Holiday Driving

I had a couple of weeks off at the end of the year, and got to put some serious miles down.  For me, that was 223 miles over two weeks.  I'm up over 750 miles now.  I drove to Scottsdale from Peoria--twice--and once all the way on the 101 at 65-75.  I can keep up with highway traffic and Gidget is perfectly stable after a tire rebalance.  I topped out at 83 (per GPS) and boy oh boy what a rush.  That was "only" 4400 RPM.  I bet I could get over 90 if I were crazy.  I might end up going back in time.

I also finally fixed the clunking in the rear; it was a loose rear damper.  Now, no noises.  I do still have a teeny bit of tire rub that I'll play with when it warms up a bit.  Believe it or not, winter temperatures get down in the 30s in the Valley at night, 50s in the day; that's cold enough for me to not want to lay on the ground.

I did also break my spoiler a bit, but it's repairable with a little fiberglass mat and resin.  There's a 1/2" crack on the passenger's side where I bent it against the curb in front of my house.

I have a couple of developing oil leaks to address.  I might need a new oil pan gasket or just a good snugging down.  I did make and install a rubber seal for the steering rack pinion shaft that appears to have quieted that leak.  Everything else is holding up fine.

On the last day before my break was over, I got caught in a little rain shower.  I don't have the top fitted yet (it's a little too cold to stretch the vinyl) but the tonneau cover did its job by keeping half of the cockpit dry, just like I remember.  60 MPH was enough to keep the rain off and the sun visors worked as rain deflectors, too. :)