My dad and I would like to thank Rudy Bidlack and his family for stopping to help us at a rest area near Columbus, IN on northbound I-65 yesterday. We had stopped there just to take a look under the hood and make sure everything was OK. The coolant temp was running a bit high in the 90 degree heat ...not any higher than on the way down, but I thought it might be a good idea just to check. Sure enough, my Black Magic electric fan felt funny turning it by hand and when I turned on the ignition, it was turning way too slowly and something was smoking (I believe it was the control box on the fan). Just when I thought we were stuck, here comes Rudy with his trailer filled with goodies we could use to get outta this jam. He graciously allowed me to work under the canopy on his trailer and loaned me the use of his plastic fan from his car so we could make it home. I am grateful to be associated with such a great group of people...I hope that someday I can be the one to help someone else out of a jam and it isn't always my car that is falling apart! One of these Roundups I'll get it right! Of course the A/C clutch started slipping again (ended up taking the idler pulley off anyway to get the fan to fit) and we had to run most of the way with the windows down....and to top it off I lost the driver's side chrome above the windshild on I-65 somewhere...*sigh* A good thing that came of this is that with the plastic fan and no shroud the car runs pretty cool, and starts and idles great. The fan must've been failing for awhile and somehow the large current draw was fudging up my EFI. I don't know exactly why my $200 electric fan failed (it is about 3 years old), but I seriously think that I will chuck the electric fan altogether and get a low-cost plastic fan like Rudy's and put the old shroud back on. Anyway, my dad and I had a great time at the Roundup this year...it was a helluva lot of fun hanging around in the parking lot every evening shootin' the breeze...the cars are the common thread that brought us all together, but the people are what keeps everyone coming back, for sure. (uhhhh...looks like the date got reset in my camera...DOH! )
I feel your pain my electric fan quit at the Saturday night cruise sitting in traffic. I was able to turn around and find an alternate route that was moving. Glad you made it home OK after the events and to Rudy to stop and help. I agree there are great people in the Maverick/Comet community.
Wow Mark , you musta felt like the Lone Ranger had arrived. Glad it worked out. Was great seeing you and meeting your Dad. Dan
this was a good thing you did Rudy :Handshake did you see the ...parts car... M.A.V. had on his trailer? he brought it in case i had any problems . he is a great friend ...Mikes friend frank...
It was a pleasure meeting you too, Stefan. I still can't believe when I first met you it didn't click that you were the "Big Cheese" I must have spent too many hours on the road or something..I mean, how many Stefans are there in our group?! It really is different to actually meet people face to face and hang out rather than just thru posts on the Internet, isn't it? I hope you will be able to make it to future Roundups!
It's always diffrent. So far, not one of the 15+ people I have met off of here were anything like what I had in my head judgeing by their posts. Well, maybe except Frank.
I'm glad everything worked out good for you Mark. You've got a very impressive car. Kudos for Rudy for helping out...he really is a great guy. Oh yeah, Rudy's car is equally impressive. It really makes me wanna try the 351W swap.
