dumball rally starts wednesday

[ghosthunter242]

after a long awaited festiva purchase and fixin' up, the rally is finally upon us.
the rules are simple; buy, repair, and decorate(theme) a car for under 1,000 bucks. do about a 1000 mile trip taking pictures and collecting items on the way for points. basically a rolling scavenger hunt. there are charities we are hooked up with. we have had car shows and stupid competitions between certain legs of the race. it is nothing but fun and is gruelling but very fun.

this year we are going from just outside of portland, oregon to jackson hole, wyoming. we are going by way of orofino, idaho wednesday night, then to bozeman, montana on thursday night. friday we should be going through the tetons and through yellowstone. the general map is that, but the real maps will not be given out until the day of and during each leg of the rally.

do any of you want me to give updates on our progress and fun if possible? i keep mpg charts and will tell you how badly the car is smoking, burning oil, outlasted a supercharged or nitrous equipped van..

also, this is where i will leave the location of the car if i must abandon it.
i would rather one of you get it, but i think it is gonna make it there and back.
thanks and please wish team scorchers the best!
mark

[ghosthunter242]

more details can be had at dumballrallyusa.com

we have before and after pics of some of the cars.

also we are on facebook. i go by conky samsqantch(yes, that is a trailerpark boys double reference)

mm

[JPT]

Pics.

Take pics, post pics.

Updates too.

[ghosthunter242]

expect 300 to 600 pics.

[resuwrecked]

That sounds like an awesome drive. I've been to that area of the country 2 times and its the best scenery/driving you can find. Idaho, wyoming,colorado, utah, montana, thats a roadtrip I'd love to take with the siva. Looking forward to seeing the pics.

[drddan]

That sounds like an awesome drive/time.

[kartracer46]

Good Luck tomorrow!

[ghosthunter242]

ok, finally have the hotel's internet. filled up once somewhere in oregon. got just under 38 mpg with stupid starts and fast as heck freeway entrances and many stops and starts for the scavenger hunt and photos. then we had a longer run and decided against the 100 mile fill ups and just kept driving into orofino idaho. filled up after checking in the hotel. got almost 39 mpg. fewer stops and starts but lots of mountains.
today onto missoula, challenges, then onto bozeman, montana. apperantly it is very windy and steep. glad i have a stick, but wondering about the 1.3...... info as i can keep it coming. thanks for the interest. i'll post pics in a week or so.
mm

[ghosthunter242]

filled up in lolo? b4 top off 41 mpg...after top off 35. figure the average... running like a top. still leaking oil but level has not dropped. gotta get gas before yellowstone and jackson hole. mph here is 75mph on fwy. car hums along like a champ. car rocks on past 85. i love thos car. little shakey but could be bent rim

[8v fury]

I hope find one soon, so I can join in on the fun.

[ghosthunter242]

we got back into vancouver at 6am this morning. we pretty much drove all day and night from jackson hole wyoming. the rally was amazing, the point system ws very fun and competitive. we got fourth place, which is fine with me since i am not one who cares too much about winning or losing. it was all about the drive, adventure, and fun in a cool car. the best mpg's besides me were probably the 60's falcon which probably got low 20's. the other cars were a bonneville, a leBaron, a van, a regal, am i missing one? whatever, i am beat. the car ran great mostly. i decided to put premium gas in during the rally and the already tolerable idle got downright great.
the oil leak that i had worried about reared it's ugly head about 200-250 miles into the rally. my third bottle of stop leak and one more quart of oil were necessary to keep the dipstick happy. but, after that, about 1700 miles later the dipstick was still on full although there is an obvious leak and oil droppage.
i notated every fill up and miles to work out the mpg's but the fuel log is still in the car with all my other junk i need to remove from it. but, understand, i am not used to 75 mph freeways. the first day fill ups yielded confusing number between auto stop and top-off. auto stop made 41mpg and top-off made 35 mpg.. as the rally went on we filled at the half tank mark usually about 220-250 miles. the usual mpg came out between 41 and 44 mpg. there was the trip through yellowstone into jackson that brought an insane auto stop mpg of 54 and a top off mpg of 51 mpg.
the number that rang true for most of the rally is 41 mpg which is not bad for an inexpensive car that kept up with and led the pack at times. we achieved 41 mpg during an extended 85+ run i have no idea how fast we were going since 85 is as fast as the speedo tells me we were going, but the supercharged bonneville was shocked. the nitrous equipped van was in awe of our passing speeds on the freeway and they could not lose us. i love this car.
on a sad note, we had lost the use of a tire. it bulged out on the inside and made the ride like the tires were oval. so, for about 400 miles we did 50 mph on a doughnut. since my tire connection never came through. other than that the car ran awesome. oh, about that, for the drive home we used 'regular' instead of premium and the idle changed dramatically. pics to come some time in the future.

[ghosthunter242]

http://hilltopphoto.zenfolio.com/dumball/e177d5bb1

[Stig]

dude those pics turned out awesome!!! just got back from my own little road trip to wyoming and back in under 30 hours ugh that sucked..at least the speed limits are 75 over there