DeTomaso Mailing List: May 2001, Message #9

I have a picture of that now infamous oil pan, I'm adding it to the 
section on your car right now.....

Great story, and it's glad to hear all went well (eventually).

Chuck

> Well,
> This was a week to remember!!!!
> 
> Headed out of town Tues am, missed the gang by moments 
> and motored on. Bottomed out the Goose at subsonic speeds 
> on our wonderful roadway.... Luckily this was the only 
> occurance of this the whole week!!!  Only managed to 
> slightly bend the new block shield I installed. Nothing 
> major.
> 
> At about 20 miles into the trip, going with the flow, I 
> get a rear mirror full of lights... red & blue....   "How 
> fast were you going?"  "I don't know, just going with 
> traffic to keep from getting run over!"  "Didn't you see 
> me??"  "From down here, your front grill looks like a 
> truck officer....your lights are way above what I can 
> see!"   
> "sign here....."      Later I find out that my speedo is 
> actually pretty close to accurate! Only fast by about 
> 5MPH at rolling speeds!  Crap!  Off to $chool for this 
> one....  Judges like stories, they just don't like 
> stamping not guilty on the records...... "It's your 
> responsibility to know how fast you are going....... with 
> or without a speedo cable....."
> 
> Hook up with two other members about 10 miles down the 
> road... 
> catch up with the rest up in the Sierra's at a fellow 
> members house for lunch! Fantastic view and meal!!!
> 
> Off we go..... uneventful but gorgeous drive into Bishop, 
> CA for eve. Dinner, snooze, roll out in the morning....  
> Nobody 
> told me to gas up...  Thought I had 3/4 tank... but was 
> parked ever so slightly downhill.... ended up with just 
> over a half tank once we got down the road!!! Did some 
> gorgeous passes, dry gluches, twisties....  Had me 
> puckered up for more scraping, but didn't!! Phew!
> 
> Sqweeked into next stop for gas/lunch on fumes. Guess I 
> was getting pretty good mileage at sub triple digit 
> speeds.....   Blast into Vegas and arrive at about 1:30 
> for cold beers and set up the Club Store!  Register 
> later, there's beer warming up!
> 
> Party......
> 
> Next day, cleaned large bugs off of windows etc. Missed 
> wife at airport, she took taxi.... communication 
> problem... and one 
> damned big airport with plenty of opportunities to keep 
> people from finding each other....... did she go 
> clockwise or counter....?
> 
> Found wife.... more beer..... more party.....
> 
> Party.... dinner..... 
> 
> Friday, get up late....too much party... and just getting 
> used to the whole idea of NOT having to get up for a 
> damned thing!
> Eventually rolled out to the track in time to catch the 
> parade laps at noon! Payed and proceeded to burn any and 
> all of the tits off of my new tires, that the trip down 
> hadn't done already.... Wife thought the track was a 
> hoot!
> 
> Back to hotel to cool down wife..... it was hot..... did 
> I mention the 
> F-118's and other assorted cool crafts flying right 
> overhead to an adjacent runway!!!?  Or the occasional 
> Nascar car cackling into the infield tunnel of the big 
> track!?
> 
> Wife has her tubines back to speed, so we hit the Hoover 
> Dam for a look see. It's close. It's BIG!!!  If you have 
> vertigo, it's NOT something to hangout on, at least on 
> the south edge..... wow!
> 
> Back to he hotel for more cold beer!!!!  Dinner.....
> 
> Saturday- off to get car set up on Fremont Street. Where 
> do I get to park?? Why in front of the only nudie club on 
> the Fremont strip.... the Golden Goose!! How fitting!!!! 
> Goose in front of Goose!!! HAH!!
> Attend POCA meeting for chapter rep's... get handed large 
> wad of raffle tickets.... surprise!  Hey! That wasn't in 
> the bylaws I read......
> 
> Located wife.... fed slot machines...talked shop with 
> Paul, ONLY other Goose owner that showed up with his 
> car...  (His car has the amber sectioned rear lens' that 
> someone was commenting about... they look nice!).....pull 
> car off of Fremont street. Should have gotten gas.
> 
> Rescued more beer from warming up.....  get ready for 
> dinner... sell more tickets..... buy more tickets....
> 
> Dinner is good! Did awards for track winners. Raffle 
> turns out OK. Second or third ticket is mine.... bag of 
> misc... but there is brake fluid.... don't have this in 
> car! Good deal I tells myself.  Couple of draws later.. 
> another of my tickets comes up!  However, item is a 
> goodie bag of PCNC items that I already have (except for 
> the cup I'm later told.....) so we turn it back in.... (I 
> don't think they put that ticket back in the 
> bucket.......)  Few more draws and I get another 
> winner!!! Can you say beginner's luck!!!  But do I get 
> the shocks that I could really use??????   
> NOOOOOOOOOO......  I get ANOTHER PCNC goodie bag.......  
> Turned that one back in...... put the ticket back in.... 
> I need shocks.... daddy needs a new pair of shocks......
> 
> Well, no more winners for me, however, at least three 
> other tickets that I sold WERE winners! Two at the table 
> and one right next door!  Go figure!  Nobody one 
> shocks....   But we did get a BIG floor jack! We all 
> laughed and joked about this one!!!
> 
> Dinner dispersed, saved more beers, and eventually called 
> it an early nite, packed bags up and schlepped everything 
> but what we needed to carry in the A.M.   Got gas.  Had 
> one more drink and some BS.... 
> 
> Checked out in the AM, checked oil level, OK. Ready to 
> roll!  Couple of slight delays for personal items... on 
> the road... but the wrong way...  OK, it was just a 
> "different" way... then came the wrong way thing.... 
> small tour of Vegas streets... some cursing and wild ass 
> moves...back on the road...finally.  Shortlived as talk 
> on the radio speaks of smoke from one of the rear 
> cars..... we all pull over,  6-7 vehicles.  Stinky 
> plastic smelling smoke.... like electrical..... remove 
> bulkhead to see better.....AC comp. is cocked and belt is 
> jambed... way hot and damaged.... cut it off.... back on 
> the road in moments.....  Thanks to Anita for walking 
> ahead while we were working, and pulling all the "road 
> gators" off of the median!!! They could have been hell to 
> play with!
> 
> Uneventful drive into Barstow, except for my fluctuating 
> oil pressure! Lost it on one stretch up a hill but it 
> popped back as soon as I backed off.... press on the gas, 
> watch the needle drop..... coast... watch it rise!  I was 
> atributing this to the 10-30 that everyone told me was 
> too thin..... Have a high volume pump, so wasn't too 
> worried....
> Someone is running down about 1/4 left in tank, so 
> executive decision is to stop in Barstow and not try to 
> stretch to Four Corners. 
> Pull into gas station, lift hatches, pump gas... pull 
> dipstick check oil... looks good.... until I hear... "Hey 
> Steve, is that leak coming from your car or was that from 
> the guy ahead of you???"   "Leak???"
> 
> Look under the car and see a LARGE black puddle forming, 
> oil streaming down from oil pan.....  "What's up with 
> this...????"
> 
> Dust puddle with oilsoak and paper towels, push car to 
> "only shade in Barstow!"  (not that bad....!)  Stream of 
> oil leads right to my car now..... none on way in to gas 
> station??????
> 
> Lots of discussion...... then I's remembers.... "we have 
> a floor jack in the gang!" In no time at all, the assend 
> of the Goose was in the air, and two white legs were 
> sticking out.....  thought maybe my oil lines had 
> loosened or something....nothing that simple....  found 
> about a 8-9 inch crack across the oil pan, side to side, 
> in what was supposed to be a stiffening "Vee".  Thru an 
> ice bucket under the dripping, and tore the oil pan off. 
> Gaskets were fresh just a week and a half ago, so no 
> tearing or problems... pan came off nicely.  Emtied oil 
> into ice bucket and another jug that had held water... 
> (Thanks again Larry!!! See prev. lurker post....)  wiped 
> out mess to reveal crack..... not pretty....
> 
> If only we could find a Ford fanatic, we could steal a 
> small block oil pan/pickup, and be on the road in no 
> time!!!  Well folks, we be in Chebby country out here... 
> Plan B.
> 
> Had one bystander offer to fetch a welder ( I guess we 
> were drawing a crowd....never seen a white boy stickout 
> from beneath a car like that before 'round here...)... we 
> never saw him again.... but thankfully a second guy 
> (Greg), had a buddie that just happened to roll up in his 
> 396 Chevelle. Buddie Dave turns out to be a welder of 
> sorts... and has brazing rod and tanks about five minutes 
> away!  Off me and the pan go with Dave. A little bit 
> later, there's a good layer of brass in the bottom of the 
> pan.... accenting the other brass that I had put there 
> previously.... did I mention that this pan was history 
> before this journey started????? It just didn't know it 
> yet!!!!
> Back to the station.... rest of the bunch was chilling 
> and having lunch. I cleaned out the large balance of the 
> big chunks of hardened flux and proceeded to stuff the 
> pan back in place, with Roger Sharp feeding me nuts and 
> bolts as needed, plus the occasional tool. Larry forgot 
> to mention the bit about the Lady and the toilet 
> paper.... I didn't/couldn't see it as I was under the 
> car, but heard our group just a hootin and laughing!!  
> Seems that a lady had come out of the service station 
> office/store/restrooms, with one mighty long piece of 
> toilet paper still firmly attached to her person!!! She 
> proceeds to stroll across the lot, TOTALLY unknowing, 
> paper in tow, climbs into the car and slams the door on 
> the paper... now the car is continuing the show by drivin 
> off with toilet paper slammed in the door, streamin' 
> away.....  Sounds like it was worth $10,000 to me, but no 
> one had a video camera handy......!!!
>  Once pan is in place, Roger reinstalled oil, I did final 
> tighten on pan.... dropped car, checked level, added only 
> two quarts and fired it up! Rock steady oil pressure and 
> no drips! Woofed down a burger that my lovely wife had 
> fetched me, inhaled a beer and a quart of water.....
> 
> I'm now thinking that this SOB (Not you Bill!!!) had 
> cracked on the way out of Vegas, and due to crank case 
> vacume, held the oil in the engine.....up the hill, when 
> I punched it, I created a larger vacume that sucked air 
> in, and with 10 qts in the system, it had enuf weight to 
> hold the air at the bottom of the pan... where it got 
> sucked up by the pickup!!!!  Makes some sense... as I 
> can't explain it otherwise, and I had rock steady 
> pressure all the way home, save for some decrease due to 
> thinning at higher temps...... As the drive cooled down, 
> the oil temp dropped and pressure returned.
> 
> NB: Buy 20-50 and install before next Vegas trip.  Don't 
> forget new oil pan too.
> 
> Thanked Dave and Greg profusely, gave them all the beer 
> money that they'd accept.... away we go!
> 
> On to four corners... or as Larry said, "four miles of 
> hell" for most of our cars.....  Had one, that couldn't 
> take it. Looks like the radiator cap let loose.. steamed 
> all the water out, or at least as much as our "back door" 
> driver would allow.   BS time... wait for things to cool 
> down.....  added water to system via overflow tank... not 
> happening..... eventually got the pressure tank open and 
> CAREFULLY added 6-8oz of water at a time until we got it 
> full and fired it up....spooged out of tank... ouch!!! 
> That was hot!!!!  Burns are Ok today....  bled out 
> radiator.... away she went!!!
> 
> Now walk back to my car..... starter turns motor over 
> like all getout.... no fire!  EVENtually, it fires and 
> away I go.... not sure what is up with that..... may have 
> boiled gas out of carb?????????????????????????????  
> (Tried to start car whenst I got home, after I had turned 
> it off to open the garage door...same thing.  Tried it 
> today cold and did not want to fire either!!!!  Had spark 
> and definitely had gas! Will need to check this out... 
> may have toasted "start" circuit somewhere.... sorta acts 
> like when you let off on switch that then it catches and 
> starts..... Normally she would fire right off, no 
> hesitations......)
> 
> Down the road.... notice my fan lamp is no longer on.... 
> temp is OK, so not worrying, traffic is moving fine.  
> Heater fan lamp will not come on either...... hmmmmm. 
> Shut switches off.  Later turn fan switch back on and fan 
> lamp is OK now.  Heater lamp indicator too!  Hmmmmm 
> something in common here....  (at end of trip, in garage, 
> I shut the car down and the fans kept running.... 
> hmmmmmm, "this is new!"  Turned off the switch and fans 
> quit.  They used to shut down with the ignition 
> switch.... something is short circuited here....  may all 
> be related........  Prince of Darkness strikes again????)
> 
> Balance of trip up I-5 and across into the Santa Clara 
> Valley is uneventful thank goodness!!!!  
> 
> Arrived home at about 9:30PM, had left at about 
> 8:30AMish....  Odometer shows just shy of a 1400 mile 
> trip (Minus my 5mph/60 error factor.....)  Still have 
> about an 1/8th tank of gas... from Buttonwillow!  Must be 
> pulling 14-16mpg!!  Still have to calculate it out.....
> 
> Checked under the car this afternoon, not a drop of oil 
> from the pan or the ZF and no water puddles on the 
> floor!!!! WOW!!! What a concept!!!  If I can't fix any of 
> the other problems, I finally fixed the leaks!
> 
> Wife had a great time!! She didn't mind the ride in the 
> Goose!  Actually it's comfortable for me too! (Will have 
> to fix the AC.......)  We'll do this again!!!!!
> 
> Got my list going for next year already!!!!
> 
> Time for sleep.....
> Steve
> 
>