Nothing has really been done for over a week on the Libra now as:

1) I'm waiting for parts, again!! 

2) The clutch went on my Rover 114 GTa and has been sitting on the driveway for weeks, so I finally got round to fixing it.

The supervisors have been round to check out the quality of work.  Ivan seems to be happy with the front suspension!

Sam had a good check of the rear of the car.

Now, moving onto my Rover 114 GTa.  This car has caused me no end of bother!  It's spent more time off the road than on it!  I originally bought it as my donor car, but at the time is was too nice to break for parts, but looking at it now, I should have cut it up!  I've had it since January and so far the head gasket has gone, the central locking broke, the sunroof leaked, the thermostat got stuck closed (and I had to be towed home) and now the clutch has gone!!

I removed the hub/drive shaft on the passenger side, but got away with just un-doing the top ball joint on the drives side.

The removed hub and drive shaft on the passenger side.

After a bit of fiddling about taking the engine steady bar off, removing the gearbox mount and a side of the sub frame the gearbox came out.

It turned out that the clutch release bearing was totally knackered!  The pictures show the old one on the left compared to the new one on the right.

The other side of the bearing (what's left of it!)

The pressure plate had been scored a bit, and I'd bought a full clutch kit, so I ended up changing the lot (pressure plate, clutch plate and release bearing).

The new clutch with orange alignment tool on it.

This car is now for sale.  Any offers?  It's had a new head gasket, clutch, radiator, timing belt, alternator belt, water pump, exhaust down pipe, plugs, leads, distributor cap and air filter.  65K miles. 

I took my wheels and tires to be mounted and balanced this week.  I got it done cheap, its just cost me some money for the tea box!  The garage found the tires quite hard to get on with being such a low profile.  Four out of the five were very good and hardly took any weight to balance up.

My relay pack came this week so I finished off the engine bay wiring, mounted the ECU to the bulkhead and taped up the loose wiring to hopefully neaten it up a bit.

I've now started on a job I've been putting off for ages.  The trimming!  I've ordered some Alcantara/fake suede stuff which should be here in about a week.  I hate all the fiddling and messing about, trial fitting, then filing a bit off, re fitting it etc.  I did the handbrake cover first.  I widened the slot for the actual handbrake from what was marked as I think it'd rub on the material once it is trimmed.  I also slotted some holes so that it fits over the seat belt mounts without having to take them off.

1/2" ply needed to be fitted to the rear bulkhead to fix the panels too.  I fixed it in place with Sikaflex.

Whilst the Sika was drying I fitted the first section of the GTM exhaust and screwed in the Lambda sensor.  And before anyone says anything, Yes, I will be changing that oil filter before I start the car!

My nice shiny K&N filter.  There were lots of pipes that came with the induction kit but they weren't needed for the Libra, as it was designed for an MGF.

I couldn't resist trying an artistic photo!