Snappy Pug.. Banana Down

This past Tuesday, I was enjoying the drive for lunch when there was a sharp, but short, screeching sound and smoke billowed from under the bonnet. Shortly after, the air conditioning went off and I thought it was just the belting that had come loose. So I had my lunch and casually drove back to work.

After a tedious day at work, which was already around 7p.m., I'd visited Fer Fer to re-install the belting. When he started the car, there was massive wobbling and he told me I'd have to leave the Banana overnight as parts shops were already closed. I was in turn lent a 306 Pug (Peugeot) to drive for the night and the next day.
It had pretty strong pull at higher RPMs although slacking a little at the lower rev range.
It was by no means the road racer I'd portrayed it to be after watching the French "Taxi" series.
But heck, I loved its natural tendency to oversteer to bits. Enter any corner hot on the gun and a slight lift-off or a tiny jab at the brakes would bring the rear to a screeching melancholy!
I enjoyed it so much in fact that bringing it back for the Perdana next evening felt as if losing an acquaintance I'd not have enough time to befriend.

It had to be returned anyhow, so off I went the next evening to collect Banana from Fer Fer.

He told me the pulley was severed and the shrieking sound was in fact the wobble caused by the vibrating pulley. So naturally, I'd asked if there was anything that needed replacing.... This was what he showed me. Looks fine to me...
But once Fer gave it a slight knock, the pulley itself separated into two parts. The part that carries the belt and the hub were severed in TWO!
If not for the built in dampened pulleys, I'd prolly have to change another crank by now.
It's times like these, I'm thankful that I'd not changed to them aluminum pulleys without a proper harmonic damper.
Thankfully, the replacement came cheap and all's well again. So what else was there to do once you get a car outta the workshop? Time to test it out on the touge, and so we did...

The Northern Touge crew had a great night up the shore-side stretch of Penang Island while I was busy interpreting lines and touge basics to a new touge enthusiast (psst... It's Mark) whom will be joining the family soon!

*watch for updates of Mark's new ride soon*