Traveling with your Skyline

[Gibson]

I completed a 3,000-km trip through Idaho, Washington, B.C. and back to Calgary last September with the sole purpose of finding good driving roads. I loved every second of it, and found some roads I'm itching to go back to. Cheap gas through the states too! Although I paid for it in Whistler

As for maintenance, I did all fluids and a four-wheel alignment before I went. Other than that, I knew my car was solid and wasn't worried, although it did develop a strong smell of transmission fluid inside as the trip went on. I think the top seal is going. My sedan is a '97 though, so fairly new compared a lot of landed Skylines.

I was actually the most worried about the border crossing but it was totally OK. Border guard was a bit confused by the right-hand drive though.

Link to my route below. You'll notice I branch off in a few places: Schweitzer, Idaho; Mt Baker, Washington; and Sun Peaks, Kamloops - all mountain roads. My favourite was Route 97 through Idaho though - very twisty, low traffic and gorgeous scenery. The road between Pemberton and Lillooet in B.C. gave it a run for its money, though. ALSO, you should know that if you're going to be around Jasper, you NEED to drive the Miette hot springs road. It's fantastic.

https://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=calgary&daddr=50.6442211%2C-115.9774847+to%3A48.360416%2C-116.614864+to%3ASandpoint%2C+ID%2C+United+States+to%3A47.5343867%2C-116.788214+to%3ASt.+Maries%2C+ID%2C+United+States+to%3A47.5464295%2C-120.2568284+to%3ARedmond%2C+WA%2C+United+States+to%3A48.848225%2C-121.692324+to%3AChilliwack%2C+BC+to%3AWhistler%2C+BC+to%3ASun+Peaks%2C+BC+to%3ACalgary%2C+AB&hl=en&ll=48.487486%2C-117.026367&spn=5.86964%2C15.325928&sll=48.026672%2C-118.536987&sspn=2.961115%2C7.662964&geocode=Fc3jCgMdi5wz-SnVP4SfA3BxUzE6tlK2sTttJg%3BFf3EBAMd9FIW-Smv4ytKLXB6UzFiv5AcBP8FEQ%3BFeDr4QIdMJkM-SmTgAIQLM5jUzEJs6YVDhmWYQ%3BFW6k4AId4IkN-SlBRf8tM9FjUzF7cenP6zRUqw%3BFTJR1QIdCvQJ-SlxCd2W781hUzE98O8sVGHLOQ%3BFbL10QIdFGUN-Sm3cgcZGiRgUzHg-Bn7Ziluvg%3BFT2A1QIdxAbV-Ckl61J62LebVDFFFJoS_PLhwg%3BFYRy1wId2JK4-Ckj7gAgrQyQVDHyBNjF6pADXg%3BFWFd6QIdXB-_-A%3BFTQX7gIdFSu7-Cmn8-l1nT-EVDEwovnSbzhJHQ%3BFeC2_AId1NGr-CmHe5UDsjyHVDH2z_V16EG3Sg%3BFRNUCAMdAlHa-Cmvf2z1a7J_UzF7JyC8COl2cQ%3BFc3jCgMdi5wz-SnVP4SfA3BxUzE6tlK2sTttJg&t=h&mra=dpe&mrsp=6&sz=8&via=1%2C2%2C4%2C6&z=7

Mt. Baker, Washington



B.C.


Schweitzer, Idaho

[TheHire]

Keep up on all your scheduled maintenance.

Take it to your mechanic and have him look over the car before your trip.

Look up Skyline / modified vehicle mechanics and suppliers that are along your route. If you end up needing a tow or service, you'll know immediately your next course, and won't be scrambling to look this up on the fly.

CAA+ or other roadside service that gives you above average free towing distance.

A bit of extra cash on your credit card in case repairs are required.

Stock up on octane boosters that contain MMT, these are the only octane boosters that work, and they work very well! MMT is a form of magnesium that makes a great lead substitute. If your octane booster does not contain gobs of MMT, it will do absolutely nothing. The best one is Torco Accelerator, it can boost 87 octane to 91 octane very easily, and 91 octane to 93 or 94. One of the NOS formulas contains significant amounts MMT as well, the racing one, not the street one. There are some that say the magnesium in MMT fouls plugs and clogs cats... Though there are many that claim its perfectly fine. I'd like to think the truth is somewhere inbetween.

[Special_K]

hmm, I was using NOS octane booster when I couldn't find 94. I had a hunch this caused my fouled plugs. The plugs I had at the time were some crazy greddy racing plugs and they apparently foul easily too. Probably would have been fine if I didn't put in the booster and kept out of high boost

[TheHire]

Could be.

Did the plugs have orange deposits on them?

[Dragon Humper]

Complete waste of money...Tolulene is 1/8 the price and works almost as good with no deposits. I ran a Dodge 2.2l with no intercooler and 24lbs of boost with nothing but 94 and 1 litre tolulene per tank....2 litres if it was hot out.



Jon.

[nick-nismo]

I don't understand why you guys are even running octane boosters. Do you really trust that it's going to help boost octane over the knock threshold? If you can't find the gas your car is tuned on, don't go chasing limiter on hi boost, it's simple.

[Dragon Humper]

Now where's the fun in that.....




Jon.

[TheHire]

Complete waste of money...Tolulene is 1/8 the price and works almost as good with no deposits. I ran a Dodge 2.2l with no intercooler and 24lbs of boost with nothing but 94 and 1 litre tolulene per tank....2 litres if it was hot out.



Jon.

This past summer of 2013, when I was working for an extended period in an isolated area with no 94. The Torco Accelerator with MMT shipped, was a lot cheaper than the Toluene available locally.

I've heard the price and availability of Toluene has been getting worse, cause its used in the production of Meth. Lol. Dunno how true that is.

Both MMT and Toluene are already used by the fuel companies in Canada, in all the premium gasolines. Though in some countries they've banned MMT in gasoline for health reasons.

So both compounds are viable options to boost octane. You can go with whatever is cheaper in your area.




There's a lot of good information in the 14 pages of the below thread:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=420798&page=3

[Dragon Humper]

Torco Accelerator is $17 a gallon?



Jon.

[nick-nismo]

This past summer of 2013, when I was working for an extended period in an isolated area with no 94. The Torco Accelerator with MMT shipped, was a lot cheaper than the Toluene available locally.

I've heard the price and availability of Toluene has been getting worse, cause its used in the production of Meth. Lol. Dunno how true that is.

Both MMT and Toluene are already used by the fuel companies in Canada, in all the premium gasolines. Though in some countries they've banned MMT in gasoline for health reasons.

So both compounds are viable options to boost octane. You can go with whatever is cheaper in your area.




There's a lot of good information in the 14 pages of the below thread:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...=420798&page=3

wow those guys seem to be having some good results with the stuff, interesting.