[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] Woman Enjoying Glass of Wine with Friends January 30, 2004

Santa Inez Tour ’07

“A Gearhead Tour”

Woman Enjoying Glass of Wine with Friends January 30, 2004 MCj02958180000[1]

On 28-29 July the Chapter offered a tour of the Santa Ynez Valley including a tour of the newly renovated La Purisima Mission in Lompoc, some really great back road scenic touring, a great BBQ in Sherry and Carlo’s Corvette Museum/Garage and an overnight stay in Santa Maria at the very nice Radisson Hotel with sleep # beds.
First the “good news”! All of the above came to pass plus some great meals at Emma’s in Buellton and Kay’s Country kitchen in Orcutt. The weather was perfect, about 85 degrees with a nice ocean breeze.
Seven C-1’s, one C-5 and one C-6 left Ventura  headed north on 101.
Now the “bad news”!  In Goleta, John Costales asked to stop since he lost his tach, ammeter and the engine was starting to heat up. Obviously a fan belt, right? True, however, the reason was the harmonic balancer came off the crankshaft. All parts were still in the engine compartment but no way to reinstall without major work and it could come off again. The ’57 had no retaining washer and screw. So, a call to AAA and now there were six C-1’s.
Fast forward to Sunday AM at the Radisson. Vic Colello asked for a starting delay since he smelled strong gas fumes. A quick check confirmed the problem. The accelerator pump in his Holley carburetor was pumping all the gas onto the intake manifold rather than into the intake manifold! So, where do you find a Holley carburetor overhaul kit on a Sunday morning at 9:00 in Santa Maria? Ask the native Corvette guru Carlos Vivas! He got on his cell phone and not only found one but had it delivered to the Radisson for the tailgate overhaul party (see photo). At 11:30 we were on our way to breakfast in Orcutt.
After a stop in Los Olivas for Antique shopping and lunch, we continued on towards Santa Barbara over 154 and Lake Cachuma. To avoid the traffic on 101 in Santa Barbara we chose route 192 along the foothills in Santa Barbara. This is a great Corvette road with lots of turns and small hills and valley’s. It required a lot of shifting and Ray Kings ’58 lost the lock key in his 4th gear linkage and was stuck in 4th gear. So, the resident gear heads sprang into action again on a narrow road at a stop sign and went to work (see photo). It took several try’s to jack the car in a safe location and align the linkage before it was up and running again. We continued on 192 and onto the 101 and home without any more “events”.
It was a fun weekend and we all got to know each other and hope to do another event with the same new friends. Full credit goes to the wives and friends of all the “gear heads” for being so patient with us as we diagnosed and repaired our aging true loves (editor comment…Bruce did not elaborate on the phrase “aging true loves”).  It takes a special person to be a gear head mate!
Gear head Roster;
Andy / Sigrid Bressler – ‘57
Vic / Anita Colello- ‘61
John / Judy Costales-‘57  (DNF)
Bruce / Janice Fuhrman- ‘54
Greg / Helia Gomez-‘07
Ray / Chris King- ’58
Larry Pearson-’60   (Navigator Darold Shirow)
Randy / Diane Solle – ’02
Tom / Pat Souza ‘57
Carlos / Sherry Vivas- ’58
 During this overnight tour several C1 related Incident’s occurred which are outlined below.
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Incident #1 – Location: Goleta

The John Costales Harmonic Balancer Problem(A related story is the installs this Harmonic Balancer back on the engine.  See C1 Technical/Tech Topics/Harmonic Balancer on this Web Site)
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Investigation by everyone confirms, the Harmonic Balancer worked its way off the crankshaft and “luckily” laid in the shroud below.  This could have been a lot worse.
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Incident #2 – Sun. Santa Maria, Hotel Parking Lot!

Carburetor Problems
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Vic Colello asked for a starting delay since he smelled strong gas fumes. A quick check confirmed the problem. The accelerator pump in his Holley carburetor was pumping all the gas onto the intake manifold rather than into the intake manifold! So, where do you find a Holley carburetor overhaul kit on a Sunday morning at 9:00 in Santa Maria? Ask the native Corvette guru Carlos Vivas! He got on his cell phone and not only found one but had it delivered to the Radisson for the tailgate overhaul party.
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Incident #3 – Sunday, On the Way Home!4-Speed Shifter Problem

(This problem was followed up with a Tech Session on the Refurbishment of these units.  See

C1 Technical/Tech Sessions/ Tech Session Fall ’07/ Shifter Refurbishment
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 (Above & Below) Ray Kings ’58 lost the lock key in his 4th gear linkage and was stuck in 4th gear. So, the resident gear heads sprang into action again on a narrow road at a stop sign and went to work (see photo). It took several try’s to jack the car in a safe location and align the linkage before it was up and running again.
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Almost Incident #4 – Winery?   Carlos Vivas’s ’58 not starting.IMG_3563_1
Another Almost Incident #5 – ?
“Chapter President Bruce battled his auto trans the whole way up and back, losing reverse and not shifting properly, only to get home and realize he was a quart low on fluid!“ (secret tipster)  Maybe we need a Tech Session here also!

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