Upon arrival at the ferry terminal we see Marcus and his 73 waiting patiently with two Alpha Romeo's. I pull into my line and am happy to see 17 PSI on the oil pressure guage just before I shut down. I guess that new oil payed off. One more thing to be happy about. The ferry loaded up and we all met up in the lounge for some automotive chat. Before we knew it we were at the Tsawassen terminal and the rain. After a quick gas up it was off to North Vancouver with the Alpha guys in the lead(They were the only ones who knew were they were going). The car started to accelerate to criusing speed. 1000RPM mmmmm 1500 waaaa 2000 sputter sputter 1500 waaa 2000 sputter sputter. Ok this is a little annoying. "Mark, check the computer. Find out what the hell is going on."
Every time the car surges we are both jerked back in the seats only to have the car fall on its face almost instantly. Its uncomfortabe not to mention a little abusive on the tranny. Give the car some throttle and it pulls like ape but cruise just isnt happening. I remember reading something about this on the internet. After a quick settings change still no love. I guess we are just going to have to live with it for now. At this point I am a little disapointed and slightly angry.
Twenty minutes later we are rolling into downtown Vancouver. The car is doing ok now as there isnt much cruising going on from stoplight to stoplight and as long as I keep it below 2000 she's happy. My mood is starting to improve as I am listening to my cars rumble echoing off the tall buildings. All of a sudden THWUP THWUP THWUP THWUP. I have heard this before. It sounds a lot like that time last year when I blew my alternator belt. Sure enough 1 minute later the voltage starts sinking as the battery loses its residual charge voltage. Ok definitely should have stayed home. I traded a monster truck show with my son on fathers day for this!! Well we are almost there might as well keep going. The rest of the trip went smoothly and we pulled into Lonsdale Quay park around 10AM. There were a handful of ferraris there already and as well as some Alphas, Maseratis and some other very small cars Im not too familiar with. Glad to finally be here we exit the car and watch all of the other cars arrive. By about noon the park was filling up Wes, Herman and Pat showed up with their cars as well as John from Seattle with his daughter. The show was enjoyable and my morale was improving. The car netted a lot of interest and Im sure you have all been there where you stand to the side and listen to the comments unbeknownst to the onlookers that you are the owner. Quite fun I think.
The day dwindles away and people start heading home. As it comes to our turn a crowd gathers to listen to the car leave. Please start please start please start. reereereereereeree........reereereereeree ,pop, pop wooom blub blub blub.
Ahhhhhhh. Now I just have to make it somewhere to change the belt. Marcus finds a nice gas station to hide behind. 10 minutes interior out, 10 minutes belt changed, 10 minutes interior back in. Damn im getting good at that. Lots of practice I suppose. Quick start shows voltage and we are off. Getting used to the surging. Figure there is nothing I can do about it now. I guess I will just have to keep my foot in it a bit more. Easy fix. As we round the corner to the Lions Gate bridge I am confronted by a most horrible and unwelcome sight that I never usually have to deal with....Vancouver traffic. It is bumper to bumper as far as the eye can see and stop and go. Needless to say the drive back through town was infuriating. Stop and go traffic up hills where you have three choices with my clutch setup. Stall the car (2 or three times)burn the clutch (countless) or spin the tires(3 or 4 times with nasty looks). There was a bright side though. My temps nor pressures never exceeded the norm and I set off several car alarms on the way 
. After traffic was cleared the drive was almost enjoyable. It was nice following Marcus on the way back as he stayed mostly under my 2000 RPM threshold. The ferry loaded up again and we were on our way home. Eager to be back on the island. We head up to the lounge to have a bite. A passer by notices my Pantera shirt and strikes up a conversation. Panteras are his one of his favorite cars he says. Imagine his excitement when we inform him of the two sitting in tandem down on the car deck. While sitting for lunch I decide to have a look at my efi tuning to see if I can figure out what the problem is. Yup, that looks good, yup that too, Whats this? Mark didnt you turn this setting off?? Yup I thought so. Looks like my computer is on the fritz again. After managing to get the settings changed we head down to the car deck to make sure we can get them loaded into the car before we arrive at the terminal. The car seems to take the new settings. Great!
The ferry starts to unload when we arrive at the Victoria side. All lanes except ours that is. Looks like there is a stalled vehicle at the head of our line. The deck officer waves Marcus and I off first. On the way out of the terminal I slowly bring the car up too cruise not expecting much. To my surprise the car runs flawlessly. Evidently those settings took. Marcus closes the gap and once again we are surprised when we round the corner onto the highway. That stalled vehicle gave the traffic time to clear. We are now looking at two mostly clear lanes. Seems like an opportune time to run through the first three gears. MMMMMMM that feels good. A quick turn about and we are on our way to Marcus's house. Marcus takes the lead and gets a little loose on the corner leading back onto the highway. I guess Im not the only one enjoying this. We catch the red light at the head of the road. Patiently waiting I pray no one turns onto the road ahead of us. Our luck holds and we are allowed a spirited drive down the windy road to the house.
After a quick tour its time to say goodbye to Marcus. Mark and I climb back into #6214 and start final stretch home. We decide to take the back roads to stretch the cats legs some more. The car is running great and I am positively elated. As we pull up to the house I notice the garage is already open and waiting. Did I mention how wonderful my wife is? We park the beast and Mark takes his leave. Back in the house I plop down on the couch. There is a grin from ear to ear as I think of how wonderful of a day I have had. What about the engine problems or the traffic or the rain you might ask??? They were all forgotten in the first 5 minutes of being off the ferry. What is it about these cars that does that to a person. At one point I regretted taking my car out of the garage in the morning. Now I am thinking its one of the best days Ive had. I must be going crazy.
Blaine
