Just got home from SpridgetStock 2000. The tired old 68 performed
admirably well considering it's condition. I left on Friday close to
noon, I was to meet Robert Houston before 1 pm in Waco. I had installed
1 week previous an oil cooler to try to help the pressure, MAN did it
make a difference!! Before at 65 mph the pressure would drop to 28-30
lbs and to 5 at an idle. With the cooler in place the car was running 70
mph with 58 lbs of pressure (I did switch to Castrol 40 w. from Castrol
20-50). About 30 miles into the trip I got to the area where I35 out of
Dallas and I 35 out of Ft. Worth meet up. There is lots of construction
taking place there and when I slowed down for the bottleneck I noticed
the pressure drop to 40, I was concerned but not to badly. As I got past
the merge the pressure dropped to 20 even though I was now accelerating,
now I am worried!! I am still in a road work zone and don't have any
shoulder to bail to as there is that large concrete "jersey wall" 3 ft
off my right side. When the pressure hits 5 lbs I am sweating bullets, I
kill the engine and am coasting at 65 hoping to get to the exit real
soon. Fortunately one presents itself and I wave to the SO that I need
to exit and coast off the interstate. I pull into a restaurant parking
lot and to my shame and embarrassment about 10 "big" Healeys are pulling
out to get on the interstate. It seems that the cooler hose developed a
split right as it came out of the cooler fitting and spewed all my oil
into the radiator and the fan completely coated the engine compartment
with oil (I had oil dripping out from behind the fender onto the sills
the rest of the trip down). I had to take the hoses loose and bypass the
cooler by running the remaining good hose to the block fittings (I am
having another long hose made keep in my spares kit). I met up with
Robert and his cousin Don (both great guys BTW, they followed me and my
family the rest of the way down to Spridgetstock and all the way home in
Don's pickup in case we had trouble and needed a tow, THANKS AGAIN GUYS)
The way to San Marcos was uneventful though our group got separated in
Austin's rush hour traffic. After a quick bite in San Marcos we took the
back way in to Elizabeth's house. If you have never been in the Texas
hill country, the 2 hour drive through Devil's Backbone is beautiful.
the sun was setting and the valleys drop to the forests of green trees
in this undeveloped area of south Texas. The road along the "Backbone"
has alot of S curves and hills and sharp turns, the Sprite really did
well on this road but since the only others with me were our Dodge Colt
and a Ford pickup, I had to hold back a little so as not to lose them. I
was leading the way and in the tradition of our Spridgeteer Leaders, got
lost, but just a little (Wrong Way Ricky, I am now a member of the Wrong
Way Club)!! When we arrived at Elizabeth's at a little past 8 pm the
place was jumping with Bugeyes, 'B drivers and I even saw a Jensen
Healey. I met Bob Brown who brought a 67 Sprite and a Bugeye, both
dressed in "Team Thicko" regalia. I saw an interesting Bugeye that had a
Datsun 5 spd in it with a plate and kit completely designed by
Elizabeth's husband Fisher. Fisher is one of the nicest people that I
met, next to Liz of course. He made this kit for this guy cuz he wanted
to help him out. He dug in his parts stock for a replacement hose for me
to get my cooler up and going again, even though it was a weekend to
relax and visit. I met Annice Kitterer who was also very nice. I met
several people that are not list members but hopefully soon will be.
Every meal at Liz's was full tilt, she is a wonderful cook and sets a
table that would be hard to beat. After supper we moved outside to have
a couple of Shiner Bock's ( The Official Drink of SpridgetStock ) and
get to visit with each other more. Ed Kaler called to give his regards (
Ed, it was great to talk to you and FWIW, I had a couple more cold beers
for you after you hung up <G>). Saturday we went to see the Healeys but
my repairs being rendered to the 68 slowed our departure to Kerrville
and so some of us only were able to see the rally group as they were
lining up to leave. I spoke with several of the listers that were in the
rally (how did you guys do anyway??) That afternoon John J. Black
(transmancat to some of you) came by for a visit and he is a very
interesting man to talk with, although I admit it was fun to meet anyone
off the list. Later that evening we sat outside after supper and talked
till it was to cold to stay out any longer. That's Texas for you, get
sunburned in the afternoon and then have frost/ice on the cars that
night. Sunday morning after another smashing breakfast ( if you are
thinking of dieting, SpridgetStock is evil <G> there is so much good
food to eat!!) it was time to say our farewells. I GOT PICTURES OF
LIZ!!!!! She claims to have cursed my camera cuz she didn't want her
photo taken, I guess we'll see. Down the road about 45 miles from
Comfort the Sprite got to acting up again. It was surging like a fuel
problem so I pulled over in a gas station to see if I could get it
fixed. I finally ended up changing the points and condenser (Robert
thinks the "made in England" stamp means there is a small industrial
community in India called "England") The ones I removed are the new
LUCAS ones that I installed 2 weeks ago and had less than 400 miles on
them. When I called Fisher for advice he immediately offered to drive
out to where we were and help to get us up and running (remember, this
is a gentleman I had only met less than 48 hrs previous, what a great
guy!!!) I fumbled through it and that was the last mishap of our trip. I
was hoping to meet more list members and hope that next year that we can
make better arrangements to make it possible for more folks to attend.
It was loads of fun and you can bet that next year, I will be there!!! I
have 153 emails to read, Later, Brad
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