Well, I successfully completed the 1300 mile round trip from Pittsburgh PA to Williamsburgh VA, to Corolla NC, to Manheim PA back to Pittsburgh without an issue!!
Surprisingly the weather was great the entire time down there and on the road. Im really happy I got the headlight relay harness and an H4 bulb conversion up front and the LED tail lamp bulbs for the rear. The headlights made a big difference at night and Im sure those brighter taillights helped with visibility in the daylight. Surprisingly the bench seat in this car is less painful than the buckets in my '16 Subaru, but thats not to say they were the most comfortable ones either, just that they were okay. Driving on the interstates werent too bad either. Yes there were times I was being passed on both sides at once, but for most of the time I kept up with traffic and didnt have anyone tail gate. Got a lot of thumbs up along the way as well.
I dont know if I would take this on a trip this far again. It was fun, but we were extremely lucky with the weather. It would of been way less enjoyable if we got stuck in standstill traffic with no A/C or stuck in the rain with the windows up and no air moving through the cabin.
the girl friend did enjoy the ride and she would also agree on the seats being better in this than my Subaru.
I did notice a few things that need addressed on the car:
-It should get a new radiator cap. Almost needed an entire gallon of coolant between the Pittsburgh and Williamsburg leg of the trip (but surprisingly didnt need really any the rest of the trip). So it could have been that the cap wasnt set right on that leg. Either way a new one should be installed
- The power steering pump is leaking (I was aware of this) and if the steering wheel isnt turned for awhile the wheel has to be yanked before it operates like it normally does. It SHOULDNT be the steering gear, I just put in a reman unit last year (but thats not to say it was done right either, I just hope it was done right). I never did anything with the pump so I will start there. I know this is the TRW pump which should have two orifices for fluid to go through depending on speed, so that function may be going out on this pump.
- it should get new weatherstripping surrounding the windows. Wind leaks through and whistles, which gets annoying. Which if wind gets through, so would water. So this is on the list to get once I get different side glass for it.
- Under hard acceleration the engine does ping, so the timing curve on the distributor needs to be addressed. Which is fine. I know where there is a distributor machine that I have been trying to get my dad to set up a time for me to purchase and pick it up. I have plenty of cars and friends that could use something like that
all in all it was an awesome trip and happy that I can finally cross taking the convertible to the beach off my bucket list.
