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Once again, SyTys@Carlisle has come and all but to quickly passed. It was awesome to see 50+ trucks at an event (been a long time since this community has seen those types of attendance numbers) and like anticipated, it was a weekend of laughs, relaxing, and making memories with both old and new friends.
The Florida crew - (myself, Harmon and Rush) set out at 4am on Wednesday morning with the mindset we'd be cruising easy and arrive with enough time to relax before the event. We hit our rendezvous point perfectly and set the course north towards North Carolina were we would pick up Graham and Mac Snyder at their house and continue to Carlisle. A quick pitstop at the famed "South of the Border" center to gas up ended up not being so quick when the starter on Harmon's Ty decided to act up. We accessed the potential problem, gave the starter a few gentle reminders with a ratchet on its one and only job and away we went down the road.
Little did we know, this was the beginning of the real journey to Carlisle and the end to our hopes of time to relax before the event.
Just about an hour out from Graham and Mac, my truck suddenly surges and starts flashing CELs and bucking, so I quickly pull off to see what it could be. After a few minutes of idling under an overpass and not reading any stored codes, we set back on the road and arrived soon after at the Snyders residence. At that point, we decided to throw a new starter in Harmon's truck and swap the cap/rotor on mine due to I couldnt remember when it was done last. Harmon did a little tuning on Graham's freshly built motor and all 3 trucks set off into the night running a bit later than we wanted, but none the less, on our way.
All seemed well. Then Virginia happened. About 4.5 hours out of Carlisle, Im chasing behind Harmon while Graham is behind me. I suddenly get this weird vibration like im on the rumble strip they make on the side of the road....only, im in the middle of the lane. I let off the gas, bitch on WTF is wrong with Virginia roads and begin to merge over to the right lane to see if it's just the lane in.... vibration sets in again then I hear a stomach dropping crunch and symphony of metal happening under the truck. I immediately slow down and pull off onto the shoulder. I couldnt get the truck to go into park, so I first thought that the trans had grenaded. I sat there on the brakes until Harmon and Graham were able to pull up. My propshaft had snapped up front and was now dug into the dirt on the side of the road. Graham said there was an explosion of sparks when I was merging lanes. OK...sucks....so I johnny strong armed it into park and got out and popped the hood to check for anything else. Shined the flashlight on the front diff and saw that the rear yoke section was totally missing and the case was cracked completely in half on the rear section. Holy. Shit. The trans cable bracket was bent and mangled, the TC dust cover now had an inspection window to which you could check on the flywheel and of course, the bottom side was now rust proofed with diff fluid all over.
While I was fighting off an anxiety attack in the shadows on the side of the road (how will I get home, how are we getting to Carlisle, I dont have the time/funds to fix major breakages, etc), Mac and Graham without hesitation busted out tools and got on the ground to start pulling the rest of the propshaft off so we could limp the truck about a 1/2 mile up the road to a little side street in order to get us off the highway and be able to better work on the truck. Harmon bend the trans bracket enough so I could get it in gear and we started a very slow limp down the shoulder of the road. The entire time was filled with the sounds of my front diff internals being ground into metal dust. Pretty sickening.
We managed to get to the side road and cross over a set of train tracks to a safe spot. After better assessing the damage and realizing we didnt have the correct tools to "fix" the problem and already having spent some serious time on the road driving and being tired, it was decided to pack it up and sleep in the trucks until the parts store nearby opened. A freight train came every 30 minutes or so for the next 6-7 hours to remind us that we were sleeping in our trucks in the middle of nowhere Virginia on a dark side road. Next morning, with the right tools in hand, we made short order of snapping my CV axles in half, putting the wheels back on and blast down the road to Carlisle.....to which we made it with no further incident.
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Carlisle. The new meca for SyTySoGT gatherings.
Not only was there 50+ trucks, but plenty of new faces and first time attendees. Everything from the pure stock to the most extreme truck was present. As always, the people are the ones who make the event, and with plenty of Harmon Bombs, Jello shots, cigars, and food on tap, the fun went from sun up to well past sun down each day.
This years prank theme seemed to be the blue painters tape. Lots of people ended up with custom blue GS hash stripes on their fenders courtesy of Mac Snyder. He was way to overexcited every time he got one finished. Plus, I got into a tape war with the Canadians with "EH?" and "MERICA" being the taped on our windows. Still wondering what lies and manipulations the Canadians pull to get across the border. Those guys are classic and have the best sense of humor to laugh both at us Americans and at themselves for being Canadian.
Im going to say this....and it will be a shock to some....but one of the nicest trucks there was a 92 Typhoon - an aspen actually. It had been repainted closer to the Royal blue color (but it was verified a real aspen), but the interior set it apart from all other 92s. Done in full leather and suede, it was exactly how GM should have done all of the trucks from the beginning. Well executed, not over the top. Just a very clean and "factory looking" finish. I know quite a few people were drooling over it and as a truck that gets driven on a normal basis, it was stupid clean.
Conrad Aschenbach who owns 2 of the nicest Syclones (1 stock, 1 a LS swapped beast that shoots eagles out the exhaust) invited all of us to his GMC dealership to enjoy dinner and have a dry place to hang out as it poured rain outside. He also let myself and Harmon back into the service bay to check over my truck and swap a starter and drop the propshaft out of Harmon's truck due to a vibration. When he wasnt working, he was hanging out with us and having a great time.
I need to work on my Jello tossing skills to Andrea Foster.
At the Appalachian Brew Company, we got the change to further roll out ISTR and what we are all about and some of the changes we are trying to bring into the community. I know Morgan, Hood, Harmon, Tom and myself are really excited about ISTR and the things we have planned for the future of SyTySoGT owners and the enthusiasts who follow along. Everyone's support so far as been great and we hope to continue to grow and reach new goals with ISTR. By all means, if you just hearing or reading about ISTR for the first time just now, be sure to look all over this forum along with the website - InternationalSyTyRegistry.com (still being updated with a ton of info coming soon) as well as the social media sources of Facebook and Instagram.
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The ride home was mostly uneventful. My truck developed this oddball miss and stuttering while on the way up to Carlisle. This was the prompt to swapping the cap/rotor in NC but it progressively got worse. We ended on thinking it was the ECM to which I dropped it out of the dash and kept it out for the drive home. We crossed back into NC and oddly enough as we kept going farther south, the truck didnt seem to miss and stutter as it was going up. Not really sure what to make of that, but it's on the list now to investigate. For those who saw the carnage of my truck at Carlisle, I did make it all the way back home on RWD without any further incident or issues. I'll get some more pics soon. Ive never seen a front diff cracked like mine before......
Thank you to all who attended, especially those who drove and brought their trucks out. A very special thank you to Tom and Caroline as well as the Sportsmachines crew for the hard work they put into prepping for this show as well as making sure it runs smoothly all weekend for us. Thank you to Conrad for the use of his dealership and providing the food to a slew of hungry SyTy'ers. Special thanks to Mac, Graham, Harmon and Rush for staying with me on the side of the road all night and making sure my ass made it successfully to Carlisle and safety back home. Thank you to Lance, Fred Kline, Tom, and anyone else who either helped turn a wrench, throw me parts, or at least gave me moral support that I'd get the truck fixed and not to worry about it.
Im sure there are highlights ive missed, but Im sure others will chime in. Dates are already set for 2018. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE start planning now to attend! Lets make it a goal to hit 75 trucks next year!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1520...n_history=null
The Florida crew - (myself, Harmon and Rush) set out at 4am on Wednesday morning with the mindset we'd be cruising easy and arrive with enough time to relax before the event. We hit our rendezvous point perfectly and set the course north towards North Carolina were we would pick up Graham and Mac Snyder at their house and continue to Carlisle. A quick pitstop at the famed "South of the Border" center to gas up ended up not being so quick when the starter on Harmon's Ty decided to act up. We accessed the potential problem, gave the starter a few gentle reminders with a ratchet on its one and only job and away we went down the road.
Little did we know, this was the beginning of the real journey to Carlisle and the end to our hopes of time to relax before the event.
Just about an hour out from Graham and Mac, my truck suddenly surges and starts flashing CELs and bucking, so I quickly pull off to see what it could be. After a few minutes of idling under an overpass and not reading any stored codes, we set back on the road and arrived soon after at the Snyders residence. At that point, we decided to throw a new starter in Harmon's truck and swap the cap/rotor on mine due to I couldnt remember when it was done last. Harmon did a little tuning on Graham's freshly built motor and all 3 trucks set off into the night running a bit later than we wanted, but none the less, on our way.
All seemed well. Then Virginia happened. About 4.5 hours out of Carlisle, Im chasing behind Harmon while Graham is behind me. I suddenly get this weird vibration like im on the rumble strip they make on the side of the road....only, im in the middle of the lane. I let off the gas, bitch on WTF is wrong with Virginia roads and begin to merge over to the right lane to see if it's just the lane in.... vibration sets in again then I hear a stomach dropping crunch and symphony of metal happening under the truck. I immediately slow down and pull off onto the shoulder. I couldnt get the truck to go into park, so I first thought that the trans had grenaded. I sat there on the brakes until Harmon and Graham were able to pull up. My propshaft had snapped up front and was now dug into the dirt on the side of the road. Graham said there was an explosion of sparks when I was merging lanes. OK...sucks....so I johnny strong armed it into park and got out and popped the hood to check for anything else. Shined the flashlight on the front diff and saw that the rear yoke section was totally missing and the case was cracked completely in half on the rear section. Holy. Shit. The trans cable bracket was bent and mangled, the TC dust cover now had an inspection window to which you could check on the flywheel and of course, the bottom side was now rust proofed with diff fluid all over.
While I was fighting off an anxiety attack in the shadows on the side of the road (how will I get home, how are we getting to Carlisle, I dont have the time/funds to fix major breakages, etc), Mac and Graham without hesitation busted out tools and got on the ground to start pulling the rest of the propshaft off so we could limp the truck about a 1/2 mile up the road to a little side street in order to get us off the highway and be able to better work on the truck. Harmon bend the trans bracket enough so I could get it in gear and we started a very slow limp down the shoulder of the road. The entire time was filled with the sounds of my front diff internals being ground into metal dust. Pretty sickening.
We managed to get to the side road and cross over a set of train tracks to a safe spot. After better assessing the damage and realizing we didnt have the correct tools to "fix" the problem and already having spent some serious time on the road driving and being tired, it was decided to pack it up and sleep in the trucks until the parts store nearby opened. A freight train came every 30 minutes or so for the next 6-7 hours to remind us that we were sleeping in our trucks in the middle of nowhere Virginia on a dark side road. Next morning, with the right tools in hand, we made short order of snapping my CV axles in half, putting the wheels back on and blast down the road to Carlisle.....to which we made it with no further incident.
----------------------------------------------------------
Carlisle. The new meca for SyTySoGT gatherings.
Not only was there 50+ trucks, but plenty of new faces and first time attendees. Everything from the pure stock to the most extreme truck was present. As always, the people are the ones who make the event, and with plenty of Harmon Bombs, Jello shots, cigars, and food on tap, the fun went from sun up to well past sun down each day.
This years prank theme seemed to be the blue painters tape. Lots of people ended up with custom blue GS hash stripes on their fenders courtesy of Mac Snyder. He was way to overexcited every time he got one finished. Plus, I got into a tape war with the Canadians with "EH?" and "MERICA" being the taped on our windows. Still wondering what lies and manipulations the Canadians pull to get across the border. Those guys are classic and have the best sense of humor to laugh both at us Americans and at themselves for being Canadian.
Im going to say this....and it will be a shock to some....but one of the nicest trucks there was a 92 Typhoon - an aspen actually. It had been repainted closer to the Royal blue color (but it was verified a real aspen), but the interior set it apart from all other 92s. Done in full leather and suede, it was exactly how GM should have done all of the trucks from the beginning. Well executed, not over the top. Just a very clean and "factory looking" finish. I know quite a few people were drooling over it and as a truck that gets driven on a normal basis, it was stupid clean.
Conrad Aschenbach who owns 2 of the nicest Syclones (1 stock, 1 a LS swapped beast that shoots eagles out the exhaust) invited all of us to his GMC dealership to enjoy dinner and have a dry place to hang out as it poured rain outside. He also let myself and Harmon back into the service bay to check over my truck and swap a starter and drop the propshaft out of Harmon's truck due to a vibration. When he wasnt working, he was hanging out with us and having a great time.
I need to work on my Jello tossing skills to Andrea Foster.
At the Appalachian Brew Company, we got the change to further roll out ISTR and what we are all about and some of the changes we are trying to bring into the community. I know Morgan, Hood, Harmon, Tom and myself are really excited about ISTR and the things we have planned for the future of SyTySoGT owners and the enthusiasts who follow along. Everyone's support so far as been great and we hope to continue to grow and reach new goals with ISTR. By all means, if you just hearing or reading about ISTR for the first time just now, be sure to look all over this forum along with the website - InternationalSyTyRegistry.com (still being updated with a ton of info coming soon) as well as the social media sources of Facebook and Instagram.
----------------------------------------------------------
The ride home was mostly uneventful. My truck developed this oddball miss and stuttering while on the way up to Carlisle. This was the prompt to swapping the cap/rotor in NC but it progressively got worse. We ended on thinking it was the ECM to which I dropped it out of the dash and kept it out for the drive home. We crossed back into NC and oddly enough as we kept going farther south, the truck didnt seem to miss and stutter as it was going up. Not really sure what to make of that, but it's on the list now to investigate. For those who saw the carnage of my truck at Carlisle, I did make it all the way back home on RWD without any further incident or issues. I'll get some more pics soon. Ive never seen a front diff cracked like mine before......
Thank you to all who attended, especially those who drove and brought their trucks out. A very special thank you to Tom and Caroline as well as the Sportsmachines crew for the hard work they put into prepping for this show as well as making sure it runs smoothly all weekend for us. Thank you to Conrad for the use of his dealership and providing the food to a slew of hungry SyTy'ers. Special thanks to Mac, Graham, Harmon and Rush for staying with me on the side of the road all night and making sure my ass made it successfully to Carlisle and safety back home. Thank you to Lance, Fred Kline, Tom, and anyone else who either helped turn a wrench, throw me parts, or at least gave me moral support that I'd get the truck fixed and not to worry about it.
Im sure there are highlights ive missed, but Im sure others will chime in. Dates are already set for 2018. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE start planning now to attend! Lets make it a goal to hit 75 trucks next year!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1520...n_history=null