First step - Damian took a trip to the petrol station to grab another jerry can of fuel to top up Booger Mobile - the rules in Queensland allow Damian to drive Booger Mobile directly from home to where the Safety Certificate inspection is, then if successful, drive it directly to Queensland Transport.
Damian figured this didn't include a detour via a petrol station, so filled it up by jerry can!!
Booger Mobile is out of the shed, with GPS installed to check the accuracy of the speedo (which is in miles per hour)!
Snappy shot of the GPS on the highway - sitting nicely on 90kph (in the left hand lane, with traffic streaming past!!)
Funnily enough, Damian turned out of his driveway and about 250m down the road was an unmarked patrol car with a vehicle stopped... he cruised past and onto the highway, only to have a motorcycle policeman riding beside him for a km or two before moving off...
Down the highway cruises Booger Mobile...
And stopped in traffic!! At least the automatic transmission makes city traffic easier to negotiate!!
After driving a while longer, past yet another police vehicle, Damian arrived for Booger Mobile's Safety Certificate inspection. Booger Mobile passed with flying colours!! (Phew!)
So it was on to Queensland Transport, parking in the designated vehicle inspection bay!!
Damian went inside and grabbed a ticket from teh automated machine... as you can see, he was number G708 for a new vehicle registration!!
After around 30 mins, Damian's number was called... after checking his licence, photocopying various paperwork and inspecting Booger Mobile to check the engine number/identification number/mod plate etc were all fine (and having a demonstration of the LED lights for interest sake), Booger Mobile was deemed suitable for registration!!!!!!! WOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!
Booger Mobile's registration number is 804RDC.
Damian left Queensland Transport (with the number plates inside the car - he is allowed 24 hours to get them attached), and went to visit Team Booger Mobile's secret sponsor to show them the car - they were all very excited, and offered some excellent suggestions about some further items that might help for esCarpade, for instance, to assist airflow into the engine etc...
From there, Damian heard that he was going to have a visitor at home, so he high-tailed it there, listening to the thumping stereo courtesy of Kerbside Car Sound, getting some looks and waves along the way!! Look out esCarpade - here comes Booger Mobile!!
At home, Damian noticed that the oil pressure had dropped, and the temperature had risen. While Damian attached the number plates, his mystery visitor investigated the source of the temperature and oil pressure issues, discovering that the timing was waaaaaaay out...
The front number plate was attached... sadly the shape of the space for the number plate didn't allow Damian to attach the nice Kerbside Car Sound number plate surround...
The rear number plate had even less room to manoeuvre!! The boys will need to keep the tow-ball off in order to keep the plate unobstructed!!
Having finished some cursory adjustments to the timing, the mystery visitor wanted to have a test drive of Booger Mobile, so Damian bundled into the passenger seat...
Having stopped at a set of lights, Damian asked what the smell was... he could smell a burned plastic smell... The mystery visitor suggested it was nothing more than the new paint on the exhaust!
The lights went green, and Booger Mobile didn't move... no accelerator... Putting it into drive, the boys managed to get it off to the edge of the road (thankfully they were right beside a driveway that leads to a bus depot).
Booger Mobile was spewing coolant like there was no tomorrow...
A closer inspection showed that the accelerator cable connector had either broken, melted, or a combination of the two... and the Claxton Horn looked like it had seen better days also!!
Of course, Damian's phone had run out of battery, and the boys had no tools with them, so borrowing his visitor's phone, Damian phoned his darling wife Tricia, who collected some tools and wire from the shed and delivered it!
The boys removed the air cleaner and rigged up a wire to control the accelerator, and managed to get the 3km or so back to Damian's house without too much trauma - only some mild annoyance for cars stuck behind them on the single lane section of road!! At least they got the chance to test out the you-beaut amber flashing LED lights!!
Having wreaked havoc and run late as a consequence, Damian's mystery visitor went home, leaving Damian to continue the investigation of what went wrong...
Damian removed the spark plugs - they are in order from 1 to 6 - numbers 2 and 3 have definitely seen better days, and number 4 isn't much better!
Damian compression tested the engine, finding (as the spark plugs would indicate) that cylinders 2 and 3 had much lower compression than the other cylinders... This most likely indicates a busted head gasket, which unfortunately involves removing the head, and sending it away to be machined, before being reattached.
So it was on to Queensland Transport, parking in the designated vehicle inspection bay!!
Damian went inside and grabbed a ticket from teh automated machine... as you can see, he was number G708 for a new vehicle registration!!
After around 30 mins, Damian's number was called... after checking his licence, photocopying various paperwork and inspecting Booger Mobile to check the engine number/identification number/mod plate etc were all fine (and having a demonstration of the LED lights for interest sake), Booger Mobile was deemed suitable for registration!!!!!!! WOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!
Booger Mobile's registration number is 804RDC.
Damian left Queensland Transport (with the number plates inside the car - he is allowed 24 hours to get them attached), and went to visit Team Booger Mobile's secret sponsor to show them the car - they were all very excited, and offered some excellent suggestions about some further items that might help for esCarpade, for instance, to assist airflow into the engine etc...
From there, Damian heard that he was going to have a visitor at home, so he high-tailed it there, listening to the thumping stereo courtesy of Kerbside Car Sound, getting some looks and waves along the way!! Look out esCarpade - here comes Booger Mobile!!
At home, Damian noticed that the oil pressure had dropped, and the temperature had risen. While Damian attached the number plates, his mystery visitor investigated the source of the temperature and oil pressure issues, discovering that the timing was waaaaaaay out...
The front number plate was attached... sadly the shape of the space for the number plate didn't allow Damian to attach the nice Kerbside Car Sound number plate surround...
The rear number plate had even less room to manoeuvre!! The boys will need to keep the tow-ball off in order to keep the plate unobstructed!!
Having finished some cursory adjustments to the timing, the mystery visitor wanted to have a test drive of Booger Mobile, so Damian bundled into the passenger seat...
Having stopped at a set of lights, Damian asked what the smell was... he could smell a burned plastic smell... The mystery visitor suggested it was nothing more than the new paint on the exhaust!
The lights went green, and Booger Mobile didn't move... no accelerator... Putting it into drive, the boys managed to get it off to the edge of the road (thankfully they were right beside a driveway that leads to a bus depot).
Booger Mobile was spewing coolant like there was no tomorrow...
A closer inspection showed that the accelerator cable connector had either broken, melted, or a combination of the two... and the Claxton Horn looked like it had seen better days also!!
Of course, Damian's phone had run out of battery, and the boys had no tools with them, so borrowing his visitor's phone, Damian phoned his darling wife Tricia, who collected some tools and wire from the shed and delivered it!
The boys removed the air cleaner and rigged up a wire to control the accelerator, and managed to get the 3km or so back to Damian's house without too much trauma - only some mild annoyance for cars stuck behind them on the single lane section of road!! At least they got the chance to test out the you-beaut amber flashing LED lights!!
Having wreaked havoc and run late as a consequence, Damian's mystery visitor went home, leaving Damian to continue the investigation of what went wrong...
Damian removed the spark plugs - they are in order from 1 to 6 - numbers 2 and 3 have definitely seen better days, and number 4 isn't much better!
Damian compression tested the engine, finding (as the spark plugs would indicate) that cylinders 2 and 3 had much lower compression than the other cylinders... This most likely indicates a busted head gasket, which unfortunately involves removing the head, and sending it away to be machined, before being reattached.
As with everything Booger Mobile, the day went from excitement and happiness to debacle in a few short hours...
At least Booger Mobile was registered before all this happened - Damian will be able to drive it to a mechanic if required!!
At least Booger Mobile was registered before all this happened - Damian will be able to drive it to a mechanic if required!!
D what would you do without your mystery man...
ReplyDeleteStill have a working car???
ReplyDelete--D
WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!!!! BOOGER MOBILE IS REGISTERED!!! (even if there were a few slight issues afterwards)... and... Lawz says that Damian could have fixed it without mystery visitor!!! (seeing I don't know who mystery visitor is... I will just presume Damian could have fixed it)... Looking forward to seeing the BOOGER on Friday Damian!!!
ReplyDeleteLawz xoxo
Yikes what a drama......
ReplyDeleteIt's always a saga, and a debacle, with a sprinkling of excitement and happiness before another kick in the guts!! That's Booger Mobile for you!!
ReplyDelete-- D
HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY
ReplyDeleteBooger Mobile is of for a safety check today and if all goes well its straight to the Queensland Transport,to try for that much sort after registration.
With a not really wanted police escort part of the way Booger Mobile did us proud behaving all the long way, to the safety certificate inspection,and of course the Booger passed, there was never any doubt of that.Now to go and pass the rego examination.After a short 30 minutes wait it was Booger Mobiles turn, and with everything checked and deemed correct the answer was YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Booger was passed for registration the best news ever WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
But as always there seems to be some sort of debacle, with the beloved Booger Mobile and by the end of the day the Booger had go thru another saga which I can not bring myself to write about but of course by now everyone has heard about what had happen.
Will this stop Damian and Scottie from continually their journey to the Camp Quality esCarpade 2010.No way with all the guts and determination they will have Booger Mobile ready and in perfect working order. There always has to be a lesson learnt when these sort of thing go wrong.
The best thing is that Booger Mobile has some beautiful licence plates now that is really great(804*RDC)
Thank you Damian and Scottie for all the hard work you both have put into the Booger Mobile, and as it has been already said better for the problems to arise now than during the Camp Quality esCarpade 2010