Engine and Gearbox Removal

The day started out like many others... Scottie arrived and the boys got down to the business of planning what they wanted to achieve for the day...

Goal 1 - Removal of Engine and Gearbox
Goal 2 - Preparation of Sign Board for displaying with Booger Mobile at car shows
Goal 3 - Paperwork

Before beginning on the serious stuff, the boys thought it would be good to throw Booger's head onto the top of Booger Mobile to see how it would look - this was the first time it was on top of the car!!



As you can see, there are some adjustments to be made to the roof rack, but all in all it seems to fit the XM nicely!!

Next up, removal of the engine and gearbox! As you can see, first, jack the car, put on jackstands and drain the oil!



Don't forget to drain the oil from the gearbox also!


Meanwhile, Damian decides to prep the front wheels so that they look presentable for the grand unveiling - even though the wheels are almost certain to be replace, they should still look good in the mean time!! Started with this:

And here's the finished product!! If you look closely, you can see Damian taking the photo in the reflection !!

In the absence of an engine crane (long story), the boys decided that they would be able to muscle the engine out by hand, so first they removed the tappett cover and head...

These bits look important, so the boys put them somewhere safe and tried not to get them out of order!!




After much yanking, shoving, lifting, prodding, poking and cursing, the gearbox was out!! Damian nearly lost his thumb in this exercise, but was saved by good luck rather than good management. Damian needs to toughen up - Scottie's comment.

Sadly, there are no pictures of Damian standing inside the engine bay lifting the engine block with Scottie, as the girls were down at the house and not taking photos... Once it was lifted, Scottie balanced it on the radiator support while Damian quickly snapped a photo...

Sadly an inspection of the engine block revealed some significant gouges in the bore of cylinders 3 and 6, meaning the engine is in far worse condition than hoped... Still, there is some hope that these can be fixed during the engine rebuilding phase, however it might entail slightly more cost (read that opportunity to find an extra sponsor!!) to get the bores "sleeved" first.

With a little bit of extra "christening" for the shed floor, the gearbox and engine were successfully removed from Booger Mobile. Goal 1 - CHECK!!

Damian was doing some painting and prep work on the Sign Boards, however, with Scottie being a gun spraypainter from way back, it was decided to let him apply the top coat... I think the results speak for themselves!! Goal 2 - CHECK!!

While the sign boards were drying, Damian and Scottie prepared their page on the official Camp Quality esCarpade website. This was submitted, and will take several days to be approved, so stay tuned for the link!! Goal 3 - CHECK!!

Just before heading home, Scottie decided that the boys really needed some cheering up after what had been quite a difficult day, with the disappointment of the engine condition fresh in their minds, so he grabbed the remaining tin of green spray paint from the sign boards and went to work on one of the front guards... Here is a sneak peak of how Booger Mobile MIGHT look once completed!!

Hopefully the boys will be getting hold of the painting preparation materials from a soon-to-be-announced sponsor this week, so the prep will be in full swing - still aiming for unveiling Booger Mobile at the Nambour Swap Meet on July 25.

Stay tuned!!