6000 miles in a festiva

[Gforcefd]

So I will be driving my new white festiva 6000 miles at the end of June and begining of July on a road trip out west and back to NY. Is there anything you all would suggest doing before my trip?

Should I repack the bearings right before the trip, or not touch them if they are fine?
Change hoses that seem fine, or bring extra just incase?

We are going to cover Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah mostly, camping most of the time too. I will take the typical tools, but any advice would be great.

Logan

[TominMO]

Road trip

My basic rule of thumb is to check everything that could leave me stuck, and change anything I am even slightly unsure about. Hoses, belts, thermostat, change the oil/filter, bring oil and any spares I think I might need; tuneup; air up the tires; have a real spare not a spacesaver; tools needed to change the tire. Bring a decent tool kit. I would definitely check and repack the rear bearings if you haven't already done them yourself. I bring a full 1 gallon gas can too, usually to help people who ran out of gas.

Changing stuff like hoses is generally a lot easier and more convenient before the trip. If you don't have a real spare tire and are coming thru St. Louis, I will give you one.

[ejp2fast]

Bring as much stuff as you have reasonable room for. Out west are some desolate areas, so the more the better. Rear bearings are quick to repack. Also, a gallon of H2O, especially during summer. If you haven't done a tune-up recently, may be a good time for that. Happy Motoring!

[Gforcefd]

I have done this trip once before 9 years ago, but I was in a very confortable 96 Bonneville. This time I am taking the white beast, and I just want to see if there is anything I am not thinking of. Good info keep it coming.

[ejp2fast]

You need those custom seats that packrat427 recently bought from Levitan out of Rolla's car! Those bad boys are COMFORTABLE! I got to sit in them

[Gforcefd]

The seats in my white car (92) are way more comfortable than the ones in my old yellow car (89). But I think that is because they are way more broken in. A set of aspire seats would be nice though :-)

[25Horseplay]

Install A/C.

[muscle_Car1]

^ what he said

[Gforcefd]

haha. I should take the AC out of my sisters festiva, but she may notice.

[jglutz]

If the car is well/frequently maintained nothing should be a problem.

If you want to re-pack bearings...do it in advance...don't wait to the last minute...they can last a couple of days before the mistakes you made show up.

Plan on and oil change...3K miles max for me.

Alot of RV-er's have one of those little flashlight size pumps that sucks oil out of the dip stick...every 1K miles or every other day or so...they suck 1 quart of oil out of the engine into an empty oil bottle then dump a fresh bottle in leaving a new empty for nex time.

[Gforcefd]

I will probably stop somewheres around denver and get a oil change before I head back. The car was just put on the road. I have replaced the transmission, will be doing a full aspire swap with new tie rods ball joints, pads, etc... Might as well repack everything. I am hoping to take the car on a couple shorter 200-300 mile trips before I make the trip. Hopefully problems will show up then instead of 3000 miles away.

[spiko]

I really want to road trip in my Festiva too

[Gforcefd]

This is definetely going to be a endurance test. If we were staying hotels every night of the 15 days it would be okay, but camping (which I love) will make the trip more difficult. But it should still be fun. I haven't been out to Montana for 9 years and that was the best trip of my life. I am hoping my wife finds it as beautiful as I did/do.

[TominMO]

seat

Go to Wal-Mart and buy an inexpensive chair cushion. I always put one on my car seat for long trips.

[Levitan]

Alot of RV-er's have one of those little flashlight size pumps that sucks oil out of the dip stick...every 1K miles or every other day or so...they suck 1 quart of oil out of the engine into an empty oil bottle then dump a fresh bottle in leaving a new empty for nex time.

That just seems so very, very smart! I'm speculating that the reason is that you are keeping , at least, some fresh oil in at all times.