Blog Entry #9 August 31, 2013 – Grand Tetons National Park

We left our cabin west of Cody, Wyoming and traveled 30 miles further west to the east entrance of Yellowstone National Park and then south down the eastern side of the lower loop road toward Grand Teton National Park.

As we proceeded southward through Grand Teton National Park we could see the Teton mountains off to our right – looked just like the photographs.  Huge walls of jagged stone seemingly jutting straight up out of the ground.  The sharp transition from relatively flat lowlands in the foreground to the tall peaks in the background accentuates their majesty.

Our younger daughter had arranged lodging in a house near Jackson, Wyoming, a few miles south of the Park.  She and her family were flying out from Raleigh, NC to spend 6 days with us exploring the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

The last leg of the trip to our lodging took us down a narrow two lane road that deteriorated into a potholed dirt road for a couple of miles before returning to pavement.  I ordinarily enjoy driving this kind of terrain; however, being 2,500 miles from home I was a little uncomfortable with the thought that we might shake something loose navigating the bumps.

(I was happy that I installed an original type spring loaded float needle valve in the Jeep’s YF carburetor.  From my experience with the solid type needle, I think it would never have handled the bouncing around without allowing overfilling the carburetor bowl creating engine roughness or stall-out)

After some lunch in Jackson, Wyoming, Jean and I retrieved the house key from the management company, unloaded our luggage at the house and went into Jackson to buy some groceries for the incoming horde which includes 3 young growing boys.

Kids showed up around 6pm in good shape and hungry after a day’s drive from Salt Lake City.  Tacos and beans did the trick.

Jeep continues to run smoothly since I changed out the condenser for the third time and filed the points – not planning to even pop the distributor cap unless the engine acts up.

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Approaching the Grand Tetons from the northeast

 

8-31-13 Approaching the Grand Tetons


8-31-13 Road less traveled to lodging near the Tetons

 

Blog entry #8 August 28 to 30, 2013 – Thermopolis to Yellowstone
Blog Entry #10 September 1 & 2, 2013 – Grand Tetons National Park (continued)

2 Responses to “Blog Entry #9 August 31, 2013 – Grand Tetons National Park”

  1. Helen Cuccaro says:

    just beautiful pictures so far!!! Enjoy yourselves – you deserve it.

  2. Ted says:

    Dan – good to hear most of your problems with the Willys have been minor since you left Kentucky.

    Your prematurely pitted points problem is most odd. The most likely causes are:
    1. a defective condenser, or one that’s the incorrect value,
    2. cheap-o points (use premium quality vented points if possible) or too-narrow point gap,
    3. wrong resistance or wrong coil – using a coil that doesn’t have an internal resistor when you need one, or wrong value ignition resistor,
    4. a significant change in the length of the primary wire from distributor to coil,
    5. debris (usually grease or oil) contaminating the point contacts. Did you over-grease the distributor cam?

    Regarding #5 – if in doubt, clean the point mounting surface and distributor cam thoroughly with electrical contact cleaner, wipe clean, and repeat. Then, apply a thin film of cam lubricant with your finger. No build-up and no blobs of grease allowed.

    My Motors manual lists .025 plug gap, .020 point gap, and .20-.25 microfarad condenser for your Willys. Haven’t found a spec or the ignition resistor in ohms yet, so I can’t help you on that.

    Note that condensers/capacitors have inconsistent nomenclature – uF or mfd both mean microfarad. (you’d think mfd would be millifarad, but you’d be wrong.)

    Beyond that – you’re seeing the most beautiful scenery in the lower 48, so enjoy the trip!