This is for Don Kennedy, and others of his ilk… (long)
Our Magnum Opus story:
We were packing to move most of the winter, and moving some items from the house for sale to the new abode, so I probably didn’t give the Z the attention it deserved prior to heading out to Sandblast. But, we needed a break from the never-ending cycle of work and move, and Jimmy was game, so off we went. It was also to be the maiden tow for the new (to me) service vehicle, a 2011 Silverado.
Like most folks, I hadn’t read the owners’ manual thoroughly, but, hey, it’s a Chevy with a small-block V-8 in it… simple, right?
We elected to use I-81 and meet an old friend of mine in Roanoke, Va for dinner on the Thursday before the event. In northern Va, I noticed the voltmeter on the truck showing 9v, so I kept an eye on it. I didn’t want to mention it to my wife, as she’s already suffered two highway breakdowns with me, and seems to get nervous whenever I say “Road Trip!”. Shortly after that, the voltmeter was showing 16v, so we pulled off the highway to ask some advice of a certified ASE mechanic. Did I mention that I’d somehow left the owners’ manual at home? I had been reading it, to try to figure out how to defeat the safety nannies that GM had installed. I’ve since come to the conclusion that none of the folks involved with the GM nannies actually own a GM vehicle. A bunch of engineers that have dumb ideas about vehicle safety, along with a bunch of other managers that say “Great ideas! Let’s foist them on our customers!” But I digress…
The mechanic didn’t think there was any issues with my electrical system, so off we went, southbound on 81. We made it to Roanoke without incident, and during dinner, the discussion on the male end of the table turned to car parts stores. I wanted a backup alternator to have with me, just in case… So, before finishing the ride to Cheraw, we stopped by an Advanced Auto Parts to pick up the spare. The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful, though during the rally I did note that the car seemed to handle a bit weird… but I chalked that up to not having competed since NEFR ’13 and the vagaries of deep sand. We were able to finish second in class and 10th overall, and towed home with one eye on the voltmeter.
I was asked to attend a small car event with the Z in April, and I decided to drive it there, so on went the snows. On my way to the event, I again noted the flakey handling, but figured the soft compound and sidewalls were to blame. Shortly after that weekend, I pulled the skidplate off the car to start prepping for my summer race schedule, which, at this point includes Magnum Opus, Black Bear and NEFR. While I was in the process of removing that, I noticed that the mounting points for the lower control arms were tearing. Obviously, not a good thing in any vehicle. So, being in the final throes of moving, I ordered the parts and dropped it all off at my mechanic. Easy, right? I mean, I could have done it, but really, I didn’t have the time. It’s all just bolt-on, then an alignment…
Our Magnum Opus story:
We were packing to move most of the winter, and moving some items from the house for sale to the new abode, so I probably didn’t give the Z the attention it deserved prior to heading out to Sandblast. But, we needed a break from the never-ending cycle of work and move, and Jimmy was game, so off we went. It was also to be the maiden tow for the new (to me) service vehicle, a 2011 Silverado.
Like most folks, I hadn’t read the owners’ manual thoroughly, but, hey, it’s a Chevy with a small-block V-8 in it… simple, right?
We elected to use I-81 and meet an old friend of mine in Roanoke, Va for dinner on the Thursday before the event. In northern Va, I noticed the voltmeter on the truck showing 9v, so I kept an eye on it. I didn’t want to mention it to my wife, as she’s already suffered two highway breakdowns with me, and seems to get nervous whenever I say “Road Trip!”. Shortly after that, the voltmeter was showing 16v, so we pulled off the highway to ask some advice of a certified ASE mechanic. Did I mention that I’d somehow left the owners’ manual at home? I had been reading it, to try to figure out how to defeat the safety nannies that GM had installed. I’ve since come to the conclusion that none of the folks involved with the GM nannies actually own a GM vehicle. A bunch of engineers that have dumb ideas about vehicle safety, along with a bunch of other managers that say “Great ideas! Let’s foist them on our customers!” But I digress…
The mechanic didn’t think there was any issues with my electrical system, so off we went, southbound on 81. We made it to Roanoke without incident, and during dinner, the discussion on the male end of the table turned to car parts stores. I wanted a backup alternator to have with me, just in case… So, before finishing the ride to Cheraw, we stopped by an Advanced Auto Parts to pick up the spare. The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful, though during the rally I did note that the car seemed to handle a bit weird… but I chalked that up to not having competed since NEFR ’13 and the vagaries of deep sand. We were able to finish second in class and 10th overall, and towed home with one eye on the voltmeter.
I was asked to attend a small car event with the Z in April, and I decided to drive it there, so on went the snows. On my way to the event, I again noted the flakey handling, but figured the soft compound and sidewalls were to blame. Shortly after that weekend, I pulled the skidplate off the car to start prepping for my summer race schedule, which, at this point includes Magnum Opus, Black Bear and NEFR. While I was in the process of removing that, I noticed that the mounting points for the lower control arms were tearing. Obviously, not a good thing in any vehicle. So, being in the final throes of moving, I ordered the parts and dropped it all off at my mechanic. Easy, right? I mean, I could have done it, but really, I didn’t have the time. It’s all just bolt-on, then an alignment…