2016 Transcontinental Road trip

Stan

Stan

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This will be page one and will be updated routinely.

Many hands make light work so if you reel like you have expertise or a desire yo take a lead or "chair" position, sing out. Any volunteers?

Route: or routes. If we define the to west route then anyone from the south who wants to join has meeting place. Four days to get cross country? I did it in 3 from Los Angeles to Portsmouth NH in my coupe. A bit rushed but it had no time to spare.
Accommodations; Flows from route. Hotels across the country. Three hotels and something that works in Monterey.
Food: Chuck's wife can research
Support: Who knows how to work on a car? Re list the items that should be done before leaving.
Transport for cars returning east.
International Transport: If anyone wants to join from Europe or Canada
Memorabilia: Key fob? Dash plaque, T-shirts?
Organizers: I volunteer to keep this thread updated.


Optimally someone takes responsibility for each section and has volunteers to help
 
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Maintenance

I prepped my car for a couple medium-long distance drives (Oktoberfest and Amelia Island) and for your consideration this is what I did over the course of a year or so to get the car ready for those and any long trip in the future. Others can add their own suggestions.

The basics:

If these components are not new replace them:

water pump and fan clutch
alternator
all belts
all hoses and clamps
starter
battery
air filters
vacuum and fuel hoses & clamps
fuel filter and pump (bring a spare)
coil/rotor/points/plugs/wires (bring spare points/pertronix)
drain and replace oil, coolant, transmission & diff fluid
relay the low beams (these will be getting more use on a long trip)
replace all fuses
inspect wiring and all ground points
flush brake and clutch lines
new tires and have a good spare
check condition of struts/shocks
if your radiator is old and crusty consider recoring it
run a direct ground wire from neg cable clamp to alternator case


More intensive:

replace pilot bearing/throw out bearing/guibo/center bearing (may as well do clutch if these haven't been done in a while. If the transmission is out check and replace any leaking seals and replace the shifter bearings and mounts)

if you don't know when these were last worked on then consider:
rebuild/replace clutch slave cylinder
replace brake/clutch hoses
check condition of brake and clutch master cylinders
replace front wheel bearings (and rear if you're not sure how old they are)
flush power steering fluid and replace hoses

Also I plan on having a friend at the ready to fedex spare parts like alternators, water pumps etc if needed. I'll add my list of onboard spare parts/tools at some point and edit this as I remember stuff.
 
Hey Stan,

I plan on driving my coupe to Monterey for Ofest 2016.

I drove to Colorado and back in June and it wasn't really too bad. Total of 4000 miles.
Car is comfortable to drive although a little noisy.

So I drove from Atlanta to Nashville, St Louis, Kansas City to Denver.
Stopped a number of times and did not drive at night except last evening.
2.5 days.
Denver is so much further North so had to get North to go west.
If I went straight from Atlanta it would be through Texas.
St Louis might be a good meeting point although if you do the map from St Louis it shows the southern route through New Mexico. So that really doesn't work either. We'd be going North and then go West and South again.
Then if you put Boston as a starting point it shows two routes. One through Wyoming and the other back to St Louis and West. One hour difference in travel time.

So just putting some info out there.
Gary
Atlanta
 
I know it is kinda early but

I have a friend in Monterey looking for accommodations for us.
I guesstimated 10 people needing a place to stay.

Me, Duane, Chris, Tod, John, Andrew, Gary, Scott, Tom & Steve
 
When Cindy and I bought Vern, '73 2002Tii, and drove from Telluride Colorado to Brunswick Maine, we covered 3,100 miles over 9 days, it was part vacation. So we took our time and did sight seeing. We also avoided highways, we drive them enough at home.

As we planned the trip we broke it into daily segments with mapquest printed pages as a general guide and GPS to hone in on specifics. I broke the trip into 500 mile days on average. Figuring that's an 8 hour day. We had no hotel reservations so when we got tired we stopped. Learned that when we were tired and hungry we both got cranky, or hangry. So we made sure to stop early in the evening to find food and a bed around 6-7pm.

So we should do the same. Schedule X number miles a day and try to get off the major highways, as time allows. Once the route is planned, find hotels at the stop point, and reserve rooms.
 
Its still a ways out, but I think I am still planning on trucking the coupe west and driving back. I want to make sure I get there on time, and leave some time to drive down the coast ending up with the rest of this crew at Monterey.

I am really looking forward to meeting a lot of the folks on this board thatI have not met and spending some time in CA which I've never done.

Not to be the contrarian.....
 
Planning for Monterey, 2016

Hi all... could not help but read this thread and find out that there is early interest in the 2016 Monterey weekend.

I think the 2016 Legends of the Autobahn event has been mentioned. Please plan on attending the LOTA event. Central Calif Chapter BMW CCA continues to be the host chapter of this great event and we certainly are expecting a great turnout from the 'Coupe world'.

Whether or not you plan on having your coupe judged or in a SIG we will accomodate all who plan on being there.

It is great that y'all from the East are making plans for lodging at this early date. Its always a challenge to find appropriate lodging. Renting a house is a great option!

2016 should be the best year ever for all BMWs!

If you have any questions, please ask away.

On behalf of the entire LOTA organizing team, Wayne (DCG)
 
North East Coupes

Spoke with Mario 11/1/14 he said before we head west whether shipping out west or driving. He wants to go though the cars to make sure critical systems are in order and working properly and address anything that needs attention.

The cars should be able to go coast to coast and back with no issues if one chooses to do that. :grin:
 
Question(s)

I am hoping to join this caravan at some point and I had a couple of thoughts and wanted to get some input, like- no, don't do that, that's stupid, etc. I have a ranch just north of Austin, TX, about 50 minutes from the airport and anyone who would like to swing through this area is welcome to stay. Plenty of space and a few activities can be organized; there is a pool and a skeet range and shooting range and I can supply bug spray :-)

Next, I thought I might try to enlist a friend to drive a "chase car" basically a Sequoia with a car trailer which serves 2 purposes, to carry gear and to tow a car if it blows up along the way. I was thinking of stopping at some national parks along the way and doing some camping and then driving through the parks in the e9. I would imagine there must also be a state park within 50 miles of the destination that could accommodate any of us homeless travelers.

Thoughts on my dementia are welcome.
 
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