Cruising the US

joebillhill · Post by **joebillhill** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:40 pm

To any Delica owners in the lower 48 who want to meet up: I've started my trip from Portland, OR to Charleston, SC and I plan on being there a little bit before the 6th. I'm taking the coast down through California and then cutting over to Arizona, NM, etc with no set route in mind. If you want to meet up for coffee or a beer and see another Delica I'd love to see other rigs and setups along the way.
PM me or reply here and maybe we can work something out!

Morgonzo · Post by **Morgonzo** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:58 pm

Hey Joe, I'd love to meet up with ya. What's your route like around TN/GA? Charleston is 5hrs from me which is a bit to far for me to do right now but it would be closer to catch you as you go through the TN/GA area. We go to FL in late Feb, but will be in town and not doing much up till then.

I'm in Kennesaw GA if that helps. There is a nice state park not far from me called Red Top Mountain if you were looking to camp.

joebillhill · Post by **joebillhill** » Sun Jan 22, 2017 4:57 pm

Morgonzo! Yeah Red Top looks cool. I could see myself camping there for a night before heading up to Asheville. I'll let you know when I get closer and we'll hash something out.

Morgonzo · Post by **Morgonzo** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 8:31 am

Right On Joe! I'll pm you my phone#....Oh yeah you MUST go to Asheville. Go to the Moog Museum/Factory for the tour!

Captain America · Post by **Captain America** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 8:59 am

Joe,
If you are in Asheville then try to visit the Biltmore (built by a Vanderbilt son)estate & take one of their tours. It's the largest residence in the United States and the whole operation is first class.Its the main draw in Asheville and a bucket list item for some. The town of Asheville is wonderful as well. It's been called the Boulder Colorado of the east coast considering its vibe & elevation. For food there is a good restaurant in town called Tuppelo I believe. I hope your drive is drama free.

Regards

Morgonzo · Post by **Morgonzo** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 9:09 am

Captain, you are so correct about the Biltmore. Overwhelming Opulence would be a good way to describe it. I first saw it in the 1979 movie "Being There" with Peter Sellers, also notable for featuring Deodato's funk/jazz version of the theme to 2001 (also sprach zarathustra). I would add the Lexington Ave Brewery to your list...great food and Beer!

Captain America · Post by **Captain America** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 9:24 am

Gonzo,
"Being There". Priceless.

joebillhill · Post by **joebillhill** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 10:51 pm

I'll put them on the list. Thanks guys! Currently camping at el malpais national monument after a day and a half at canyon de chelly in northern Arizona. Wanting to stay longer in the sw but I want to check out the east as well! Life is hard

Captain America · Post by **Captain America** » Sun Jan 29, 2017 5:48 am

Canyon de Chelly is a wonderful place. I believe the famous photographer Ansel Adams spent time there capturing its beauty. The small town of Ganado has a neat little trading post called Huebells that happens the be a national historic site. You can get hand loomed Navajo rugs of all sizes there.
I hope you are headed to Moab/Arches National park in Utah next. Hands down one of the most unique spots in the country and a unique time to do it as the parks are in off season and the solitude is uncommon. It's bang for the buck too because Canyonlands is there as well and is breathtaking. After Moab it's a three hour drive to Durango Colorado. A definitive area for the southwest. The bonus is that just before Durango you will encounter Mesa Verde National Park where you can take guided tours of the actual dwellings. As I recall it dwarfs Cayon de Chelly. In Durango you can take their narrow gauge railroad up into the mountains to Silverton & back. After that you could then take US 550/million dollar highway to Ouray Colorado. Probably one of the most spectacular drives in the country. From Ouray you could hit Black Canyon National park or head east through souther Colorado.
I live in the east but vacation in the southwest every year and can attest to the once in a lifetime nature of these scenic monuments. I would easily skip a couple of the states on the way to the east to bask in the southwest. It's that good.

Regards

Morgonzo · Post by **Morgonzo** » Sun Jan 29, 2017 1:33 pm

How's the Deli running Joe? No news is good news eh? Just out of curiosity, what types of preventative maintenance did you do before you left PDX? Anything out of the ordinary oil, tires ect?

joebillhill · Post by **joebillhill** » Mon Jan 30, 2017 2:14 pm

Hey Morgonzo! She's running pretty well, and happy to be out of the mountains. Though I'm not..stayed at Palo Duro Canyon outside of Amarillo last night which was nice but I'll be happy to get into Arkansas and some green again.
I've got three issues currently which I don't think/hope are that bad.
1) I believe my valve covet gasket is leasing a little bit which I'll have to investigate and maybe replace on Charleston.
2) I notice some smoke on followers headlights on uphill climbs. Nothing new, but I'll look into how to alleviate that when I'm situated.
3) on cold starts (~ freezing and below) it's a bear to start. I cycle the glow plugs and then have to floor it and keep the starter cranking for 15+ seconds depending on how cold it is before it has enough rpms to keep it going by itself. All the while it's shooting black smoke but once it's running on it's own it takes maybe 30 seconds or less to smooth out and run just fine.
As for maintenance I recently had some extensive engine work done. 2015 when I was in South Carolina last I blew the had gasket so I replaced the head and cooling system. 10k kilometres later I took it into a shop for a compression test and when they told me my horrible numbers they also found a crack in the block. I drove it back to Oregon that fall and up to Coombs to replace the block with a remanufactured one.
So at 148,500 I had a basically brand new engine. 3k kilometres later my water pump fails along with my wastegate actuator rod (which was most likely sometime before)
A shop in Oregon replaced the pump and fixed the actuator but there were still metal shards in the coolant and they had toured it with "mix with anything" stuff. So I decided to drain and flush (I also back flushed which got a lot of crap out of the rear heater) and filled it with a 50/50 Mopar ratio.
So to answer your question after my van"s life story (making up for the radio silence

) my preventative maintenance was unfortunately get a new engine but other than that
1) I replace my oil, air, and fuel filter about every 4-5k miles
2) i rotate my tires about every 5k miles
3) I put Howes diesel treatment in every tank
4) I go painfully slow up hills and in headwinds haha

Stella87 · Post by **Stella87** » Mon Jan 30, 2017 7:39 pm

joebillhill wrote:I'll put them on the list. Thanks guys! Currently camping at el malpais national monument after a day and a half at canyon de chelly in northern Arizona. Wanting to stay longer in the sw but I want to check out the east as well! Life is hard

Are you already out of AZ? I have an l300 down in Phoenix area.

joebillhill · Post by **joebillhill** » Tue Jan 31, 2017 8:40 am

Ah shoot I would have swung by. I'm currently crossing into Arkansas. Maybe on the way back!

Morgonzo · Post by **Morgonzo** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 2:16 pm

Wow Joe, you've been through quite a bit with your van already! I guess the upshot of all that is the confidence and piece of mind that comes with new stuff!

We're taking the Deli 6 hours south to Jax Fla in late Feb and I'm both excited and nervous. You do all you can and chalk the rest up to Karma

Everybody already thinks we're nuts for buying it, it would be the icing on the cake for it to fail spectacularly at a family wedding.

I'm trying to get new tires before we go but the fund-raising is slowing down and I can't seem to stop buying stuff off of Ebay

so we might not make it before take-off. An alignment is a must though