Road trip ahead? Me too! I signed up for the Hot Rod Power Tour a couple of months ago. Meanwhile, Mike Snelling at Mid Valley Restorations pulled the body off the frame of my 66 to replace the 38 year old fuel line and brake line - while my car was in his shop for its (every) 15 year paint job.
When the paint is dry, I will reinstall the instrument cluster and the stereo, get the wheels aligned, reinstall the interior, and put back the spare tire tub - which is where trip prep begins….
In the spare tire, I carry a 65 watt halogen headlamp (hard to find, and lose one every year to rock chips), water pump (used to crack 1 or 2 a year until I switched to the 73 Corvette pump), and a spare electric fuel pump ($25 insurance policy against the mechanical pump problem I had in Jackson Hole 10 years ago).
Storage tub trip gear: I take a spare set of plugs, the points I replaced with Pertronix, a 1/4 drive socket set with spark plug socket adapter, wiper inserts (that I replaced last), belts (that I replaced last), overalls, 4way screwdriver, crescent wrench, spare stop lamp and backup lamp bulbs, fuses, extinguisher, CB, flashlight, multimeter, jumper cables, jumper wire, small shop manual, wiper arm tool, door handle tool, spare air shock lines and fittings, and a tire pressure guage. I ALWAYS carry all that - not just on trips - it fits in the covered storage areas (with the jack).
Usually, 2 pullman suitcases, fanny packs, and hiking boots take up the area behind the convertible top. Add 2 passengers, and the rear spring puts the headlamps in the trees, unless you have air shocks - and I do. I normally run them at 25-30 psi, but with a passenger and luggage, 80psi.
I carry a small (1 AA cell) flashlight in the glove box, 6 audio cassettes, spare (unprogrammed) alarm fob, and a list of what is in which storage tub (so I don't have to root around in the dark looking for a tool). The 2.5 pound halon extinguisher is in the storage area behind the passenger seat. An old roll of duct tape is flattened and jammed behind the LH decklid spring shield.
After a winter of wrenching on the car I take it grocery shopping a lot, until I am brave enough to take my wife out for a 30-40 mile ride on Sunday. After that, if I do a 150-250 mile trip, and nothing comes loose, the car is pronounced roadworthy.
Added equipment is the intermittent wiper switch (hanging under the column), and a cruise control, which I am replacing with a 16 year newer version this year - I hope that the newer ones can take the A-C heat under the hood better than the old one did. Cruise control is nice for 10-12 hour days in the saddle while you eat ice cream cones and watch the scenery go by at 80mph. I have stainless mud flaps, lined with rubber, clipped to the fender flanges (no drilled holes) on all four wheels. The front ones have a hole drilled through them for a long bolt that passes through a tube spacer, to replace the outside fenderwell bolt for the (triangular) filler panel. The spacer keeps the flap off the paint and does all the support work. I get tired of touching up rock chips, and I just bought a couple of Cleartastic rear quarter shields to help out the new paint at the rear.
Last but not least, the headrests of my Recaro orthopedic seats (that my stereo speakers reside in) each have a vinyl storage bag hanging from the back of them for road maps and a zip lock bag with a modified gas cap in it. My old gas cap lost its seal, and I saved it - so when I encountered one of those nasty big city gas pumps that recover vapor - I dug it out, and drilled a hole through the middle of it the size of current filler necks. I swap caps at vapor recovery pumps, and save my hand from gas smells and sheet metal cuts - like I got the first time I tried to pump gas without such a modified cap. Zip up the smell when done.
Pump the tires to within a pound or two of the max rating on the sidewalls. That improves the mileage, lowers tire heat, and improves your chances of avoiding expressway obstacles at high speed - without a tour of the median or a ditch.
Keep the wheel side down - Dave
