Roadtrip Advice

[grande_guerre]

Hey, some of you might remember me talking about a roadtrip down to phoenix from fairbanks, alaska. I was doing some more research and got some comments from a friend's relatives. One thing they mentioned was getting most of the driving out of the way early in the trip, which is cool and all, but she said to drive about 14 to 16 hours a day, and i'll reach seattle in three days. Would this much driving per day be too much for a 302 with 180,000 miles on(almost to 190,000)? Also, i still have the low oil pressure, but it fluctuates with time. Low on some trips to town, kinda normal on others. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Seabronc]

I guess the answer lies in your knowledge of the truck and how well it has been cared for. The oil pressure problem could just be the sender, have you replaced it? That's a long trip for a gas hog, hope you take along lots of extra gas. Myself, I would be a little reluctant to take my Bronc on such a trip. I don't think running it 16 hours a day for 3 days would be any harder on it than running 8 hours a day for 6 days. It would represent the same amount of wear.

Not trying to discourage you, I'd love to take a real adventure with mine. I was thinking of the oposite direction though. I love Alaska, been there a couple of times in my lifetime.

Good luck,

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[sweepersrgr8]

Ford small blocks, run very well for long periods, as long as they are kept cool. Drive nonstop as long as you can, keeping you RPM's steady. When you sleep, do it during the day. Not only is there less traffic at night, but the cooler air will help gas milage, and cooling issues. If you don't have one, get a CB. Keep it on ch 19. If you run into problems, you can count on a Trucker to help.

Don't trust your dash gages. Get a good Triple set from the auto parts store(oil, temp, volts). According to Chilton's, 6 lbs of oil pressure per 1000 RPM is all you need to prevent excessive wear. I would go with 10.

 

[Raven]

I just did a 3000 mile trip abouts in a week with stops of about 2-3 days at my grandparenta and have only one problem that I was some thing that I wondering but never could find .. dang sqeeks... and that was the belt tesioner pully broke at 70MPH on the ohio turnpike while passing a 18 wheeler.. you know when al of a sudden your steering gets really tight and you look down and yyou have a battery light on y ou know you got a problem .. lol .. luckily got out of that cheap with a tow part and labor only running me $177.. which didn't hurt my budget any cause of the unexpected drop in gas prices and the bettergas milage that I wasnot expecting averaged right around 15.2 mpg in my 94.. I have 152k miles on my bronco now..

 

[Seabronc]

Ditto on the keeping the engine cool. the best thing I ever did was install a transmission oil cooler. No matter how hard I push it it never even approaches hot. Also, a small block running around 2300 RPM is really not working hard at all. In fact 2300 RPM is right about optimum for cruise. If the engine has been well cared for 200,000 + is not a problem.

Good luck,

Let us know how it went.

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