No koalas

With the diff refitted, I've been using the Herald all weekend to make sure it's running perfectly again. A few clicking noises on Saturday told me to trim some of the halfshaft bolts. That done, I decided to take it to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary here in Brisbane on Sunday. We got about halfway there...

The good news is that the diff is working perfectly. Greg Tunstall had the gears lapped to ensure it would run quietly, and it does. No leaks so far either, so that leather pinion seal seems to be worth the trouble to track down. There seemed to be a driveshaft vibration at 50mph, so I'll turn the driveshaft around and see if that helps.

The bad news happened on Moggill Rd, one of Brisbane's busiest. I put my foot on the clutch coming up to a red light and it felt soft. A couple of pumps and nope, no clutch. I knocked it into neutral and we coasted into a driveway. The tableau was perfected by a large cloud of smoke as the slave cylinder dumped fluid onto the exhaust!

I could have fixed it right there. We stopped outside Super Cheap Auto Spares, and I had a spare slave cylinder seal in the boot. But thousands of people would have seen my bum sticking out of the car so I opted for the dignified alternative of calling a big yellow tow truck. Sorry, did I say dignified?

Looks cute, doesn't go though 

Of course it started raining as well...

Anyway, it's home and the replacement parts are on their way. It's the first time in twenty years that it's needed a tow truck.