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!
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!
Damian had been invited out to City Chicks at 408 Mount Glorious Road, Samford Valley to put Bluey on display and shake the donation tin at their Father's Day cafe sittings.
A quick wash off of the dust and mainly pollen...
Being stalked by an angry bumble-bee...
Parked beside the fence - prime position!
Up with the flags... one in front of Bluey...
One up near the road...
The lovely Tricia with the donation bucket...
Always time for a selfie!
Bluey made the first of 5 special appearances!
With more Camp Quality signage, of course!
Waving to the passing traffic!
Tricia was a bit besotted with the miniature goats...
Bluey the car, meets Bluey the mascot!
Having a bit of a rest in the shade... was a stinking hot day!
City Chicks, for all your backyard chicken and native bee needs!
Damian was lucky enough to run into Angus and Jo-Anne, and stopped to have lunch with them! Regular blog readers would recognise Angus from the 2013, 2014 and 2015 Camp Quality esCarpades in Booger Mobile, and the 2018 and 2019 Camp Quality esCarpades in Retro Rock-It!
And of course, Jo-Anne, who came along on the 2011 Camp Quality esCarpade in Booger Mobile!
Ingrid, the owner of City Chicks who graciously invited Bluey along to fundraise!
Ingrid, Bluey and Damian.
A wonderful day was had, with Bluey a big hit with the children and a lot of the parents also!
Donations in the tins on the day was $167.60, plus there were another couple of online donations from people scanning the QR code!
