Also, Angus' gas axe was heaps bigger than the one Damian borrowed from his brother, which will be necessary to provide enough heat to bend the steam pipe!!
Looks a bit gloomy and damp out of the shed...
Yep, it's wet alright!!
Getting wetter... note this road for later in the blog post...
And Young's Crossing...
Not the best photo, but you can see the water is still a long way from the road...
Arrived safely at the workshop... time to get to work!!
The first task was to make the cross engine brace...
Some huge angle iron!!
Troy cutting it to size with the angle grinder...
And some fine adjustment with the oxy...
Nice!!
Looks a bit ratty at the moment, but the steel itself fits perfectly!!
You reckon it doesn't get hot under the oxy? Moods doing a great job not steaming his face off!!
That metal bracket was holding a bit of heat!!
Multitasking now - this piece of flat steel will be used to join the two halves of the strut tower brace.
Angus cleaning up the edges...
Action shot of trimming the end of the steam pipe...
How many fluoro shirts does it take to bend a piece of steam pipe? (Three apparently!!)
That's a lot of heat!!
Holy red pipe batman!!
The rain got heavier...
This is pretty close to fitting now...
Now it's even closer!! Must have trimmed the end again!!
Look at that bend!! Perfection in metal working!!
Tack weld it in place...
After Damian had been under the front of Booger Mobile using his long arms to reach up and work out the angle required to give sufficient bonnet clearance, both sides were tacked in place ready for some serious welding to be done!!
Serious welding... Courtesy of the big blue serious welder!!
Meanwhile, the joining piece was tacked in place ready to be adjusted...
The cross engine brace finished and painted black...
More oxy work to shape the metal joiner...
Hot stuff!!
Shaping done, time to weld!!
And what job would be complete without angle grinding?
Perfect!!
And painted black...
Strut tower brace and the cross engine brace both installed.
The rain was getting dramatically heavier, so Damian decided it was time to make a break for home!!
Not looking good...
Damian looking concerned, stopped in a line of traffic...
Water over the road...
Oh no... look at Young's Crossing now...
Following the line of cars through...
Probably not too many more cars would come through before Young's Crossing would be closed for a few days.
More water over the road... Some of the people coming the other way were driving like maniacs, throwing water all over Booger Mobile and any other car they passed...
Hairy trip home...
Damian was keen to get home to ensure his family was safe... It was school pick up time, and no word was heard. Roads were starting to be closed due to flooding...
This road was not under water, but it wouldn't be open for too much longer...
Terrible...
Almost home... just a bit more water to negotiate...
Oh dear, this is quite wide... but not flowing quickly.
After making a calculated risk assessment, Damian continued through.
And made it home safely, where the heavy rain continued into the evening, producing the worst flooding he had experienced in his area. Tragically, this led to the loss of five lives in the local area from vehicles being swept away crossing flooded roads.
Thankfully, Damian, his family, and of course the mighty Booger Mobile were all home safely.
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