XS22J8R
Well-Known Member
The season is way too short around here in northeast Illinois! Sometime next month I will be getting my cars ready for hibernation with crankcases filled with of fresh VR1, Stabil in the gas tanks, and dryer sheets scattered around the interiors.
This cruise season started out with me feeling discouraged about my cars. The 2 workhorses of my 4 heap fleet both seemed to be acting up when I first took them out in spring. The Magnum has had a intermittent no start condition I never get anywhere resolving where it sometimes started first turn of key, sometimes would decide to fire after just cranking without so much as a hiccup 5 or 6 turns of the key. At the first evening of the season local cruise, it did its misbehaving act when I went to leave, then finally fired up with a big backfire out the exhaust. Scared the bejeezus out of group of guys chatting by the car next to me not far from my tailpipe, I think they all jumped 3 feet in the air, probably needed a change of pants too! I got out of the car and sheepishly apologized to them before slinking off to go home, and apparently no hard feelings!
And then my Challenger convertible had tiny droplets of some fluid I couldn't identify spattered around components near the front of the engine, the first time I took it out a week or so later. It hasn't seemed to do that again all year, best guess is that it was some AC lube that seeped out of the compressor while sitting 6+ months over the winter and got tossed around by the belt. Whatever the case, the AC still works and it hasn't done that since.
I was just going through my pictures from the last 4 months and see that I went to about 30 cruises, all but a couple with one of my cars, 6 car shows, half of which I showed a car, 1 car party, one open house at a custom shop, a car show/meetup at my office and one auction (Mecum Indy). So after that initial feeling the season was going to be somewhat of a bust due to car problems, thankfully I ended up out and about quite often! Only a couple events got rained out also this year, very cooperative weather.
The Magnum decided it didn't want to go to a last cruise of 2023 in a nearby town around a month ago by not firing up period instead of starting after a number of times cranking it, I hope I can figure out its ignition problems before it gets real cold and the roads get salted so I can get it out of the garage and change the oil etc!
I bought a takeoff Accurate exhaust system from a guy in WI in early summer to replace the convertibles, as its mufflers are getting full of holes, time is running out to call up a custom exhaust place recommended to me to get that installed, as it needs some welding and turndowns put on the mufflers.
Clock is ticking!
Hoped to get my 71 Challenger out of storage for a while this season but time got away from me, dang I haven't even looked at it it this year, shame on me.
Now that I have a trailer, I did get the T/A out to the big July Mopar show in Belvidere for the first time, and I did drive it over to the local cruise one night, so it got out of the garage twice. Trailered the convertible to Moparty 2 weeks ago and had a ball, until I got home and went to unload the car, and the brake pedal went to the floor due to me botching installing one of the tie down straps in the dark trailer and it abraded a brake hose. Replaced the hose and got the car back on the road in time for the cruise in my town last weekend so no disaster there, just a lesson learned (figure out why the inside lights of the trailer stopped working, and use a work light under the car if its dark to make sure the straps are where they belong!!!)
Only a big show in Morris IL in a few weeks and then MCACN in November left to go, then after that, 5 or 6 months of me climbing the walls waiting for next years car season to begin!
Driving into the sunset after leaving the cruise last Saturday.....
This cruise season started out with me feeling discouraged about my cars. The 2 workhorses of my 4 heap fleet both seemed to be acting up when I first took them out in spring. The Magnum has had a intermittent no start condition I never get anywhere resolving where it sometimes started first turn of key, sometimes would decide to fire after just cranking without so much as a hiccup 5 or 6 turns of the key. At the first evening of the season local cruise, it did its misbehaving act when I went to leave, then finally fired up with a big backfire out the exhaust. Scared the bejeezus out of group of guys chatting by the car next to me not far from my tailpipe, I think they all jumped 3 feet in the air, probably needed a change of pants too! I got out of the car and sheepishly apologized to them before slinking off to go home, and apparently no hard feelings!
And then my Challenger convertible had tiny droplets of some fluid I couldn't identify spattered around components near the front of the engine, the first time I took it out a week or so later. It hasn't seemed to do that again all year, best guess is that it was some AC lube that seeped out of the compressor while sitting 6+ months over the winter and got tossed around by the belt. Whatever the case, the AC still works and it hasn't done that since.
I was just going through my pictures from the last 4 months and see that I went to about 30 cruises, all but a couple with one of my cars, 6 car shows, half of which I showed a car, 1 car party, one open house at a custom shop, a car show/meetup at my office and one auction (Mecum Indy). So after that initial feeling the season was going to be somewhat of a bust due to car problems, thankfully I ended up out and about quite often! Only a couple events got rained out also this year, very cooperative weather.
The Magnum decided it didn't want to go to a last cruise of 2023 in a nearby town around a month ago by not firing up period instead of starting after a number of times cranking it, I hope I can figure out its ignition problems before it gets real cold and the roads get salted so I can get it out of the garage and change the oil etc!
I bought a takeoff Accurate exhaust system from a guy in WI in early summer to replace the convertibles, as its mufflers are getting full of holes, time is running out to call up a custom exhaust place recommended to me to get that installed, as it needs some welding and turndowns put on the mufflers.
Clock is ticking!
Hoped to get my 71 Challenger out of storage for a while this season but time got away from me, dang I haven't even looked at it it this year, shame on me.
Now that I have a trailer, I did get the T/A out to the big July Mopar show in Belvidere for the first time, and I did drive it over to the local cruise one night, so it got out of the garage twice. Trailered the convertible to Moparty 2 weeks ago and had a ball, until I got home and went to unload the car, and the brake pedal went to the floor due to me botching installing one of the tie down straps in the dark trailer and it abraded a brake hose. Replaced the hose and got the car back on the road in time for the cruise in my town last weekend so no disaster there, just a lesson learned (figure out why the inside lights of the trailer stopped working, and use a work light under the car if its dark to make sure the straps are where they belong!!!)
Only a big show in Morris IL in a few weeks and then MCACN in November left to go, then after that, 5 or 6 months of me climbing the walls waiting for next years car season to begin!
Driving into the sunset after leaving the cruise last Saturday.....
