Before I get into the details of the trip I have a couple questions about some little nuances on the car.

The first is a problem with the M41 tranny. When I am in 4th (or OD) and let OFF the gas it will pop up out of 4th gear. It only does this after letting up hard off the gas (gradually releasing the gas pedal to deccelerate doesn't seem to provoke the car too much). When cruising in 4th (or OD) you can't push the shift lever out of gear - I tried.

So...is this something that I could fix easily (in a day or two) or does this require a tranny rebuild? Or should I just live with it until it doesn't work anymore then have the whole thing rebuilt?

Second, when shifting up into OD, should I push in the clutch? It has a very satisfying shift into OD without the clutch, but it seems to go easier when the clutch is pushed in. Am I just wearing out the clutch for no reason?

The third is the brakes. It apparently has recent brake work done, but the pedal is very hard to push in when the car has just been started (say, before it warms up) and even after that they feel mushy and don't have the stop-on-a-dime power that the stock brakes in my 1974 144 did. Once I pushed in very hard on the brake pedal and half-way through it "gave" and then felt "normal" and stopped fairly well. So. Is this a "bleed all four" thing, or does it sound like something that is in the power booster?

Fourth. I put in the K&N air filter and removed the original airbox (it was twisted and wouldn't fit right regardless). My question is what do I do with the hose that ran from the bottom of the aircleaner to the little red breather thing (forgive my vague descriptions, I don't have my shop man. in front of me). I left it in place in the bottom of the air cleaner tub until the snowstorm, then I thought about it and checked and sure enough it was covered in snow and had oil mixed in with the mess. So then I rerouted it (remember, I'm in a snowstorm) up and over the master cylinder and pointed it down (that way it wouldn't suck in any snow)...I checked again and noticed that it was still leaking or blowing oil out. So what do people do with these things when they install the K&N direct manifold mount filter? I'm at a loss.

Mike