Dave McLaren
08-23-2005, 12:34 AM
We took the 540 instead of my original plan to take a rental. Nothing like a lot of torque to jet along the 101 and make mincemeat of the steep hills in San Francisco. The gearbox was still sticky/stiff when cold, but shifting is smooth once warmed up.
We got off to a rocky start, though, with a weird tire problem. Loaded up the car early in the morning, backed out, and found zero air pressure in the back left tire. Crap!
Fired up the air compressor and it damn near seized up. God dammit! OK, how about that skinny hand pump for sports balls? Too damned hard. Pull out all the luggage, swap the spare in. Now the damned garage door won't close! Figured out the compressor in seize mode had tripped the circuit breaker, reset it and closed the freakin' door. Headed to the Firestone shop where I get my S-03s. I buy locally now for convenience, and Bridgestone is a brand of Firestone. Nice to have somebody down the street to take care of me in a pinch.
The tech fills up the tire, fully submerges it in the tank, and - whoa! - no leaks, even at nearly 60 lbs pressure! I ask for the stem insert to be replaced, just in case that somehow screwed up overnight in the garage. The tire was fine the day before, and besides, if I had a slow leak and didn't notice, the tire would have self-destructed the evening before coming home from the office. No, the thing completely deflated over night.
We ran the pressures high, at about 40 front and and 48 in the rear, to help make sure the tire bead seats extra tight. No problems after that.
After the little setback, the trip was fun. Plenty of interesting cars were driving, or on trailers, on the way up to the Pebble Beach Concours. On the way back, I passed a couple primo CS coupes. I believe one of them was the Fjord Blue one with the superb restoration we've seen covered in the magazines in the past year or two; you know, the one with the Alpina wheels, better-than-new leather, and, if memory serves me, an M6 motor. The other CS was a very nice black one.
All in all, a nice trip.
Dave
We got off to a rocky start, though, with a weird tire problem. Loaded up the car early in the morning, backed out, and found zero air pressure in the back left tire. Crap!
Fired up the air compressor and it damn near seized up. God dammit! OK, how about that skinny hand pump for sports balls? Too damned hard. Pull out all the luggage, swap the spare in. Now the damned garage door won't close! Figured out the compressor in seize mode had tripped the circuit breaker, reset it and closed the freakin' door. Headed to the Firestone shop where I get my S-03s. I buy locally now for convenience, and Bridgestone is a brand of Firestone. Nice to have somebody down the street to take care of me in a pinch.
The tech fills up the tire, fully submerges it in the tank, and - whoa! - no leaks, even at nearly 60 lbs pressure! I ask for the stem insert to be replaced, just in case that somehow screwed up overnight in the garage. The tire was fine the day before, and besides, if I had a slow leak and didn't notice, the tire would have self-destructed the evening before coming home from the office. No, the thing completely deflated over night.
We ran the pressures high, at about 40 front and and 48 in the rear, to help make sure the tire bead seats extra tight. No problems after that.
After the little setback, the trip was fun. Plenty of interesting cars were driving, or on trailers, on the way up to the Pebble Beach Concours. On the way back, I passed a couple primo CS coupes. I believe one of them was the Fjord Blue one with the superb restoration we've seen covered in the magazines in the past year or two; you know, the one with the Alpina wheels, better-than-new leather, and, if memory serves me, an M6 motor. The other CS was a very nice black one.
All in all, a nice trip.
Dave