My trip across Canada in a 240z.

fiveleaf · January 20, 2010

Just a little story,

** Two months before starting this trip, I really only had a general concept of how an engine works, and NO IDEA how to work on a z**

I recently drove from Whistler (near Vancouver) to Kingston (near Toronto) in what was, until recently, my dad's old project car. He was looking to sell, and I had been watching, helping him in the garage since I was 8. There was no way anyone but me was taking it. It has been sitting in the driveway, snowed on every winter, for >10 years. Started and given a short drive yearly.

This was June/July 09, we spent a couple weeks prep and I went along my way. I learned a bit.

Weatherstrip, changed a door, electrical/lighting, major roof repair, DIY paint/clearcoat. Learned the basics of a timing light, weber tuning, and distributor.

Anyways, I took the twisty single-lane, occasional cliff drop-off route through the Western BC mountains (Duffy lake road) -- Beautiful.

The last word of advise before I left was "you'd better full it to the top before leaving Squamish, there are NO gas stations until you reach the other side". We didn't have time to fix the fuel leak (leaks from the seal) before leaving Whistler. I pre-paid in cash, filled it until it was forcing fuel out of that seam like I had never seen before, and took off.

Not that I wanted to be a d**k and pollute the envirornment, but because I really didn't want to be stranded halfway through the mountains.

On a side note, GPS really helped for this road. I recommend it for anyone that's thinking of pushing their z in unfamiliar twisties.

I couldn't listen to music through the mountains -- the L28 triple weber setup was much more than adequate for my ears, especially under the heavy downshifting and acceleration of this road. This road bit me with the z bug hard.

Now that I was under much more stable conditions, and able to listen to music, the stereo cuts out. Bummer.

I'm 2-3 gas stops in at this point, and pull into my fourth and final gas station. I fill up, and she doesn't turn over. I realize the lights aren't turning on. I put 1+1 together and figure it's the battery/"battery charger thing".

I wheel it to the attached shop. They agree with my diagnostic. They then charge me $150 for a battery "diagnostic + charge", and attempt to take $400 for parts+labour for the alternator change. I pay for the battery service without complaint, and tell them that I'd rather change the alternator myself. They charge me $300 for an alternator, and it arrives in 30min. Owner/Manager is not very happy that I want to change it myself.

The fun begins. This is where I wheel the 240 out into the parking lot, and apply the parking brake. I open the box, and discover what an alternator looks like. I call home, and get a brief on how to change an alternator from home. It seems straightforward. Goes on like it comes off.

Looked under the car and proudly admired my work, to see fluid dripping from the chain cover. Doesn't smell like gas. Tastes sweet. Whoever said in chemistry class "NEVER taste chemicals to identify them" was wrong. I make another call home. Leaking antifreeze confirmed. Water pump needs replacing. There's a spare in the hatch.

I get out my tools again, and it's getting dark. I discover the joy of removing the fan before loosening the bolts on the worn shroud. I clearly mark how everything comes off, as this is another job that's pretty intuitive. I get the old one off, and antifreeze leaks everywhere. I'm taking the old nuts off have been fiddling with the "last nut" from the old pump for an hour, when a truck pulls in looking for gas.

I walk over to the driver dirty, confused, and half-soaked in drying antifreeze. He looks at me and the part i'm carrying, gives me a inquisitive look, and says "That's a waterpump". I agree. "Why is it not on your car?". I explain. He turns out to be a mechanic by trade, and points me in the right direction. It took him about 40sec to get the nut off.

For the next hour, I get the new water pump on, and begin the drive over the rest of the Rockies to meet (and stay with) a friend.

The 240 barely makes it to Calgrary. Begins limping about 20min after getting into the city. I make it to her place and sleep. I drive/push the car to a few places, where I'm told the same thing... either "I have no idea", "you should take it to....". I make it to NAPA autoparts, clean the (filthy) air filters, and buy a timing light. I play with timing and get a little more power, but still luggs under load, runs extremely rich, and backfires (yet idles fine through the revs).

I call home. Dad posts on classicz under "Help Me!" fourms for a mechanic in Calgrary. "zKars" from this site invites me to his home garage, where I find two or three other Z's besides mine. We look at timing, fix that fuel leak, play with timing, replace plugs, and take a quick look inside the engine. **this is the first time I have ever taken the valve cover off**. I learn about finding TDC and making sure the distributor and pully are in line. I drive away happy.

The cat comes back, the very next day... ... on a flatbed!

I call BCAA (best investment ever) and "zKars" and we wind up changing the distributor and bypassing the HI-6 and XR700 ignition, running it straight from the PS92 coil. I again leave happy.

I call dad. I guess working on the old 240 before I left rekindled his interest, because it's been about three days without a zed in the driveway... and he's already bought another one. Arizona 240z. Completely stock, just about as rust-free as you get em'.

I then drive from Calgrary to Winnipeg and realize what terrible fuel consumption I am have. Spend the night with a friend of a friend in Winnipeg, and continue to Thunder Bay (Western Ontario) the next day.

By this time, I've come to realize that I have terrible spark issues. It will deliver spark fine if the spark plug wire is held 1/4' away from the distributor cap, and allowed to arc to it's destination, but not when it is pushed in. By now, I know that because she is running

This problem bewilders many. I also discover the zap these things carry. Guess you can't hold if further than 1/2' away.

I also test the speed to 120mph on the Canadian Prairies.

***Some may disagree with this speed test, but you can literally see flat road all the way to the horizon. It took awhile to find the right opportunity to give her some WOT, and there cannot be a safer highway to test this on***

Arriving in Thunder Bay at night, and going to stay with a couple other family friends, I search for two hours on unlighted gravel roads, driving with my head out the window, until I find the right place. I sleep, and begin my search (in vain) in Thunder Bay for a few days for a solution to my spark issue. I find nothing, and leave with the main wire from the coil electrical-taped 1/4' out of the cap. Runs much better. I also buy some di-electrical grease and coat the inside of the other terminals with them, replacing the spark plug wires with a nice set from crappy tire.

As I'm leaving, going 5-10mph on a gravel road in my stiff, lowered 240... a transport truck passes me at around 60, throwing gravel all over my <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CTommy%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CTommy%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CTommy%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><style>  </style>mistresses’ hood. Bastard. There's a nice clearcoar job needed on the mistresses’ hood, and a couple dents in the drivers door.

That drivers door was PERFECT after we painted in Whistler a week ago...

Leaving Thunder Bay, I am exited. Already in Ontario, I plan to get married as soon as possible after arriving in Toronto (city hall wedding). I follow the GPS quite blindly and without hesitation. It takes me off the main road. I don't complain, because I'm going through a bunch of random twisties and loving it. I'm now learning, by feel, how to steer with the throttle. I also begin to really compress some of the shocks through the turns, and love that feeling too. The taillights cut out about. I pull over and find the grounding issue under the passenger foot area. This happens a few times. Dave's PLH, here I come. I also am having headlight issues. One Headlight, two HI-Beams, or Vice-versa.

I am loving the twisties, when they stop, and I arrive in the tiny little town my GPS has taken me to. Why? I search for where I'm supposed to go for 20min before realizing I'm at a ferry terminal.

Great.

Let's get the sleeping bag out...

I get in line for the ferry a little early (1-2am). One benefit to my job is that I can sleep anywhere on command from the mind. I open the passenger window, stick my feet out (I'm in a sleeping bag), and rack out for the night.

Cars honking! Somebody yelling! I wake up. The security guard angrily asks me for ID, wanting to open the gates 10min early to help the traffic. I flash my ID, and we end up having a 10min chat about the military. She was leaving for basic in a week.

While on the ferry, I'm studying the electrical diagram trying to find the source of my grounding issue with the side markers. A fellow enthusiast sees me and we talk. Good ferry, crap food.

I get to the other side and drive in the blistering heat to Toronto. Traffic is terrible, but I get a few honks and thumb's-up from random's. One chick in the passenger seat beside me (to the left) indicates that I'm driving her car. I don't quite know how she conveyed this; she must own one.

Edited January 20, 2010 by fiveleaf
take out sig

fiveleaf · January 20, 2010

Deadlock Toronto traffic for a couple hours. Must be good for those (new) plugs. Changed them outside a Canadian Tire half an hour ago. I get to my

I arrived on Friday, we got married Monday. No honeymoon, going to save it for later in the year. I have rugby training camp starting the day I got married anyways.

I will never leave Toronto in rush-hour again. **** that. I'm way too defensive in traffic when I'm in the z, and I'm taken advantage of. I also miss my exit a few times, because the exit lane is backed up for >1km before the turn and I'm not enough of a d**k to try to butt my way in right at the front, when I realize I'm in the wrong lane. Not with BC plates or in a z, anyways.

Only a few hours away from Kingston now, I can smell the pain of training camp that awaits me. I pull off the exit, and within 500m of pulling off, notice the same power issues. Feels like a miss.

***Hear that? I'm diagnosing my own problems***

I limp to my building and unpack.

There's my drive across Canada.

But... if it's not spark issues, then what is it? Misses intermittently. I change to a Unilite distributor and new ignition. Same problem.

Two new ignitions, actually... I blew the first one fully when working on it. Didn't disconnect the battery. zap goes a high-gauge wire. Black goes my hand. I wake up some time later, on my back, beside the car. No engraving on the wedding band anymore. My mistress shaved it off.

Edited January 21, 2010 by fiveleaf
take out sig

fiveleaf · January 20, 2010

Another lesson learned... disconnect the battery. The wire welded itself to the frame (right-side passenger foot area). I went with a new HI-6 from jags or summit or whatever. Crane cams is back in business, FYI.

This entire time, my dad has insisted that there's no way it can be those carbs. "They are perfect", it should "go like stink", and "your problem is elsewhere". I disagree, and eventually (without finding the problem), I send it to Whitehead Peformance in Toronto, again on the Flatbed (for free again, Thank you BCAA!)

Mike (from Whitehead) called my yesterday. Carbs not responding to any tuning whatsoever. Turns out whoever did the previous work on the engine (slight bore, mild cam, and rebuild at 50,xxx mi) got a little mixed up. Cam wore prematurely, lobes on rockers damages, guide worn to sh**, and loose chain. Too bad, because the previous guy was paid a small fortune for the rebuild.

Yep, that would cause it to run rich enough to spend $2K on gas to get here.

The mentioned work is currently being done, and should be ready in a couple weeks. He was right, it wasn't the carbs.

"The Mistress", as the wife calls her, is living up to her name. I will now be spending my next vacation in Kingston doing bodywork (instead of leaving for all inclusive). I love it though, and it will all be worth it come driving season again, where my wife will learn of the joys of brake bleeding.

I learned so much during this trip, and so much more from just reading this site in (all) my spare time. Cheers to you.

Tom.

Edited January 20, 2010 by fiveleaf

Darrel · January 20, 2010

Great story.

I wonder what's going to happen when the wife and mistress have some time alone.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Darrel

ajmcforester · January 20, 2010

Great story.
I wonder what's going to happen when the wife and mistress have some time alone.

They will polish bumpers

Great trip, I moved across country Arizona to New Jersey and had a good trip, the only problem I had was in Ohio when the vacuum lines closed from to much vacuum. No wonder my car was setup for 10,000 feet not 300 feet. I'm glad that I had worked the bugs out before my trip when you get her running well you need to do another trip these are one of the best cars to tour the country side in. Thanks for your story, but we can also use pictures from your trip with the car

Sparx Macgyver · January 20, 2010

Interesting tale. Enjoyed the read. Any photos of the trip and of your Z?

zKars · January 20, 2010

Tom:

I worried like a parent after you left, figuring it wasn't going to be all "smooth" from that point onward. I assumed everything went "ok", and you got everything you were going on time, one way or the other.

Congrats on the wedding, the career and your conquering of the Canadian road system. Handle everything in life like that and you'll never have a problem you can't handle. All the best.

Jim

fiveleaf · January 20, 2010

Good to hear from ya Jim! Thank's for the words, and the help along the way. Now so long as I remember to disconnect the battery...

Really though, I took no pictures along the way. Mistake. I spent the last couple hours browsing for deacent shots of the road traveled.

The duffy was an experience, and one of the few portions where I was limited by driving ability instead of the speed limit. It begins with a bit of a twisty road leading to the mountains... then about 20min of nonstop (very steep) hairpin switchbacks, climbing up...

From there, anything goes to the other side. The road isnâ€™t perfect, gravel and the occasional pothole, with some construction... but it's breathtaking. Both in scenery and from the sounds of the car.

Single-lane-traffic wooden bridges, hairpin corners with it's entirety (spare the road) dropping off to a sheer cliff, increasing and decreasing radial turns while dipping and/or climbing, and a few shorter straightaways in between -- just enough that you need 5th gear for 10 seconds to keep it up before downshifting.

I did the real Rockies at night, after the stopover at the gas station for the water pump and alternator. It rained, hard, so I didn't really get to enjoy it. Those night truckers really haul. I'm getting passed fast with huge splashes of water kicking onto the windshield every 30 seconds, while going 20mph over the posted.

For a lot of the Trans-Canada highway past Calgary, limit 110Kph, you could see until the horizon. Turns were extremely gradually, but present. Traffic was double or triple lane, one direction, with 10-25m seperation from oncoming traffic (two giant parallel roads).

Pics of these the duffy, not taken by me.

The second picture is just after lillooet (comes up after the duffy, when the road becomes slightls less of a challenge).

Edited January 20, 2010 by fiveleaf
take out sig

fiveleaf · January 20, 2010

Limit of 10 pictures per upload. Here's a hairpin and twist from the duffy, and a couple from the Trans-Canada.

Went to the CN Tower in Toronto. It has a glass floor. My expierence was identical to this picture:

Maybe I'll take a deacent solo shot of the car if it ever get's back from the shop. I'm picturing a the beautiful clearcoat on the bonnet...

On that note, Whitehead Peformance just called. Turns out the heads are warped too. Valve job to accompany this. Total estimate, should be just under three.

Then we can look at the carbs

Edited January 20, 2010 by fiveleaf

Unkle · January 20, 2010

Sigh , I wish I was young(er) again and had more time like you !

I'm ''stuck'' owning a business that requires 24/7 attention . The

saving feature is that I live on Vancouver Island , those pics of

the hairpins reminds me of the highway past Alberni to Tofino !

Carl Beck · January 21, 2010

Hi Tom:

GREAT story - thanks for sharing. I think many of us can relate to that trip, in many ways. All though your story I found myself thinking - "yes, I've been there and yes I've done that".... Problems along the way simply add interest to the trip and provide better material for the story afterward...

keep at it...

Carl B.

joker72z · January 21, 2010

Tom,

I have travelled the Duffy as well and I think it is one of the most scenic drives I have ever taken. Coming from Ontario and being in BC, I thought it was just mountains and "stuff" but I was almost speechless at some points.

I think that drive compares, even surpasses the drive through Arizona where the lands change from scrub, to green to massive red rock.

great story by the way.

Chris

Edited January 21, 2010 by joker72z

My trip across Canada in a 240z.

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