Uh oh! Damian's created a MONSTER (truck)

Also known as...  Front Springs Part Two!!

Today's blog post brought to you by Kumho Tyres...  You'll see the mighty R800 rally tyres a little later in the blog post!!

First up, while the front wheel was still off on the driver's side, Damian decided to take the opportunity to grease the ball joints etc...

On with the spring cover and bump stop...

And on with the front wheel!!

Time for the passenger side... armed with the knowledge from yesterday, Damian figured this would be a slightly easier task...  Well, maybe not easier, but quicker as he knew the process to follow!!

First step, remove the spring guard and bump stop.  Note the bump stop on the passenger side has seen better days...

Look at all that room... NOT!!

Clamp the new spring...

Drop the upper control arm ball joint to increase the available movement of the upper control arm.

Throw the spring in place, and gently persuade it with a hammer and lever, popping it into the spring saddle (which you can see below in the middle of the spring.

Throw the strut in for safety...

Release the spring clamps (not shown) and attach the custom made strut tower...

Find a replacement bump stop (this one from the XD Falcon that the transmission came from - Damian knew it would come in handy!!)

Throw a bit of oil on the bolts and ensure they are working nicely before reinstalling...

Hold the spring guard in place while locating the bolts on top...

Good thing Damian comes from Longreach!!

Voila!!  Installed!!

Drop it down off the jack stands to see how it looks...  Holy Crappola!!  That's got to be sitting a good 8-10cm higher than it was previously!!

Maybe it will settle a bit with a test drive...

After the test drive, Damian noted it had settled about 1cm...  My lord this thing is sitting high now!!

Note that there is still a heap of spring showing in the front!! 

Damian jacked up the back to see how it would look sitting level.  It looks like a monster truck!!

It would seem that ground clearance will no longer be an issue for Booger Mobile!!

It used to turn some heads before... You can bet it will turn even more heads at this height!!

Damian reckons that it won't fit out of the shed with Booger's head on it any more...  Might make final preparations interesting!!

So there you have it... new front springs that have given Booger Mobile a real lift!!  Next up will be to get some custom made rear springs so that the back sits at the same height...  And a wheel alignment!!

Stay tuned... esCarpade is now only 6.5 weeks away!!

Front Springs - Part One

Well, today was the day to install the flash new front springs...  Today's post brought to you by Jason Sheather Plumbing...  Jason's sticker was present, even if he wasn't.



 

Damian compared the height of the new spring (yellow), Booger Mobile's original spring (rusty) and the Lovell's spring (blue).  Clearly the new spring is both taller and more heavy duty than either of the other two (although it's probably a similar height to the original spring prior to it being in the car for 45 years!)

Damian attempted to compress the new heavy duty spring with his spring compressors, and found they failed dismally, so back to Autobarn he went, exchanging (and paying a bit extra) for some heavy duty spring compressors...

Partially compressed, wonder if it fits yet?

Nope.  And that bit is in the way, making it heaps harder to fit...  Let's remove those bolts that haven't been undone for 48 years!!

Voila!!

Tightening down with a ratchet...

Getting so hard to tighten that leverage was required!!

Drop the top ball joint from the upper control arm, this will give about an extra 2cm of space...

Cram the spring in - note that the spring saddle (below the spring) isn't in the correct position yet.

Gentle persuasion for the spring to get it seated correctly...

Voila!!

Leverage required to undo the spring compressors...

One out...

Both out... strut installed so that if the spring decides to let go, it can't escape the strut.

Through the magic of the interwebs, the spring is in, and the upper control arm reattached to the ball joint.  This process actually involved some tricky jacking and persuading, a couple of near misses as jacks slipped, and some assistance from Tricia. 

It was a debacle!!

The top view of the spring and strut with the strut tower removed, and mounting bolts in place.

Custom strut tower (2" shorter to account for the 2" taller springs).

What a complete and absolute debacle that was...  and that was only the driver's side!!  Tune in tomorrow when Damian will attempt to get the passenger side spring inserted!!

Fundraising Opportunity - Norwex Products

Great news!!  One of Damian's new friends from skating named Kate is a Norwex rep/salesperson, and has offered a fantastic fundraiser for us all - buy any Norwex products before August 30, or book and hold a party before September 30, and Kate will donate 20% of the sale (or total party sales) to Camp Quality!!!

You can check out the Norwex range here:  http://www.katecreminrose.norwexbiz.com.au/

Contact Kate on 0414 633 957, or email her on tknskincare@optusnet.com.au with Booger Mobile in the subject line to take up this fabulous offer!!

Team Booger Mobile thank Kate for her generous offer!!

More safety lights...

Tonight's blog post is brought to you by Wadnot Joinery.  No particular reason.

 

Damian had been out and purchased some new green LED park lights for inside the front headlights.  After replacing the broken one on the driver's side, it was obvious that the new bulbs were fantastically better than the old one...

So Damian replaced the passenger side one also!!

Next step, the addition of some new rear-facing white LED lights to supplement the existing ones.  There are two new white LED lights (the two larger ones towards the middle) and two new amber lights (the two larger ones towards each edge).  The amber ones had been previously wired in.

Pretty!!  Those new white lights are certainly bright!!

Next up, the addition of some new amber LED's on the front.

Voila!!  Gee the internet sure speeds up the installation of things!!

And that's what they look like all lit up...

Tonight marks seven weeks until esCarpade starts for 2012 (well, this time in seven weeks Damian will be in Newcastle with Booger Mobile, and hopefully Jason, ready for scrutineering and paperwork on Friday).

There will likely be a number of small blog posts over the coming weeks as things get sorted out, so stay tuned!!