Memphis, St Louis, I-80 to Nevada Route Ride Avail

[gyre]

Late departure, can meet enroute.
Kansas City, Lincoln Ne
Will try to check email, but no guarantee.
Texting may work better than call for first contact.
Have no call waiting, due to stupid phone company.
Nine zero one four five four, eighteen hundred.
Leaving Memphis today.
Manual shift.
No drugs.

[Canoe]

If you head straight West then North from Las Vegas, that's 2,000 miles!
Same if you head North then through Salt Lake, but with more hills (Utah, Nevada)?

Online estimator gives that 29 hours of driving...

I hope you find a co-driver.

[gyre]

I-80 is a far better route.
I've tried other options.

How do you mean straight west?
There is really no direct route from here.
I'm open to a new idea, but the routes that look good are more stressful.
Haven't been faster.

[Canoe]

Just what a distance calculator showed.

[gyre]

It's a horrible route.
On advice from others I've never driven the route from Las Vegas north, but drove the rest of it last time.
Heavy traffic, bad roads.
Oklahoma and Ark are hilly in places too.
Mountains in places.
Lots of city traffic.
Hotter!!!!

[GreyCoyote]

Gyre:I am so insanely fooking jealous and happy for you I cant even pee straight! Drive safe and speak my name at the feet of the Mans ashes.

Happy trails!

[gyre]

Thanks!
Had planned to leave two weeks ago.

[GreyCoyote]

so..... GO!!! Get the fook off eplaya, point the nose West, and put the hammer down!

Pictures or it didnt happen, ya Bum. Hehehe

[gyre]

Eating and posting last rideshare posts.
100 degrees here.
About to finish loading up.

[gyre]

Enroute the cat split in two.
Couldn't get it fixed on the road.
Had to come back.
Fuck.

You can delete this thread.

[GreyCoyote]

I read "Cat split in two" and immediately thought you and something furry had a falling-out over who got to drive first. Then I read it again.

Nuclear bummer. How far did you make it before things went bad?

[gyre]

Into Missouri.
About 400 miles.
Incredibly loud now and won't run right, of course.
Really hard to get anything done this weekend.

[Canoe]

As an example, a long ways away from you, Reilly's in Fernley was open all through the long weekend last year. Economical to bolt something on yourself? Or do you have better sources as of Tuesday?

[gyre]

Open where I was, no stock.
Very difficult job on the road.
A lot of labor.
No shop would do what I wanted due to rules, though a split cat isn't exactly smog free.
Best option was to remove shield and weld or pack with devcon.
So badly split, no way to tell if it could work until accessed.

Weekend, so no industrial supply open until tuesday anywhere.
Devcon is a steel or titanium putty.

Found shops that would weld it, but a few hundred to see if it would even work.
No time open at any shop near me.
Just fucked.

Also common for issues with exhaust studs.
Have to remove a crossmemember too, to remove the section.
Hard job on a rack.

[Thecatman]

Damn gyre.
Just read this thread. Sorry you didn't make it.
I'm no Mr. Goodwrench so how does that happen.
My 95 Ford 1/2 ton with a 300ci (4.9l) has the original exhaust.

[gyre]

Thanks, Catman.
Very, very frustrating.
The truck is still loaded in the driveway.
I can kick the exhaust and close it up enough to be okay until I hit a bump just right.

That inline six, great engine.
My exhaust is all original.
The muffler seems fine.
There are no proper flex joints in the system, to save money.
This is the main cause of exhaust system failure in cars without them.
There is a center flange that is supposed to flex slightly, but no fix.
So the cat becomes a stressed part of the system.
I think it was damaged by heat, then stressed and cracked.
Or heat could have cracked it.
Too much fuel through the cat, usually caused by failure to change plugs, is the usual culprit.
The gaps were insanely wide when I got it.

I'm having a hell of a time finding out how the cat really works on my truck.
No salvage yard will sell me a used one, and the aftermarket ones are inferior.
I can't even find out if the engine will stay in tune without it.
There is a sensor before and after the cat.
One explanation is that the one before it regulates engine tune.
The one after is for the check engine light and CEL, but no engine tune effect.
Other versions say different.
Seems to be an OBDII setup.
There are warnings about matching the cat properly.
I have no smog inspection here, so just want it to run properly.
Can't be worse than now.

I have to unbolt the manifold near the engine, and the center flange.
Neither has been off since it was built.
I just ordered some aerokroil to get the bolts loose.
Also have to remove a crossmember to remove it.
I hope to add a flex joint while I'm at it too.
I'll probably have to add some hangers then, as well.
Removes a lot of vibration though, and prevents stress failures.
Removes a lot of harsh noise.
It may be possible to weld the cat once it's off the truck.

All kinds of info on the V8s for tuning.
I'm having trouble getting specific details on the four.

If anyone has any information on how the feedback loop interacts with the cat, I'm interested.

[gyre]

My 95 Ford 1/2 ton with a 300ci (4.9l) has the original exhaust.

I have the 2.3 litre four cylinder in a ranger.

I'm developing a lot of affection for my old van which I think lacks cats.
351W, C6 and a nine inch rear end.
I've had a frustrating filler leak, but it's time to get it back on the road.

[Thecatman]

Illegally taken catalytic converters are supposedly hot items for scrappers/recyclers.

That inline six, great engine.

Yeah, unfortunately Ford discontinued it a few years back. Such a popular engine, I'm guessing parts should be available for years to come.
I replaced the original clutch in it last year at 139,000+ miles. Actually the pressure plate was bad. The clutch disc had about 10% or so of wear remaining before the (rivets) would contact the pressure plate surface. It was all apart so I replaced everything: pilot bushing, TO bearing, transfer case fluid etc.



Now a heater core before winter.