Into December and Joe's long winter evenings were taken up getting the Metro tweaked for the coming season, some of the mods were to hopefully make the car eligible for the RAFMSA Circuit races. Others were just general stuff.
Biggest thing was the long overdue "Cambelt" change, Its nice to have so much room availiable, once the wheel and inner arches are off there is plenty of access
Using our Rover 200 Series Haynes Manual as a guide (The engines are the same) we took the old belt off, the hardest bit was holding the 2 Camshafts in position when the belt was off. Locking wire was just not man enough so instead we welded up a small tool to hold them in position.
We gave the area a good clean up prior to fitting the new belt.
The Tensioner spring is a very piddly little thing so after the belt was fitted and tensioned we took said spring off and stored it in the tool box, we have heard stories of it falling off and knackering engines so its best to get rid.
With the new belt fitted and our "Home made" solid Engine mount fitted the engine was struck into life, click on the link and you will see how quick it started (much to everyones relief 
)
Now the Timing Belt cover is on and his mount is painted up and in place, looks good eh?
Next thing to do in this area was to get shot of his old tired Dampers, last year at the Newark Auto jumble we all spotted this set of Brand new Spax Adjustable Dampers we were not sure if they would fit but Joe took the plunge and got them for £15
As you can see the top fittings are the same but the "Original" bottom fitting was a hoop and Bolt affair while the new one was a spigot same as the top.
We needed to make a bracket to hold the lower end of the new Damper, this is what we came up with 2 pieces of Steel Angle welded together and bolted to the original mounting position then the Damper mounts to the flat plate section sticking out.
Just as an added precaution we added some triangulations to each side for extra strength, Oh and a coat of Hammerite.
And here we have the new Damper fitted in position. It sits in exactly the same place as the original one so there should be no problems there. Joe is looking forward to giving it a try so he can play with the damper settings.
Joe spent quite a while working on the rear Hatch he cut loads of the inside section off so its now really light, he then fitted these locking pins
Look good eh!
Once the Battery box was removed he had plenty of access to the Left Hand engine mount, this was again replaced with a solid item.
Bet its going to rattle his teeth when he's racing
And he has repositioned his "Air Filter" so he can put the headlight back, I hope the car sounds as good as it did before with the filter hidden away!
Next up, its the Brakes but thats a later story.
