Alan and Dunkin's road trip in "Sneezy" the turbo Mini

[GLHNSLHT2]

Starting off this thread since they're on the road. Picked them up at the airport at 1pm, grabbed something to eat, installed a boost gauge and sent them on their way to Seattle. I'm calling the van "Sneezy" since the factory 90 BOV sneezes while crusing at 70ish. Hopefully they're still ok. Was awesome to get to know them both a bit better. Here's a pic of them on their way.



No the van isn't totally full of weight, the previous owner has 205/50's on the back and 215/65's on the front

[cordes]

Very cool. I can't wait to read the writeup. We're an intrepid lot. No pun intended.

[wheming]

It looks really nice from that distance! Except for the squatting...

[GLHNSLHT2]

yea once it get's the right size tires on the back that'll be fixed

[blk86trbo]

Looks like a really nice van, sure to be a fun trip...best of luck!

[A.J.]

Subscribed. I'm interested how this adventure turns out. I'm sure it'll be problem free or at least nothing the Jones brothers can't handle.

[2.216VTurbo]

Welllll, we are 1035 miles into the trip and tho GLH&SLHT2 did some nice prep work sorting the issues of a122K mile 25 year old van that has only been driven short little hops around town by the 75+YO PO there are bound to be gremlins once we hit 85MPH and the mountain range. We left Spokane about 330 and we had a 8pm deadline to make Seattle. We got there about 815 pm with the only issue being the oil pressure gauge reading zero and the "Check Guages" light on. A lil scary but it had cropped up earlier in the week and Jay checked the pressure with his mechanical guage and found it to be acceptable. We headed out of Seattle about 10PM and drove all night in shifts to a Walamart parking lot in Medford OR because I have some family in that town. During the night the years and years and years old mismatched tires started to wupwuwpwupwupwup and howl, sounded like the rears were coming apart! Add to that the tach had hit zero a couple times and even tho we suspected that its just a bad HEP, its still unsettling Fortunatly I had set one out with the 'spares' pile to take on the trip in my luggage. Unfortunatly tho, that carefully thought out and neatly assorted pile of TM repair bits is still on my kichen counter at home. DOH!! So much for careful planning... We did find the only HEP in southern Oregon at a Medford Napa and installed it when we did the parking lot oil&filter change. No, we DIDN'T drop 5 quarts of used goo in their lot,we picked up a $9. Oil change bucket and refilled the Rotella T gallon jug with the old oil and left it near the bay doors of the auto service center. I'm so environmentally responsible these days ;-) HEP installed with a couple new no name tires and we ht the road to find at highway speeds the steering wheel is jerking back and forth something fierce :-( Thanks Les Schwab tire pros! We endured that for a couple hundred miles to Redding CA and stopped into another Schwab tire for a check up that showed the new drivers side front was 2oz outta balence and the passenger side 3oz! Great job guys. Fixed and rolling again but now its 85 degrees out and the coolant temps are climbing climbing climbing. Duncan is like 'you smell coolant?' Pop the hood at a rest stop and the original radiator is like swiss cheese. We can't tell if more is leaking from the top pinch seam or the bottom Oreily to the rescue again with a $105. Replacement units, you know the kind that is made in China and the core is like 1/4" thick? Oh well, any port in a storm I suppose. We're rolling again but ths time with tores that are balanced. And temps under control and 'WHITEOUT' (can't go ith Sneezy Jay, too ghey) is running sweet, we're just about to Sacramento and averaging about 21MPG since the upgrades. Ill have to upload pics later,not enough 4G out here to do it from my phone...

[cordes]

Wow, that sounds like an awesome trip. Glad you made it back with relatively few problems. Those all could have ended in disaster.

[wheming]

See...
It is an adventure!

[ForzaV12]

Yikes!
Sheesh, all this road trip fun with you guys and Cordes has me getting ready for one(right after SEMA).
Did you make it to Los Osos?

[BadAssPerformance]

Sounds like a fun trip!

[johnl]

Wish I was there, rolling around on my back in strip mall parking lots is such a blast. LOL. Good for you; saved another one.

[cordes]

Yikes!
Sheesh, all this road trip fun with you guys and Cordes has me getting ready for one(right after SEMA).
Did you make it to Los Osos?

We had better see a write up! Have TM will travel!

[2.216VTurbo]

1638 miles later we're home About 48 hours total for the trip but we took it pretty easy, we actually got a Holiday Inn room Saturday night for about 5 hours of sleep and a shower, did lots of sightseeing like a tour of the 'haunted underground' city of Old Seattle that's located UNDERNEATH the current city of Seattle. That's a pretty cool tour and since it STARTS in a bar and ENDS in a bar, I give it two thumbs up We even stopped on a few open plots of land to do some Ground Squirrel control that I'm sure the local farmers appreciated Pretty much After the Radiator was replaced and tires balanced for the SECOND TIME, we had relatively little drama although I did have a nice long conversation with and Oregon State trooper about an "Aggressive and unsafe lane change" We ended that talk WITHOUT me signing in his ticket book I got a little sloppy with recording milage verses gallons used at some of the 3 am fuel stops so we didnt calculate each tank but we saw as low as 16.7MPH while climbing the Siskue Mountain Range in NorCal and as best as 21.5 on the flats plains of the Central California Valley. "Whiteout" will need relatively few upgrades other than new suspension, a double pivot K frame, and new power ES drivers seat(this one is manual, (it's and ES fer Chrissake??) new front drivers quarter panel(Duncan just called me, he found a white one in a J Yard today that's perfect and even has the red pinstripe on it), new exhaust, an intercooler....

[jonnyb]

Wow - nice score and great write up! You West coast bastages - all the nice ones within a weekend stroll

So I don't see it in your sig - is this one yours? Let me guess, you bought it because you wanted that 90 radiator mount situation and now you also have the same 1/4" thin shiny aluminum radiator I have too

LOL!!!

I'm definitely jealous my friend!

JonnyB

EDIT: Oh man...just noticed, you've got factory snowflakes - that means you got the big bolt pattern. No easy interchange with your stockpile of other TM wheels...LOL! I've got copyrights on 90 van with caliber wheels...LOL! Although, I always thought those snowflakes looked good on the vans, or at least a lot better than the lace ones that came on my van. So you're not in as bad of a situation as I was

And of course - gotta test out how big that 18.5 gallon tank is - especially at night.

[Badger]

so is it gonna be "sneezy" or "whiteout"? Nice write up btw

[GLHNSLHT2]

Alan thinks Sneezy sounds gay, But driving it down the freeway at 70mph and the BOV was constantly sneezing since you're in and out of boost So that's kinda what came to me to call it.

[168glhs1986]

Lovin the repairs on the fly brother. Wish i had your no problem attitude.

Im always looking for another 4 door l body but your making these vans look attractive. Nice find and even better road trip.

[2.216VTurbo]

Alan thinks Sneezy sounds gay, But driving it down the freeway at 70mph and the BOV was constantly sneezing since you're in and out of boost So that's kinda what came to me to call it.

Yeah but how long you think that factory BOV is gonna be on there before a Bosch takes it's place?

Definately gonna be "Whiteout" wait till you guys see waht kind of exterior 'treatment' it's gonna getDuncan & I hatched the plan on the drive home, suffice to say it hasn't been done on a TM before-at least not that I know of. Think panel van...

[cordes]

Nice hand position on that pistol Alan.