This blog is all about my "Bluey" themed vehicle that I will be driving in my 14th Camp Quality esCarpade in 2025! Camp Quality's charity bash for cars 20+ yo brings positivity, fun and laughter back into the lives of kids facing cancer!
There were two remaining mechanical/vehicle items to get ready for esCarpade - a pair of rear tyres and resolving the exhaust - making sure it's not going to fall off halfway through esCarpade!
Damian had been out on Saturday and got two new tyres - Yokohama Geolandar A/T GO15 - same as what's already on the car!
Out with the old... these will become two spare tyres as per event requirements...
In with the new!
Fancy new tyres installed, Damian noticed that some wiring hadn't been nicely wrapped... So he did!
Voila! The dangers of living in the country - Bluey is so dusty it looks like Damian's already on esCarpade!!
While up on the roof, Damian thought it would be prudent to nip up the roof-rack bolts.
Once that was done, it was onto the exhaust... Having a quick look under Bluey, it was quickly obvious where the exhaust leak was coming from!
And maybe here...
Plenty of room here though... wonder if the part on Retro Rock-It (with the fancy dual exhaust tip) would fit?
Well, the part looks similar...
You may be wondering... if Damian got the back half of the exhaust off Retro Rock-It without too much drama, why he then took the front half of the exhaust off also?
Because when he went to get the back half off Bluey, THIS happened! Instead of the pipe coming out of the flange, instead the whole flange ripped off the rear of the exhaust...
Quick comparison to ensure they really are the same shape... they are! The dirty ones with dents are the "good" ones - they come ready made with esCarpade dust and dents... but importantly, no cracks or holes in the exhaust, joins or pipes!
Either the front half of the exhaust is inspecting Bluey, or Damian is using the creeper to slide the exhaust into place...
And the front half of the exhaust is attached!
And after getting Jordan to help hold the exhaust square, the rear half was also attached!
Look mum, no cracks!
And reconnected...
After a quick test drive up the driveway and back, tragedy struck!!
The clamp on the flange wasn't holding it tight enough... at this point, Damian realised he was using the clamp that came from Bluey on the exhaust from Retro Rock-It... after swapping to the correct clamp and another test drive, success!
And the test drive in question? Behold!
And with around 2.5 weeks until the boys leave on esCarpade, all the mechanical/vehicle prep items that Damian wanted to cover off were completed! Must be some kind of record for him to be ready so early!!
While an esCarpade car is never truly finished (there's always something to tweak), Damian is pretty pleased that Bluey is as ready as it;s ever going to be for the 2024 Camp Quality esCarpade!
Hoges was due to come up for another working bee at Bluey HQ aka Damo's house...
On the agenda for this weekend was to get all the inside stuff sorted out - mount the UHF radio, sort out the noisemaker (which was only making noise on two of the buttons), hopefully get the rooftop speakers hooked up (and the amp under the passenger seat)...
So while waiting for Hoges, Damian opened the noisemaker handpiece and cleaned the contacts. After reassembling it and switching it on, two things happened... Firstly, none of the buttons now worked, and secondly, there was a burning smell and the grey smoke was released!
For those who don't know, all electronic devices come with inbuilt grey smoke... when you release that grey smoke, they no longer work!!
Pulling it back apart again, Damian found a capacitor had become dislodged and was shorting out another part of the handpiece - this was probably the reason only two buttons work working previously!
Of course, they don't make those any more... What a debacle!
On with the blog post... the UHF radio was installed and tested... the rooftop pod speakers were wired up and tested...
And a replacement noisemaker was stashed in the glovebox! This one will have to do for now - if Damian can locate a replacement for the other one, it will be installed... otherwise he'll make do with this one for this year's event.
The important thing is that there is some siren noise... the speakers are wired up and Bluey internally is pretty much ready to rock and roll...
Just a few external things to be sorted, but the boys are pretty confident that they'll be ready in time!
Camp Quality gives children living with cancer the chance to be kids again!
Damian was heading off to the South Qld Combo Camp, this time held on the Sunshine Coast... again, he was up early and ready to head to the bus!
Day 1 - Aussie World!! As per Camp Quality rules, no pictures of the children are allowed... as a matter of fact, technically Damian shouldn't have been taking any pictures at all while at camp... so here are a few sneaky ones!
The theme of this camp was "Carnival"... so it was going to be all things circus and carnival related!!
Day 2 - Sunday... the kids got to learn some circus skills, then got to climb this amazing indoor climbing wall!
They also got to head to the beach for some fun and games, then it was time to get ready for the disco... Damian decided he should go as the world's largest hot dog!!
After boogeying the night away, the kids eventually tired out and headed to bed... after a fitful night sleep (par for the course for Damian, particularly at camp), Monday rolled around for the third and final day of this camp... it was a bit cooler than the previous day!
After packing bags and cleaning their rooms, it was time to head to "Amaze World"...
As the name suggests... there were mazes there!! A-maze-ing!!
Damian also found a wind turbine for home... might be a bit too large to pack into his suitcase though!
After three action-packed and fun-filled days, it was time to head home... the kids (big and small) had an awesome time, the adults left with a warm inner glow knowing they made a difference in the lives of kids living with cancer!
If you want to help send kids to camp, click that big, yellow "Donate Now" button on the top right hand corner of this page... or head here!
Following on from Saturday, Damian had planned to spend Sunday getting a few of the bits and pieces sorted out.
First up, hooking up the light bar.
Remove the plastic trim covering the space in front of the radiator so the wires can go through there.
The firewall hole driller 3000...
Peekaboo!! A new, larger hole in the firewall (needed because the light bar switch plug is quite large!)
Wires hooked up and excess tied off.
Next up, mounting some speakers in behind the grille - these belong to the CogaPA system that does such things as wolf-whistles, sirens and mooooooooo!
That requires an "always on" power connection, so an appropriately labelled fuse box was installed.
With great power (draw) comes a nice, powerful battery courtesy of Retro Rock-It!
Trim reinstalled...
And testing the light bar!
It doesn't look like much, but that was quite the day's work - lots of fiddly things and looking around in the shed for the required parts!
If nothing else, Bluey now has some sirens and the ability to wolf-whistle at the officials!
The 2024 Camp Quality esCarpade is now less than six weeks away!! Today, Damian figured it was a good day to swap out the tired, standard suspension in Bluey with his fancy heavy-duty, raised suspension that had previously been removed from Retro Rock-It!
First up - start with the easy ones - the rear suspension. Car up on jack-stands, with a trolley jack under the diff to raise and lower as required.
And voila! The first spring is removed... Jacking up the diff to compress the spring, Damian then fitted some spring compressors to hold it there, and lowered the jack again. Out it came!
Reversing the process, the heavy-duty spring and shock absorber was fitted...
Too quick you say? Here's the spring compressors on the driver's side spring ready to remove it.
Then onto the heavy duty spring ready to install it!
Another spring and shock successfully fitted!
And an immediate boost in ride height!
The front springs were a complete pain in the dot to remove from Retro Rock-It... Here's the before picture of the front ride height for Bluey.
After doing a bit more research, Damian found that by undoing these four nuts in the engine bay, the whole upper control arm can just be swung out of the way!
Before nuts undone...
After!
Oh boy did that make the process so much simpler than removing the control arm from the ball joint! Driver's side reassembled... Damian did need to borrow his older son Aidan to help push the lower control arm down a bit to get the spring out then back in again, but honestly, this was so easy!
And the immediate difference in ride height on the front...
Of course, the driver's side nuts were soooo easy to reach, Damian may have been lulled into a false sense of security... the passenger side nuts were buried under a pile of wires, manifolds, pipes, hoses and disappointment!
Undoing nuts is a slow process when you can get about 1/8th of a turn at a time!
Needless to say, the job was completed, and everything was hunky dory in the end! Damian took the opportunity to throw a couple of cable ties on the UHF coax to keep it out of harms way...
Damian's younger son Jordan decided to help by partially installing the light bar onto the bullbar.
The nuts were only finger-tight, so Damian figured tightening them was in order!
The lovely Tricia was in the passenger seat on camera duties so Damian could have a quick test drive of Bluey with the swapped out suspension... Jordan waved them off! Cheers!!
The test drive was from the shed down the side driveway, dropping down into the back paddock onto the arena, a quick 180 then back up the hill, out of the paddock, past Tricia's lady cave (aka horse shed) and back up the side driveway to the shed again!
Post test drive - suspension has settled and height gain is still noticeable!
Looking the goods!
Just about sunset...
Slightly more ground clearance... A bit was lost due to the way the bullbar mounts, but gained back again with the replaced suspension!
Still a number of things to get done before esCarpade... Tomorrow will be another day making progress!
Stay tuned for another exciting instalment of Damian excitedly installing things!
