Specifications:`
* 1977 2.7 litre Targa
* Bosch fuel injection
* Sportomatic transmission
* 258,000 Klms

An uneventful trip follows on the way, keeping a slow pace due to warnings at the last stop about Kangaroos in large numbers on and near Australia's Number One Highway ensures readiness by the author to keep alert waiting under the threat of an unwanted bounce by the best known of Australian Fauna across the 911 bonnet, through the windscreen and into the vacant passenger seat!
So where's Skippy then?

Port Wakefield, Snowtown and then a stop at Port Pirie off the highway for a refreshing break. Thirty minutes later with 93 kilometers left to Port Augusta and plans in mind for a long break before undertaking the final 530 kilometers to Coober Pedy all is well.

With only 50 kilometers to go all hell breaks out, the tacho registers severe fluctuations, the engine misfires and a total loss of power follows within seconds.

The distributer shaft bushes have shifted, destroying the rotor and causing associated damage to both the distributor cap and points. A massive blow and one that could not have been foreseen...(who carries a spare distributer around with them?).

Now for the tricky part ...How can I get out of this mess??

As it is already 3am on Thursday Morning the decision is taken to do nothing at this stage..the Porsche is parked well clear of the main road, so there is nothing else really to do now than to have a sleep and review the problem fully refreshed later in the morning.
Some 7 hours later the author reaches for the mobile phone and calls for roadside assistance, which he has always invested in and waits the 25 minutes for the local RAA expert to arrive.

Jamie Neill is shortly on the scene and notes the destruction of both the rotor and points, Jamie also comments on the movement in the shaft as being excessive but possibly not so extreme as to prevent the engine from running..at least as far as Port Augusta. A quick check and adjustment of the points gap and replacement of the destroyed rotor with the 'old' rotor which the writer had kept as an emergency break down spare (fortunate that!) and the car was restarted, albiet not running very smoothly. However there are no signs of any engine damage.

Oops!! Under tow into Port Agusta

Leaving the breakdown scene, the wounded 911 is pointed north bound for Port Augusta. Only 3 kilometers have passed and again the engine misfires, a phone call from Jamie who is travelling behind the 911 suggests to me that I stop there and we tow the Porsche into Port Augusta now about 47 kilometers away.

Upon reaching Port Augusta it is necessary to obtain a new set of points but a thorough search reveals none available in Port Augusta so orders are sent to Adelaide for forwarding of a set of points which arrive later that night by bus through Coachlines.

Friday morning Jamie fits the new contact point set and attempts to tune the engine, alas without success as he discovers the shaft movement is so severe that the contact point gap will not remain consistent, thus causing irregular running and significant miss-firing.

The problem confronting the author is that being Friday and already 11am where can I get another distributer?.

The author called around the country from Melbounre to Perth and of course Adelaide (and aside from being advised that the earliest one could be sent to Port Augusta would be for arrival on Tuesday the 7th, continued undaunted by such 'gibes') eventually I located the required Bosch part from Porsche Spares in Melbourne. Valuable assistance was also provided by Gary Bryson of Swan Porsche in Western Australia, Louie Giosis Motion Automotive Porsche in Melbourne and David at Chateau Moteur in Adelaide (who were providers of the Bosch Contact points sent the previous day).

The author was also able to arrange to have Jamie install the second hand unit that night thus saving the author the additional cost of a 2nd overnight stay in Port Augusta and the additional 12 hours time delay.

With anxiety and stress levels running at an all time high the part arrived but not at the expected time, a delay by the courier in Melbounre caused the part to leave on a later flight, but fortunately not too late to miss the last coach to Port Augusta leaving Adelaide at 7:30 pm. Eventually the author received the distributor at 11:45 pm Friday night, but not before being advised by the RAA mechanic that 11:45pm would be too late for him to install the "dizzy".

Being determined to leave Port Augusta as I was now some 40 hours behind my promised arrival time in Coober Pedy, I looked around for another mechanic (the time was now 11.50pm Friday night!) who would be willing to do the installation and the associated work involved. Thanks to the attendants at the Coachlines termial in Port Augusta, I was able to contact Robert Pheve who was happy to do it for me. At 00:30am Saturday morning the 911 under it's own power headed off to the 24 hour Shell service station for fuelling and then 15 minutes (time for a coffee!) and 3 kilometers later was travelling north on the Stuart Highway for Coober Pedy......... 41 hours after the breakdown.

Only 100 kilometers had passed en route to Coober Pedy when Kangaroos in large numbers were encounted, so with the time at around 1:50am the Porsche is pulled over into one of the many parking bays which are conviently located along the Stuart Highway. Before sleeping, time is taken to view the brilliance of Central Australia's night sky and to listen in the background the gentle thud of mobs of Kangaroos can be heard not very far away from this most peaceful resting place.

Saturday morning arrives and a coffee is urgently required, gone are the 'roos and the blackness of the night has vacated in favour of a pale blue morning sky filled with a still shimmering rising golden sun.

Not far away is the first stop of the day for fuel top up and that very much sought after cup of coffee. The stop at Glendambo to the side of the Stuart Highway, surprises as on entering the"Spud" petrol station the author is greeted with a fireplace complete with mantle and providing much needed warmth from the near freezing temperatures outside.

From Glendambo to Coober Pedy 361 kilometers to the north north west, the author maintains a close ear to the sound of the Porsche engine as between these desolate places mobile phone communication is impossible and although emergency phones are available these are at times placed 100 kilometers apart.

Shortly I come across a sight which many people would not be aware of...The Stuart Highway as with some other places in Australia serves a dual role, aside from road traffic this highway has aircraft landing strips at regular intervals to support the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which operates throughout the Australian outback.

'Piano Keys' - Highway Landing Strip

With the time now 12.20pm an audible beep is heard as the mobile phone re-activates announcing that the author is in telephone range of Coober Pedy now only 10 kilometers away. Arrival time 12.30pm Saturday. Fuel Log:

Mobil Melb-64.2L $56.25 @.98
BP Ballarat-23.0L $21.44 @.92
Caltex Nhill-17.6L $16.85 @.95
BP Wingfield-47.3L $44.24 @.93
Shell Pt Agusta-34.6L $33.21 @.96
Mobil Glendamo-34.4L $37.42 @1.08
Ampol Coober Pedy-38.6L $39.70 @1.03