How did the water get into the front floor pan?

Hard to say for sure, but the chassis rail has a whole bunch of holes in it just like the ones below...

Seems that while heading through water, the chassis rail fills up with water, then enters the floor pan of the car through the access hole that is there to get to the bolts holding on the transmission cross-member!

Looks like the seats and carpet will be coming out, and some extra hole coverings added!!

Booger Mobile's long lost cousin - the Snot Rocket!!

Turns out that Booger Mobile has a long lost cousin - the Snot Rocket!!

Snot Rocket is another Brisbane entry for the 2011 esCarpade, being entered by Damian's good friend (and Camp Quality parent) Rob with some of his other mates.  They call themselves Team Afro!!

Why not check out Team Afro's blog - http://teamafro2011.blogspot.com/

Aussie World Ute Show

Damian was invited up to the 2nd annual Aussie World Ute Show, which was organised by Melinda and Kevin Rule, with proceeds to come to Camp Quality (adding to Team Booger Mobile's fundraising total!!)

With Booger Mobile off the road awaiting major work to prepare for 2011, Damian's family came along with him, and Ashleigh (aka Lash - little Ash), a former Camp Quality camper who lives nearby, dropped by to say g'day!  The famous Ettamogah Pub is in the background!!

The crowd took time out from the ute show to watch the traditional Australian dunny races!!  The team on the right won the race - this was the grand final!!

The ute show itself had over 50 entrants - a 50% increase on the first show in 2010.

Damian recognised some of the utes from their visit to the Camp Quality mid-sibs camp in 2009!  The one below isn't necessarily one of them, but made for a funny picture with the driver having a snooze!!

The trophies were all lined up, ready to be presented!

Damian took on microphone duties, announcing the winners, while Jade (left of photo in the Aussie flag shirt - who also organised the ute convoy to the mid-sibs camp mentioned earlier) and Melinda Rule (the organiser of the ute show) handed out prizes to the winners and runners up in each category.

It was a fabulous day, and the 2nd Annual Aussie World Ute Show raised an incredible $796 for Camp Quality!!  This brings Team Booger Mobile's fundraising total for 2011 to $3583!!

Huge thanks go to Melinda and Kevin Rule for the efforts they put in to make the day a success, and of course to Aussie World for providing the awesome venue!!  Damian has been invited back next year, and hopefully will have Booger Mobile on display!!

Damage report - let the planning begin!!

Damian headed out in Booger Mobile to do a couple of things... firstly to deliver some thank-you certificates to a couple of sponsors from 2010, and then to visit a couple of places to look at work to prepare for 2011.

First stop was an engineering firm to discuss a more permanent fix to the subframe issue.  While there, it was noted that the repair that Reg had made had begun to crack again, and indeed had separated!!  There was clearly some movement/flex/damage going on there... *sigh*

A couple of stops later, Damian headed to see Barry Mac about the engine/tranmission, and to see if he had any suggestions about fixing the shockie tower.  He had plenty of good suggestions, and Damian will be dropping Booger Mobile back to him in March to get cracking on the work.

Another suggestion is to make a brace to put between the strut towers to assist with strenghening the front end a bit more.  All these things will be investigated in due course...

Stay tuned...

Preparation time... off with his head!!

With Damian unable to work due to his clients being flood affected, he decided to spend a bit of time preparing Booger Mobile for the work that's required this year.

First up, it was removal of Booger's head...



He looks happy up there... little does he realise that he's about to have a splitting headache!!

Back half removed first...

Followed by the front half...

Damian noticed that there were some clearance issues  with the bolts holding the roof-rack on.

Particularly at the back!! 

He took the opportunity to add a couple of washers on the top side of the bolts to increase the clearance.  While working on Booger's head removal, he also noticed that the roof racks had moved a little during the 2010 esCarpade, scratching off some paint...

Of course, this was nothing compared to the sand-blasting that the door sills received!!  These were previously green and shiny!!

The passenger side didn't fare any better... matter of fact it's probably a little worse!!  Another job to add to the 2011 preparation list...

Next up was the removal of the underbody protection plate.  It looks in great condition, and (thankfully) won't need replacing for 2011!!

With floodwaters receding, Damian will be back to work in the morning, and Booger will be lonely in the shed!!  Not for long though - there's so much to do, and only nine months until the 2011 esCarpade!!

Silver Sponsor - Special K from WA

And a big welcome back to Special K from WA - the first officially re-signed sponsor for 2011!!

Team Booger Mobile are stoked to have Kaye's continued support!!

New year, new sponsors, new team?

Well, 2011 has rolled around, and Booger Mobile is sitting in Damian's shed waiting to be delivered to the mechanic's for some major work in preparation for the 2011 Camp Quality esCarpade!!

On the agenda so far are (in no particular order):

- Engine rebuild (more power and reliability required)
- Transmission rebuild  (preventative maintenance before adding another 5000km)
- Rear suspension extra leaf and raise (sagged badly during the 2010 esCarpade)
- Front suspension raise  (just for that bit extra ground clearance)
- Front end strengthening (where upper control arm joins the firewall)
- Front end bracing (between front struts)
- Remove seats and carpet and plug up holes!!  (Regular blog followers would remember Scottie's thongs floating away during a flooded causeway crossing on the 2010 esCarpade!!)

As you can see to the right, the blog has been cleared ready for new sponsors.  Of course, Platinum Sponsor Cadist Consulting are back again (for those who don't know, this is Damian's company).  Team Booger Mobile have had several verbal "yep, we'll sponsor you again" replies so far, and Damian will be contacting all 2010 sponsors to see if they would like to again offer their support in 2011 in the coming weeks.

In answer to some other questions that have been posed, again in no particular order:
Where's Scottie?  Well, Scottie has been moving house recently, and having a well deserved break from Damian... 
Will Scottie be back in 2011?  Hopefully... 
Will Booger Mobile still attend the esCarpade without Scottie?  Yes.  There is a contingency plan...
Can I be on Team Booger Mobile if Scottie isn't?  No.  There is a line up already... take a number!

A little birdie says that the 2011 Camp Quality esCarpade will be following a very similar route to the first esCarpade (or Camp Quality Caper as it was known then), since this is the 20th year...  This will mean it will predominantly be in Victoria!!  A long way for Booger Mobile to travel...

Welcome to 2011 - blog posts may be slightly less this year due to the nature of the work happening to Booger Mobile, but as always, they will be exciting, entertaining and sometimes full of complete drivel!!