about 7pm on day one, temperature is down to -2 and my breath seems to be caught by the flash.... enough is enough.. reached point 36 in the 42 steps of engine removal.. The driveshaft stubbornly stays put from earlier, some work on exhausts, mountings and fuel pipes should be all that remains :)

6pm, Darkness and cold set in, old laptop runs happily feeding page after page of manual

16 30 on day one and not much looks different really.. :( Offside driveshaft intermediate bearing is not budging and I am stuck with it.... the engine won't come out if the shaft is still in...

powdered aluminium.. a river has gone through this section of intake...

Looking in the nearside wheelarch it becomes obvious why these cars hate rain.. I dont even know how/where the air inlet attaches, but it's sunk down here near the road... the pipework has completely rotted through, second hand one needed.

Work begins.... Today seemed the best day, a maximum of 2C and no wind or rain :[
( I did get the engine moved nearer to the work area yesterday, and got the coupe on stands and wheels off - noticed gallons of water in the spare tyre area whilst hunting the keyed wheel nut socket)


I lost my printed sections from the factory manual (left on a plane from Venice to Gatwick Tuesday), then after downloading the manual to my home PC I managed to pick up 'intervalhehehe!!!' virus after downloading Winrar from a supposed rated site. A 30 minute trip to retreive my old doorstep laptop meant I had the much needed manual and could begin..

First job, 6 sections of plastic - 3 for each wheel arch...