Jensen Across America
Well #132/5577 is now at her new
home here in So. Calif. (since moved to No. Nevada).
My friend Dan and I flew back to New Jersey, arriving
around noon on the 7th of June. Mike Lotwis picked us up at La Guardia airport
in new York City in the SP and we drove off to a NJ Motor Vehicle Commission
office to get a temporary licence to move the vehicle to its new home. All went
well.
Following this, a short drive brought us to Chez
Lotwis where we were advised of the special features of 132/5577 and we then
proceeded to remove the existing Blaupunkt radio and install a new JVC KD-NX5000
MP3 Stereo/DVD/CD/Navigation unit and its related Bluetooth module. No problems
were noted and I had the pleasure of learning about how the Jensen's interior is
attached.
We filled the fuel tank (first of many times!) and
started out. First stop to be Nazareth, PA to see the Martin guitar museum and
factory. All was going well until I was raising the driver's-side window and it
just stopped moving. OK, we can deal with that later --- probably just a blown
fuse.
A little later on we discovered that the instrument
lights were not working. Hmm --- probably that fuse that stopped the window ---
better check on it pretty soon. A quick look at the fuse box showed no failed
fuses. Curiouser and curiouser.
At our next stop we purchased a Phillips screwdriver and
a packet of assorted fuses. We then carefully removed the switch panel and tried
to determine if something was disconnected. A couple of wires seemed to fit that
description, but nothing in the way of correcting the problem(s) presented
itself to our befuddled minds. We proceeded to begin replacing the switch panel
and were rewarded with a dainty zzzt! Oops, looks like there is a hot wire
around the right end of the panel. Now our radio and A/C don't work any more,
nor does our fuel flap solenoid. Let's just set the panel in place gently and
store the screws in the cubby. We can replace it properly when we get home.
Around midnight somewhere near Weston, West Virginia as Dan was cruising
along and I was dozing in the co-pilot's seat The Prince of Darkness struck. All
the lights went out! Dan manages to pull off the road safely and then it was
time to go into troubleshooting mode. I fetched the multimeter (that I had
brought along to facilitate installing the JVC unit) from the boot and checked
for voltages. Hmm, there's voltage going into the "park light" switch,
but none going out of it. The "Park Light" switch is well and truly
knackered. Adding a "piggy-back" terminal to one of the lugs on the "lights"
switch and moving the hot wire and the parking light wire to the headlight
switch created a functional lighting system once again.
We made it to Nazareth, PA late that night and checked
into a motel in the next town, as there seemed to be only one motel in Nazareth
and there was no room at that inn (how appropriate). Next morning we headed back
to Nazareth and spent a few enjoyable hours at the Martin factory. OK, time to
hit the road and find a shop to sort out our electrics --- oh, and to install
our Vehicle Speed Sensor which our GPS unit needs to operate. I had cleverly
brought one along.
The first shop we tried sent us to another shop which was
a great place. They repair and restore European cars, mostly Jaguars and Volvos.
The fellow there, Jesse, found that we had somehow unplugged a few wires from
the switch panel (probably when we pushed the JVC unit into the dash opening).
He reconnected those and the instrument lights and the fan came back on. Jesse
installed the VSS unit nicely and showed us where the wires were, since he had
no clue as to the polarity required or if that was important at all (it is). He
then opened up the door panel and looked into the window problem. Oops, the
motor is running, but the regulator gear doesn't move. Probably a bad gear on the
motor shaft. Put that on the list of things to fix when we get home. Last thing
was to locate the fuse we blew when trying to replace the switch panel. I
finally remembered where Mike Lotwis told me the radio fuse was and Jesse
replaced it.
With everything except the driver's window working again
we set off for western PA.
At this point of the journey things are going well ---
except that the GPS is not really operating all that well. OK, time to change
the polarity. That worked wonders. The GPS can actually find our location now!
Westward Ho! We make it to Collinsville, Illinois (right
across the Mississippi River from St. Louis Missouri) which is our next stop and
spend the night in a nice hotel room.
A continuing succession of restaurants and fuel stations
finds us in western Nebraska, about 15 miles from Pine Bluffs, Wyoming when the
engine suddenly stops. It won't restart. We use the database in the GPS unit to locate automotive help and
call a place in Pine Bluffs. They send a fellow out to tow us in to town. Fuel
pump is not working. They can get a new one in the morning. OK, walk on over to
Gator's motel and spend the night. Next morning, head on over to the shop where the deeper
diagnosis is that it is the fuel pump pushrod that is bad. They try to locate
one without success, so they get an electric fuel pump and install it up front
near the mechanical pump. It's the wrong place to put an electric fuel pump, but
it seems to work, so we pay them and set out once again.
Heading across Utah I notice that we are losing fuel
extremely rapidly. I pull into a truck stop at the exit to Bonneville and
inspect the fuel pump. There is a broken hose and fuel is gushing out whenever
the pump is on. No help is available where we are, so we fuel up and head on to
Wendover, UT where we spend the night. The next morning we find a garage that
fixes the broken hose and we continue down the road.
At this point the car is not running well, and seems to
be suffering from vapour-lock. We stop every few minutes and let her cool down
and she runs "OK" for a while longer. We make it to Reno, NV that way. Now Reno
is Dan's stomping grounds and he knows shops there. We spend the night and head
out for repair shops in the morning. Everybody agrees that the electric fuel
pump ought to be mounted further to the rear of the car (something I was going
to do once we got home) but no one has time to do it. We try to get a smog
check, but the car fails. Finally we locate a carburetor and tune shop that can
do the work tomorrow.
OK, another night in a motel and rise and head out for
the shop. We go walking off for a while and I win $100 playing Blackjack at a
nearby casino. We return to the shop and find out that the major problem is the
alternator. I authorise Dodger (the mechanic) to install a better type of
internally-regulated self-energising alternator as well as to relocate the fuel
pump. It takes all day, but Dodger gets it done and the car runs better now.
Now we have noticed that the car has been using a lot of
oil and that the oil pressure is not as high as these engines usually run. So we
still don't feel very confident, but the trip from Reno to So. Calif. is made
without any problems and incurs no oil usage.
Over all we put 3000 miles on the SP and achieved an
average of about 17 miles per US gallon (not counting the period when the fuel
line was gushing). She will be getting a check-up from my local shop on Monday
to determine if there is a serious problem with the engine or not [They said
that the gauge just reads low]. She'll be getting dirt from across the breadth
of the USA removed tomorrow [Done].