SL Diesel - Another Coast to Coast Road Trip
 

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425011887

Heading out from San Diego to North Carolina in the SL Diesel. Unfortunately this time it's not pleasure and vacation - rather, my 90 year old mom fell and broke her hip - she's being released from the hospital following surgery and is headed to rehab. I'll be going to help out my sister with whatever needs to be done.

I'll be taking the southern route to avoid any wintry weather and so far things are looking pretty good. I'm going to try to make it in three legs, but maybe that's overly optimistic. I'll get as far as I'm comfortable each day, then jump on Expedia to grab a room.

Hoping to get some nice images to post and maybe some dash cam video as well along the way.

Really like open road cruising in this thing. Other road trips to date have been San Diego to Arkansas, San Diego to North Carolina and San Diego to British Columbia.

I'm jealous. How did you get a Sl diesel. I want one.

Here's the directions on how to make your own - http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/308791-380sl-diesel-conversion-project.html

Read all about it:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/308791-380sl-diesel-conversion-project.html

:lol:

The "Southern route," ensures nothing regards missing ANY wintry weather. :laughing:

We've been in and out of wintry weather for days here in Texas, and there's several more on the way!!!

Snow tomorrow, as has been the last three days, mostly under 32F, and more ice Saturday!!!

If you are driving through Jacksonville, FL I can offer a meal and a place to crash for a night. I am 5 minutes from the intersection of I-10 and I-95. I would LOVE to see the diesel SL and get a chance to meet the maker.

Sorry to hear about your Mom, hope she recovers ok. At that age things are iffy with recovering.

My mom is 93, and we have our fingers crossed every day.
Last year she flopped on her Butt, caught her leg on the lid of an open Card board Box.
Didn`t break anything, but did cut her leg. Took 9 months to heal, because she wouldn`t listen
to the doctors or take their advice.

Have a safe and enjoyable trip back, hope you miss the bad weather, especially the salty roads.

Charlie

Good luck on your trip, and I hope your mother gets better fast.

Next time you pass near Salem, I owe you and your wife a cup of coffee.

Sorry to hear about your mom. Depending on where you end up in NC, it might be possible for me to swing by for a meet and greet. I'd love to chat and check out your car.

Day 1 - San Diego to El Paso
 

Today's drive was very enjoyable. A good part of the trip across Arizona was windows down warm. I was planning on pushing on to Midland/Odessa for the night but the am temps were lower than what I was comfortable with. I've never attempted to start this diesel at lower than 40 so wanted to be a bit cautious. It's supposed to get down to 34 here tonite so that should be a good test. I'm a little past due on a valve adjust so that might be an issue.

Mileage was down a bit due to heavy winds with a significant component on the nose.

The one bit of excitement was a bad accident. The traffic was backed up for miles and caused quite a long delay. Couldn't tell if anyone was hurt though.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425094858

Sometimes when it's time for a pit stop, you get opportunistic....and not so choosy.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425094858

Sometimes you've just got to scratch your head... like what government bureaucrat thought it would be necessary to let a driver know that there was low visibility - they've got to be looking out the window to see the flashing lights, they should be able to see the fog, blowing dust or whatever else is creating the low visibility.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425094858

KarTek: I'll be staying in Kernersville and would love to try to get together while there if it works out. I'll PM you when I'm there and know what's going on.

OM617YOTA: I'll take you up on that offer. Planning on going back to Vancouver and then Banff and Jasper, etc.

neumann: Won't be making it to Florida this trip...sorry, but thanks for the offer!

There's some wintry weather in the forecast along tomorrows track (in red), but I think it's tolerable. Guess we'll see.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425095908

horrible ice and crap here in DFW now. watch out!

OK, great. Kernersville isn't too far away from me here, maybe an hour and fifteen.

Don't worry about the starting, 34 degrees is nothing. If my old banger clunker starts effortlessly at 15 degrees, yours will have no trouble at all at 34.

I love these SL diesel photo road trips!
Not necessarily the reason for this one, hope for a good recovery for your mom!

Sorry to read about your mom, mach4. Oma is 95, is basically my mother, and it is hard to see her getting advanced in age, especially when caused by herself.

Are you coming back through Arizona? I am still upset about missing you the last time. Every time I came to Sandy Eggo so swamped never seem to make it out to see you.

Something is going on today. Been gusty yesterday and now clouds moved in and VERY cold! So good you came through when you did!

Stay safe! :D

If he's got a weak battery, 15F isn't the time to find out. Hopefully he's got a near enough new one at those temps.

I'll say! It was glare-ice here last night.......

Depending on how much progress you were able to make - Dallas, Fort worth hasn't gotten above freezing today, and it's raining. Great combination!

I thought that "Southern Route" meant Southern Route? This is North Texas I-20 & I-30 in the thick of it!

30 degrees shouldn't cause any trouble starting up. Provided the glow plugs and starter are properly functional, the 615-617 diesel engines will start up unassisted down into the 20's even when they're burning a quart of oil every 200 miles. If the compression's OK, then they'll typically be good down to around 5-10 degrees.

Day 2 - El Paso to Abiline - An Adventure in Winter Weather
 

El Paso was 27 degrees when I went out to do the coldest start in this SL's life. I know that's nothing but I was apprehensive. A nice glow, hit the switch and she lit off in two turns. The plan was to try to get to Shreveport LA to enable a 3 day coast-to-coast. Ah the best laid plans are not always to be.

Started out with clear skies but strong winds. I've been fighting winds with a frontal component all trip and the mileage numbers show it. Going west to east, they're supposed to be on the tail but not this time.

Very quickly the clear skies gave way to overcast and then I found myself in the aftermath of freezing rain. The roads were kind of slushy but still pretty good traction.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425174699

But then the slushy stuff turned to glare ice. Control was iffy at 30 mph. Finally I had enough and pulled off to the side. Immediately a car came by, lost control, slid sideways off the road and flipped. I caught the accident on the dash cam, but I don't have what I need on my laptop to upload it. I and a couple of truckers stopped to help out. There was a man and woman and they were mostly OK, though the woman was complaining of hip pain so an ambulance was dispatched.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425174953

When I headed out again, I almost couldn't get on the road due to the glare ice. Fortunately within a few miles the glare ice began to break down and gradually traffic started moving at a decent pace.

But it was a very difficult trip due to the weather and accidents.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425175233


http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425175271

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425175314

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425175511

With delays of up to an hour to get by at least one of the accidents, slow speeds, road construction and other factors, I decided that it was best to just pack it in and live to drive another day.

I've been in San Diego so long I just kind of assumed that the blue windshield fluid you get at WalMart had some alcohol in it for antifreeze purposes - alas, no. So I fought the entire day with frozen washer nozzles. The temperature never got above freezing the entire day and mostly hovered at 27-28. Also lost the cruise control about half way through the day. Guess I should have pulled the amp and replaced the caps...oh well, a job for when I get back.

Good lord, be careful out there. You gotta upload that video!!

Temperature just rose to 32F here. 57% chance of more overnight snow in Dallas. High of 36F Sunday with rain.

Sorry to read this. Winter can do havoc on travel.

I'll be heading through DFW tomorrow morning...at least that's the plan right now.

You're far west of the freezing line tonight. The freezing line is east of Mineral Wells. You're far west of that, as well as on the plateau. That means that with continued bands of snow, drizzle and freezing rain overnight you shouldn't be in a hurry to get back on the road. The good news is that the revised Sunday high temp. In DFW is 44F. You should be able to make Jackson, Mississippi by Sunday night. More wintry weather in snow and ice is expected Weds through Fri morning here in N Texas. Sometimes it's far cheaper to fly than drive. In time too. :yes:

Weather up here in the Wichita, KS area isn't exactly nice either. Snow and freezing drizzle on and off. At least my traveling is minimal, waiting out a layoff for the time being but I have ample time to work on my OM606 swap into the 87' 300D. Sucks trudging out to the shop and pulling parts outside right now. Plus my shop is an uninsulated steel building, pretty much as cold in there as outside. I need to cut more firewood for the shop, burn a lot trying to be any kind of warm in there!

Mach4, loved your build thread! Beauty of a diesel SL you built! Nothing like using a little aviation influence in our cars! There will be some aviation in my swap/build too! Perhaps some Learjet DNA infused in mine, lol. Keep safe & warm on your journey and best wishes to your mom!

Do you fly a Lear jet out of Wichita?

It does get damm cold there, btw! Ask me how I know!?

I had a Isuzu I6 5.9 liter diesel swap done on a 440 c.i. V8. A lot of things are possible and not that hard or costly to do.

I wish I had a Learjet to fly! Nah, I'm actually an A&P mechanic (on temp layoff) for Bombardier/Learjet. I work in experimental flight test:D. Minus a couple layoffs, its a great job, I love it! I was a factory trained BMW mech. for about 10yrs and decided to do something new. Went back to school and got my A&P cert. and very glad I did! I hope to get my private pilots licence someday down the road, I love flying and enjoy every minute of stick time I can get!

Its going to get to be about 18°F tonight... I detest winter! I have gotten more used to it since flight test has me outside year round. Last year around Christmas, Bombardier sent to Montreal for a short bit, i'm involved with the new C-Series program, but it was in the -20/25°F actual temp, thats awful, hurts to breath! I endured some of that in tech school in Wyoming too. I'm glad its not normally that bad here!

That Isuzu swap sounds neat! I've done some other swap work before, its fun, I enjoy the challenge and being creative with the fab work:D

Mach4, Please be careful, I know you will. It looks like you should be fine after you get through Dallas. Now keep in mind that you will be in an area of the country where the people have very little experience driving in snow and ice. Especially watch out for the rednecks in the high jacked 4X4 trucks. They can go, but they don't realize they can't stop any better than a normal car or truck. It looks like the weather will be better up this way, but you may see a lot of rain.
I know you and KarTek (Evan) are planing to get together sometime during your visit. It would be nice if we could make it a mini GTG. I would love to see your DieselSL and your gauge project. I'm sure there are others close by that would be interested also. I'm about 100 miles from Kernersville. Just a thought.

Be careful and have a safe trip.

PaulM

Well I set out from Abilene this morning and decided to see how things were...that is after scraping 1/4" of ice off the windows. My working hypothesis was that the interstate would be slick, but passable, and it actually was for awhile - then became black ice on the roads, not just the bridges, and I decided that it was just too treacherous. With two semi wrecks, a couple cars abandoned off the road and a pickup facing the wrong way on an overpass all in the first dozen miles, I'm now holed up in a McDonald's enjoying a cup of Java, some warmth and internet.

I'd be up for a miniGTG in NC. I have no plans (other than helping out with my mom) or deadlines so I'm quite sure we could work out something. Let me get there first....

I can understand being holed up in Abilene. I'm over an hour west of Dallas and they barely got anything in comparison. We had nearly 4" of snow then freezing mist on top of that, last night. I've been unable to get out of my driveway (unpaved) since last Thursday. I'm sure the interstate highway will be a little better but with this weather, accidents abound.

However, things are looking up! It is now up to 35 degrees and things are starting to melt. A word of caution: the folks in Dallas drive insanely and the slightest bit of precipitation will be looking at numerous accidents! When I say precipitation, I'm talking rain! Even the slightest amount of slush between lanes, etc... is extremely hazardous when fool drivers hit it at 80mph!

So, if you can drive through that area in an off hour, with less traffic, the better. I do field service work and drive all over north Texas and always have to "time" my drives through and around Dallas.

Have a safe trip!

Since there's mostly a thick, overcast cloud cover, this makes possible the lingering snow and ice, as well as the snow cover you guys have out West of here. Ground cover of snow and ice helps keeps ambient air temperatures lower too. It's going to be a process of melting here.

If you come through Nashville I'd love to see the Sl diesel. I'm a bit west off i40.

OM617YOTA: I'll take you up on that offer. Planning on going back to Vancouver and then Banff and Jasper, etc.

Let me know when you pass through Calgary it that's on your route. If I am back from holidays, (early April) would love to have you over for at least a BBQ.

Day 3 - Abilene to Jackson
 

As indicated above, the day started off with black ice on the freeway. After a significant delay I headed out again and found the roads mostly beginning to thaw a bit even though the temp was still 28. The bridges were treacherous for quite a long time. Slowly increased the speed 30, 35, 40, 45 as the roads got better. Thankfully the trucks were maintaining a safe speed unlike yesterday.

Even so, there were ample reminders of how treacherous things were overnite.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425263937

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425264394

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425264394

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425264394

And those were by no means all of the accidents

As I got toward Dallas, the temperature moved above freezing for the first time on the trip. As the day went on, the temps got higher and higher and then got some nice drizzle and finally some rain... hopefully enough to rinse any salt off the car. My understanding is that Texas doesn't use salt but some of the communities off the interstate obviously did.

Later in the day, I passed a milestone on the car. It had 181k on it when I began the project, so that's almost 70k miles. The engine has about 30k more.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425264125

dieselbenz1: I'll let you know when we head out for Canada - would love to meet you

biopete: Probably won't make Nashville this trip, but I'll let you know if anything changes

SD Blue: Thanks for the heads up - fortunately no issues today

Great car, great fun, great story! Keep it coming!

Count me in with the gtg!
It'll be fun to look over your car again, and see the console you built! Maybe I'll have a bumper on my 5 speed 190 by then.
Lemme know if you need any parts once ya get here.

HA, ya better build him a hitch for the SL so he can haul a Trailer load home.:D


Hey...we had 3"of Snow yesterday morning when we got up, but it was gone by 2pm:).

24F this morning out here in the Waste Lands of Nevada.


Charlie

Day 4 - Jackson to Kernersville
 

Got a decent start today and spent the first several hours in rain - mostly pretty light but periods of pretty heavy rain interspersed. Then things cleared up, the temperature got to as high as 70 and turned out to be a nice day. I was glad for the rain to really rinse out any remnant of any salt that might still be lingering.

One of the more interesting aspects of the day was watching all of the NASCAR car carriers and equipment in the process of moving from Atlanta to Las Vegas along I-20. The car carriers all had huge graphics on the side, the crews moved in large motor homes towing a pickup with a golf cart in the bed, the media and camera equipment had their own tractor-trailers and the safety vehicles all were loaded on open car carriers.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425358551

In South Carolina there was a really nice rest stop right next to a lake. It was good to walk around and stretch a bit after a long leg.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425358957

I thought I could do this trip on the current tires, but alas a new set of fronts is on the agenda for the next couple of days. My valve cover has begun leaking to excess, so that probably needs to be addressed too. And I think I mentioned earlier that my cruise control has gone wonky. Other than that, she did good.

Went right to the hospital to meet my sister and visit my mom. Wish I could say she was doing well, but not so much.

It's good to be here given the potential for weather issues.

Funny I was going to ask about your tires I believe until late April banff, Jasper, yohoo National parks require snow tires or all season tires or you'll be turned back. You may wish to do a bit of research.

Glad you made it safely!

Hang in there, I just went through the revolving healthcare door over the last year with my dad. If you have any questions, let me know through PM. I can help figuring out planning, etc... It's all still all too fresh in my mind.

Numbers
 

For those interested in performance stats, here are the numbers for the outbound leg of the trip. The low numbers on the leg to Anthony reflect headwinds and climbing toward the Continental Divide while the leg to Pecos reflect the slow storm driving and idling waiting for wrecks to clear.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425480495

Those are some excellent mileage figures!

I love how high 20's is considered "low" mileage.

Amazing car, amazing work.

I hope things are going well with your mom.

Be nice to also get your average speed for each tankful. The CDIs give that info, but you've got to not have turned the car off for only X-amount of time to get that encapsulated figure. The hourmeter is a handy calculation tool to have too. 30 for that heavy car is a good number.

I just might try that on the return trip. Here's the display of the HUD app I'm using with my "gauges project". There's a trip function that gives time and distance, so I could key average speed off that as long as I remembered to catch it and reset it.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425591249

Now you're talking!

Wouldn't it be cool to also get the average engine RPM too!

Mini-GTG
 

Looks like things have stabilized here with my mom - instead of moving her to hospice as things appeared likely on Monday, she'll be moving to a skilled nursing facility tomorrow. Once she's safely transported and moved in, I'll be pretty free to do other stuff, so I'm thinking that Saturday afternoon might be a good time to meet up for those that are able - temps should be back up to 50 or so by then too.

I'm proposing we meet in Kernersville in the KMart parking lot at maybe noon or 1. I'm told there is a Starbucks there and some restaurants close by that we might want to use. If I've got the lay of the land right, that's kind of central to those who expressed some interest in participating. If there's another location that works better I'm not opposed to driving and my GPS works.

I'll apologize in advance for the condition of my car - I haven't had a chance to do any cleaning and my presumed valve cover oil leak has gotten worse so the engine is more than a little oily.

Hospice to skilled nursing is a good improvement! Glad things are looking better.

Things have taken a significant turn for the worse, so based on how things are at the moment, I'd anticipate that the prospects for a Saturday GTG are now unlikely. If things change again maybe we could pull something off but it would need to be pretty much spur of the moment.

The car lit right off at 20F this morning, so I'm happy with that.

Dang... I'm sorry to hear.

be strong. I went through this for over a year with my father... the end is hard.