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G'day all,
My names Terry and for various reasons I haven't been on this forum for a long time but some of the older members here would remember me ??
Anyway,
Preamble/ramble before the post subject,
I've been having some health issues for a few years now as some older members would know and been on a shipload of medication for many years that leaves me not too overly well most of the time.
As some already know,I had a breakdown on the way to the Nats on Friday arvo in " Fred " my FB sedan ( someone' s broken off tooth filling ??? blocking the carb fuel inlet at the needle valve out on the road in the middle of woop woop which I fixed and got going again just before dark ) .
Yep, you read right, it looked like a small piece of broken ceramic tooth filling ?? about 1.5 mm diameter..............
In addition,I also discovered late Saturday arvo ( after returning from the Nationals Canowindra cruise ) that my grey crashbox extension housing seal had popped out ( the box has been in the car for over 4 years with no seal popout problems to date ) and had slid along the tailshaft yoke towards the front uni joint at sometime along the trip to Cowra and my gearbox was bone dry and VERY noisey.
The increasingly noisey box was my only alert to the bone dry box scenario as there was no oil spray indication or visible leaks to tell me something wasn't right underneath " Fred ", buggered if I can work out why the seal decided it no longer wanted to be part of the box and no bloody idea why there wasn't any gear oil spray/drips to indicate the oil seal/ext housing had parted ways...............
Fast forward to Sunday morning , drove the 300 meters to the showground from Cowra van park where we were staying, parked Fred and then walked to Cowra Repco ( about 1 km away ) in the hope they had a grey gearbox extension seal ( they did surprisingly
) along with a filler funnel and tube I could improvise to get some Penrite ( a 2014 FB/EK Nationals sponsor 
) oil back in the box.Sunday arvo after the show I wasn't real well from my medications but had no choice but to get under Fred and get the job done so I could ( hopefully ?? ) get home.
I had just got the the tailshaft out when along came a couple of blokes from the two cabins beside me asking could they help.
These two blokes were self confessed non mechanics but just having them there handing me the tools that I needed for the job made the task just that little bit easier for me. My wife " Grumblebum " ......... ( also known as " Theresa ") is usually my tool getterer on breakdown situations and the past 25 years on home projects so she was happy to keep her fingernails clean for once !!
Working away and a short while down the track, Gary ( " V8ekforus " here on the forum ) saw we were working on Fred and got underneath and gave me some help as well.
I know Gary is a tradesman so his help and second opinion on how I was progressing was a great help as well .
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So, to FINALLY get to the crux of the post subject I'd like to thank the two blokes along with Gary for giving me some help getting Fred to a point where I could get home again without ( hopefully ) without having a seized gearbox and needing a tilt tray truck.
Because I was time short in getting the job done before dark and getting to the presentation dinner I never got the names of the two other blokes that helped me.
All I know is one bloke was driving ex Donna Jackons blue EK sedan with the smoothie wheels and mini moon caps and the other bloke had a beard and was driving a blue EK wagon.
So, to Gary and these two currently unknown other blokes I'd like to say a public thank you for your help, the repair worked, the gear oil stayed in the box where it should be on the home run and we got home trouble free.
Also thanks to Jack and Michelle Sands for following us home just in case we had trouble.
It 's people like this that offer assistance to people in trouble with whatever skills they have and whenever they can that really makes the Nationals such a great weekend and really gives that feeling of " family " everytime we go to and from each Nationals.
I know help like this in times of trouble has been given by others in similar scenarios in past Nationals and will continue in future Nationals and to me this is the real spirit of the whole National experience and why each time we go we feel it's like a great big FB/EK family reunion.
Apart from my ill health we had a great time at this years Nationals ( as we always do ) and the generosity given by the 3 neibouring " apprentices " in helping me getting Fred going again late Sunday arvo was especially appreciated so to you 3 blokes and BIG THANK YOU from Theresa, Brittany and especially me, the whole job was done in just short of an hour.
Sorry for the lengthy ramble but the pre-ramble had to be told to get to the post subject and why I was saying thanks .........
Cheers,
Terry.
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i know you kinda mentioned it to me but i was of the impression it was sorted, i'de have run you around and got anything you may have needed (ramps, stands, tools etc) from my place and climbed under yor car and done it
, I know if I'd asked around there would have been a line up of helpers under Fred doing the job for me but because it was an easy fix ( only took about an hour from jack up to jack down ) I just didn't seem to think about it and just got into getting the job done.