Other than running the new shell to Oliver at Preptech to have the shell seam welded and roll cage mounts refitted this week has predominantly been taken up removing the loom from the old car ready to go in the new one. This was more time consuming than I thought as its ‘one piece’ and has to pull through into the car through a small hole in the bulkhead. Not a particularly difficult job just fiddly but does allow you access to remove any unnecessary brackets and sound deadening to reduce the overall weight of the car.

So with an agreed date with Oli at Preptech to get the cage mounts installed, along with the new harness mounts for the end of December I need to get the shell ready. I have decided to get the shell seam welded this time to stiffen it up with one eye on turning it into a 170 car next year.

This means the engine and box need to come out, as they are coming out anyway its no big deal. The only problem is with my workshop full and now a Yellow ZR 160 joining the Red Rover 25 out the front of the workshop I have to revert to my youth and do it on the drive. Picking the best time of year a wet Saturday in December especially after spending a fortune on the Osteopath to put the back right after the accident this makes perfect sense…NOT!

One thing that strikes me is after just working on 160’s for the past two years I had forgotten how much more room there is on a non-aircon, non ABS, 1.4 ZR. My knuckles are relieved and 2.5 hours later including a trip back to the workshop to get tools I had forgotten and the engines out.

Finally Oli said he needed the wings out the way to do the job properly so a spare 45mins this week is filled removing the front bumper and front wings. In the process releasing 2 kilos of compost from behind the splash guards. Joking aside – if you own a ZR then its worth stripping these out and cleaning them or rust will love it!

While working at home the other week a mate who runs a car collection business calls up saying he’d collected a 4 door battered yellow 160 ZR and was I interested. Well as he had it on the truck he brought it round and before I knew it I took ownership of yet another ZR.

This one unlike previous donors is way too tatty to put back on the road but the engine runs and sounds good and the 160 specific spares are getting few and far between. Although the cat and exhaust off it is already on the Express as that one was blowing and needs testing this month.

I’ll break this next year when I get some time (yeh right!)