I've had a bounce on the front corners but due to the stiffness of the tub the whole front end just goes up and down - and it appears to be damping ok.

It does creak a helluva lot though.

I've bought new top/bottom balljoints and TREs for fitting this weekend, and I shall investigate further.

I've also got a leak into my passenger footwell - I can see dripping from above where your left foot would be if you were sitting there. Any ideas where it would be getting in?

Take the damper off, then manipulate the hub up and down by hand and give a good push/pull in all directions (make sure car is secure on whatever its propped up on). Check all the nuts n bolts are tight. Creaking could be a BJ or an A frame pivot bush needs lubricating.

Your leak is likely either the blower seal to the tub or the PS/DS wiper where it fixes to the tub. Could also be water build up in the blower intake cavity - there is a drain hole for this that sticks out the bottom RHS corner as you stand in front of the car, see if it's blocked?

https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GRID000434

Well it looks like that's my Saturday sewn up then. Luckily I have a shiny new ramp to use

The heater drain being blocked seems very likely - especially if that duckbill valve is still fitted. Otherwise it's liberal applications of tigerseal at the weekend.

I doubt it's the wipers because of how it is parked and the amount getting in. Goldfish bowl anyone?

Re your nasty bang from the front, it sounds similar to a problem I had with an AVO front damper (note AVO can be orange or blue) that damped in bump but not in rebound. Took it off the car and turned it the right way up and after a few strokes it would be fine again for a while but would fail again usually in very cold weather. Seemed to be a stuck valve sort of problem so got AVO to rebuild it and match it with the other which in 2011 cost £30, sad to say it did it again 18 months later so another £30 but has been fine since.
Regards and good luck
Howard W

Thanks for the input Howard. TBH I cant tell what make the shocks are - there's no colour on them as far as I can see. Or stickers etc.

Springs are red.

The only thing I can make out is a shiny blue sticker on the damper adjust knob.

I've lined up a lot of jobs this weekend - including a new 2.7t rack from Mike Satur (as I suddenly realised he lives just across town from me).
So I'm trying to decide whether to take the front apart and do it properly, or chisel a lump out of the front end GRP.
Exactly how much work is it to do it properly? What does it entail?

Thanks.

If you can't get the rack out as is, I think it would be:
Bonnet off (disconnect front lights RHS should be one big plug) is just two pins to pull out. Removing the bonnet is a two man job as its bulky and fairly heavy.

Remove spare wheel, spare wheel holder, battery, battery holder.

Drain coolant system - OR G clamp squeeze shut the hoses going to the radiator, remove them and make up some solid bungs to fit in the ends of the hoses and clamp them on with jubilee clips then you can release the clamps on the hoses. This way you don't have to go thu the whole faff of draining and refilling the entire system. I did it this way when fitting a new rad, see here: topic3896.html

Remove radiator frame (leave rad bolted to it). Disconnect fan and temp sensor 1st.

Unbolt everything attached to the sides of the cowling; washer bottle, fuse block all the electrical cables etc.

You should now be able to unbolt the cowl and remove it, giving free access to the rack.

You're going to need to access the rack fixings from inside the car too, via holes that are in the vertical wall behind the pedals and same on passenger side. This will not be fun. Some of the fixings for the battery holder and the cowl itself might need to be accessed from inside the cat too - depends how clever the builder was.

A lot of this will be swearing at rusted bolts and cursing the gods of fibreglass rash.

Bejaysus! Sounds a right faff. Looks like I'll be chopping a lump out instead.
Cheers for the info.

I'd be tempted to remove the bonnet anyway as it'll make working around the front end much easier*. The spare wheel/battery bits have got to come off anyway.

If you cut carefully and generously (so you don't find you need to cut more out later) in the correct area you should be able to glue/glass/metal plate the part you cut out back in place.

...and you are still likely to need to access fixings within the car to remove the rack. Ugh.

(* prepare for the horror of rusty bonnet hinges. topic3894.html )

Hmm, seems that what should be an easy job may end up a nightmare. Still, needs must, I really don't like the metro rack gearing.

This is pretty much the cut you'll have to make to get the old rack out without taking the front of the car off. Don't make the mistake I made though - I measured the input shaft of the new rack to determine how much to cut the inner wing by. It turns out the old Metro rack has a longer input shaft so still wouldn't come out, hence that extra little cut on what would otherwise have been a nice smooth curve. Probably best to go a full 10mm further than you think.
I cut it out with a pad saw and it came off neatly in a single piece so was able to fix it back in again quite neatly.
The u-bolt you see in this pic has nuts inside the box section below - access is via lying in the footwell with your whole forearm through the access hole behind the pedals. You will get glass rash on your arm. Even then its a finger tip stretch to the spanner and you can only turn it a tiny amount so the spanner comes on and off about a million times (nyloc so it won't spin).
Worth it though - much sharper steering and not too much heavier at parking speed.

If you don't have a front ARB it might be worth taking the front off and fitting both at the same time...

Aha! I knew I'd seen a photo somewhere. Thanks Sanz.

I'm swapping the seats and steering wheel in amongst the rest of the jobs so hopefully that will help with the access.

Having the seats out/wheel off will definitely help access. Get someone to take a pic of you lying in the car in whatever position you find works to reach - we like a good laugh.

Getting the rack bolts out was relatively easy - especially without a clutch pedal. Getting the column to release the old rack and removing the seats was the biggest problem. I abandoned it after 5 hrs with probably another 5 to do.

Whoever fitted the seats

Yes I've got fibreglass rash.

My Libra has the most basic of metro dash clusters and it's beginning to pack up so I'm looking to replace with individual clocks. This will mean moving the heater controls. Where have you guys sited them?