Looking for suggestions for someplace to stay on the south side of Chicago. We will have the E30 with a tire trailer so off-street or secure parking helps me sleep better at night.
"south side of Chicago"? You gotta be kidding. If it's because you're going to be hitting town at rush hour, then just get off around the 80/90/94 interchange and have a leisurely dinner at the truck stop there. Then, drive through Chicago and find a place on the north side - or even in Wisconsin. It's only another hour and your chances of survival (let alone survival with all your stuff intact and in your possession) increase immeasurably.
Ouch! Not a glowing review. We will be there on Saturday so hopefully the traffic is not a real issue but maybe we will go to the north side before stopping for the night. The goal was to have a four hour run on Sunday morning to the hotel and a chance to act like vacationers for a little bit before OFest insanity takes over.
If you're coming up I-65, Merrilville (junction of I-65 & 30) has many motels, gas stations, and food options; can't comment on security, but presumably, the closer you get to Chicago, the worse it's gonna get. If you're coming west on 80/90/94, perhaps around South Bend, or google up what's at the various exits en route. I'm not familiar with I-55 if you're coming that way, but more googling should answer the same questions. You may need cash for Chicago area tolls, depending on your routing. Presumably the wheels/tires you're toting are secured with a lock - if not, might be a good idea.
this might be fun if you can get to the northwest suburbs, should be a safe area too. http://www.worldmeet2010.com/
Where are you coming from? If you're traveling in Indiana I would stay in LaFayette and then plow through Chicago in the early morning before the monster awakens. Or just drive through and stay in Kenosha when you cross over the Wisconsin border.
X2 on Indiana. To score on your 4-hour final leg, you could stay in either Valparaiso or South Bend, assuming you're that far north. From the southeast, Marshall, is right: Merrillville.
Well, not looking good at this point. Just finished working on the car and discovered the rear main seal seems to be failing rapidly. Shame too as the motor only has a couple of hours on it. Don't see any way to get it replaced in time now.
It's only Wed. night, O'Fest is daaaays away (well, ok - 4 days away). If only that pesky need-for-sleep-and-a-job thing wouldn't get in the way; where's one or two clones when you need 'em! Seriously, sorry to hear about that - doing everything to drop the tranny and clutch to get at the rear seal is a tall order for a Sunday departure. And that's assuming you have all the tools and parts and know-how at hand. I found the Bavauto pilot bearing tool to be hopelessly inadequate, needed to borrow a slide hammer with the right setup to get that thing out (at least on the E34) - projects like that always come up with something or other that makes for a delay!
Got home from work and pulled the exhaust, body panels and the drive shaft. More oil then it looked like before now that the car is up and I can get under it. Luckily while the race shop could not take it in to work on it ( two other cars in with clutch problems, seems to be a cycle ) they did have a motorsports oil seal on the shelf. Hopefully, tomorrow afternoon I get the starter, transmission and flywheel out of the way and see what the real problem is. Still trying to decide if its worth the risk to replace the seal, pack the car and head out on the long drive to OFest. Have to see.
There will be friends all along the way. Bring it. If it breaks, we will find a way to fix it. When you get here, I can tell you about the time my 2002 overheated ... on the south side of Chicago.
so, interesting to see where the oil was leaking out of once everything was out from under the car. Rear oil seal to crankshaft - nice and dry Rear oil seal to oil seal carrier - leaking thru where the seal presses into the carrier??? Oil seal carrier to block - leaking around the gasket Oil sear carrier to oil pan - leaking around the crank scraper and the upper gasket Nothing a good cleaning and some RTV can't solve. Flywheel and clutch back togeter and torqued. Transmission goes in first thing in the morning and hopefully it hits the ground about 12:00. Going to do a 20 mile run down the expressway and back just to see if it stays dry or not. A dry garage floor after an hour and we start packing to go Sunday morning.
Well, this is a story that does not have a happy ending. Took the car for a ten mile run and its right back to leaking oil. Current theory is its the crank scrapper. It caused problems with oil leaks on the old engine but we thought we had it outsmarted on this motor. Seems that ain't true. So, its throw everything into the MINI tomorrow morning and drive that. Not what I wanted but suppose it will do.
