Day 5 - Hervey Bay Rest Day

Day 5 of esCarpade was a rest day in Hervey Bay. Plenty of teams were doing some work on their cars, some were doing touristy things like whale watching, hiring mopeds etc...

Team Booger Mobile were heading to Pialba Primary School for a school visit by private invitation.



But first, Damian had to go locate some coffee. The coffee shop on the beach had a fabulous view...




At Pialba Primary School with Simon Boss-Walker, the principal. Long time blog followers would recognise Simon as the man that the boys got the engine for Booger Mobile from.

The kids were seated ready for parade - first the P-3 kids...

Everyone stood and turned to the flags for the singing of the National Anthem.

Damian had the opportunity to talk about Booger Mobile, and of course Camp Quality. He also told some awesome snot-based jokes!!

The P-3 kids headed to class, and the 4-7 kids came down. After another chat about Camp Quality and the esCarpade, the kids were allowed to have a bit of a closer look at Booger Mobile.

The engine bay still looks pretty good!!

So there were two things that Damian needed to get sorted out today. Scottie had gone for a moped ride. Damian checked the horn, as it had been making a strange noise...

Turns out it was full of WATER!!

Tipping, tipping, tipping...

Of course, it had been a while since anyone had bled for the blog, so Damian felt it was only fair to do so!!

He reattached the horn so that the opening was facing downwards - this should help with water retension issues.

Scottie stopped by on his hired moped for a giggle!!

Damian took Booger Mobile to have a wheel alignment. Simon had called the place that he uses to book it for Damian - thanks Simon!!

Once up on the hoist, the wheel alignment dude attached the bits and pieces, and noted that yes, the wheel alignment was terrible, but he couldn't understand why...

Damian was standing looking and suddenly said "Should you be able to see daylight through there?"

Of course, the answer was no... Closer inspection revealed a large tear in the subframe...

This was quite serious damage, and the recommendation was to put Booger Mobile on a trailer and take it home. Damian called Scottie to come and see. As you can see below, the whole system geometry is out by close to an inch!!

After seeking the opinions of four different lots of people - all with the same response - put it on a trailer and go home - Damian phoned Josh with a heavy heart to let him know that Booger Mobile's 2010 esCarpade journey was over.

Josh said to Damian "Get your car down here if you can, and we'll have Reg look at it. Reg is a guru. He can fix anything!"

Damian helped Reg pull the upper control arm and spring/shockie off.

Reg has everything including the kitchen sink in the OKA, and he also had a hydraulic spreader to push the bits around...

With the upper control arm detached and the bits swung out of the way, the size of the split was even more apparent - approximately 6 inches on the right hand side of the holes, and 4 inches to the left.

Here's the bits and pieces all carefully laid out... hopefully all the parts are accounted for when it's put back together again!!

With some gentle persuasion (sledge hammer and crowbar) the split was closed up and placed somewhere close to where it should have been.

Reg preparing to do some welding...

Damian tied the wires up out of the way... the welding caused a fair bit of smoke on the inside of the engine bay... And you know what they say - where there's smoke, there's

Reg - a picture of safety and concentration!!

Some more light adjustment with a crowbar!!

Booger Mobile, with the OKA in the background...

FIRE!!

Always the professional, Reg finished off his welding by using the angle grinder to tidy it up!!

And all welded...

And a bush wheel alignment (using a tape measure). It drives pretty straight now!!

Reg told Damian that it would be as strong as it was originally... Damian replied that clearly this wasn't all that strong!! Damian decided that for the rest of the 2010 esCarpade, he and Scottie would be doing school visits in Booger Mobile, and proceeding via the bitumen to each town.

This may be being overcautious, but will ensure that Booger Mobile makes it safely back into Damian's shed ready for bracing the subframe for 2011.

As a thank you, the boys have a carton of VB and a Team Booger Mobile hat for Reg. He doesn't have it yet, so don't tell him!!

The night time dinner venue happened to be at the hotel attached to the resort where Damian and Scottie were staying. It was a fairly social evening... nothing formal.

Tony and the team 808 boys along with Shelley the puppeteer were having a great time!!

Well, the good news is that with the expertise of Reg, Booger Mobile will make it to the end of esCarpade 2010. The sad news is that it will be on bitumen. Still, it's going to be a great few days - plenty of school visits coming up!!

Stay tuned for the next half of the 2010 Camp Quality esCarpade!!