Post by greenjeep on Apr 11, 2008 21:24:20 GMT -5
Well, better late than never, right?
After all the work Jeff, Ryan, and I had done over the last few weeks we finished everything with a week to spare. I dropped it off at a local shop to have the ring & pinion and Detroit locker installed in the front Dana 60. I finally get a call at 8 p.m. Friday night, the day before I'm scheduled to lead Hells Revenge, telling me the Jeep is finally done. I'm left with absolutely no time to pre-run any trails, or even make sure that the Jeep is running correctly. Having faith in my mechanic I go to bed assuming all is well, this is my first mistake!
To make a LONG story short, when the mechanic had put the new heads on my old 360 block, he had put on a new head gasket as well as a new intake gasket. But after discovering that the 360 block was warped we replaced it with a 401 block (which supposedly had just been rebuilt). This time however, the mechanic reused the intake manifold gasket and upon driving my Jeep the first time it blew the gasket allowing the hot air from the engine to get into my cooling system, which quickly boiled my engine coolant. But of course I didn't realize this until halfway through the trail, all I knew was that for some reason my Jeep was running between 275 -- 300°. There was nothing I could do to keep it cool besides stop every once in awhile and let it cool down. Luckily being the trail leader I could do this occasionally while I waited for the rest of the trail to catch up. It wasn't real convenience, but it worked and we ended up having a pretty good day.
We did Hell's Gate, the Carwash, Tip over Challenge, and the Squeeze. Nobody wanted to do the Big Hot Tub, or Mickey's Hot Tub except for a buggy we had with this driven by two Japanese guys. They made both of these obstacles look like a walk in the park. I was tempted to try Mickey's (where I rolled last year), but with my engine having difficulties I didn't want to chance it. A few of us were going to give The Escalator a shot, but there was a vehicle broken down in the middle of it, so we were out of luck.
Here is me getting ready to drop into the Carwash.
And here is what I looked like too often that day.
This is Jim (Crumy), my mid-gunner dropping into the Carwash
Jim and Melissa passing each other in the bottom of the Carwash
Here is our Japanese friends in their buggy coming out of the Big Hot Tub like it was flat ground
Dropping off the Dragon's Tail
Melissa
Jim
Tracy (Tracyj)
Bryan, my tailgunner
After all the work Jeff, Ryan, and I had done over the last few weeks we finished everything with a week to spare. I dropped it off at a local shop to have the ring & pinion and Detroit locker installed in the front Dana 60. I finally get a call at 8 p.m. Friday night, the day before I'm scheduled to lead Hells Revenge, telling me the Jeep is finally done. I'm left with absolutely no time to pre-run any trails, or even make sure that the Jeep is running correctly. Having faith in my mechanic I go to bed assuming all is well, this is my first mistake!
To make a LONG story short, when the mechanic had put the new heads on my old 360 block, he had put on a new head gasket as well as a new intake gasket. But after discovering that the 360 block was warped we replaced it with a 401 block (which supposedly had just been rebuilt). This time however, the mechanic reused the intake manifold gasket and upon driving my Jeep the first time it blew the gasket allowing the hot air from the engine to get into my cooling system, which quickly boiled my engine coolant. But of course I didn't realize this until halfway through the trail, all I knew was that for some reason my Jeep was running between 275 -- 300°. There was nothing I could do to keep it cool besides stop every once in awhile and let it cool down. Luckily being the trail leader I could do this occasionally while I waited for the rest of the trail to catch up. It wasn't real convenience, but it worked and we ended up having a pretty good day.
We did Hell's Gate, the Carwash, Tip over Challenge, and the Squeeze. Nobody wanted to do the Big Hot Tub, or Mickey's Hot Tub except for a buggy we had with this driven by two Japanese guys. They made both of these obstacles look like a walk in the park. I was tempted to try Mickey's (where I rolled last year), but with my engine having difficulties I didn't want to chance it. A few of us were going to give The Escalator a shot, but there was a vehicle broken down in the middle of it, so we were out of luck.
Here is me getting ready to drop into the Carwash.
And here is what I looked like too often that day.
This is Jim (Crumy), my mid-gunner dropping into the Carwash
Jim and Melissa passing each other in the bottom of the Carwash
Here is our Japanese friends in their buggy coming out of the Big Hot Tub like it was flat ground
Dropping off the Dragon's Tail
Melissa
Jim
Tracy (Tracyj)
Bryan, my tailgunner
