Glad it worked out and you can enjoy your car!Made it back last night at 11:45. Drove 950 miles yesterday from Greenriver, Utah to Portland, Oregon. The car drove great, no issues with the motor thank goodness! I averaged much better fuel economy than I did with the original motor but that was driving with a big head wind through most of Texas so I don't know if it is relevant. When I picked up the car, I spoke with the mechanic that worked on it. Two things of note he said- 1- the engine swap is much easier on the GT350 than on the 5.0 Mustangs. Everything is just plug and play and the motor is more complete. 2- The dropped valve actually snapped off in the cylinder and jammed in between the piston and the cylinder wall- ugh! I checked the oil twice on the drive and there doesn't appear to be any consumption so far. Two issues I have overall with car not engine related are that the brake pedal is soft like there is air in the lines (maybe caused by the swap?) and that my Apple car play can take up to two minutes to connect (mysynch update needed?).
I didn't break in the motor as aggressively as I did the first time, still haven't redlined the motor, but I now have approximately 1300 miles on the replacement. It was a weird trip with the country poised to be shut down. Road side restaurants are all closed except for drive throughs. My hotel in Greenriver was fine, but everyone was super vigilant on cleaning, myself included. I bought food mostly at fuel stops, but things were really limited and again lots of hand washing going on by me and everyone else at every stop! Driving though Portland last night at 11pm the roads were completely empty, which was eerie. All restaurants, bars and night entertainment is shut down, so no traffic.
I received many compliments on all the stops- lots of compliments on the color! Here's the photo's from yesterday. Most are drive by shots as I only stopped for fuel for the most part:
Started out going the wrong way first thing while talking on the phone
- but I got a glimpse of what I missed driving in the dark through Moab area:
Didn't realize there was such a high pass on my route, 7500 feet. I started watching the thermometer as I drove higher and told myself I would just pull over and wait if the snow started to accumulate on the road. The weather forecast was for clear weather later in the afternoon. This picture was taken near the summit at the worst of it- temp was 28 luckily still clear pavement- JUST! The new tires are amazing in these conditions and never lost grip. (I have front Michelin 4SS and rear Conti Contact+). I drive in a lot of snow regularly but with our SUV and truck on winter tires, so I am used to these conditions, but still was very nervous. Again the tires were amazing for summer tires at these temps and conditions and got me down safely. Don't try this at home:
Down the summit- whew!
Well the car was a dirty mess after that and it was time to stretch my legs so around Provo I found a self wash. She came out nice! But wow she was really dirty. 90% of it came off with the sprayer (the ceramic coating helped):
Still 800+ miles to go! Not sure after the stop if I was going to make it home that night but pressed on and hit rain just near the Utah/Idaho border. So much for my clean car!
Nice to have 80 mph limits though! So I ripped through Idaho. Maybe I would make it home tonight! I crossed into Oregon around 7:00pm. This is the Wallowa's at Sunset in far eastern Oregon just near the Idaho border.
Last shot. Sorry for the poor picture- coming down to Pendleton at Dusk. Almost home (well 200 miles to go!):
Kudos to you and keeping your spirits especially everything else that is going on around the globe. Thanks for sharing and be well.
Thanks guys, wish it could have been a more leisurely drive like originally planned. But yes I am bonding with it and enjoying it!
Haha, yes I’m very familiar with my home track but haven’t raced my street cars there in a while. Here’s one of the funnest races there last year:
