March 25, 2021
My wife, brother, and I had wanted to take a road trip to see the Redwood Forests in California for a while. In March, we finally found time to check that off the bucket list. Since the Turbo had now been rock solid for a month, I convinced them that we should take it! Unfortunately for them, they agreed.
With the fastest route, it would have been just under 10 hours before hitting Crescent City, California, so we decided we'd camp there before heading south on Highway 101 to the thick of the Redwoods. A chunk of this trip was also to enjoy Highway 101 in the Turbo, hence why we went to Crescent City instead of cutting down through Klamath Falls, toward Redding.
Anyway, the route called for us to leave from Boise on I-84 to Ontario, Oregon, where we'd cut off through Vale and Burns on Highway 20, before turning south in Riley and meandering down near Crater Lake to Medford. We decided we'd have dinner in Medford or Grants Pass before continuing on through Cave Junction and into California.
Sounds easy enough, especially in an old K-Jet car with the wiring harness falling apart.
Early on March 25th, we loaded up the trunk and roof basket, packed the spare Virgo, and set off... in the dark, cold, rain. Ironically, the heater decided not to work that morning, so it was miserable from the beginning. Oh, and I forgot to tell my wife and brother that my sunroof leaked... a lot.
We traveled about 30 minutes before running into our first hurdle, just beyond Caldwell, Idaho: a flat tire. No biggie, because I packed that spare Virgo.
From there, the car did great. On the rolling hills with full luggage and an 80MPH speed limit, the Turbo's overdrive and turbocharger went to great use, easily keeping up with modern traffic. We crossed into Oregon and the trip was beginning to look optimistic!
However, we started running into trouble in Burns, Oregon. When we parked for fuel and coffee, I noticed a considerable amount of smoke coming out from the engine bay - yikes! I opened the hood to see a completely ruptured valve cover gasket spewing oil down the side of the engine, onto the exhaust and turbocharger. Nowhere in Burns had a valve cover gasket, so I had to improvise with some RTV gasket maker. Did it work? Not really, but the leak had slowed. So, onward we marched. The K-Jet was handling the elevation changes flawlessly, and aside from the lowering springs being a little harsh on bumps, it was a comfy ride. Between Burns and Riley, I lost the glass from my driver-side mirror, lame.
When we refueled in Silver Lake, the oil leak had returned, this time MUCH worse. Again, I improvised with some RTV gasket maker. This time, it sealed! We hit some pretty roads when we neared Medford, Oregon and even saw some snow, where we once again missed having a heater.
We stopped for dinner in Medford, and luckily nothing was stolen from the roof basket while we ate and relaxed, leaving the car unattended and street-parked in a seemingly rough part of town. Crossing through Grants Pass, Oregon was a breeze, and we began our final push into California!
Shortly after crossing the California border, the car began to act weird. The throttle was cutting in-and-out, and the turbo was misbehaving significantly. The car was acting as though it was cutting fuel at only 3 or 4 PSI on the turbo, making the hilly, winding roads with a full cargo load extremely difficult. We managed to limp along with our hazard lights until we arrived to our campsite, where we parked, set up camp, and decided to deal with the issues the next day.
, where I confirmed the car easily held boost and would settle into the 115-120MPH range before the RPM's got too spooky. Not bad for a 1983!
