I had a good trip to Vancouver Ca with only a few minor issues! (another story) and no have the Barth loaded, all the "ham gear" installed and will be headed out for Ely NV to work as a staff member for the SSCC better known as the Silver State Classic Challenge. We close off a section of route 318 from Lund to Hiko NV on Sunday starting at 6:00 AM and the race starts at 8:00 AM.

The idea is to run the entire 90 mile at an average speed as close as possible to you target speed. You may go over or under but the driver that get closest is the winner of that speed catagory.

They have target speed from 90 MPH to 175 MPH and then have the "unlimited" class. In the unlimited, the idea is to be the fastest thru the 90 mile. Current record is 207 MPH.

The road is fairly straight with no "real" curves mainly sweepers and there are some hils and valleys with a slower speed area thru a canyon.

It is a very BORING race as there is no wheel to wheel competition but all the preparations and activity in the small town of Ely is a lot of fun!

I set up at Check Point #5 which is just about mid-point in the race and is at one of the long straight sections--fastest speed here--. We have clock vehicles here at over 210 MPH.

The purpose of the Ham radio guys its to relay any race information along the race course, we have 2 aircraft in the air at all times and local medi-vacs standing by.

Will be heading out on Wednesday to LV first then on Friday morning head up to Ely, If wifey is up to it, we may head north after the event for some more "Barthing"!

We are back! 1700 miles to and from Ely by way of LV. Wifey developed back issues and stayed in LV while I went up to Ely for the race. Stayed at a few places off the beaten path on the way over and on the way back.

Barth ran very well and averaged just about 11.5 MPG for the entire trip, fuel consumption was a little lower as the A/C was on constantly, Very hot in LV. Also on the way back from Ely even thou it is down hill almost all the way, had a 40 kt head wind, did about 10.3 for that 200 mile leg.

Getting better and faster at re-fueling, I use the left side jacks and raise the left side of the barth way up and it will fill the tank almost full before the filler kicks off, have consistantly gotten fuel to the same level in the tank on each fill up. The filler location on the tank is really BAD!

Now it is back to work on the Barth--

Steerng is still off and have found that maybe when the steering box was rebuilt, they tightened the adjustment too tight, it has NO on center feel at all, Toe is good and caster is spot on. Today, I backed off the adjustment 1/2 turn and it is MUCH better, will talk to the steering shop about how they set it up tomorrow.

I have to remove and re-seal the left axle, guess I didn't get enough RTV sealant on the flange when I repaired the inner seal/brakes and wheel studs.

Dash A/C is not blowing very cold air, I think I may have to replace the dryer and expansion valve and get the charge up to the right level. If I shift down a gear it gets colder (still not as cold as my SOB with the same dash unit!) which suggests low charge level.

Next trip?? don't know but-- soon!

Ed, I replaced the A/C compressor (shaft frozen) on my Breakaway, and found the vacuum line to the inside/outside air door was completely deteriorated when we couldn't get much temp drop at the shop (OA temp 90F). Default is outside air.

Thanks for the tip Rusty, will check it out in a day or so!

I also am adding a fresh air hose (with water drain out) so that I have a more directed outside airflow to the heater box. Don't have to run the fan on high all the time then.

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Originally posted by MWrench:
I also am adding a fresh air hose (with water drain out) so that I have a more directed outside airflow to the heater box. Don't have to run the fan on high all the time then.

I believe what Rusty is trying to tell you is that outside air is hotter then recirculation air. There is a flapper vain that closes off the hotter outside fresh air so that when it goes thru the AC coils it blows out the colder recirculated air.

If the valve is closed the cooler air just keeps passing over the coil. If it is open the hotter fresh air goes thru the coil.

Another thing you would want to check out is the heater mixing valve - this valve closes off the hot water to the heater core.

On cable operated systems the valve may not fully close from binding or old age. Look at the heater core lines and you will find a valve in-line that has a cable going to it. Have someone turn your dash valve from cold to hot and then to cold again. You will see the cable going back and forth. In the position that it should be closed/cold apply light finger psi to the cable/valve to see if there is anymore travel to shut off the hot antifreeze to the heater box.

Bill N.Y.

Ps. keep posting about your trip as I love reading this stuff! You know, fly on wall.

Fortunately, the heater valve Bill N Y points out is easy to see on the Breakaways. If you have to mess with that, you might be interested in a feature on mine (I don't know if it's OEM or aftermarket), but on mine there's a globe valve with a hose barb which can be used both to drain the heater core and to backflush the system.

The fresh air intake hose sounds intriguing - the intake on mine doesn't really have a regular flange on which to run a hose, but ram air would be nice. I don't think you'd need a water drain, because the fresh air intake is up so high. A filter might be appropriate if there's as much crud in the air as in Florida.

quote:

Steerng is still off and have found that maybe when the steering box was rebuilt, they tightened the adjustment too tight, it has NO on center feel at all, Toe is good and caster is spot on. Today, I backed off the adjustment 1/2 turn and it is MUCH better, will talk to the steering shop about how they set it up tomorrow.

BTW, Ed, does your Breakaway have the Saginaw 710 steering box? Mine's got a bit of on-center slop - but adjusting the preload requires loosening the bolts and jacking the box because it's snug on the front axle...I wonder if it's worth it...

quote:

Another thing you would want to check out is the heater mixing valve - this valve closes off the hot water to the heater core.

I have checked the mixing valve and it work OK. Thanks for the sugestion.

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BTW, Ed, does your Breakaway have the Saginaw 710 steering box

Yes it does have the 710 and that is what I had to do, take out the bolts and raise it up to back of the adjuster! Mine had NO on-center feel at all. I am going to the box re-builder to get the spec for the torque passing thru center, I don't want to lossen it up so much I get on-center slop, but I think that would be better then no center feel, after taking 1/2 turn out it is MUCH better.

I wish it were more convenient to adjust, it is hard to make an adjustment and then compare it to the previous feel, too much time lag.

will post my findings later.

Overcenter drag torque (for units with over 400 miles) is 4.5 lb-in, measured after worm bearing (6-12 lb-in) preload has been set. Jam nut torque is 35 lb-ft.

While I awaited the engine to warm up yesterday (flushing the cooling system), I was rummaging through the paperwork looking for alignment specs, and ran across a copy of several pages of the SAG 710 manual that the prior owner had made (Conrad Bennett, bless his heart - there's NOTHING on GM, Delphi, or Saginaw websites worth a flip).

Hope this helps.

Thanks again Rusty for the info.

The steeing box guy was no help because I didn't take the Barth over for his look-see. I will be driving it for a few more miles with the 1/2 turn backed off and see if it tracks well.

I will detach the box next week and double check the torque setting and will also use a dial indicator to check the amount of play. I use a degree wheel on the input shaft and dial indicator on the output arm at center to find how many degrees/0.01". I start with the box loose and then tighten until the slop doesn't change anymore, double check the torque and that should be as close as I can get it. I have used this method on recerc boxes when all else fails.

Will post results later next week.

The 710 on mine is relatively new (<12 K miles), and I shade-tree-mechanic tested it in place. Over center torque seems OK, but my lb-in torque wrench is a click-stop, no good for this test. Mine drives quite well; I was just expecting more resistance turning it by hand[IIRC, my E350 box is 18 lb-in by contrast - and no easier to remove...).