Alfetta Trans-Continental Recover

[Cintos]

Greetings: While it may seem that we are documenting a record-breaking cold snap in the NorthWest, this is really about our drive back to CT. Today's experiences and pictures from Yellowstone, won't do anything to set the record straight, however.

The twin-cam continues to pull strong and smooth across the rev range, but it continues to stumble badly on neutral throttle. Brakes are holding up fine as we continue to rely on them heavily in this mountain terrain.

This morning we traveled north along the gentle Yellowstone to the "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone" and visited the Upper and Lower Falls (the turbulent Yellowstone). The views really capped our visit, as they are the "classic" Yellowstone vistas. Thankfully the weather cooperated and the snow/fog dissipated so we could enjoy the view.

Because the north-eastern exit was still closed, we had to return down the Yellowstone (pic 1) to the and leave the park by the Eastern entrance. US Rt 14 passes over the Sylvan pass (pic 2), and down (DOWN!) into the Wapity Valley along the Shoshone river. The Alfetta continues to enjoy these twisty two-lane roads which seem so common in the Northwest.

The Buffalo Bill Dam is jammed into the tight slot just as the Shoshone passes into the Big Horn Basin, and we visited the nice visitor center there. When this concrete dam was finished in 1910 it was the tallest dam in the world, at 325 ft. Consider this: the dam is only 200 ft across at the top! Good spot for a tall dam.

After a night in Cody, WY, we will ride the Alfetta to eastern Wyoming. The first leg, US 14A, snakes up the incredibly steep western scarp of the Big Horn Mountains in one of the most amazing set of switchbacks anywhere.

A note on the pictures: my iPhone produces reasonable renderings of high-contrast scenes, just fine for the BB posts. We also are capturing images on an EOS 30D and an Olympus Stylus (mostly for video). We will deal with those higher res images on our return. The web presentation is using Apple's iPhoto sharing to the .mac site

[SpiderWebb]

Thanks for the photos and Travel Log. More of us should do this as well! Thank you.

[Cintos]

Greetings:

Sun and gentle warmth today as we traveled from Cody, WY, to our current location in Custer, SD.

The Alfetta GTV continues to pull strong and smooth under power, and continues to stumble on neutral throttle.

That's the good news. The bad news came after stopping the I90 service area located where the Gun Powder River crosses on it's way up to the Yellowstone.

The Alfetta would not start. Turning the ignition key was met with silence except for the hum of the fuel pump, Yesterday morning we had a scare when the starter solenoid stuck twice after spending the very cold night in Yellowstone's Grant Village parking lot. After getting through that, though, we must have started successfully 50 times. Lots of stops along the road yesterday and today prior to the "silence". With the help of a good samaritan, and Kathy also pushing, we popped the clutch in 2nd and she fired up.

We drove on east to Moorecroft, where we stopped for gas and hoped it would fire up - no go. Another aided push start, and we traveled here to Custer, SD. parked high in the lot, I pulled the air intake assembly to get a better look at the starter. The starter has juice, and I can spin the starter by jumping down to the solenoid output. The solenoid lead will pull current, but not pull in the solenoid. Fried.

Any suggestions? Looks like the solenoid is only held on by a 10mm bolt and nut, plus the power wires. Where can I find one on Saturday in Custer, SD? The current unit looks really clean and bright, and the entire starter assembly looks new.

I'm going to post this on the 116 technical site, also.

[jrclem]

Try smacking it with a broom handle or such... guaranteed to work on an old Ford... might work...

[Nicola]

Michael -
I too am envious of you and Kathy. Wish we had known your schedule and we might have given you a real NWARC sendoff from Seattle. The club meeting was Tuesday, so you just missed that.
The route you have selected is wonderful - too bad the Beartooth was closed. It's one of the most fantastic roads in North America.
Good luck on the rest of your adventures. I'll look forward to reading them as I wing my way toward the convention. Hope we'll see you and the Alfetta there.

[Cintos]

Greetings:

Asside from the starter problem, the day was fantastic. The sun was shining brightly and the temperature moderate as we set out from Cody, WY. Our first goal was to traverse the Medicine Wheel Highway, US 14-A, as it climed over the Big Horn range. At 9 am the highway alert sign just past Lovell was proclaiming that the road was closed. We doubled back to the nearby Big Horn NP visitor's center for an update. The ranger there told us that the road had indeed been closed due to snow overnight, but had just been reopened.

At the top of the climb there is an ancient American Indian site which the highway is named after. Unfortunately, the ranger told us that the road from 14A to the Medicine Wheel was still under heavy snow and was unreachable. The cneter did have a nice 15 min video about the Wheel, which we watched and enjoyed. Then, we enjoyed the fantastic climb and decent over the mountain.

The vast plateau atop Big Horn had a deep snow pack. We met the snow plow & snow blower equipment as it descended. The pics show the work they accomplished in re-opening the road.

[GVVGTV6]

I just received an 85 Amp alternator from these guys in 3 days time!

They HAD a rebuilt Alfetta starter for about $95 earlier today but it looks like it is sold now.

I would give them a call and ask if they have another.

cheers!

GV

eBay Store - EAGLE ELECTRIC: ALTERNATORS, STARTERS, Auto Parts

[Cintos]

Greetings GV: Our plan is to be home in three days, and the forist order will be to pull the starter and send it out for exchange. Centerline? IAP? I will try the eBay store you suggested also. Just wish I had overnighted one on Thursday Morning to our stop in Cody after it hung momentarily. Thought it was the overnight freeze.

[Cintos]

Greetings: Currently cruising I 90 in Eastern South Dakota. Kathy is driving and the Verizon Broadband card is lit.

The Alfetta was push=started this AM at the hotel, courtesy of a Mr. Peterson, who was working from a truck in the next building. He dropped his work belt and gave a shove. 2nd gear drop and she lit instantly!

The Feds at Mt. Rushmore got a quick $15 from us as we motored up onto the parking lot to take a few pictures as the grand presidents gazed at our Alfetta in wonder. We were out in 5 min, as we did not want to kill the motor.

50 miles east of Grand Rapids, the Badlands National Park beckoned. With Kathy at the wheel, we traversed the Scenic Bypass Loop. That allowed me to take some pics as we rolled along. We stopped twice, but once again kept the engine running.

Since then we have paused for gas and a drive thru at Arby's in Oacoma, just prior to crossing the Missouri.

I suspect we will have to kill the ignition at our next gas stop in Minnesota, as I really should check the oil and add a quart. We will keep rolling on I 90 into MN, don't know how far.

[sfalfa]

Forgive me if you already checked or mentioned this - but both my Alfettas had at one point a similar no-start problem. Both times - the wiring to the starter was bad - and a fresh spade connector tightly clamped on the wires solved the problem on both cars...

[Cintos]

Greetings sfalfa:

Thanks for the suggestion. Something is a bit spooky, as there was a point today immediately after I purposely stopped the engine, that I was able to fire it right back up. Unfortunately, after I re-stopped it (to add oil), it would not restart. I had parked on a hill, so no problem. I did tighten up the connection to the starter solenoid yesterday, and I did apply 12v directly to the input, drew a spark while connecting, and the solenoid failed to pull.

We managed to travel a total of 700 miles today, just into Wisconsin. THere were a few places of interest we skipped due to the starter issue: The Big Green Giant stature in Blue Earth, WI, and the SPAM factory in Austin, MN. Yesterday we skipped the Devil's Tower back in eastern WY.

Tomorrow, another long day, hopefully getting into central Ohio.

I only have one photo to add, that of Alpha, MN

[GrandPrix]

Your post reminded me (again) that our Federal Park System is unrivaled anywhere in the world - we can thank a few forward thinking Presidents for that, including one shown above - Teddy R (the only President with Lingerie named after him), who saved vast amounts of land for "public use" to be enjoyed perpetually.

Let's get our Alfa Presence felt this summer.

See everyone there!


SD
RIP Tm Russert

[La Voce]

What an inspiring journey! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us through this photo journal. More, more!

[Cintos]

Greetings fellow Alfa travelers:

Thanks for all the encouragement! Both of us have really been enjoying the trip and the ride in the Alfetta. Got a wee bit warm yesterday, but the car is actually fairly quiet at 80 with the side windows down. Have not tried the rear side windows - perhaps today. That might be a relative thing, since our regular tour ride for the past few years has been a S4 spider. We did add a wind screen to that, and it made a world of diference - highly recommended as a quality of live improvement.

What simply can not be captured (with my skill at least) is the magnificent scope of the vistas out west. The views going up the Medicine Wheel Highway were breathtaking, but simply can't be captured i 2 megapixles. I did take some video that pans and some still sequences that will be assembled into a panorama, but it would need to be wide-aspect HD to even come close to the real experience. Same goes for the "tiwsties" on the mountain roads. How do you document that?

Here is a panorama I assembled from a sequence taken of the Zion Mastif from the Smithsonian Mountain pass road in Utah. It is included here at 20%. If you'd like to see the full 2Meg jpeg, it can be seen at http://cintos.org/photos/Zion%20From%20Smitsonian.jpg.

Warning: this is non-alfa content - we were in a cute PT Cruiser Convertible for that trip.

[Alfons180]

I have to say, You GUYS are my heros. This is something all of us would love to do, but always talk rather than accomplish!!

I am motivated NOW

PS............How were the overnight stays along the way?