Re: Preparing for Long Alfa Trip

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- Henry Kim <henry.kim@domain.elided> wrote:
> Gentlemen:

I notice Tessie replied anyway and didn't even give
you grief for this, so I won't either... :-)

> So my question is, what should I pack for the trip? 

Again -- do anything "questionable" before you leave. 
Much better to do the work in your driveway (or your
mechanic's shop) than at the side of the road.

> My list so far:
> 
> 1) Fuses
> 2) Fan belt
> 3) Jumper cables
> 4) Pliers, vice grips and misc. screwdrivers
> 5) Adjustable wrenches
> 6) AAA card
> 7) Cell phone
> 8) Credit card
> 9) Can of instant spare
> 10) Flashlight with extra batteries

Big towel (beach-blanket-bingo sized).
Paper towels (blue shop-type preferred).
GOOD gaffer's tape -- not the silver crud, but good
fabric gaffer's tape.
2L or so of water (for the Alfa, anyway, though if
it's drinking water -- as opposed to a glycol premix
-- you can always sip it in the Porsche)
2-4 qt of your favorite brand of oil

In place of the adjustable wrenches, I keep meaning to
bring my cheap, second set of metric wrenches and ONE
adjustable.  They just work better; keep the one
adjustable for holding a bolt-head while you undo the
nut, or vice versa.

> Anything else Alfa specific? 

Got any crucial Allen-head fasteners?  Like the
gearshift knob?  My Spider uses one of those
"universal" shift-knobs with three tiny Allen screws
around the base.  One of them worked loose on my last
long Spider trip.  Believe it or not, the result was a
high-pitched SHRIEK at very high volume, right at 70
mph.  Guess what the speed limit is in California,
where I was driving.  I will never again make a trip
without that Allen wrench.

> Should I bother bringing sockets or
> wrenches?  If so, what sizes?

I have a set of inexpensive metric combination
wrenches that I keep thinking I should drop in the
travel kit, just to have 'em on hand.  These are in a
vinyl rollup, and are all metric sizes from something
like 6mm up to 19mm. 

> Both cars have been thoroughly checked over and are
> in a fine state of tune.  

In this case, you're mainly invoking the mystical laws
of Travel Voodoo -- the things you're prepared for
never actually go wrong, so if you prepare for
EVERYTHING, then NOTHING will go wrong.  Right?

Oh, and one more Travel Tip:

If you top up the oil and forget to put the oil cap
back on, remember to take quarters (in the U.S.,
anyway) so you can wash the oil off the engine at a
coin-operated car wash.  This, of course, assumes that
you're lucky enough to have the oil cap held in place
by the hood, so that 300 miles later it will be in the
same place, even if a quart of oil will have been
splashed all over your engine bay.  (Think of it as
automatic rustproofing.)

The coin-op car wash in Grant's Pass, Oregon, for
example takes five quarters (US$1.25) for a
five-minute wash, but does not have a bill-changer. 

Have a GREAT drive! 

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
.
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