Yes sir, that 66 Dart wagon sure does earn it's keep.
The rig is a little under-powered when towing up those long interstate grades so I just floor the gas a mile or so before the hill, to get a running start at it.
Keep the gas floored for miles on end and if you stay above 60 mph, it will carry the hill in drive. The big grade on Hwy 15, out of Baker, CA is a 3000 ft climb in 23 miles, floored and working hard, it takes the Dart a good 30 minutes at full throttle to get up that hill. It drops down into 2nd for the last 3 miles or so... you just sit there listening to the engine rev, watching the oil pressure and temp gauge, wondering if it's going to make it... and it does.
This time, we were running that hill at high noon, right at the top of the temp gauge, about 220 degrees. I think the extra heat got to the gasket.
Another thing I saw when we broke-down the engine is that the chambers and exhaust ports were white as snow so we may have been running too lean of a A/F mixture, resulting in high RPM detonation.
DD
