First job was to get the XD up on blocks (well, old rims/tyres) and strip the useful bits off it!!
Here's one of those useful bits now!! (Disc brake front end for Booger Mobile!!)
Sadly, the rotor on the second stub axle and brake assembly was completely shot, so a new set of rotors is on the agenda... Here's the hole where the first one came from!
Scottie began fabricating some lower mounts for the VS Commodore radiator that was being fitted. (It's the silver bit on the right hand side of the photo!)
Meanwhile, Damian continued to strip the XD.
And a short time later, Damian's yard began to look even MORE like a car wrecking yard!!
The VS Commodore radiator was selected for it's shallow depth (only 25mm in depth), however it is far wider than the original XM radiator, so the battery tray was moved backwards a couple of inches, and some nifty new mounting brackets were made. The radiator basically slots into a couple of rubber mounts that press into a hole in the bracket. Scottie can be seen here drilling...
And here's the finished hole, minus the rubber bush.
And of course, no blog post is complete without a gratuitous plug for the blog itself, along with a shot of one of the Camp Quality stickers...
Damian stacked up the six XD rims that are going onto Booger Mobile once the new front suspension set up and the XP ute diff are installed.
Damian stacked up the six XD rims that are going onto Booger Mobile once the new front suspension set up and the XP ute diff are installed.
Once the radiator was installed (well, sitting in the bushes of the lower mounts), the boys worked out that there was plenty of room for a flex-fan to be attached to the front of the engine.
The following shot shows the width of the VS Commodore radiator compared to the original XM radiator (which bolted onto the edges of the visible opening at the front).
After adjusting the centre hole (which was slightly too small), the flex-fan was fitted to the engine (after replacing some bolts as per usual).
Preparing for the moment of truth - filling the radiator with water. (Naturally the boys will use coolant for the esCarpade itself, but the radiator will be in and out several times between now and then, so no point wasting it!!)
After several fires and brief running of the engine, it was time to work out why no petrol seemed to be being pumped. First stop, is the pump working? After connecting the fuel pump into a bottle of fuel and turning on the engine, it was safe to say the pump was working fine!!
Second step - remove the vapour lock in the fuel line... Firstly, Scottie attempted to draw the fuel through the old fashioned way... ewwwwwwwww...
After not having much success, it was decided to check for blockages in the fuel line... a blower was connected to the fuel line, and whoosh the air blew through into the tank no worries... Time to try the reverse!! After fashioning a bung to block the opening at the tank filler point, Scottie slowly used the air blower to pressurise the fuel tank... a short time later, Damian was yelling WHOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAA as fuel spurted out of the fuel line... Blocking the end, the extra hose was removed and the fuel line reconnected onto the fuel pump.
The engine sprang to life and idled under its own steam... suddenly, WHOA WHOA WHOAAAAAA yelled Scottie... Damian turned the engine off, and poked his head under the bonnet to find fuel absolutely pouring out of the carby and filling up the inlet manifold (where it joins to the engine). Something was terribly wrong...
After pulling the top off the carby, Scottie worked out where the fuel was coming from, but why??? Putting the top back on, Scottie found a screw that had been stripped, coincidentally in the same area the fuel leak was... could this be the source of the problem????
With the carby put back together, the engine was cranked for a second time, and roared into life... After a short time, a somewhat flustered Scottie yelled out WHOOO STOP STOP... There was just as much fuel as ever pouring out of the carby.
Having worked on a few carby's in his time (believe it or not), Damian suggested to Scottie that either the needle and seat were grungy and weren't closing properly, or the float level was too high, thereby letting fuel flow over the top and out the breather hole. Damian found an old XW carby among the spare parts (that was coincidentally the same model as the new one on the 250 pre-crossflow engine), and pulled the top off it. A visual inspection showed that the float level was set much lower on the XW one, so Damian removed the top of the new carby, adjusted the float level, and reassembled it.
Kicking the engine into life, not only was it idling beautifully, but the adjusted float level resolved the fuel-pouring-out-the-carby issue... The engine was left idling for about 10 minutes to check for leaks etc, and apart from a minor fuel leak near the pump (requiring nothing more than a new hose clamp to fix it), the engine was working beautifully, with no leaks to speak of!!
Another day was spent working on Booger Mobile, with much achieved... With only 11.5 months to go, the boys are really going to have to knuckle down to get Booger Mobile finished on time!
Stay tuned for the official fundraising launch for Team Booger Mobile in the near future!!
The following shot shows the width of the VS Commodore radiator compared to the original XM radiator (which bolted onto the edges of the visible opening at the front).
After adjusting the centre hole (which was slightly too small), the flex-fan was fitted to the engine (after replacing some bolts as per usual).
Preparing for the moment of truth - filling the radiator with water. (Naturally the boys will use coolant for the esCarpade itself, but the radiator will be in and out several times between now and then, so no point wasting it!!)
After several fires and brief running of the engine, it was time to work out why no petrol seemed to be being pumped. First stop, is the pump working? After connecting the fuel pump into a bottle of fuel and turning on the engine, it was safe to say the pump was working fine!!
Second step - remove the vapour lock in the fuel line... Firstly, Scottie attempted to draw the fuel through the old fashioned way... ewwwwwwwww...
After not having much success, it was decided to check for blockages in the fuel line... a blower was connected to the fuel line, and whoosh the air blew through into the tank no worries... Time to try the reverse!! After fashioning a bung to block the opening at the tank filler point, Scottie slowly used the air blower to pressurise the fuel tank... a short time later, Damian was yelling WHOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAA as fuel spurted out of the fuel line... Blocking the end, the extra hose was removed and the fuel line reconnected onto the fuel pump.
The engine sprang to life and idled under its own steam... suddenly, WHOA WHOA WHOAAAAAA yelled Scottie... Damian turned the engine off, and poked his head under the bonnet to find fuel absolutely pouring out of the carby and filling up the inlet manifold (where it joins to the engine). Something was terribly wrong...
After pulling the top off the carby, Scottie worked out where the fuel was coming from, but why??? Putting the top back on, Scottie found a screw that had been stripped, coincidentally in the same area the fuel leak was... could this be the source of the problem????
With the carby put back together, the engine was cranked for a second time, and roared into life... After a short time, a somewhat flustered Scottie yelled out WHOOO STOP STOP... There was just as much fuel as ever pouring out of the carby.
Having worked on a few carby's in his time (believe it or not), Damian suggested to Scottie that either the needle and seat were grungy and weren't closing properly, or the float level was too high, thereby letting fuel flow over the top and out the breather hole. Damian found an old XW carby among the spare parts (that was coincidentally the same model as the new one on the 250 pre-crossflow engine), and pulled the top off it. A visual inspection showed that the float level was set much lower on the XW one, so Damian removed the top of the new carby, adjusted the float level, and reassembled it.
Kicking the engine into life, not only was it idling beautifully, but the adjusted float level resolved the fuel-pouring-out-the-carby issue... The engine was left idling for about 10 minutes to check for leaks etc, and apart from a minor fuel leak near the pump (requiring nothing more than a new hose clamp to fix it), the engine was working beautifully, with no leaks to speak of!!
Another day was spent working on Booger Mobile, with much achieved... With only 11.5 months to go, the boys are really going to have to knuckle down to get Booger Mobile finished on time!
Stay tuned for the official fundraising launch for Team Booger Mobile in the near future!!
