Back at home, since Wednesday afternoon, still trying to get by that Jetlag ...
But I managed to copy and sorten a lot of pictures and videos. The real work has to start, and I will make an album in the next days, so you can all
enjoy those pictures, in a bigger, better resolution.
While calculation gas- and oilconsumption, on that trip of 3693 miles, according to my GPS Logger. Some additional miles were done and not logged
before the trip started. Same afterwards as for bringing it to storage and some short drives to and from the night parking lot. So overall some 3750
miles were driven.
Planned were 4000 but we had to alter our last weeks planning a bit, as you already knew.
TFD (The Flying Dutchman) drove about 1 gallon on 8.15 Miles (Including 2 times learning phase of the both FiTech's)
The oilconsumption was about 1 qt on 600 miles (using 20W50)
The PO had a oilconsumption of 1 qt on 250-350 miles using 10W30 ...
I was advized to go next time to Mobil 1 - 10W40 that should be better then the 20W50 ...
So a total of 460 Gallon of Gas was used. Average speeds about 55-65 Mph, lots of steep hills, max 9% at Death valley, long hills in Oregon. Sometimes
was downshifting to second necessairy, and I mostly tried to do that while driving below 40 Mph.
In Death Valley and on Highway 1 some decents could only taken safely, without having to brake all the time, in first gear ... so I did. That up hill
in Death valley of > 8% I also drove in first gear at 3000 RPM, without a problem. Luckily outside temps weren't excessive, but I never had a vapor
lock or boiling gasoline.
As for the engine, a 455, it pulled strong and constant, cranking overall good, only that Neutral Safety Switch was not adjusted 100%, so sometimes we
had to "fiddle" a bit, or try cranking in N instead of P.
As for the FiTech's, yes 2 of them, the first one already had a "trip" back to the Manufacter, as it had problems at one time, no cranking with the PO
a month before we arrived. Injectors?
The second, spare one, a refurbished newer model FiTech 400, we installed in trying to overcome that very stiff throttle pedal. At no succes. As our
other tryouts with newer cable (Applied) rerouting and various spring combinations, did not help either.
The fact that we later at Mono Lake, taking a coffee brake, and enjoying the view, encountered a big problem with that second FiTech, the engine did
not crank anymore .... at once.
Was not nice, to say it mildly.
On the otherhand so we were able to discover its problem it had. At first we thought is was a clogged filter and after replacing the engine cranked
after a long try ... reluctantly.
Arrived at Bishop and after a longer brake at a nice Dutch Bakery !! with excellent bread and sandwiches, the GMC defintly would not start anymore and
luckily, Armand thought of the possibilty the FiTech could be the cause, and yes it was, only one injector worked, and was so hard squirting fuel that
it flooded one of the cambers and below the engine!
Again we changed it against the first FiTech, we luckily had at hand. And after some cranking the engine ran fine again, and kept on doing so till the
end of our trip, last day bringing it to the storage.
Steering and tracking had been greatly improved by the maintenace and replacing of ball joints, all shocks, steering components etc (Applied) still
not 100% but it was many times better then before. The perhaps bent boogie, first rear right tire showed a lot of extra wear on the outside for almost
1 1/2 inch, could be influencing that too. Thats something that also has to be corrected.
And perhaps only a little cosmetic, the steering wheel is not exactly at its middlepoint while driving straight forward. That could have been a easy
fix while the crew at Applied was working on it ....
The other not essential problem, but really inconvinient problem we encountered was the "snapping"of the AC-VENT-Heater-Defroster lever. later we
managed to fix that the old fashioned way, with several things at hand, like a bolt, nut, some washers and some thinking ... Driving from Vegas
through Death Valley and on our way south, it was really nice it was working again.
Still some finetuning necessairy since we mounted the copper circle with contacts 180 degrees the other way, but I gues cold is cold even when I have
the lever on MIN AC and it works at Max ...
I correct that next time I open the dash.
Additional there is a dash ground problem I managed to make less disturbing, since at one time the flashers did not or very reluctently, worked.
Sometimes displays were faint, voltmeter low etc, but on batterie mostly good higher values.
I rewired the sigaretlighter to a much thicker cabling both positiv and ground, with a 30 Amp inline fuse near the selonoid.
And used that extra ground to attach it also to the metal of the dash instruments. It gave some improvements.
The original cable was so thin that it was already warm when only the Garmin GPS was connected!
Perhaps thats why the radio also lives his own life, at times, and mostly after an half hour it starts "rebooting" over and over again.
Still no essential items but it would be nice if fixed.
But in retrospect TFD drove well and strong and it was not his fault, that the throttle really made my angry and my right leg sometimes was extremely
tired and cramped.
Here some screenshots from my GPS Logger which recorded all days driving for 5 weeks, except the Mt.Hood Rally Days.
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/trip-report/p65386-gps-logger-1-gmcws-mthood-fall-rally-2018.html
--
Daniel Jacobs, NL-USA 1977 GMC Eleganza II, 455 newer Tranny+3.55 FD. FiTech and FCC, new Hoses, Selector Valve and Electric Pump, insulated Tanks,
APC, McDash, Dash AC to Enviro Safe. Schräder V+extern Fills, Ceramic Film TPMS FlexSteel Seats
But I managed to copy and sorten a lot of pictures and videos. The real work has to start, and I will make an album in the next days, so you can all
enjoy those pictures, in a bigger, better resolution.
While calculation gas- and oilconsumption, on that trip of 3693 miles, according to my GPS Logger. Some additional miles were done and not logged
before the trip started. Same afterwards as for bringing it to storage and some short drives to and from the night parking lot. So overall some 3750
miles were driven.
Planned were 4000 but we had to alter our last weeks planning a bit, as you already knew.
TFD (The Flying Dutchman) drove about 1 gallon on 8.15 Miles (Including 2 times learning phase of the both FiTech's)
The oilconsumption was about 1 qt on 600 miles (using 20W50)
The PO had a oilconsumption of 1 qt on 250-350 miles using 10W30 ...
I was advized to go next time to Mobil 1 - 10W40 that should be better then the 20W50 ...
So a total of 460 Gallon of Gas was used. Average speeds about 55-65 Mph, lots of steep hills, max 9% at Death valley, long hills in Oregon. Sometimes
was downshifting to second necessairy, and I mostly tried to do that while driving below 40 Mph.
In Death Valley and on Highway 1 some decents could only taken safely, without having to brake all the time, in first gear ... so I did. That up hill
in Death valley of > 8% I also drove in first gear at 3000 RPM, without a problem. Luckily outside temps weren't excessive, but I never had a vapor
lock or boiling gasoline.
As for the engine, a 455, it pulled strong and constant, cranking overall good, only that Neutral Safety Switch was not adjusted 100%, so sometimes we
had to "fiddle" a bit, or try cranking in N instead of P.
As for the FiTech's, yes 2 of them, the first one already had a "trip" back to the Manufacter, as it had problems at one time, no cranking with the PO
a month before we arrived. Injectors?
The second, spare one, a refurbished newer model FiTech 400, we installed in trying to overcome that very stiff throttle pedal. At no succes. As our
other tryouts with newer cable (Applied) rerouting and various spring combinations, did not help either.
The fact that we later at Mono Lake, taking a coffee brake, and enjoying the view, encountered a big problem with that second FiTech, the engine did
not crank anymore .... at once.
Was not nice, to say it mildly.
On the otherhand so we were able to discover its problem it had. At first we thought is was a clogged filter and after replacing the engine cranked
after a long try ... reluctantly.
Arrived at Bishop and after a longer brake at a nice Dutch Bakery !! with excellent bread and sandwiches, the GMC defintly would not start anymore and
luckily, Armand thought of the possibilty the FiTech could be the cause, and yes it was, only one injector worked, and was so hard squirting fuel that
it flooded one of the cambers and below the engine!
Again we changed it against the first FiTech, we luckily had at hand. And after some cranking the engine ran fine again, and kept on doing so till the
end of our trip, last day bringing it to the storage.
Steering and tracking had been greatly improved by the maintenace and replacing of ball joints, all shocks, steering components etc (Applied) still
not 100% but it was many times better then before. The perhaps bent boogie, first rear right tire showed a lot of extra wear on the outside for almost
1 1/2 inch, could be influencing that too. Thats something that also has to be corrected.
And perhaps only a little cosmetic, the steering wheel is not exactly at its middlepoint while driving straight forward. That could have been a easy
fix while the crew at Applied was working on it ....
The other not essential problem, but really inconvinient problem we encountered was the "snapping"of the AC-VENT-Heater-Defroster lever. later we
managed to fix that the old fashioned way, with several things at hand, like a bolt, nut, some washers and some thinking ... Driving from Vegas
through Death Valley and on our way south, it was really nice it was working again.
Still some finetuning necessairy since we mounted the copper circle with contacts 180 degrees the other way, but I gues cold is cold even when I have
the lever on MIN AC and it works at Max ...
I correct that next time I open the dash.Additional there is a dash ground problem I managed to make less disturbing, since at one time the flashers did not or very reluctently, worked.
Sometimes displays were faint, voltmeter low etc, but on batterie mostly good higher values.
I rewired the sigaretlighter to a much thicker cabling both positiv and ground, with a 30 Amp inline fuse near the selonoid.
And used that extra ground to attach it also to the metal of the dash instruments. It gave some improvements.
The original cable was so thin that it was already warm when only the Garmin GPS was connected!
Perhaps thats why the radio also lives his own life, at times, and mostly after an half hour it starts "rebooting" over and over again.
Still no essential items but it would be nice if fixed.
But in retrospect TFD drove well and strong and it was not his fault, that the throttle really made my angry and my right leg sometimes was extremely
tired and cramped.
Here some screenshots from my GPS Logger which recorded all days driving for 5 weeks, except the Mt.Hood Rally Days.
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/trip-report/p65386-gps-logger-1-gmcws-mthood-fall-rally-2018.html
--
Daniel Jacobs, NL-USA 1977 GMC Eleganza II, 455 newer Tranny+3.55 FD. FiTech and FCC, new Hoses, Selector Valve and Electric Pump, insulated Tanks,
APC, McDash, Dash AC to Enviro Safe. Schräder V+extern Fills, Ceramic Film TPMS FlexSteel Seats
