Cobra road trips from hell

[Mrs. REPTYL]

Well after 9 hours we finally made it home from a fantastic trip to Mount Gambier, South Australia, with a few other Vics and Sth Aussies. That's a 9 hour trip that we should have done in less than 6. Actually we are lucky to make it home at all.

They say that bad luck comes in three. So I guess we should be right for a while.

Let me premise this to say that up to recently we haven't had much trouble with the cobra but this particular road trip has topped it off.

We started the trip late Friday morning. We had travelled a couple of hundred kilometres when we hit a pot hole going up a hill Ouch...why does it always hit worse on my side.

Next thing we know a load of smoke it billowing out from the bonnet scoop and into the cabin. Jason jumps out of the car and rips open the bonnet. He quickly notices the anxillary wire from the battery has come away from the alternator. The plastic casing has disintegrated and burnt away on the numerous metal parts. The wire was also arching up on the metal. What a god send to be wearing driving gloves at the time...otherwise it would have made a mess on his hands. He ripped off the wire which broke in several pieces. The beautifully worked sheeting he had covering the battery also was bent back pretty quickly. It seemed like ages went by but it was probably a few seconds. How lucky we were that Jason built the car...knowing every bolt and wire in it....and to know that the wire in question was a "spare" so we were right to continue on our trip.

Mind you Jason did not take it any easier for the remaining few hours to Mount Gambier...to minimise the risk of hitting other pot holes hard...some people just don't learn do they.

Anyway we finally made our destination and had a fabulous two days with other cobra fanatics....until the trip home.

I remember Bernie saying to us before we left, "take it easy when you pass Hamilton as there are road works". Fate is a funny thing isn't it....not.

Well we leave at 1:30pm (Vic time). We are about 15 kms past Hamilton and haven't seen any roadworks. In front of the car I see what I expect is another pothole and brace myself. I can't feel the cobra bottoming out, just a scraping sound. Next thing it seems like oil is sprayed from the skies over the car, into the cabin and on ourselves. "Not the sump" was my first impression.

Again Jason quickly shuts the car down and we pull over to the side of the road from the second time. One look at Jason tells me we aren't going to get away with this one so fortunately. He looks under the cobra and yells some choice words which this forum wouldn't let me repeat. We get the rag and wipe down the car. It isn't oil but transmission fluid. This reminds me of another trip (in another car fortunately) where we broke down 3 times with holes in the tranny line...but that is another story.

Anyway we ring the RACV (for non Aussies, they are a road side service group). What did we do before mobile phones? So we just wait the hour before they arrive.

In the meantime Jason walks back to the part of the road that put us in this predicament. This time is wasn't a dip in the road but a mound of bitumen (black top). I say a mound because it was about three inches high with a dip on the right hand side. The trail of tranny fluid was about 300metres long.

Well the RACV guy arrives with his tray truck just as a police car goes by. Remember to take note of that. What an adventure getting the cobra on the tray. With extra planks of wood, a steel bar and about 15 minutes later we finally get the cobra on the tray. Off we head back to Hamilton. This is about 3:30pm in the afternoon by now. At least getting the cobra off the tray wasn't as bad as getting it on, for some reason. But alas it took about another half hour to get the damn thing up on the hoist...again with extra blocks of wood to lift to cobra up high enough to clear the side pipes. At this stage we didn't know where the problem lay.

This is where I pause to consult Jase....in his words..."the brass right-angled connector that joins the transmission line to the transmission was knocked up into the shifter mechanism...which caused it to snap". Okay you got that. Why are guys so matter of fact. Jason asked this guy how many years he has been in the business. 45 years. I feel in good hands. By this time it is getting close to 5pm on a Sunday in a country town. No one is open that is going to help us. We didn't know whether we could get another connector.

Our 3 year old daughter was being looked after by the grandparents. Since it was three days since I had seen her I didn't take comfort in having to spend the night.

Thank goodness for the perserverance of Don, the guru and my saviour, as he will be named. He suddenly has an idea and gets out his welder and bench grinder and goes about putting this connector back together. Hooray for the guru.

So 6pm comes around and we finally drive out of Hamilton. Rest assured we took particular note of the problem piece of bitumen into Hamilton, so when we came back out we knew what to avoid. At least Jason was driving at a reasonable speed now.

We finally go around the problem spot. Thanks for the warning Bernie. Yes we are on our way.

We are literally 2 kms further down the road. Over the hill comes the same cop who went by us when we were broken down on the side of the road earlier. I look over at the speedo and Jase is only doing about 112 kph, in a 100 zone....hardly speeding when you take the parallex error into consideration...maybe only 108 kph.

Next thing you know his lights go on. "You have got to be joking", I thought. For the third time we pull over to the side of the road. "Any reason why you are speeding", this young cop just out of the Academy states. "Well, you saw us on the side of the road earlier", Jason goes. "Yeah, well sorry about that mate but I am just about to make your day worse", he goes. "Oh great, a cop with attitude!!!!", I thought. How novel. Seriously whenever we have been pulled over for speeding before I can't ever recall being booked...usually they are spellbound by the car. Unfortunately, not this one.

"Do you realise you were doing 119kph", he says. I can't believe it...it must be a joke. We know the car is 5kph out but in our favour. ie. if we were doing 124kph then yes we would be doing 119, but we knew that wasn't true because Jason was being so cautious not to hit another pot hole. By now Jason had enough of the bad luck so he just took the fine. Don't worry I will be sending in a letter of complaint to them.

Finally we get back on the road again and we make it home at 10:30pm that night. We go in to see our daughter fast asleep and no matter how many "Porsha it is mummy and daddy...she didn't wake up". Oh well, we roll into bed, the cobra tucked away in the garage, to contemplate our next trip.

So I take out the challenge....what cobra road trips from hell do you have to tell. Please share as I imagine there are worse stories out there.

[Rich]

This was fun...

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/s...sort=1&cat=500

[BMK]

Sorry is that snow??



Driving in the summer sun.

Mrs. REPTYL , sorry I warned you about the road. Now the Cop thats another question.

Looks like the next Speed Camera ones yours.

Points

Cheers

Bernie

[Bryan Wilson]

Sorry to hear about the bad luck you both had after we parted company at Hamilton.
I was rather concerned with the number of dead kangaroos on the road between Penola and Casterton. I just kept thinking what a roo would do to a Cobra if one jumped in front of me.
The panel shops around there must be doing a roaring trade.
Cheers,
Bryan

[NASSTY]

Bummer trip home Mrs Repty. Worst trip I can recall was when I was a kid driving to East Gipsland. My mum slowed down for road works, as gravel had only been laid. However, the 4x4 behind us didn't appreciate her slowing down, so in its wisdom it decided to overtake us. Well, a shower of stones hit us and 2 secs later the windscreen turned white, not good at 80kph. Real considerate bloke.

As for the speeding fine, I wonder how easily you could contest it. Considering you are a witness to the speeding and the criticism cameras etc are getting at the moment, you may have a chance.
Afterall, if everyone took their fines to court (as we all have that right) the courts would be booked out for ages. It's interesting that small, personal usage amounts of dope are now no longer illegal in Vic b/c the courts complained that they were overwhelmed hearing too many cases that were for trivial offenses. Hmmm, things might change afterall

Cheers,

[Zderf]

Lots of snow it was.... hands frozen on the wheel. Quite a coating I'll say..as we reached the summit of that pass. Brrrrrr.

(I'm the red Cobra, stopped to rescue one of my new billet windshield wipers that fell off!)

Zderf

[BMK]

Who's Cobra is the lowest?



Drove along the road today. Still a faint oil/transmission stain there. If I have the right spot.

You hit a ridge of bitumen that has come up in the heat with trucks running over it. Pushing the centre up.

Perhaps the millions that are raised by Speed Cameras could be re invested back into these sh#@ roads and highways??

Trip from hell? Sure was.

Cheers

Bernie

[What'saCobra?]

Back in 1971 or so I drove out to the west coast to buy a clapped-out Bp 289 SCCA race car from Danny Harper of Harper FORD fame, up in Eureka, if I recall correctly. I used one of those drop off cross country deals where I paid the gas and drove and delivered the car to the owner.

The trip west was pretty nice and quick. I averaged 59 mph for 59 hours from Philadelphia to Saratoga, just south of SF. My wife, #2 I think, helped with the driving and the only event of note was the rather spectacular thunderstory passage for a few hours through Lincoln, Nebraska. Never saw so much lightning all around the car for so long. Just a little scarey, but no issues except the bright flashing.

To get back with the car from Danny, I bought my friend Bob's used Pontiac Bonneville sedan with a 389 engine. Perhaps 5 or 6 years old ('66?), but a nice driver, air shocks and completely rediculous fuel consumption.

After I brought the Harper Cobra (more about someday later) down to Saratoga, I went to look at another Bp Cobra that was available in the LA basin. Talk about conspicuous consumption, I bot that one too! I used the Harper trailer to bring it also up to Saratoga. So, now I had two serious race cars and one tower and one trailer. And a big loan from my banker, who was also a car-type dude.

I decided one of the Cobras had to become a streeter at least for the drive back to Philly and I chose the second car because it was painted beautiful with nice pin-stripes and all, sort of Sunoco/Donahue like and it seemed a shorter fix to make it drivable. It took me about 2 or 3 days to find and install lights and wipers and check out everything. I never claimed so far I knew what I was doing, did I? Easy CA registration of Cobras in those days, much different than today.

We had a great time with our friends and we were sad to go home, but I was looking forward to the trip. Imagine here some sort of babes-in-the-woods idilic scene where we don't know what is about to happen.

You may not know that as you drive around the south bay to get to the highway east, you eventually get to some very steep and very very very long hills climbing into the Sierras. I had to let my wife drive the "street" Cobra and I clenched the wheel of the Bonne up and down those hills. Did I mention that the trailer was only a single axle and was absolutely loaded with boxes of spares, about 20 kidney Halibrands, trannys, Webers, Girling spares, etc, all mounted very high on the very high trailer?

Going down one of the hills, some kindly trucker passed me very fast and very close and got the trailer bobbleing. I caught it, but had to stop, go back and pick up a few bits. The spare Webers picked up a few bent intake bells, but no other problem once my heart stopped pounding. I moved a few items to increase the tongue weight and got restarted up the next hill.

It was a tough climb from the start and the transmission failed. Likely, it over-heated. Arggggh! ONE day out and I have a serious and embarassing disaster.

Fortunately, my pal Bob Hale came to my rescue and came out that night and towed the trailer back to Saratoga, while we went into San Bernadino with the wrecker and left the Bonne for an OH tranny. We spent two more days waiting and left again with everyone's best wishes, even poorer than before, but now with a pukker tranny oil cooler installed in the Bonne.

It was a really beautiful ride through the Sierras up past Sacramento, Tahoe and down into Reno. My wife loved the Cobra drive but was a little chilly at altitude, as it had no heater and it was pretty cold. Her feet were fine because the engine put our beaucoup hot air through all the verious holes in the alloy flooring, rool bar gaps, missing screw holes, etc. Hey, what do you want, it was a Bp race car with flame-thrower headlights and a funky wrong operating wiper blade on at least the driver's side!

Did I mention neither race car included a roof?

But, the next challenge was the desert heat beyone Reno. No kidding, it was so hot for her she nearly fainted. I let her drive the trailer at slower speeds for a day or two to let her recoup. Nice guy? Hey, she got to use the AC in the Bonne and the radio, so who's complaining?

But, you remember the stories about how the race car cockpits got so hot their shoes melted on the pedals? It isn't true, the sneakers just get a little slimy and much more slippery. No kidding, I know I drank about one or two quarts of plain water per hour during the entire day and didn't need to stop much more than normal for pit stops. I was using those canvas water bags that were so popular because they wetted outside and the evaporation chilled the wate. I hung it on the RayDot mirror just outside the left front cockpit for easy access.

Wifey told me about some big storms forecast in Wyoming area up ahead, but we pressed on regardless, as you would expect any man-on-a-mission to do.

You remember the lightning on the way out in NB? Think of that scene in the high plains country when the bases are at 10-12K feet and the tops are at 50K or more. Fortunately, we missed the largest of the rain, but the lightning was getting my attention...no top...remember? I kept thinking about the roll bar above my head and the rubber tires....

I couldn't take the stress any longer, although the rain was easy to take since we were at speed and it was pretty dry crouched behind the windshield for a hundred miles or so. We finally got into Chyenne and quit midday, found a great place with nice folks, super food and collapsed in the shade at the pool under the now CAVU skies.

Next time I will tell you how we got separated on Lakeshore Drive in Chicago during the rushhour because I wanted to go see Joe Marchetti about a alloy-bodied 275 GTB4.

[Rich]

What'saCobra?, great story. Still have the Cobra?

[What'saCobra?]

Nope. Sold 213x years ago for enough dough to go to grad school for a couple of years, so it was a good investment, but a GREAT street/race car. Sort of unreal with the open Belanger cross-over pipes and full Webers. You can look it up in a book somewhere...

And I sold the other Bp car for similar reasons.

Not to worry though, they have both been replaced with serious upgrades a couple of times...

Thanks for asking.

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Zderf,
You forgot to mention Slabdaddy's front spoke hub just about came off going into Boise, my rad blowin' antifreeze all over and the broken windshield you had coming home. All in all 1,800 miles of FUN !
Perry

[Mrs. REPTYL]

What'saCobra,

Sounds like an unforgettable trip. Good to see that the wife got a drive...which leads me to the new thread.

[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.

[BMK]

Jason

Don't travel on your own now.......

Cheers

Bernie