Was it a Fiat key?
Was it a Fiat key?
wae said:Happy to be able to help out! Good luck on the final leg!
Glad you're back on all 4s! I'm sure you'll be tired, hot, and trying to make up for lost time but if you want to stop by on your way through, give me a shout.
Sorry - just got back from a Floridian vacation or would have been happy to help a GRM guy trapped in the Nati. Glad you got some Skyline while here to optimize the experience.
make sure you put the new rim on the side that tightens the lug bolts as the rim rotates.....
not that it will come loose , just that this will help some .....
most Italian cars have the 108mm bolt pattern , not that we have that many in the USA anyway ! I had to "fake" some rims for my Abarth so I could roll it around the shop....and make sure they would clear the 850 disc brakes someone put on it .....
The rest of today went well and we made it home without further incident. Thanks again to wae, who dropped almost everything(God, family, then cars; wae gets it.) to help me outta a jam on a day that he was planning to leave for vacation in the afternoon!
Now since this thread started at the end of the story, let's go back, back into time, and begin at the beginning.
Pre-game - If you haven't followed the build thread on my X1/9, it is here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/expanding-my-horizons-fiat-content/137172/page1/ tl;dr, I bought a distraction project and put a deadline on it to ensure it got to the point rather than becoming another long term endeavor. So with everything as tested as possible and all packed up on Friday the 8th, my co-pilot(Blockhead J; pre-teen son) and I headed out for Owensboro, KY to meet our traveling companions.
The trip from Indy to Owensboro was pleasantly uneventful. I had made a change in the carb jetting the night before and was rewarded with 27mpg on the trip down. Little did I know that when we arrived, our companions were not quite ready. The carb was off the manifold which needed a helicoil, the engine was loose on the mounts attempting to shim away a driveline vibration, the decklid was in the paint booth, and packing things were scattered about the shop. And oh by the way, there are three unrelated little projects that need done too before we can complete the Tour car. Got it! We are former Drag Weekers, last minute thrash is how we roll.
The long and short of that situation was, good enough and fall into bed about 1am with an early wake up call to meet as a full group(3 vehicles, 6 people), and get breakfast before heading to Bowling Green for registration.
Day 1 - Registration and an introduction to idling, Hot Rod Magazine style.
Morning already? I thought we were going to take this easy...
Repack both cars and move mine to the short driveway. The engine hit on the first key, but didn't catch fully or stay running. For the first time since I rebuilt the carb, it wanted a choke on a cold start(remember this for later). Get fired up and car moved, our third member arrives, and we head for food
The ride over to BG was easy peasy; boring even. Temps were rising though, and it was hot already when we got to the registration site. Thankfully registration itself was indoors and air conditioned, because the line was quite long. Again, simple. Just exercise patience, hurry up and wait. Once completed, we stickered our vehicles and headed over to the venue, Beach Bend.
Holy miles of cars. So much idling, waiting, frustration. I made the mistake of looking at my phone, 98° feels like 104°. Stuck in the sun in an open top car with no air moving, I learned a lot this first day.
Finally into the venue after 4p! Goal #1 was to get our credentials punched, and find the daily magnet at the Holley booth. I kinda wanted to autoX, but it was so bloody hot and rain was on the way. I looked at the course and decided it wasn't worth the effort for me. Didn't look like a low-powered car layout anyhow. We set up an umbrella and watched the rain roll in.
I am on the left of the pic with white sunglasses. See how happy we all look? Yeah, the rain was that good! A bunch of participants pulled out ahead of the rain, so we thought it might be easier to get out afterwards. That didn't really prove out. We got more idling and sitting in traffic. My car was getting harder to start and the idle quality was suffering, but no issues controlling engine temp which was a big concern when sitting in traffic for extended intervals. Honestly with everything going on, I really forgot about how well it did on the trip from Indy to Owensboro and passed the crappy idle off as normal plus heat/humidity. We found our hotel, got some food, and discussed a plan of attack for our first day on the road to the second venue in Chattanooga, TN.
A couple random cars from Day1, didn't take many pics.
Just how much stuff did you guys pack?! These cars are tiny but haul a ton of stuff...But this is coming from a guy that can (and does frequently) live out of a carry-on bag for 2+ weeks. You can fit two soft-sided carry-ons in the rear trunk easily, and I saw all the spares and the jack go into the front, so I'm wondering what took over the spot behind the passenger seat.
I figured I would need to give account for this decision at some point and assumed it would be a fellow X1/9 guy to call me out 
We had two duffel bags in the trunk, plus some hard parking car show cleaning supplies tucked in the quarters, and an open face helmet positioned just-so. The frunk was packed as pictured with spares, tools, chemicals, and the jack, while leaving room for the targa.
In the cockpit, my helmet was in the passenger footwell ahead of Blockhead J's feet, along with his drawstring day pack. We travel fairly light but 9 days is 9 days. We had to bum space for waters(purchased on arrival) in our friend's coolers.
The car has fixed back buckets and 4-point harnesses. The original spare tire well behind the passenger seat is inaccessible without disassembly. This situation, plus not having a 5th tire on hand, had me calculating the risks of running without a spare.
I settled on a can of fix-a-flat and a plug kit. Win some, lose some. The puncture did not kill the tire and if I had the same puncture while traveling with the group at two lane speeds my kit would have been enough. A solo banzai run up the interstate at night was never part of our original schedule.
Plans evolve and conditions are fluid. The spare tire well ended up full of all the car show swag Blockhead J collected thru the week 
Shame that I didn't check the forum yesterday, I would have been happy to hunt down a tire. We did the long haul as well. Looking forward to the rest of your trip report.
Day 2 - We had a plan. We decided to follow the route, but not go with the official caravan. I had done a couple partial tours before but we never followed the route, just blasted from venue to venue and did whatever we wanted. The guys I was with this time wanted to learn what this deal was all about and we felt the route was a big part of it. So, let's follow the route!
I went to fire up the Fiat and it really fought me. Once started it would NOT clear out. I opened the lid and immediately noticed the #4 plug wire had backed partway off the cap. Reseat that and re-fired the car and headed down the road, but it was still unhappy. Decided that all the idling from the previous day must have fouled the plugs and changed them out.
With a fresh set of plugs and running much better, we pulled back out onto the route and promptly ran right into the back of the official caravan we thought we would be ahead of. At the first small town we realized what sort of cluster berkeley we were in for. Jammed up at every stop sign, lines at every gas pump, and longer lines for the bathrooms!
I think we had only been on the road for an hour or 1.5hrs; do these people not do potty stops before they leave?? Anyhow, things did spread out a bit once we got outta the town areas and we got to hit some decent roads thru the mountains.
After another gas stop the route was onto some interstate and the Fiat got to shine going DOWN the mountain. Full engine braking in 5th gear, coasting past groups of cars and then waiting for my buddies to catch up 
This was probably the only part of the trip where the Fiat could have been considered even remotely fast. Push the clutch in and roll faster, or squeeze the throttle to dive in and out of slower traffic. Good fun
We got to the venue pretty late again. Punched our credentials and got our magnets, and realized some of the vendors were already preparing to close up. I took a few more pics the second day, but we didn't hang out long before heading for food and hotels.
After supper I decided I had better hunt down another set of plugs. I only brought one spare set and didn't wanna get caught without if the car continued to foul them. My friend also suggested that maybe we should look at the carb jetting again. I brought all that junk along since I decided to make a change at the last minute Thursday night, just in case it didn't take. I organized for that job, and then pulled the air cleaner. I immediately noticed the strangle flaps about 3/4 closed! Double take, triple take, no berkeleying way are you E36 M3ting me? Maybe it got bumped while we were taking things in and out of the car....
Pushed the cable back in, fired the car and it started better than it had at any point in the last two days. Two days....wait wut? I pulled the choke Saturday morning, back in the driveway in Owensboro. What a moron 
I put on my dunce cap and went for a rip to the parts store. Grabbed a set of plugs that I thankfully never had to use. Car was running tip top again. Got back to the hotel, was the butt of many jokes as we discussed a plan to minimize frustration and maximize fun for Day 3.
I too have gotten a flat from a key, more than once. Fortunate it did not go more poorly when this transpired.
In reply to gumby :
I recognize the Edsel wagon. It’s been at Crusin’ the Coast the last 2 years.
Day 3. Looking at the route and our options, there was an interstate route, the official route, and a fairly direct set of 2 lane highways on the opposite side of the interstate from the official route. Wanting to get to the venue early enough to autoX and actually check out some of the other participant cars, we chose the "other 2 lane" route. Again we headed out early compared to the Hot Rod caravan because getting into the venue is the same no matter how you get there.
We did a bit of sight seeing along the way and generally had a very nice trip. We did miss seeing other Power Tour cars on the highways, but the break from traffic was welcomed!
Somewhere after this fuel stop the Fairmont lost brake pedal pressure. At lunch I handed over a pair of needle nose vice-grips, and we called ahead for a wheel cylinder from a parts store near the venue.
And we motored on...
We got to the venue early, like 12:15p. We set up, and watched some cars roll in. I checked out the autoX and got stuff ready to make a few runs. There is a vid someplace of the Fiat on course, but I don't have it yet. FTD as far as I heard was an LS swapped BMW with huge tires, but announcers were heard making comments about the times from the Fiat and unconfirmed reports that it made 23hp on the dyno right before the runs and was on space saver spares. 
After the show and supper, we picked up the wheel cylinder and supplies to fix the Fairmont, or so we thought
Dry inside the drum, what's this??
Well, at least we hadn't removed the vise-grips yet. Parts stores were closed at this point, gonna hafta save this battle for Day 4.
Day 4; From here on out, we just made a mix of on-route and off-route each day, left early and tried to stay ahead of the biggest part of traffic.
Talledega Superspeedway was very near the route and although not an official stop, they had been forewarned of our presence in the area. Unfortunately the track was rented out so we could not take tours, but the International Motorsports Hall of Fame was opened up and we were able to check that out. We were the first ones in the parking lot!
We grabbed parts for the brake line fix when we stopped for food, and completed the repair at the venue
With that all buttoned up, I brought my jack back to the Fiat. I had been feeling a bit of looseness in the back of the car all morning and needed to check things out before deciding to autoX or not. Apparently autoX the day before beat all the old grease out of the rear outer toe link joints; not a normally stocking parts store component! With few options in front of me, I did what any GRMer would do and dug out a roll of 200mph tape and some zipties.
The right side was worst, but I taped both up since I was under there anyhow. This didn't help the looseness, but gave me some peace of mind that they would not pop apart on the road. I wracked my brain and networks all day for a better solution, and we autoX'd the Fairmont instead.
I didn't take any car pics at the venue, but on our Summit run I saw this badass Falcon in the lot. Probably one of my favorite vehicles of the whole week.
I'm really glad you fessed up to the choke fiasco because it's the funniest thing i've read in a while!! Full disclosure, I have certainly berkeleyed up in comparable ways and I find the funny story lasts a lot longer than the mistake itself, so these are usually gifts that keep on giving.
What an awesome trip!
Some great memories being made for that kid
Vigo said:I'm really glad you fessed up to the choke fiasco because it's the funniest thing i've read in a while!!
Hey, if you can't laugh at yourself... 
Great write up! Power Tour is on my bucket list
Day 5 was really just a lot of driving; longest leg of Power Tour this year. There was no autoX or drag racing, or even laps around the oval. 
I did spend a fair amount of time keeping the Fiat in my own lane. Every change in throttle position from accel to decel would cause toe fluctuation in the rear inducing a thrust angle shift that made the car try to swap lanes. A little unnerving at first, but after a couple hundred miles it was just another old car quirk.
I ordered up a pair of outer toe link joints and had them shipped to a friend's shop near the final stop outside Charlotte. They are NLA new, but I found a used pair from Midwest Bayless so I could fix the slop before our planned excursion to Tail of the Dragon after Power Tour.
Thanks for writing this all up and sharing. I'm really enjoying it.
Day 6 we were falling into a groove, and aside from a massive traffic jam(thankful for the shade of big trucks!) everything was smooth. Another venue with no activities other than a mobile dyno, so I was able to see some more cars I hadn't seen yet.
I caught this Volvo in the hotel lot before we left
Wait, a Dr. Jim Roberts Showroom Stock A Starion in the Talladega museum??? Consider my mind blown.
Day 7, last official tour day, we hit up the Petty Museum along the route. Once again we were among the first in the lot to stay ahead of the crowd.
We wrapped up at zMax, this place is massive. We made a pass on track with the Fairmont and stood in the longest line ever to get our long hauler awards.
Once Power Tour was officially complete, I made arrangements to get out to a friend's shop and install the new(used) outer toe link joints.
NLA new so these came used. Thankfully in very good condition, and arrived on time. I skipped out on an autoX during the tour to keep things together, but we needed this right for Day 8.
As an encore to Power Tour we had decided if everything went well we would hit the Tail of the Dragon along our way home. Everything had gone well to this point; all vehicles were still on the road, and hit The Dragon we did!
Here is almost 4mins of me playing lead car on our first run thru.
The wives in the other two cars were none-too pleased with the rate of travel, which for me was painfully slow trying to keep those guys in frame. I made a solo run up and back after this video.
The Dragon is ok. I would go anytime I am within an hour and have the time to spare, but the best part is getting pics taken of your ride, not the road.
We grabbed some fuel and checked maps as soon as we had cell service again. Everyone was ready to be home; the original thoughts of going halfway and stopping for the night were exchanged for Iron Man pushes to drive straight thru. I felt the Fiat had treated me well enough all week that I was comfortable striking out alone to shorten our trip home. Or so I thought at least....We headed north while the others went west, and made it as far as Cincinnati before all hell broke loose. The beginning of this thread is the end of my 2018 Hot Rod Power Tour story!
Awesome thread! Looks like an amazing time. I keep bugging the family about everyone getting together and doing power tour someday but we shall see if it ever happens.
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