Well, in a feat of abrupt planning, I drove this car all the way to Toronto, Ontario! It was around 2600km to get there. I split that into two 13 hour trips. Stayed there for around 4 days and went home on the same route. I haven’t processed all my receipts into data, but it was a very good run!
Like every trip I ever have, I end up doing everything last minute. No matter what I try, it always comes to this process. Here’s what I did:
Here’s the result after I degreased and cleaned the engine bay I wanted to check for any leaks as this engine has been known for cracked blocks from 06-08. Mine seems to have lucked out. The catalyst for doing this was the rear engine mount coming loose. For whatever reason, the bolts had backed out and the engine would love to clang into the skid plate under load at low speed. Glad it wasn’t a throw out bearing! I bolted that back up and put a dab of lock-tite just in case. I also went and adjusted my lifter valves to O.E. spec. I had no idea what I was doing, so I did it maybe 8 times until I knew what felt right. Swapped my disgusting cabin filter for a washable K&N and was amazed at the difference.
I’ve seen a lot of cars with skid plates/under trays blocking the downpipe, and I remember Julian Edgar’s advice of *not* going that route. On my previous trip (to Edmonton), I had a partial grille block attached and the engine tipped above the recommended temp. That tripped the annoying “Fail-Safe” thermostat and made my car hover at like 65 degrees Celsius; being stuck open. This time around, I wanted to have good operating temp with a grille block attached, so I chopped a slit and smacked out a primitive duct for the exhaust. Not tested, so it’s kind of an educated guess.
The full grille block. You can see I made the driver’s side portion removable. The temperatures on the trip would be colder in the morning and warmer throughout the day. A range of perhaps 8-18 degrees Celsius. This ended up being a total fail! Engine overheated only 10 minutes after I left my driveway, at 1:00 am! I ripped off that portion right away. Ended up running at 90-103 Celsius on the first leg of the trip. Cut it right down after that.
The fog light covers aren’t wholly aerodynamic, they’re kinda just there to patch up the bumper. When I bought the car, it was abused by the previous owner. My dad told me to save on zip-ties by using mechanic’s wire to patch it up. Nice sentiment, but total waste of time.
Here’s a fun one. The battery light came on in Thunder Bay! I was stressed. We had already had next to no sleep as my motel room was FUBAR’d and we ended up at a $270 hotel. GF told me to just drive it, and managed. Bought a spare alternator from Fat Guy’s Auto (great service!), and hit the road. The alternator was dropping from 13.7 down to 11.5 volts, but I managed to make it 577 kilometres. I played the hills carefully, and found that dropping it into 3rd and revving it hard would get it to 13-14 volts. Luckily, it crapped out in a parking lot at a gas station. I then realized I had no 19mm box end, and had to get a hand from the owner. Great guys! In the heat of the moment, I slipped the serpentine belt off, and that turned a 1 hour job into a 2 hour job. First time changing one on the roadside, with probably the worst civic engine bay to access. My girlfriend helped out and I’m happy she did. Real keeper.
Here’s the main reason I came: Death Grips! I always thought I was insane for listening to a man screaming about cryptic profanity over absurd electronic sounds, but I guess 1500+ people think otherwise! My previous concert was Roger Waters, so this was the biggest tonal shift I had ever seen. Sweaty, intense, ear-piercingly loud, and absolutely vulgar! People were floating atop the crowd, grappling and fist-fighting, and jumping back and forth maniacally. I couldn’t even get to the front without suffocating. The band played at full power for 1 hour and 45 minutes with no breaks. It was awesome.
Here’s an Australian photo of Niagara Falls. Beautiful at night, as we got stuck in crawling traffic for like 6 hours on the way there. Trying to avoid toll roads was likely the worst mistake of that trip, but there were far more too. I must say I grew absolutely sick of driving there. People in big stupid trucks would ride right behind me in the slow lane and push me to 130 km/h. Other people would block ahead of me at 80 km/h in the fast lane. I won’t even get into the semis, had one repetitively block me from passing, tailgate me, and worse. The speed limit was 90 km/h, and not a single person could manage to do that, at all! The idea of driving 100 km/h with cruise control was like an impossible and abstract concept apparently.
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Overall, the car routinely got around 800km per tank. The lowest tank was about 660km due to the stupid traffic jam. The full grille block was a total failure at any temperature, but the partial one worked well. The car’s mileage would absolutely shift as the alternator voltage dropped, and I was very paranoid playing that game.
I do want to travel more, but I’m gonna fix up something I can sleep in. Whether that be a tent, Ute, or wagon. I’m annoyed of terrible city infrastructure. I’m annoyed of “budget” hotels having no amenities, dirty rooms, and rude owners. I’m annoyed of Airbnbs being terrible and costing more than a hotel. Really made the trip stressful.
…..But the car was good on gas!