Blood, Sweat & Gears

Pinepac's ex mechanic Ken Hopper aka Hops, now racecar builder, has done us proud & the new spool, crown wheel & pinion were hand delivered last weekend from across the pond ie no freight charges from NZ, doesn’t get any better than this

To recap...
“previous phone calls, internet searches, head scratching, because the diff in the Mustang is an Atlas, out of a 3 ltr GT Capri made in the late 70’s, was not an easy task to find

Finally Ken Hooper in NZ, the Group A Mustang expert & ex Pine Pac Racing Mechanic, who built the car in 1985 & rebuilt in 2006, tell’s Bri why he can’t find one. Ken made them & Ken offers to make a new one for the car, out of his CNC Machine

Bri also broches the subject of another crown wheel & pinion also a 3.9 or a 4.11 ratio & Hops says “I can get one of these mate, but they are expensive, as everybody wants one”

Hops tracks one down in the South Is in NZ, so the deal was done with some fast talking Interpersonal Skills on Hops part on our behalf

The new spool will replace the one broken at Noosa last November, in its place has been the spare spool Bri took out of the spare diff,

concentrate,

stay with me....

the new beautiful spool is heat treated I might add!!!

which in theary means it won’t break like the previous one

In regards to this, according to Hops was probably one of the original spools used in the Pinepac cars which makes it at least 25yrs old.... so not a bad innings hey

These cars had several spare diffs with different gear ratios depending on now long or short the circut was

The new crown wheel & pinion is 411 which will be put in the spare diff along with the new spool, which will make the Mustang, hopefully, a lot quicker off the start line & improve the lap times on the shorter circuts, as currently Bri doesn’t use 5th gear

Cost involved for these shiney bits, $1,845 NZ, yet to be installed in diff housing!!!

On closer examination that will mean more expence!

Just as well I am a long suffering wife that dotes on her man’s hobbie!