Expired HK
I was wondering if any of your readers have deliberately blown up a motor? In the late 70s I worked at a Water Buffalo Station in the NT, in what is now part of Kakadu National Park. They had on old HK Wagon that was literally on it’s last legs, which they wanted me to take back to Darwin to trade on a new XD Falcon. “Don’t worry if it doesn’t make it,” the manager told me, “We’ve already got the new XD, and the trade in price for this one. And the supply truck’s following you, so he can tow you if it dies.” Well opportunities like that don’t come along often. Having never experienced a blown motor before, 23 year old me decided to take killing that 186 as some kind of challenge. Though just getting the beast going was the first challenge I had, as it was stuck in top, and I had to ride the clutch all the way out of the station’s yard, just to get it mobile. Keeping the revs high and the clutch smelling, as I negotiated the turn off the dirt station road and on to the East Arnhem Hwy, was the next challenge. But from there on it was pedal to the metal all the way west to the Stuart Hwy. The temp gauge had been jammed in the red zone since leaving the dirt road, and the smells and noises coming from the engine bay were not good. Disappointingly, the car just gradually expired, rather than going out with a bang. and it finally breathed its last about 50km east of Humpty Doo, and I waited for the truck with the satisfied smile from a job well done. When we got to the Ford dealership in Darwin we were unhooking the very dead Holden, when a distressed Salesman came running out of the Showroom. “What the hell’s that? ” He screamed “It’s your trade in from Point Stuart Station,” I cheerfully replied. “See ya!”
Gary G Smith
IT’S PRETTY
much the trademark of engines from that generation, they’re extremely hard to kill and will cope with all sorts of abuse. As you proved, you have to try hard to make one grind to a halt – they just seem to tolerate an horrendous amount of abuse. That’s very different to modern powerplants which, despite all the monitoring that’s packaged up with them, often don’t respond well to clumsy human intervention. They’re chalk and cheese.