Lights, Sump, ACTION!!!

An interesting week it has been at Team Booger Mobile headquarters (aka Damian's house). A bunch of LED lights that Damian bought off eBay turned up...



So naturally Damian felt obliged to test them... here's the green flexible strip light... The image doesn't really do it justice, but you get the drift...



And the flashing amber ultra bright LED's...


Not shown, are the ultra-bright white LED's that are going to become the reverse lights...

In addition to that, Damian submitted his application for the Vodafone World of Difference. You can read all about it at Damian's World of Difference blog http://damiansworldofdifference.blogspot.com/

As part of his application, Damian wrote and produced a video to support his application. Feel free to check it out, and forward it to your friends!!

Scottie got started on adjusting the sump to make it a little more respectable - it had had quite a tough life by the look of it... To quote Scottie "Sheesh, this sump has had more hits than Elvis!"


Meanwhile, Damian was busy attaching the amber flashing LED's to the roof rack - but first, painting the world's smallest set of nuts and bolts!! (You may need to lean closer to see them...)

Outside, the rain kept on coming!!

Here are the rear facing LED's... they appear white/clear when off, but flash very bright amber when going!! They have three patterns on the controler - alternating 8 quick flashes between front left and rear right (then front right and rear left), alternating single flashes (same pattern), and hazard lights (all flashing single flashes at once).

Damian and Scottie think that the 8 quick flash version is the most visually appealing...

Once the amber flashing LED's had been attached (and tested), Damian moved on to the bright white LED's that were to be used for reverse lights.

Damian made the world's smallest bracket to attach the LED's (by adjusting the provided bracket with a hacksaw and file), but didn't bother taking a photo of it...

Afterwards, Tonka decided to look after the hacksaw by having a little snooze on it... It's a dog's life!!

Scottie refitted the sump to Booger Mobile, then painted up the cross member ready to be reattached.

And here it is, hanging up drying - all fresh and new!!

Once dry, the cross member was reattached, and the boys were both impressed with the clearance between the sump and the cross member... finally something was going right!!

In the meantime, Damian had finished attaching the LED's to the rear bumper to be reverse lights, and hooked them up directly to the battery to test them!

Scottie continued under the front of Booger Mobile, attaching the various bits and pieces back on, and attaching the transmission cover plate (the black semi-circle bit you can see towards the left of this photo) for the first time!

This photo shows a much better view of both the clearance between teh sump and cross member, but also of the transmission cover plate!!

During lunch, Scottie was working on a design for a bracket to hold the brake booster. After coming up to the shed, he found his design was almost to scale, with just a few minor adjustments required before getting out the grinder and cutting away!!

All Scottie's brackets take the same form - cut, mark out using eye-chrometer, bend, recut...

This brake booster is so cool, it has it's own hat!!

And this is where the brake booster will be fitted - on the driver's side in front of the strut tower. The air filter will be moved, either to the other side, or be replaced by a different type!

You may be wondering about the angle that the brake booster is on. The brake booster connects to the dual circuit master cylinder (the shiny silver bit from a few weeks back) into the red mark on the top of the brake booster. (The red bit is just a cap to keep the dust out.)

The end of the "pointy bit" on the brake booster connects to the front disc brakes. (Highly technical terminology around here!!)

As you can see below, there are many items that need to be avoided with the location of the brake booster - the radiator hoses, alternator, fuel hoses, extractors etc...

And one more angle for the home crowd!!

While Scottie completed the bracket and bolted it on, Damian run the wiring from the reverse switch, through the fuse box and down the back of the car to the new LED reverse lights. The reverse lights now switch on when the transmission is put into reverse!! Of course, this only works when the engine is switched on (or is switched to Accessories). No photos were taken of this part, as you probably don't really want to see a photo of some grey wire running along the channel near the doors!!

Here's the completed and painted bracket for the brake booster...

And from another angle (mainly for people who may be considering the same modifications for their car).

Before going home, Scottie wanted to hear Booger Mobile roar into life... After checking the oil and water, the key was turned...

Vroom!! Booger Mobile was ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!

Tick tick tick tick tick tick... "What the heck is that noise???" asked Damian...

Scottie climbed under Booger Mobile to check the newly installed sump... and what he discovered, nearly caused two grown men to cry...

The noise was coming from the SUMP! How could this have happened again?????

Scottie deftly (but gently) pressed on the underside of the sump to work out precisely where was hitting - it was right at the very back of the sump (coincidentally in an area that wasn't adjusted by the boys).

Damian switched off the engine, and after a few minutes of quiet contemplation (yeah right), the way forward was realised... Belt the sump on the sides (at the back), which will cause the middle of the sump to be lowered (the laws of physics dictate this - the boys aren't making stuff up!!)

After some gentle persuasion with a variety of objects (hammers, lumps of wood, cold chisel etc), the engine was restarted...

SUCCESS!!

The sump was now not being tickled by the inside of the engine!! Even with Scottie lying under the car pressing up on the sump, there was still no issue... Finally the sump was finished!!

SUMP-THING FINALLY WENT RIGHT!!!!!!!

The engine was left running for a reasonable time, so that Scottie could check out the gauges (he'd been too busy other times, and then the sump was gone).

As you can see below, the gauges are all working!!

So there you have it, another exciting episode in the life and times of Team Booger Mobile. The boys are seeing some excellent progress now, and over the coming weeks will hopefully have the bulk of the parts required to get Booger Mobile back on its wheels (even if not driveable).

After that, the painful, fiddly bits will continue, such as completing the interior (roof lining, carpet, seats, seat belts etc), more lights and sirens (can never have too many sirens), and the biggy - Booger's head!!

If anyone is awesome at fibreglassing and would like to give the boys a hand with Booger's head, feel free to contact Damian or Scottie on the numbers above!!

Stay safe people! And watch Damian's youtube video... and email it to all your friends and family too!!

And now for sump-thing completely different!!

Damian was meant to be heading onsite today, but that was cancelled. Scottie works outdoors in his day job, and due to the weather, his work was cancelled also, so a surprise visit to work on Booger Mobile was in order!!

While Damian went to borrow an oxy torch from Gold Sponsor Jason Sheather Plumbing, Scottie arrived and cleaned up the driver's side wheel hub.



A couple of parcels were waiting for Damian at the PO Box - the first being the set of keyed-alike ignition, doors and BOOT LOCK barrels!!


Scottie got to work with the oxy gear, heating up the engine cross member. Since the sump debacle from the previous day, it was necessary to attack the clearance issue from a different angle - adjusting the cross member was that angle!!

Damian continued opening his parcels - the second being a pair of tapered sleeves for attaching the outer tie rod ends to - the XD Falcon disc brake assembly (and wheel hub) has a slightly larger diameter hole, which requires an aftermarket tapered sleeve - this pair came from Fishop Falcons!

Damian got to work installing the new ignition barrel, while Scottie continued to beat and torture the cross-member, which by all accounts, would make anyone cross!!

The existing boot lock already had a barrel in it (of course), but no key. The barrels are added/removed by depressing a small locking pin after turning the key. This poses the question "How do I remove the boot lock barrel from an XM Falcon without the key?" Damian googled this question and found no answers, so hopefully including it here will give people in a similar situation what they are looking for.

To remove the boot lock barrel from an XM Falcon without the key, simply grab the small locking pin with a pair of pointy-nosed pliers, and pull it out upwards!! The barrel will then simply slide out of the surround.

A little later, Scottie mentioned to Damian that he had earlier hooked up the transmission coolant hoses to the radiator, thus getting Damian's photos out of order!!

With a tinge of sadness, Damian cut off Scottie's excellent remote boot release cable - sadly you can't have both...

But on a happier note, the boot lock turned out excellently!! And it opens with the turn of a key!

Damian kept Scottie's excellent cable-bracket for use another time...

Meanwhile, more oxy work and hammering was taking place...

But as you can see from the picture below, most of the sump clearance issues have now been sorted!! Just some minor panel-beating of the passenger side of the sump is required!!

After removing the inner door trim etc, Damian attached the first of the door locks!! So exciting - a lockable car with the same key used to open the boot and start the engine!!!!!

After a good morning of work, Scottie had to head off to collect his daughter from school. On the way out the gate, he nearly had a head on collision with a courier, who was delivering the nice, shiny (brand new) VH40 remote booster from Hydroboost.

With a lot of parts finally starting to arrive, it should only be a matter of time before Booger Mobile is back on its wheels again...

Another day of fun, another step closer to the 2010 Camp Quality esCarpade!!

Sump-thing becomes an epic fail!!

Sunday morning rolled around, and Scottie arrived bright and early, bringing with him the custom made gearbox mount (just a big bracket really), that he had taken home the previous week to weld up using the "big welder" at his work.

Many thanks to Scottie's employer Rosemount Turf for allowing Scottie to use the big welder!!



The purpose of the welding was to add in some strengthening items - additional bracing to support the gearbox mount (both where the gearbox connects and at the chassis), and the inclusion of some "crush tubes", which actually prevent the box steel from crushing when the bolts are tightened.

Here's a nice close-up of the additional strengthening - look at the quality of those welds!!

Damian painted the inside of the box steel with black, then did the first coat of the green top coat for the gearbox mount... you can't have too much green on Booger Mobile!!

He then moved onto the work that he's more qualified for - wiring! First cab off the rank - hooking up the neutral safety switch. After identifying the correct wires on the plug, Damian was surprised that a test of the wiring failed to work... It did stop the engine from turning over, but it stopped it turning over even when it was in Park or Neutral!!

Damian decided that since the wires on the plug end were so thick, perhaps the thin wire being used to connect them was providing too much resistance, so he replaced it with thicker wire and hey presto - one working neutral safety switch!!

Later in the day, Damian would actually hook it up neatly through the firewall as necessary...

In the meantime, Scottie was tidying up the gearbox mount ready for painting and installation...

While it was drying, the boys went on a shopping trip to collect some bits and pieces that they needed...

Once they returned, Scottie got to work fitting the gearbox mount (here it is in all it's painted glory, with Scotties hands)!

Damian got to work installing the newly purchased choke cable, while Scottie decided that sump-thing needed to be done to complete the sieve (as the adjusted sump was now known as).

Once the new choke cable was installed, Damian decided that another picture was in order!! (The new choke cable is the black item on the right hand side.)

Meanwhile, in a last ditch bid to get the sieve to stop weeping (all the actual leaks were welded up, but there were just a few weeping spots), Scottie used the metal repair kit (which looks a lot like blu-tak) to go over the welds...

Would this finally seal it? Only time would tell...

After the liberal application of the metal repair putty, the new sump was finally leak free!! It had even stopped weeping, so it was time to install it in Booger Mobile!!

Of course, the new sump needed to match the rest of the engine, so out came the nice, blue engine enamel!!

While Scottie was doing that, Damian took the opportunity to investigate the clearance that there would be between the tyres and the rear suspension... As you can see, there is plenty of room, and the tyre in this picture is much wider than the actual tyres that the boys are going to be using, so no problems!!

After the paint had dried, the time had finally arrived to install the new sump in Booger Mobile, and resolve the clearance issues the boys had been experiencing... Well, it was the sump of the engine, but either way...

As you can see, the new sump (front) has much greater clearance at the shallow end...

Just in case regular blog followers haven't seen what is inside the sump on a 250 pre-crossflow engine, here it is!!

Scottie carefully applied the new sump gasket, using up the rest of the Stag (aka gasket goo) in the process...

The new sump was finally fitted, and the clearance problems were now are thing of the past!!! Or were they...

This is where sump-thing goes horribly wrong, and the whole sump-creation-project turned into an EPIC FAIL

After installing the new sump, admiring the handiwork and seeing that there were no clearance issues for the cross member, Damian suggested turning the engine over a few times (with the battery, not by actually turning the engine over) to check that nothing was banging, knocking or rattling inappropriately

After doing this, Scottie became very sad

The inside of the engine was hitting the newly adjusted sump... How could this be??????

The boys went back out to the spare engine to ponder what had gone wrong, when Scottie noticed something that made his heart sink, and he felt even sadder

Turns out it wasn't a 250 pre-crossflow, but a 200 cubic inch engine (from the outside they look the same), therefore the bits that sit inside the sump were shorter, hence they didn't hit the adjusted sump when the boys tested it, but the longer ones in the 250 pre-crossflow did...

If you look closely just to the right of the middle of the photo below, you can clearly see 200 stamped (cast, moulded, welded, whatever) into the engine

In fairness to Scottie, this part of the engine was not visible while the sump adjusting was taking place, and since the boys had been advised that the engine was a "spare engine" for their 250 pre-crossflow, they had reasonably assumed it was also a 250 pre-crossflow

Still, everyone knows what happens when you assume!!

The new sump was hastily removed from Booger Mobile, and the boys ceased working for the day... Prior to this happening (while Scottie was fitting the sump originally), Damian painted the drag link... seems anti-climactic now...

To recap, sump-thing became an epic fail... A wasted effort that caused much sadness in Team Booger Mobile (who not only have wasted three days or so, but have also still got to resolve the engine cross-member clearance issue!!).

Settling in to a quiet drink to reflect on the day's events, Scottie and Damian saw the funny side of the whole sump-thing debacle... They continue to live in hope that sometime, just maybe, something will be easier than expected to complete!!

As if!! :-D

Sump-thing Diff-erent today...

Before getting into the story of today's progress on Booger Mobile, the boys would like to send a big shout-out to Malcolm from ACTUM Consulting, who posted a picture of his new shoes... These could possibly be the official shoes of Team Booger Mobile!!

Although he's copped a bit of flack over them from some quarters, here at Team Booger Mobile, the boys think that Malcolm's new shoes are fabulous, and that subliminally he wanted to be reminded of Booger Mobile every time he looks down!! Great work Malcolm!!



On with the story... Today's story is sump-thing a little diff-erent. Scottie did arrive nice and early and attempt to transform the sieve into sump-thing useful, but due to sump-thing being a complete pain in the sump-thing else, Scottie decided to move on with some other stuff and return to finish sump-thing next weekend!!

The custom made cross-member bracket for the BW35 gearbox needed some extra bits and pieces sorted out on it... Damian pointed out to Scottie that this could be considered just another (albeit very large) bracket!!


The bits and pieces were tacked on ready for Scottie to use a larger welder to put it all together properly...

Meanwhile, Damian was hooking up gauges - the goal today was to get all gauges installed and hooked up completely - no extra wires running around the place

The first task was to locate where to attach the power wire for the accessories fuse box (from last week). Damian was going to run it directly to the battery, but decided that for accessories, it would be better to only work when the ignition was on (or on Accessories, funnily enough

After locating the accessories power outlet on the rear of the ignition switch and wiring it in, the next job was to mount the tacho on the dash.

After taking the photo, Damian realised that the tacho was reading like the engine was wound off the clock, so a bit of creative adjustment was performed, and the world was back to normal

Scottie took his mind off sump-thing that was annoying him by cleaning and painting one of the disc brake assemblies.

After that, Scottie remembered that the diff centre needed to be changed to get the ratio down from 4.1 (ute ratio) to 3.5 (sedan ratio

Note the size difference between the ute diff drum brakes (on the right) and the sedan drum brakes!!

Just to digress for a moment, Scottie and Damian made a fabulous discovery while performing open diff surgery... The brake shoes and drums, and the wheel bearings, were all basically as new!! Finally, something has gone right!!!!!!!

Check out the size difference between the sedan brake shoes and the ute brake shoes

Booger Mobile should have much better stopping power with these big boys on!!

And for those who haven't seen before - this is what's inside a diff!!

While Scottie was making heads or tails of the diffs, Damian was reading the wiring diagram...

and cursing because the wire colours don't match!!

Scottie inspected the diff, just for sump-thing diff-erent...

And used a hammer to remove the pinion... the ute diff had obviously been worked on much more recently - it came apart much easier, and was in much better condition!!

The gauges are all finished, and they even light up when the headlights are switched on!!

After performing open diff surgery, the ute diff (now with the sedan diff crown and pinion to make the gear ratio much nicer) was put back together...

And just to prove that Scottie's not all torque, he used this tool to increase the tension!!

At the end of the day, the gauges were installed and wired up, with lights etc. Damian worked out which connections go where on the BW35 gearbox to hook up both the reverse lights (XM's didn't come with reverse lights - that's a separate issue) and the neutral safety switch (which stops the engine from starting when the gearbox isn't in Park or Neutral).

Scottie did fabulous work as usual on brackets, sump-thing annoyed him, and he did a great job on sump-thing diff-erent - getting the crown and pinion swapped into the diff.

Another big day, where the visible progress doesn't appear to be as great as the actual progress!! Once the suspension etc arrives, there'll be some *real* progress!!

Sump-thing needed adjusting!!

Regular followers of the Booger Mobile blog may be aware of the slight clearance issue that the boys had when installing the slightly taller 250 pre-crossflow engine...

For those in need of a recap, basically the sump isn't clearing the engine cross-member by enough distance, so the boys had the options of a) removing the cross-member (knocked on the head due to the issue of lack of strength), b) lowering the cross-member by making a new mount for it (this is still an option for if adjusting the sump doesn't work, but requires the use of a titanium plate or something, therefore is a small issue), or c) doing sump-thing to adjust the sump (the big bit that hangs beneath the engine and holds the oil).

Since the boys have a spare 250 pre-crossflow engine for parts, they decided building a new sump was the best option to begin with!

Here's the engine block with sump still attached, sitting upside down ready to be adjusted... or sump-thing... (Get used to the sump-thing joke, it's going to be used sump-thing like a dozen times in this blog!!)



After removing the flywheel and doing a couple of cursory scratches on the side or sump-thing, Scottie began cutting!



Here it is, the new, converted sump... doesn't hold much oil now though!!

Meanwhile, Damian was busily painting sump-thing black!! It's how he rolls...

After many adjustments, and some adjusting with panel-beating tools, the (now somewhat smaller) section of the sump was ready to be reattached...

Partially welded, sump-thing wasn't quite right... The area where Scottie is pointing the blowtorch isn't the right shape to be welded, so he decided to heat it and beat it into submission!!

As you can see, it's glowing red hot, and the kink is all but gone... Top work, Scottie!!

And what was Damian doing during all this? You guessed it... he was painting more stuff black!!

Of course, after the section of the sump-thing had been shortened, the connecting piece needed to be adjusted and beaten into submission... Again, Scottie is the man for the job!!

Tired of painting things black, Damian turned his talents to applying foam tape to random items, in this case, the roof rack. The tape should make the board and roof rack less likely to vibrate and annoy the daylights out of him and Scottie while driving along...

Of course, chances are the boys will annoy the daylights out of EACH OTHER while driving along, but that's another story!!

Check this out... it's a little piece of metal that Scottie found, just the right size for the hole in the sump... is it fate? Is it coincidence? Is it pure blind luck????

Scottie took this photo... and the sun was shining very brightly... Best that Scottie sticks to welding, which as you can (barely) see in the photo, is excellent!!

And the roof rack is now attached, using all those nicely painted black nuts, bolts and bits of metal... Plenty of foam tape was used...

The roof rack now provides a handy place for Damian to store things... hey look, there's his watch!!

Scottie's welder decided it needed a little rest (poor darling), so Scottie decided it was time to implement Booger Mobile's remote boot-lid opener or sump-thing like that...

It feeds through onto the back floor of Booger Mobile...

To pop open the boot lid... ingenious!!

Here's the inside of the sump after Scottie welded it up... beautiful work there Scottie!!

Meanwhile, Damian was doing some welding, err, soldering of his own... Preparing a fuse box for attaching external devices - uhf, cd player etc...

Damian suggested to Scottie that since the sump was out, sump-thing should be done about fixing the existing dent in the underside... Thinking that Scottie would use his trusty panel-beating toolkit, imagine Damian's surprise when Scottie grabbed a lump of wood and proceeded to beat the sump into shape!!

The question was - would the newly adjusted sump hold oil? To test it, Scottie used the next best thing - water!!

It was a long, strenuous day, so Scottie decided to have a little sleep...

As you can see, the sump is leaking like a sieve!

Damian's dog Tonka decided to check out Scottie's handiwork... (he too noted it was leaking!)

Bugger - it leaks from this side too!!

Scottie circled all the major points where it was leaking, and decided he'd do sump-thing about it next weekend...

For those of you who aren't sure why the boys are making a new sump, the below image shows the current sump (which was pretty much the same as the sump that's being adjusted). Note the distinct lack of clearance over the cross-member (that large, round black thing in the middle of the photo).

Just to round out the day, here's a photo of the completed remote boot-lid release...

And the gauges that Damian continues to work on... (You'd think that they would give you longer wires to work with or sump-thing, but noooooooo)

There you have it... Another day, another blog post... another week gone in the march towards the 2010 Camp Quality esCarpade...

Will Booger Mobile be ready in time? Will the sump ever stop leaking? Will the boys get a seat in and some wheels on the car at the very least?

Tune in next time for another exciting episode of Booger Mobile innnnnnnn Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!! (Best said in the style of the Muppets "Pigs in Space".)

A time to reflect...

Nearly a year into the preparation for the 2010 esCarpade, it's time to reflect on how far the boys have come (and think about how much further they still have to go!!)

After deciding that they'd like to enter the 2010 Camp Quality esCarpade on the Australia Day long weekend (while sitting on Fraser Island having a few refreshing drinks at the end of a hot day) Damian and Scottie and their families got together in early February 2009 and Team Booger Mobile was born.

The search for Booger Mobile commenced in ernest, and in late February 2009 Booger Mobile (a 1964 XM Falcon) was purchased!

March came and went, and the end of March 2009 saw the chrome stripped from Booger Mobile along with some preparation for a new shed at Damian's place to house Booger Mobile.

April 2009 was taken up with the construction of Damian's new shed.

May 2009 was a busy month, with Booger Mobile relocated to the shed, the completion of major body work, and Scottie and Damian and their wives attended the 2009 Camp Quality Chandon Supper Club.

June 2009 was taken up with the preparation and undercoating of Booger Mobile.

July 2009 was another big month, with Booger Mobile being painted, followed by the grand unveiling at the Nambour Swap Meet.

By the time August 2009 rolled around, Booger Mobile was starting to be well known around the traps, making several further appearances at car shows and swap meets, along with the following both on this blog and on the Australian Ford Forums. Also in 2009, Booger Mobile got an engine!

September 2009 was another manic month, with more car shows, a successful raffle at the Kedron All Ford Day, and the engine and gearbox were installed!

October 2009 was a massive month of fundraising, camps, car shows and work on Booger Mobile, which saw the engine started for the very first time!! If you haven't seen it already, here it is in all its glory!!




Incidentally, October 2009 saw the running of the 2009 Camp Quality esCarpade... how Scottie and Damian longed to be there... 2010 seemed so far away...

November 2009 saw the boys working on long, tedious parts of making Booger Mobile work - making brackets etc for the throttle cable.

December 2009 had one massive event!! The announcement of the 2010 Camp Quality esCarpade starting point (and mid point)!! It also saw Damian working unsupervised...

So this brings us to January 2010. The year of Booger Mobile has begun, and the boys are working extra hard to get her it ready in time.

Please take note of the sponsors down the right hand side of this blog, for without them, Booger Mobile would be much further from being finished.

Many thanks also for the generous donations that have been received - both monetary donations to Camp Quality (currently totalling over $1700) and the donations of equipment and parts to Team Booger Mobile.

The coming months will see the boys really step up a gear, both in terms of preparation of Booger Mobile and fundraising activities... Please keep an eye on the blog, and if you can attend any of the activities, the boys would love to see you!!

Next major milestone to be met is to get Booger Mobile back together and running, ready for Compliance and Safety Certificate and Registration... Then you really will see Booger Mobile out and about!!

Stay tuned... there's so much more to come!!

Master Cylinder, Roof Racks and Gauges!!

Scottie arrived bright and early, ready to get a whole list of stuff done to Booger Mobile... Today's list included getting the new Master Cylinder fitted, building a roof rack to hold Booger's Rack and Head, sorting out the gauges, and generally making some good progress...

First cab off the rank was the removal of the old Master Cylinder (shown below in green under the plugs near the big spring).

The rod you can see poking through the firewall is connected to the brake pedal. When you push the brake pedal, that rod is pushed, and the brakes go on.

Of course, the distance that the rod needs to protrude past the firewall is different for an aftermarket HQ Holden suitable dual circuit master cylinder, so Scottie needed to cut down a small cylinder of metal to increase the distance by around 6 or 7mm (about 1/4 inch in the old scale).

Naturally, there's only so much a grinder can take off, so the small bit of metal was hand filed by Scottie...

After a couple of rounds of fitting, then grinding, then filing, the insert was finally completed. To put it in perspective, it's shown sitting beside a 3/8" spanner.

Once that was completed, Damian finished fitting the master cylinder while Scottie adjusted the kickdown cable bracket he built during a previous visit... As you can see, Scottie is a bastion of safety when using the angle grinder in his safety boots!!

Here it is all welded up ready for painting and reinstalling!!

Meanwhile, in a fit of usefulness, Damian used the fake chrome in a can to paint the bolts that hold the Master Cylinder in.

Once the new master cylinder was fitted, the boys decided a shopping trip was in order. Firstly, the temperature gauge had FINALLY arrived at Autobarn, so they would stop there, then it was off to buy some metal to make a heavy duty roof rack out of.

On the way there, Damian suggested that if they could find a suitable "off the shelf" roof rack, that would save them a whole lot of time and energy... Scottie agreed.

Back from the shops with some goodies....


including a heavy duty "off the shelf" roof rack!!!!!!!

While Scottie continued working on stuff under the bonnet, Damian installed the roof racks!! Pretty snazzy aren't they?

Then, the rack for Booger's Head was placed in position, and the new roof racks only required about 1cm of adjustment - not a bad guess for placement from Damian!

Here are a couple of shots of the master cylinder nicely installed. Note the amount of room between the plugs and the master cylinder. A common issue with a Falcon of this model when fitting aftermarket master cylinder's is having the master cylinder hitting the underside of the plugs... no such issues with this master cylinder - what a great buy!!

Here it is from a different angle...

And once more for the home crowd!!

Damian continued to work on the roof rack etc, and took the opportunity to place Booger's Head on the rack (well, the front half anyway) to see how it would look...

Here's the roof racks as adjusted and completed etc.

Meanwhile, Scottie was building... wait for it... another bracket!! Complete surprise, isn't it? Here he is fitting it to the underside of the battery tray.

Damian decided that the side advertising boards needed a slight adjustment due to the roof rack mounting system being used... After notching out the bottom edge in two places, he placed it in position to find it fit perfectly!! Power tools and sharp implements (chisels) were used to complete this task, and again, no Ambulance required!!! Go Damian!!!!!

The new master cylinder at this point was getting a little jealous of the attention the roof racks were receiving, so insisted on featuring in another photo, this time showing clearance from the plugs!!

Scottie also took the opportunity to fit the air cleaner etc to the engine - the engine bay is starting to look complete!!

Damian began installation of the gauges, fitting the oil pressure gauge and the temperature gauge either side of the steering column.

After having such a success with the roof rack, the boys headed off to Bunnings to buy some plywood and steel plates to hold the roof rack to Booger's Rack (and vice versa).

Once they arrived back at Damian's shed, Scottie began to make the plywood fit the frame.

Just in case anyone didn't realise, he also marked it as property of Booger Mobile!

Black was the colour selected for the roof rack, as it tends to fade into the background a little, rather than taking the focus off the sponsor panels or Booger's head.

Once the plywood was black (1.5 tins of spray paint later), Scottie started on the rack itself.

A white hilux partially covered by an old sheet makes an excellent backdrop for black spray paint don't you think?

And here's the completed rack on the roof, ready for Booger's Head!

And here it is showing the position of Booger's Head and the sponsor panel on the driver's side.

And finally, side on, showing the angle of Booger's nose...

After finishing with the roof rack, Damian wired in the gauges (using a couple of temporary wires and a couple of permanent ones), and the engine was started.

Oil Pressure... CHECK!!

Temperature... CHECK!!

Tacho... CHECK!!

All gauges working perfectly, and Booger Mobile coming up to temperature nicely. Damian will complete the fitting of the gauges in the near future, but for now, the boys were excited to see them working and in position!!

Scottie and Damian made an excellent amout of progress today, and were both pleased with the efforts. With the esCarpade only 9 months away, it's great to finally start seeing some of the boy's vision coming to life...

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment!!