It had been a few months since Bluey let Damian and Tricia down badly when heading to the Corvette Nationals at Noosa (and came home on a tow truck). Damian has had the replacement water pump and serpentine belt sitting waiting to install, but honestly, wasn't feeling it.
Until now!
Step one, remove the plastic cover, the thermo fans, air intake and the old water pump (just four bolts that were very difficult to access).
New water pump ready to go in...
Through the magic of the interwebs... voila!
Damian remembered that Retro Rocket had a picture under the bonnet of how the serpentine belt looped around the various pulleys and tensioner... Good thing, too... it wasn't particularly intuitive!
Belt's on!
A quick start of the engine to see how it was all going... and tragedy. The tiniest green dot of coolant weeping from one of the bolts...
Not to be deterred, Damian removed the serpentine belt again, loosened the offending bold, applied some more gasket sealant to the bolt itself and tightened it back up again - he figured if it worked, he saved himself some grief, and if it didn't, no harm no foul.
The good news - it worked!
Damian reinstalled the thermo fans, then noticed that the air intake wasn't as snug on the air-box as it could be... Stealing... err... permanently borrowing the one from Retro Rock-It, Bluey now has a much more snug fit on the air intake - that should help keep the dust and water out!
Sadly, Damian then got distracted and neglected to take an after picture... you'll just have to trust him that it was put back together!
In unrelated news, the 2026 esCarpade route was released a little while ago... here's where the boys will be heading...
2026 Route
Day 0 – Saturday 24 October: Mooloolaba
Day 1 – Sunday 25 October: Mooloolaba → Nanango → Toowoomba
Day 2 – Monday 26 October: Toowoomba → Miles → Roma
Day 3 – Tuesday 27 October: Roma → Nindigully → Lightning Ridge
Day 4 – Wednesday 28 October: Lay Day in Lightning Ridge
Day 5 – Thursday 29 October: Lightning Ridge → Rowena → Moree
Day 6 – Friday 30 October: Moree → Inverell → Tenterfield
Day 7 – Saturday 31 October: Tenterfield → On Track → Tweed Heads
In other esCarpade news, there are now 80 entrant vehicles registered to hit the track for esCarpade 2026 - registrations are now closed! This will be the largest entrant field in a decade, and includes a significant number of new entrants...
A big year coming up for esCarpade... stay tuned!
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