Ronnie Posted September 25, 2017 Share Posted September 25, 2017 Saturday I was invited to run the Tail of the Dragon with a group of Shelby Cobra owners. (Replica Cobras of course). We started out on the Tennessee end of the Dragon at "Punkin Center". We wound our way though the mountains to the Dragon's Den Grill at Deals Gap in North Carolina where we had "Dragon Burgers" and fries for lunch. We were joined there by more Cobras from North Carolina and Georgia. A lot of the Cobra owners came over to take a look at my Reatta and ask questions. I don't know if they liked it or they were just curious. There were a dozen or more Cobras when we headed back to Punkin Center. I spotted at least three of them that had 427 c.i. engines. I was surprised and delighted that my old Reatta was able to keep up with all those Cobras but I guess it is understandable. The Dragon isn't about speed. You don't get very fast when you are traveling a road that has over 300 curves in the 11 miles between Punkin Center and Deals Gap. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted September 25, 2017 Share Posted September 25, 2017 You are running in fast company there Ronnie. But as you say it is not about speed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted September 25, 2017 Topic Author Share Posted September 25, 2017 You are running in fast company there Ronnie. But as you say it is not about speed... You're right. If there had been any straightaways over 300 feel long the Cobras would have disappeared out of sight. :) :D I'm sure they were afraid of pushing to hard on the gas for fear of spinning out. I just put the old Reatta in 2nd gear, run her up to about 3500 RPM, and by then it was time to get on the brakes. I had a great time but I don't know how much of that my old Reatta could take but it seemed to enjoy it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogware Posted September 27, 2017 Share Posted September 27, 2017 I hope that ford mustang was at least a Saleen version that you were parked next to in the 5th picture. ;) Looked like a lot of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Studebaker Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Looks like a great time, and some long-lasting memories there. Gotta have times like these to remember when we are sitting around in the nursing homes in the future. Have you modified your 3.8 to make it a "lean, mean, fightin machine"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted December 7, 2019 Topic Author Share Posted December 7, 2019 I always have a great time on the Dragon. It's not too far from me so I make a run on it about once a year. Usually just a fun drive but with the Cobra guys it was more like being in a race. I probably won't do that again. Someone gets killed on the Dragon about every year and I don't want it to be me. Some of the sport bikes will pass you in the inside of a curve. Usually it's the sport bike riders like were behind me in the photo I posted in the other thread that get killed. People come from all over the country to drive on the Dragon. My Reatta is basically stock. No engine modifications. I have replaced the stock sway bar bushings with polyurethane bushings that seem to make it handle a little better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Studebaker Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 Yep, I have seen some bad happenings from Youtube videos of the Dragon.....one was where a trucker made a big mistake and took his semi down the dragon, and of course the trailer cant stay in its correct lane around those curves.......biker had to run off the cliff instead of smashing into the trailer. Speak of bushings, that is also something I will want to replace as I have time. The huge Reatta shop manual arrived today, so I can start digging through that (Got and ABS light that was coming on when I hit the brake pedal, then would go off, then came on and stayed on, the went off. Also a constant "electrical error" coming on every 10 minutes......I will start a new thread and add pictures, and hopefully I will resolve the problems and have the thread on this site to perhaps help others down the road). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted December 9, 2019 Topic Author Share Posted December 9, 2019 1 hour ago, Studebaker said: Also a constant "electrical error" coming on every 10 minutes..... A common cause for this is a bad oil pressure sensor. You can check for this by putting the gauges up on CRT screen and watching the oil pressure. If a huge spike in oil pressure coincides with the warning message popping up replace the oil pressure sensor. Have you checked diagnostics to see if you have any codes stored in the ECM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Studebaker Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 Ronnie.....I really appreciate you helping to guide me through this diagnostic/computer code checking process. I started reading the huge shop manual, but the link you just posted is probably exactly what I need. Since this is going off-tangent to your "Dragon" thread, I will go ahead and begin a new thread on how to check these codes, which might help someone else one day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philbo Posted December 25, 2019 Share Posted December 25, 2019 On 9/25/2017 at 5:36 PM, Ronnie said: I had a great time but I don't know how much of that my old Reatta could take but it seemed to enjoy it to. Oh man you kidding, those GM 3800 V6s are bullet proof. Still think one of the best engines GM ever made. Part of me kind of wants to drop in a series 2 3.8 at some point. Has anyone on here ever done that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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