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Progress at last When I saw Andy Tapos at Japshow he was bemoaning the fact that every single suspension bolt on TWiR needed sawing or bashing or burning or general barbarism to get apart I think he's been earning his gruel on this oneby the sound of it

Normally I would pour scorn on people for paying to get work done, but sounds like you might have dodged a bullet there.

2 months is a bit crazy. Mind you, not like the weathers been up to much

Lucky wrote:Progress at last When I saw Andy Tapos at Japshow he was bemoaning the fact that every single suspension bolt on TWiR needed sawing or bashing or burning or general barbarism to get apart I think he's been earning his gruel on this oneby the sound of it

I haven't discussed payment in gruel Fine by me though Andy tells me that the lower rear arms are the only thing left to do now. Apparently, he's already had to cut one out so the carnage continues. The uppers can wait for a while until I get another bush set as they are £72 a side.

I'm hoping he's not a broken man after all this cos he's like, my go to guy.

TOOL wrote:Normally I would pour scorn on people for paying to get work done, but sounds like you might have dodged a bullet there.

2 months is a bit crazy. Mind you, not like the weathers been up to much

I'm thinking he may not want to see the underside of a FB for quite some time

Andy has won the battle to liberate a bunch of suspension bushes from their 26 year abode. With the exception of the Watts link assembly, all the bolts were a right PITA to remove, some having to be cut out in the end. The difference in handling is amazing, it actually points into corners now and the rear feels a lot more connected to the front.
However, it also shows up how apalling the steering setup really is so I'll need to look at replacing some ball joints to soak up the remaining play and also reducing the tyre width from 205 to 195 to lighten the steering up and reduce some of the sidewall flex.
Will update more tomorrow but in the meantime, here's a couple of pics.... 2 from before the work then one after some 600 miles on the Exile Eurotrip.







More to come..... just v pleased to be rotorised once again.

Amongst all the excitement of a) getting TWiR back and b) completing 600 odd miles in a weekend on the Eurotrip, I forgot to mention my MOT mini drama. The worst point was a snapped handbrake cable on test. Turns out it snapped because it was held together with liquid metal I mean, WTF is that all about and what kind of moron thinks that is in any way a clever fix??
Anyway, a little welding, a little wiring and a handbrake cable later (it's a Blueprint part, I'll get the details off Andy and post in the relevant place) we have a 12 month ticket and NO advisories
So, on to the next project... some ideas for a new exhaust system. Inspiration by Ramonz......

Lol, parking might be an issue.....

I was so tempted to make Ramon an insulting offer on one of those RB backboxes, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to carve up my Rolls Royce exhaust. It'll look excellent though... when it's slightly more, errrrm, recessed. Flat at the top will even match your bumper cut-out

It's been a long old while to finally organise getting a new front screen onto TWiR. I ordered one thru National Mobile Windscreens some months ago just before the car going into AMT to liberate the suspension bushes. Numerous phone calls later with the conversation going something like ' the car's still in the shop, call me in a week...', I called them just after the Exile Eurotrip to come and do the job. Turns out they now had no stock and had to get Pilkingtons to make the screen. So, another few weeks on.... the guy turned up a couple of days ago to fit the screen.

He told me that they usually try and source spare screen trims and clips just in case they are needed but they had no luck in finding anything for TWiR. Lucky then that I had armed myself with the clip set from Rejel viewtopic.php?f=14&t=83 so thanks as always to Ian for that info


He had a right old time getting the old screen out. It had been replaced at some stage but it was a genuine mazda screen. There was a lot of excess bonding material and I now understand why most old bonded screens break before they come out. It's the leverage involved to try and seperate the screen from the old glue. Mine didn;t fare too well. Cracks started to appear early on but it did at least come out in one piece.


This was the only corrosion in the whole frame and it's only minor stuff so I can count myself quite lucky. Rust preventer was applied to the whole frame before the new glass went in.








He used quite a nifty battery powered machine that extruded a nice bead around the frame






A sponge type tape was than applied for the glass to rest on and prevents the glue from gooping onto the inside of the screen


And voila.... a nice new screen. I kinda wish I'd found a nice set of trims now as the old set looks a bit second hand. It was a
struggle to refit too as the sponge tape pushed the screen out a little. A nice tight fit in the end though.

I've left it a couple of days to cure and have now carried out the all important water test..... no more pesky leak.... YAY

And all for £167.00 Quite happy with that

thats a good price on the screen! i have a new one in the loft as i thought there was none on the shelf

mpk490p wrote:thats a good price on the screen! i have a new one in the loft as i thought there was none on the shelf

'Tis a good price. I'd have figured nearer £350/£400.

Hang onto the spare one Mark. Gonna be worth it's weight in gold.