Dave, I know you are Jealous!!!
As for cooling, it was awesome!! I swear the system is working better than previously, but I only got one or two bubbles out while burping (although my wife was watching the surge tank while I was on the driver's side squeezing the hose)...SO I am at the mercy of her description of what she was seeing....In other words I really can't quantify how much air came out, might have been very small, might have been significant...?
For the most part, even at 90-100 ambient temps and with the AC on, the temp (at cruising speeds ~ 80 haha) was either straight up at the 190, or closer to the right most thick tic (which I think is 205)...In slower moving traffic the gauge would rise, but only about 1/2 way between the 205 and the next one (235)...
Temps would not touch the 235 ever...Well, with one exception, I was going up a steep hill, very hot out, at about 50-60 mph, AC off, and the temp did hit the 235, and stayed there till I crested the hill...The load on the engine really kept the temp at 235, but that is a long way from the red over at the 250 mark!
I will say (somewhat like the other post on this subject) the only uncomfortable time was in 90-100 degree heat in Santa Barbara, stop and go traffic on the main drag (State street if memory serves) and I was leaving the AC off so as not to stress the system....temp in this case still did not hit the 235, but I thought I would leave the AC off to be sure it did not climb further...In this case I had windows out, hardtop on and rear window in, with full fan, she was really hot in side the snake...
But it made the shortly thereafter beer at the Santa Barbara Brewing Company taste even better!!!
Otherwise, cruising in 5th around 60-70 you realise how slow the rest of the traffic really is...The Snake really wanted to get to 80 so I could comfortably be in 6th....Most of the time I was able to get ahead of the slow pokes, but since alot of 101 is 2 lanes in each direction, there were times when I had no choice but to poke along with the rest of the grannys...Amazing how on a 2 lane side of 101, there will be ~ 20 cars in the fast lane, and about 3 in the slow lane...And the whole shoot'in match only going 60-70...
Makes the snake pilot not very happy...Most of those people are sleeping in the fast lane and need to get OVER!!! arghhhhh....
Overall, other than the heat in Santa Barbara - which was a heat wave for them, the trip was great, 350-400 miles, snake was cool and drew the usual amount of compliments/crowds/questions...
Best mileage was 23.2 mpg, and most of that was with AC on and a good amount of shifting between 5th and 6th moving around slower traffic...
The best will come in my next post, with pics from the resort we stayed at!!!
Tomer
