Underbody Protection - Done!

A sunny Sunday at Bluey HQ aka Damian's shed... Just to prove that Bluey really is driveable, it's facing the opposite direction today!

Up on ramps... today was the day to get the underbody protection aka "bash plates" installed...

No bash plates as yet...

Before doing that, it was time for a quick second coat on the rooftop pod...

Voila!

The front bash plate would be installed using some "nutsert" captive nut inserts...  First step - drill the 11mm holes for the nutserts...

Through the magic of the interwebs, three nutserts installed...

The next three hours were spent cursing at the rear two nutserts and the bash plate in general... But then... success!

The rear bash plate (covering the transmission) was still attached to Retro Rock-It, to Bluey was moved out, and Retro Rock-It put up on the ramps...

A native brown tree frog was perched on the bash plate...

After carefully removing the bash plate, the brown tree frog hopped away to safety!

Cleaned ready to go onto Bluey!

But first... how hare would it be to remove the bullbar?

Turns out, not that difficult!  Maybe Bluey will have a bullbar before esCarpade rolls around!

Lining up the rear bash plate ready to drill the holes...

Drilling through the plate to ensure the holes are located correctly!

Two bolts installed, ready for the plate to be bolted to them!

Voila!

Full set of underbody protection aka bash plates installed, ready for esCarpade!

And Damian thought that's enough for one day... Bluey is in nose first today for something different!

Today is of course the last day of the financial year, so you still have just under 5 hours left if you want to make a donation to claim your tax deduction for this financial year... Of course, you can still make donations after tomorrow, but that will be for the next financial year!

Speaking of donations, having had a number of fabulous donations over the past week or so, the tally now stands at an incredible

$18016

Thank you to all the wonderful people who have made donations so far this year - the boys are well on their way to their $20,000 fundraising goal!

Progress is progressively progressing!

Damian thought that he should keep making slow and steady progress so that when esCarpade races around, he won't be!

First up - bit of Sikaflex to hold the cable conduit down the side of the windscreen...

Then there's something missing from this picture...

That's right - Bluey has had its Safety Certificate inspection and is now registered!  This should make it a bit easier to drive around to get bits and pieces sorted out...

There's even one for the back...

Time to dismantle the rooftop pod ready for re-theming...

Bye Giggle... see you again soon!  Interestingly, look how much the colour has faded (the green circle was underneath the amber rotator).

Give it all a good sanding...

Time to try some new wheel colours... this blue looks pretty good!

Probably not as different as hoped, but still not a bad colour!

Black undercoat/primer on the rooftop pod... coat one!

Retro Rock-It literally and figuratively out to pasture...

The engine bash plate from Retro Rock-It... the theory for buying another car the same shape was that all these things could be unbolted from one car and bolted onto the other...

Except it turns out that the holes to mount it need to be drilled out and have some captive nuts inserted into them... And some need to be drilled in the first place!!  Still, at least the plate is the right size and shape!

So that's how Damian's weekend panned out - slowly making progress while waiting for Hoges to come around for the next working bee in July.

Oh yeah, and exciting news...  the boys' fundraising total has now reached an amazing

$11952

Thanks to some amazing donations received... This is more than halfway to the boys' $20000 fundraising goal!

If you'd like to kick it along a bit further, please click the yellow "Donate Now" button above.

Working Bee at Bluey HQ - Safety Lights

With just four short months until the 2024 Camp Quality esCarpade, the boys figured a working bee was in order to start making some progress on Bluey...

Hoges came up for the weekend to give Damian a hand.  Step one - install the roof-racks that hold the rooftop pod and the amber flashing lights previously removed from Retro Rock-It.

With a clean under bonnet, Damian decided to mount the fuse block under there instead of inside the cabin.

Holy spaghetti factory Batman!  Hopefully Damian knows where all these wires go!

After just two short days, the lights are wired up and working as expected!

Rear white, amber rotator...

The rooftop pod will be repainted in the Bluey theme - it's just sitting there to test the lights at the moment!

Amber strobe lights also working...

Neat wiring is neat!

With a passenger side airbag in the way, the boys had to decide on a new location for the switch panel.  The space below the ashtray looks to be the go.  (It's just sitting there at the moment - still to be attached properly).

And with that, the weekend was done.  Hoges went back home to his place, and Damian headed off to play a game of basketball.  Bluey is one step closer to being ready for esCarpade, much to Damian's relief!  Next stop - registration.

In unrelated news, the boys' fundraising total for 2024 stands at an amazing

$9932

Nearly half way to their $20,000 fundraising goal for 2024.

If you'd like to help out, you can donate securely by clicking the big yellow button above, or via this link: https://fundraise.campquality.org.au/fundraisers/Car64