[REPTYL]

Not a trip from Hell, just a bad month.

Late September, just as I’m getting the REPTYL ready for West Wyalong the poor old girl developed a bit of a rattle in the rear end. This rattle developed into a clunking sound and then a high-pitched whine began. Time for a rebuild. No problem, the diff was the only thing on the car I didn’t recon before the car was put together, so I was expecting this one. So far so good. Problem number one I couldn’t get the time off work to pull the diff out so I left it with my mechanic friend. The poor guy spent 8 hours removing it and he had cuts and burses all over him. He wasn’t a happy man when I came down to pick up the diff and I pointed out to him that the car has a false floor in the boot, which gives much better access to the diff bolts. OK so it’s out and down at the diff reconditioners (he had a dislike for Jag rear ends before this saga began, I think he’s suicidal now). Let’s continue. Two days later the diffs done, again I couldn’t be there for the refitting but it only took two guys 3 1/2 hours to put back in. So time for a test drive. Out the driveway down the road, I look down at the speedo just as I change into top.155kph!!!!! No way…. **** he’s put in the wrong gear ratio! 3.07:1 came out 3.54 went in. It was to close to WW5 to go through all this bull**** again, so 3.54:1 it would stay (for a month anyway). Those gears were fantastic for the events at Wyalong (picking up a forth in the go to whoa). But proved to be a pain in the ass while cruising (3600rpm at 110kph)….So WW5 has been and gone and it’s time for the right ratio to go back in. I picked up a 3.058:1 crown wheel and pinion for $200 and set out once more to get the **** of a thing out (only 4 hours this time). The diff goes down to get the new centre fitted (three day later, morning of the Geelong speed trials) the diff is fitted back into the cobra and I leave to meet the other club guys for the run to Geelong. It was awesome to have the car back driving the way it was designed, the revs were just right and the 52 teeth crown wheel was whisper quiet. (I was a very happy man). We had a great day down at Geelong and I was on top of the world starting out for the ride home. I must have done something really bad in a past life because 10 minutes out from Geelong..BANG!! **** what was that. I roll to the side of the road and find that I have no forward or reverse gears (so now the trannies gone..or so I thought). I walk back about 5 ks to ring the RACV. 50 minutes later the cobra and me are on our way back to Melbourne on a RACV tray truck. The transmission place was closed so I dropped the car of at work. I was working night shift on Monday so after work I organised another tow to Dandenong to the auto joint. The next day I get a phone call….The autos fine. The diff is F**ked. I can honestly say I had a tear in my eye when I heard that one. Back to square one. Get it out. Get it down to Bob the diff man. After we got the diff apart it was found that the diff carrier rod had snapped in two, it then done a quick tour of the inner workings, knocking a couple of teeth from the crown wheel on it way. I was not a happy man, at this stage I was almost ready for a nine inch to go back in. Bob helped me out as much as possible and said he would build me up an LSD to replace this one (an LSD does not have a carrier so this problem would not happen again). I battled my guts out to get all this done in a week because I did not want to miss the Kids with cancer Christmas party at Caulfield racecourse. I again got the car done just in time. I drove home, had a quick shower and off we went. The car seemed to drive just fine and day was going great…… The rest is history. Judy over did the quick right-hander, smacked the gutter at about 60kph and left the poor car looking a little worse for wear. So next time you get a puncher, flat battery or the wipers don’t work properly. Pull out your copy of Snaketales, read this article and think to yourself, things could be worse.