roulette ball until it was spit out. The right rear didn't show any of the marks, but I'm going to pull my wheels off and check more closely. As the sun went down, the near-full moon was rising. I think it just wanted a peek at the SuperSnake: You can see the SS shadow in the foreground. We made it to Pocatella around 11PM, a couple of hours north of Salt Lake City, before stopping for the night. It was clear, and we heard there was lots of snow in the past few days further north, so we wanted to get as far as we could while we had good weather. Like 2-3 FEET of snow in some places in Idaho. Oh no... Can't you hear the conversation now? "Honey, we have to go back to Vegas, as the roads are blocked. For how long? I don't know, 5 months probably. Love you too, dear!" The road crews must have been working on I-15, because there was no snow on the rods, but certainly in the ditches. I think eastern Idaho and Montana got the worst of it. Here's the car first thing Tuesday morning: Just a little frosty! I was glad the Mustang GT parked beside me sometime after we arrived. He probably took care not to bang my door! I don't really like parking at motels... Pics at their limit; more in 2nd post... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son of GT Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Congratulations! She's a beauty for sure! Glad the road trip home is going well for you so far, and I hope that you go all the way home without incident. Another happy Super Snake owner! :happy feet: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vogon Posted October 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Here are a few shots of the road on Day 2. The clouds look low and mean. Much like a SuperSnake, come to think of it: And finally back home again, tucked in with the 40th: It was a pretty good trip back, considering we dodged a MAJOR bullet with the weather. The car ran great, although it does feel funny to be cruising all day and seeing the speedo at 170 km/hr (160 is 100 MPH)! I know it was wrong, but still, it somehow feels right. We took it pretty easy on the spirited driving, just because of the cool temperatures. I didn't want any nasty surprises by suddenly losing grip. And last but not least, I'll leave you with this gem from the Canadian Border Services, after they finished inspecting my car: they're seeing more of the SS's coming into Canada, and one officer was pretty knowledgeable. He said one guy tried to come across without declaring the mods, and they caught him. He said they they let him off easy: 25% fine. That's about $9,000!! And I betcha he's in their database now! Many thanks to Cynthia, Adrienne and Bud (and the rest behind the scenes)! Great car! And really, it's much tamer than the 725KB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY500SS Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Congrats Vogon. Man do they look cool together. It's a great feeling having your beauties back home, together again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Morris Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Cars look GREAT!! Now about the speedo problem that I had. After I learned to read the speedo I found out that it wasnt off at all. That day I just misread it. My fault and the deputy didnt give me a break either. Told me the judge would let me off. I called and the clerk said the judge NEVER lets anyone off!!! The ticket was like $105.00. Not to bad. The programmer should fix your problem. Glad you had a save trip back. MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aobrien Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Looks great! If you ever bring it thru Kelowna we can take a picture of a Black SS Coupe and Conv together. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomis Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Congratulations, your car looks great and the drive shots made me want to go on a long long road trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby101 Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Congrats.................... :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet: It looks awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandros Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Congrats Vogon..The SS looks mean.....Happy you and the car made it home safe.....Now it has the 40th as company ....You have two amazing cars, enjoy them and stay safe..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker45 Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Vogon, Congrates on getting it! Looks very sharp. Nice pics and glad your trip was somewhat uneventful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vogon Posted October 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Thanks everyone! I'll be tucking them in soon for the winter, just need to make room in the garage, and find a winter car... My speeding ticket was for $135! If I head through Kelowna, you know I'll be in the convertible. The Okanagan Valley was made for these cars. Or is it the other way around? Mild temps, curves, views of the lake, and many many great wineries! Al, I think you've died and gone to heaven... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funky10 Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Awsome Car's, very nice pictures!!! Congrat's Vogon. Glad you got her home safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aobrien Posted November 5, 2008 Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 Thanks everyone! I'll be tucking them in soon for the winter, just need to make room in the garage, and find a winter car... My speeding ticket was for $135! If I head through Kelowna, you know I'll be in the convertible. The Okanagan Valley was made for these cars. Or is it the other way around? Mild temps, curves, views of the lake, and many many great wineries! Al, I think you've died and gone to heaven... Come visit anytime, it will give me a reason to drive the car. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
switz Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 She is a beaut! These cars are incredible and the interest from folks is off the hook. Enjoy, steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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