long trip preparation

[Tobert]

May I inquire where you're headed? (somewhere in utah in may possibly?)

-biju.

Southern California, most likely San Diego.

[etlsport]

secondary.. some way to dissapate heat from the floor.. i frequently make 3-6 hour drives in my VX and the heat coming from the floor boards drove me nuts, so dynamat and carpet insulation went in in the footwells.. it helped some but it still heats up somewhere around the 1.5-2 hour mark

if you get a roof rack.. get a fairing.. the windnoise drove me up the wall

[Ldub]

Upper & lower radiator hoses.
Cooling system flush & fill w/ new antifreeze.
Brakes OK ?
Battery/ charging system check ?

[creeg]

I would remove the back seats (unless you need them) for more cargo space. And the rear door popper would probably come in handy for a trip like that.

[iamjacksadrenalgland]

You've probably already thought of this, but good music, be it CD's, mp3's or satellite radio, makes any road trip more fun. This is a great opportunity to beef up your tune collection. I have also listened to a few 'books-on-CD' and was surprised how quickly it made the time go by.

[Tobert]

Good idea about the radiator hoses. It will be getting it's second antifreeze replacement within a year when I replace the timing belt/water pump. I may refill it with used fluid and take it in for a flush anyways ...

As for the brakes, they're practically brand new having been replaced only a couple months ago.

I'm going to order some dynamat & carpet insulation per etlsport's recomendation. I also just got home and remembered that my driver's side window channel needs to be replaced. It was missing a chunk when I bought it. I might look into some of those wind guards to go on the windows too.

I figure my budget for the trip is a little more than what a plane ticket + car transport would otherwise cost. That's about a thousand dollars Maybe I can work in a subwoofer for my rear door, too.

The other thing I'm planning out right now is how/where to mount my tablet PC. If I hack the docking station, I will be able to have remote USB, Firewire, DVD, Ethernet, and sound.

Has anybody relocated or eliminated the HVAC ducts in the center of the dash?

[etlsport]

"nuk" did it, very nice looking installation, if you want ive got a spare dash bezel laying around (just the top piece) ill send it to you for 25 bucks its black though