Tips On Driving From SF to Palm Springs

[tennis tom]

Thanks for the tip Eagles. I'll be contacting them, I'm mostly in Marin and it's a lot easier for me to get to Petaluma than the East or South Bay.

 

[tennis tom]

99 R/T 10,

I PM'ed you a couple of days ago with my phone number. Maybe it didn't go through, I'm not too good with this computer stuff.

So far I'm up in the air about going South this weekend. Newport Viper has convinced me of the toughness of my Viper. I just got the Viper Club Newsletter announcing the Buttonwillow Track Days--TOO much going on--I may just stay in the hot-tub.

I spent yesterday afternoon with my old-time mechanic in the SF Tenderloin driving the viper trying to find a mystery rattle from the rear??? He took the rear aluminum skid plate off and found some rocks and a CIGARETTE BUTT up there!!! The rocks might have come from some gravel I kicked up doing a little fish-tail on the Carmel Valley Road a while back--but the cigarette butt??? Maybe the guys on the assembly line were getting worried about working for FIAT.

We checked out all the usual suspects for the rattle: license plate slapping aginst the boot, water bottle rolling around in the trunk, tightened everything reachable, and still rattling over road irregularities. I'm not much worried about the rattle, just don't want anything falling off.

So I'm back in the Jeep Wrangler and left the Viper with my mechanic in the Tenderloin--I trust him. Hopefully he'll find it and it's still in one piece. We had it up and down the lift about ten times yesterday. At least I got a good look under the Viper for the first time and can see what all those things I am scrapeing on driveways are. A few minor scratches under the front spoiler but I expect to be repairing that on an irregular basis over the years.

Thanks for all the tips guys, I don't know if I'll be doing the Desert or Buttonwillow this weekend but very soon and rlatively fast I hope.

 

[tennis tom]

My mechanic found the cause of the rattle today and I drove her back over the Golden Gate Bridge tonight- no rain, top down, felt GREAT!!! He said the ball joints needed lubing.

My 2008 green snake has only 1,700 miles on it. Being old school, I had the oil changed at 1,500 miles and the rattle was mentioned in the service order. The Chrysler dealer couldn't find the rattle so I took it to my old school mechanic down in the Tenderloin. He needed to take the wheels off and use a special tool to lube the ball joints. Does this make sense? Any comments?

After not having driven the Viper in a while it sure felt great! It's like being in a Panasonic massage chair. My mechanic called me up and said get it out of here, people are coming in his shop and trying to **** it. While test driving it a black lady kissed the griil at a red light. I'm gonna' write a book about people's reactions to this green monster.