Brakes don't seem to be working as well as they used to. Maybe rear shoes need replacing.

Pay car tax and two speeding fines.

Spend an evening preparing the car for MOT. That means getting the rear fog lights and number plate lights working. Which is easy enough, only the fogs are a bit intermittent. Remove front fog lights because they both have stone chip holes in them. All this hard driving eh?

Doomsday. The MOT is always a bit of a lottery. I drop the car off and wander down town to kill some time. Come back an hour or so later to find out the bad news. Failed on:

• rear boot lock not working
• rear seatbelt clasp missing
• exhaust downpipe blowing at flexible joint

• oil leak - sump gasket
• rear wheel bearings, one noisy one rough - need adjusting then
• exhaust hanger rubber perished - they were new just over a year ago
• brake efficiency test gave 52% which was a bit low but still a pass. Hmm rear drums then.
• steering heavy - Quickrak! ha ha ha!
• front anti roll bar bushes worn - the only original bushes left, replace them soon then
• nail in tyre - that's sad

I left feeling that the car was a right wreck. MOTs are like that, an opportunity to reveal all the bad things about a car. Depending on the tester of course.

As the day went by my spirits lifted. The bottom line is that as long as you can sort the problems then it'll pass.

I started with the rear lock. I took it all apart. After a few minutes I managed to get the key into the barrel. A few more minutes and I could turn the key. Things were looking up. So I took the barrel out and sprayed everything with carb cleaner. Things were getting better all the time. So I left all the components in a tub of degreaser for a few hours.

On the advice of the MOT tester I removed the centre seat belt completely. Less weight and not a fail.

The most vexing problem was the downpipe. It was blowing because the end of the pipe had corroded. Not good really, it was only just over a year old. The options seemed to be to replace it with identical, fit a different exhaust system (always fancied a Magnex) or have a new part welded onto the end of the downpipe. I phoned round some suppliers, but noone seemed to be making a 2L 8v GTE Stainless system any more. Plan B then.

I can't get hold of the parts from Jetex anymore. So I phoned a Powerflow dealer and they were very helpful. Said they'd weld a new end onto the downpipe and a new end onto the centre section, all in Stainless. Looking good then.

I also vowed to deal with every advice note on the MOT. I'm not driving a wreck around! In some ways the MOT was good because it forced me to get on with niggling little jobs.

Took whole day off work so that I could visit Powerflow dealer. I got up very early to make it there for 8am. After agreeing on the work I went downtown to kill time. I wasn't too pleased to find that four hours later they still hadn't finished despite being assured that it would have been. So I went downtown again. Another two hours later and I found that they had finished, although they hadn't bothered phoning to tell me like they had agreed. Oh well, can't fault the job they did.

On the road I immediately noticed that the exhaust leak noise had gone. And it seemed to run a teeny bit better.

I phoned up the MOT testing garage, but they weren't prepared to just check the failure items. They wanted to do a complete retest. Odd that.

I borrow my father's 1.1 Fiesta to get to work. Oh my God! What a car. No noticeable acceleration in any gear, steering must be 4 turns lock to lock. I want my Astra.

Anyway the good news is a new MOT certificate. That's that hassle over with then.

Current plans are:

• Full respray in Red
• Rear disc conversion - I have a 2.0 16v rear beam sitting outside ready
• Front brake upgrade - larger discs with offset 16v callipers
• Sort some ICE
• Rebuild a second bottom end for engine

Visit Steve Broughton of SBD Motorsport to talk engine plans. We hit on the idea of mating a 2.2 Frontera bottom end to my 2.0 head. By boring out the 2.2 block 2.3 is acheivable. That offers a 15% power and torque improvement on paper. Then by balancing the crank and using uprated con rods and bolts a 7750rpm rev limit should be possible. Say I aim for a 7500 usable limit then around 170BHP is going to be plausible. And more torque, just what I need for a road car. Ideas, ideas.

Buy some Pioneer TZW 4" coaxial speaker from Oxford Car Audio for the front dash. Going to replace the grotty 10p ones fitted by Vauxhall. I'm still considering a Nakamichi head unit because it is miminalist and has a very good reputation for sound quality.

Locating a 2.2 Frontera engine is proving to be more difficult than I expected. It's making me wonder whether I might be better off sticking to 2.0 since the blocks are easy to get hold off. I did look at a 2.3 conversion by Imotec, but it was priced at £1500. For that money I could go to throttle bodies. All the same, that extra torque from a 2.3 would be nice. Superchargers?

Finish fitting Pioneer speakers into dash. Also fit new gear lever gaitor properly. It had a zip tie sticking out of it for months. This time I start with the gaitor inside out so that the zip tie is on the inside!

Another day, another set of thoughts. I've been going off the 2.3 idea, mainly because obtaining a 2.2 block has proved more difficult that I expected. Plus I wonder if the 2.0 head will restrict the potential anyway. Plus I think a 2.0 on throttle bodies or carbs would be plenty. It's getting everything right that interests me.

Looking at roll cages.

Picked up spare bottom for £20. Bargain. It's going to be completey rebuilt and the safe rev limit raised to 7750rpm. I like.

The engine's been playing up a bit recently. Just a very slight misfire at 2000rpm. Suspect the plugs or leads. I manage to pull one of the leads clean away leaving the remnants attached to one of the spark plugs. Not again! This is the 2nd time that H**fords leads have done this. Decide that the £60 for some proper GM ones might be a worthwhile investment. I bodge the broken lead back together. The car runs absolutely fine!

Fit new plugs and leads. Feels a bit better. Spare bottom end still sitting there looking lonely.

Fit new rotor arm and distributer cap. They'd done 50K. The difference was immediately noticable. From around 1K the car seemed to pull so much better. This is still a total blast to drive!

I'm saving up for the respray at the moment. So I'm taking it easy on the mods. I have been doing a lot of driving mind! I'm still really enjoying myself. The noise. The stiff suspension. The direct steering. The acceleration. On A roads it seems to need no more power. Plus the mpg has mysteriously improved to a consistent 30-32mpg. Which is nice.

On the lazy arse front, the spare bottom end is still sitting by garage door, the gear linkage needs sorting and I think the throttle body is due for a clean out. Oh and it started popping and misfiring about a mile from home today. Erm, maybe something to do with running it to empty. I suspect that the fuel level sensor now shows empty when the tank is empty whereas before it meant that I had 50 miles left.

Only other worry is that I think the front wheel bearings are suffering after only a year of (ab)use. Current mileage is 152K (that's 52K in just under 2 years!).

Finally got round to doing some niggly jobs. Like the gear linkage which was out of alignment and causing a crunch when changing into 3rd and 5th. I also removed some of the play by wrapping some tape round the linkage pin so that it was a proper tight fit. Cleaned out throttle body housing, a fair bit of oil was in it again.

The steering was starting to feel a bit heavy and vague. It was because the front tyres were worn. So I went round Protyre and had the back wheels moved to the front and two new Goodyear Eagle F1s fitted to the rear. The difference in steering feel was noticeable.

The front set of F1s lasted me from December 10th to April 10th. So that's, er, 4 months and about 9K. Oh well, that's the price of fun.

The spare engine is still sitting by the garage door. I'm getting really keen on the respray now. The chap at Protyre commented on how tidy the car looked. Not to me, mind; all I can see is dents and rust and scratches and faded bits.

OK time has come to get serious. I want this car up together by the summer. So I'm writing a list of jobs that need doing. Then I'm going to price them and add up the grand total. If it's more than I can afford then I'm getting a loan.

I'm also looking for a 2nd car for when the GTE's in the bodyshop. I think I could have a lot of fun stripping it out and treating it bad.

I've been looking around at what I could buy for around £400. There's a lot of 1.8 8v Astra Sri's and a few GTEs. I can't decide where I'm aiming for though - really cheap or quite cheap with more potential. I'm wetting myself in anticipation at the laugh I could have with a stripped out car.

Priced up new bonnet (£70), wings (£18) and rear arches (£12). Went round to bodyshop to talk about respray. Looks like it's going to cost around £1,000. Booked car in for May 13th. At last. I've been talking about the respray for ever. It really is make or break - either I ditch the car or I get it looking right for the summer. Of course the latter is the only option worth thinking about.

The plan is:

• Full external respray in non metallic flame Red.
• New front wings, rear arches and bonnet.
• Replacement bumpers
• New windscreen to allow removal of old one and to fix moisture patch and stone chips.
• Few rust spots and dents sorted.
• Weld up a worrying crack where the front leg meets the bulkhead.

• Remove locks and weld/fill holes.
• Finally, I've mocked up an 8v badge based on the 16v item in Adobe Photoshop. I'm going to have some of these made. Why bother tuning an 8v and keep quiet about it?

I've been looking at a GTE 8v on Ebay Auctions going for £200. I phoned up the insurance company (Greenlight) to see how the insurance would pan out. Basically I would have to start from scratch with 0 no claims bonus on a 2nd car. So it'd cost me around £550. Hmmm. Don't think I can justify the money. Think I'll get better smile per pound ratio spending the money on the current car.

I also looked at quotes for the current car. I was expecting it to go up because a 3rd party had to make a claim last year plus I've now got 6 points (48 in a temp 40 and 92 on a motorway). With Greenlight it had risen to around the £700 mark. However, I also tried Liverpool Victoria since they've been mentioned a lot on MIG Performance Vauxhalls. They quoted £580 fully comp which is only £20 more than I paid last year. Result.

CCC Action day at Castle Combe. CCC is "car and car conversions" probably the best car modification magazine on the shelves. The action day allows you to take any road worthy car onto the Castle Combe circuit at the rate of £20 for 5 laps. Doesn't sound much, but 5 laps of 1.8 miles takes just under 10 minutes, making the average speed around 65mph. Peak speeds are more like 110mph, with 70-80-90 not being uncommon. There were about 40 cars on the track at any time with the sessions running back to back all day. There were loads of cars there, Golfs, Astras, Caterham 7s, Unos, Cossies, Imprezzas, Celicia GT4s, Minis, Dodge Viper, Porsche 944....loads.

Weather was good. Dry with occasionall threat of rain. Bit of spitting from the skies. A tad cold, but not too so.

Personally I had a great time this year. Much much better than last year. I had my car sorted - better wheels, tyres and brakes. I had my head sorted also - more sleep the week before, more confidence and not being worried about crashing. I did three sessions.

The first session was the best - it felt ace. Totally big big smile ace. I was getting annoyed with the wanky Porsche 944 in front slowing down for all the corners. In the end he let me past! Which was nice. Oh yeah, engine was misfiring, which I put down the tank only being 1/8th full and sloshing around. I borrowed a video camera of a MIG club member. This was wedged into the passenger's seat headrest, with the seatbelt used to hold the seat down.

I went down to Chippenam for some fuel and a full breakfast at Safeways (£2.29 btw).

The 2nd time I had MIG member Madcavman as a cameraman/passenger. Ha ha, don't quite know what to make of the noises he was making. This time I managed some good overtakes ( I went for the novice lap group as opposed to the experienced group). No big events apart from the last chicane where I overcooked it. Looked like I was going to take out the bollard for a moment.

For the 3rd session another MIG club member, Durzel, was my camera operator. He was quieter than Cavman. This time I started off right at the front so the only way was downhill from there. Sure enough a car caught me up after a while and was past. There was one other. Not too bad then. And at the end I'd caught up with the stragglers. So pretty pleased. Wish I'd sorted out the gear linkage alignment properly because I went from 3rd to 4th rather than 2nd a few times. Only incident was a slippery patch on the quarry corner where a bit of back end sliding occured, nothing a bit of steering correction didn't solve.

Photos

The car survived without any major no traumas. Wheel bearings didn't sound too happy. Tyres had about 0.5mm of scrubbage on, nothing too serious though.

In general I was well happy with the car. Not enough go on the straights of course, but apart from that it performed really nicely. 16v ATE brakes WORKED. Work well. F1 tyres were ace. 15" wheels are what Astra needs. If you want to enjoy the track, it's suspension and wheels that are more important than power.

I've been watching the video of the track action. Awesome. After reapeated viewings I noticed how much quicker I was after a few laps. Watching the video as a "passenger" was quite scary. Didn't feel bad when I was doing it. It looked rather like "police camera action", especially when tailing the Porsche 944...brake lights coming on... tyres screaching on the chicanes....great.

On the MIG bulletin board passenger no2 said how impressed he was with the level of grip of the car. A few others said that it'd looked like I was really going for it. Which was very satisfying.

It's odd really, but the track session really upped my enthusiasm a whole lot. I've had days when this car has just seemed like a rusty rattly old heap. But on the track it all seemed to come together - I felt well within my confidence zone and I was easily keeping up and overtaking all sorts of cars. Only thing I want is a bit more power.

I've noticed that the handling doesn't seem so good this week. At first I suspect that it's tyre wear from Castle Combe. But they look alright. Suspect that it's the tracking. Plan to replace track rod ends again too, since they only seem to last months before feeling average again.

Just found this link to SDS EFI who make some very user friendly looking ECUs. Very tempted to have a go at DIY mapping.

Ordered new front ball joints and track rod ends. Powerflex bushes for the front anti roll bar. Tempted by 22mm GTE 16v anti roll bars rather than the 20mm items on my 8v. Decide to stick with what I've got since I'm very happy with it.

Order new wings, bonnet and rear arch repair panel. Ready for respray next week.

Decide that I ought to get on with the bump steer mod. So I spend the evening measuring bits up. Going to get a subcontract machinist to make me a bracket in Stainless Steel.

In a moment of curiousity I took the top off the air flow meter. It was interesting watching the flap spindle move up and down as I blipped the throttle.

Busy day. Designed bump steer bracket at work. Found a sub contractor to machine it out of 300 Stainless Steel. Picked up Stainless Steel bolts from local fastener shop. Went round panel suppliers and collected new wings, bumper and rear arch. Filed the MK3 side repeater holes out of the arches. Then set to on the replacement bumpers with the jet wash. A few hours later and most of the crap paint was off.

Sorted out insurance today. I'm well pleased, got a better quote this year with 6 points and a 3rd party claim than I did last year with no points and full NCB. Thanks to Liverpool Victoria.

Went round to local graphics place to talk about my custom 8v badge. Looks like easiest idea is to use a Vaux GTE badge and just have the 8v part made. Looks simple enough, they will print the Red onto Silver vinyl for about £3 per sticker. Going to provide them with a dxf file of the design.

Picked up my bump steer bracket. It weighs a bit, but then again it is a solid lump of 316 Stainless Steel.

Another busy day. Fitted bump steer mod. Whilst I was at it I replaced the track rod ends and lower ball joints. When these are new the steering feels brilliant, and then it slowly returns to normal over a matter of months.

I realised that the thread in the rack wasn't M12, it was some other fine thread. A quick trip to the fasteners place with an old rack I had lying around and they worked out that it was M12 iso fine thread. Luckily they had some 80mm long cap head screws.

I went down the local tyre place to have the tracking set. As usual, they were excellent. They centered the rack and then we moved the steering wheel round a few splines so that it was centered with the rack.

On the road however, things didn't feel right. The steering seemed to pull this way and that. At higher speeds on an A road I was having to work really hard to keep the car in a straight line. This worried me somewhat - maybe the bulkhead was coming off, or was it wheel bearings or top mounts or something else that was serious. I hoped that it was because the tyres were worn from a Castle Combe and a week of off tracking. Despite the problem I could feel the effect of the bump steer mod - I didn't have to turn so much into corners. This is due to the geometry not being affected so much as the car leans.

I went round the scrapyard and laid my hands on an airflow meter from a 3.0 Carlton.

Back at home I fitted the old GTE alloys to the front and took the car out for a test. It felt quite a bit better, so maybe tyre wear was to blame. I then swapped the fron and rear wheels over.

Back to the air flow meters. Sadly the 3.0 unit is identical in size my 2.0 one. On the plus this suggests that the 2.0 unit might happily flow enough air anyway.

Next up I looked at fitting a 3.0 throttle housing in place of my modified 2.0 one. It looked reasonably simple provided I made an adaptor plate and a throttle potentiometer adaptor place.

Getting bits together for my 3.0 throttle plate mod.

Powerflex anti roll bar bush kit arrived tonight. Thought that fitting them would be an easy enough job. Wrong! Started at 8pm, finished at 3am. The problem was getting the bushes to fit in the clamps that hold the anti-roll bar to the chassis. In the end I concluded that they were too large so I cut them down to size with a hacksaw.

Castle combe photograph proofs arrived in the post. There was a professional photographer taking pictures. Some good action shots.

I called into my local engine workshop today to talk rebuild plans. I was talking about 16v conrods etc when he said "I've got a 16v bottom end out there, you can have it for £150". Now I know I could get a complete 8v engine for that, but I rather fancy the 16v bottom end. Since I shelled out quite a lot for my 8v head I want to keep that. We checked out a spare 8v head fitted on the 16v block, and no surprises , it did.

Spent evening angle grinding at 3.0 throttle plate.

In a burst of activity I fitted the 3.0 throttle plate. Started at 9pm, finished at 3am! Took it out for a quick test. Big smiles all round, it pulls better. Hopefully I've picked up 3-4lb-ft and a few BHP.

Swapped back to old 14" wheels so that I can have the 15" ones reconditioned. Took car out for quick test with the 14" wheels: it was much smoother. Handling still not right mind.

The big day! Delivered car to bodyshop for respray.

Called round bodyshop to take a quick look. Car was in bits with all exterior trim removed.

Delivered new headlamp washers and number plate lamp to bodyshop. They'd cut the rusty old rear arch out and were just preparing to fit the replacement.

Had to sneak round the bodyshop again. They'd made loads of progress: rear arch primered, locks welded up and painted over with primer, all paintwork rubbed down, bonnet fitted. They'd discovered that the slam panel was out of alignment so I agreed to a replacement. Best to do things properly whilst the opportunity is there.

Thinking about having inlet manifold and rocker cover polished.

Busy day. Organised a hire car for the next week (I had been borrowing my father's Fiesta 1.1. Awesome power.

Went round bodyshop again. Removed inlet manifold and throttle assembly. I want the manifold to be polished. Plus I'm going to have the injectors cleaned.

Things are progressing nicely. The body shop have got the car jigged straight and new front panels fitted. It's going to be sprayed on Monday. I've had the injectors cleaned by Lucas. I've had the inlet manifold, throttle housing and injector rail polished. About throttle. Plus I'm having some sample 8v badges made.

Rubbed down and primed all the bumper inserts.

Quick call round bodyshop to pick up side skirts so I can paint them. Woooo hooo! Car's in spray booth. They'd just sprayed the new front end in preperation for full respray tomorrow.

Spent evening primering rest of bumper inserts. Prepared sideskirts.

Round bodyshop again. They're pretty much ready for the final spray now.

Night spent priming sideskirts. It's quite a relaxing job. Every 15 minutes I go out and spray another thin coat on.

Night spent spraying the bumper inserts.

Spraying sideskirts. Pants! Spray has gone milky. Manage to overspray most of the trouble.

Car is almost ready. Going to pick it up and finish it off tomorrow. Picked up the proper 8v badges - they're just the Silver outline, the Red paintwork will make the Red letters.

The big day today. Got lift round to bodyshop. Car was being buffed up when I arrive. It was looking great. Respray pictures. I temporarily fitted the bumpers. We had a minor disaster rolling it back off the lift. I was sitting in it steering - it went back and then suddenly stopped. We'd bottomed it out on the ramp! The lift was about 3" higher than than it should have been. Luckily it looked like the only damage was the exhaust coming off its mount and the fuel pipes being pulled off their clips.

Back to the starting. I remembered a similar problem last time that I took the car away from the bodyshop. We removed the earth strap that is attached to the slam panel, scratched the paint off where it makes contact, put it back together and tried again. Result! Car fired up straight away.

Not long later I was on the road. Wahey! I'd forgotten how fast the car was. And the noise! The noise the noise! It sounded great. The 3.0 throttle plate and cleaned injectors seemed to work alright. I hit the limiter in 2nd just like that. Steering wasn't quite right mind. Sort that later.

Back at home I fitted the bumpers for real. I couldn't get the front one on properly. I discovered that the metal frame was about 8mm wider than the bumper needed for clearance. So I set to with the angle grinder and that made things better.I fitted the 8v badge on the rear hatch because I was desperate to see what it'd look like.

Then I drove down to Castle Combe to meet up with some of MIG.

Later I refitted the strut brace and cleaned up the number plates ready for reattachment. Things left to sort out:

• Broken engine mount (had been like that for ages apparently)
• Broken rear wiper housing.
• Central locking
• Rear fog lights (missing a bolt)
• Front washer jets (missing internals)
• Sideskirts (being painted)
• Rub strips (got to buy them)
• Scuttle panel (being painted)
• Loads of interior trim.

Another busy morning. Fitted new engine mount (old one had been knackered for months, the bodyshop had spotted it)and number plates. Then drove up to Manchester to help another MIG member get their car running again. I was enterained when I beat a Porsche 924/944 off the lights. Car is running very well. It's difficult to drive round town mind - the throttle is very sensitive close to idle. It makes driving it jerky until you get going. Then it goes rather well. Another MIG member had a go in my car and seemed impressed.

I was going to have a night off, but I got started. Before I knew it I had a lot of the interior trim back in. I sorted the air pipe to the throttle housing: I replaced the Carlton one with the standard Astra one, only I softened the pipe up in hot water so that I could stretch it to fit over the 3" throttle housing. Then I got to work on the central locking. I found some unused wires coming out of the alarm housing, a little work with the multimeter showed that these pulsed when the alarm was armed or disarmed. So the way was clear to make the alarm operate the central locking.

Sorted alarm and central locking. Took ages this job. Essentially all I had to do was run two wires from the alarm to the central locking circuit. However it took me all night to do a tidy job.

Fitted mesh to front bumper. Went out and did a 0-100 timing - defintely less than 20s, around the 18s mark.

Fitted Powerflex bushes to front suspension. I was lying under the car when I noticed a crack in the plate on the driver's side chassis leg. That would explain the poor handling since Castle Combe. Looks like the lower strut brace could be useful then.

Front wishbone bolts won't fit through the Powerflex bushes. Pants. As a temporary fix I leave out the metal insert. Going to get Stainless replacements tomorrow.

I've recently been replacing all fasteners with Stainless Steel items as I do jobs. Including self tapping screws. Out with the manky.

Fitted the 2nd lower strut brace that I'd had hanging around in the garage for months. I can see the advantage of it now. Not necessarily for handling, but for chassis preservation.

Exhaust downpipe catches strut brace when accelerating. Inspecting shows that rear engine mount is knackered. I temporarily fix this by stuffing some old wishbone bush rubber in there.

Refit all of interior trim at last. I had been wondering about stripping the car out. But interior trim does make the car quieter. Having said that, losing the sound deadening in the bonnet and engine bay seems to have made no difference to the noise levels.

Another busy day. Did a multi stop tour round Gloucester, taking in the Vaux dealers, the motor factors, Protyre and two sets of Halfords. Rear engine mount is going to have to wait until next week. Gearbox is whining. Bought new fluid in the hope that I can temporarily solve the noise. Back at home got to work on the cleaning. I spent 2 hours washing the inside of the car out. I really scrubbed it.

Simultaneously I also rescued the sideskirts by scratching some of the paint off, repriming and then whacking the top coat straight over the top a few hours later.

Got tracking set at Quick Fit. Whilst the car was on the lift I made a desperate attempt to sort the annoying exhaust rattle. Still can't work out where it really comes from. I suspect that the internals might be the cause.

Back home I fit new rear window bolts. The old ones were all cracked on the outside. This turns out to be a more tricky job than I expected. I also dropped one of the windows, it bounced off the side of the car and hit the ground. Luckily it didn't break. I did leave a scratch on the paint though. Luckily I managed to remove it with some Paint Restorer and polish.

Spent the evening polishing the car. It looks so clean that I almost came in my pants.

Refitted the side skirts. They looked pretty good. Spoilt it all by attempting to bodge spray over a tiny patch that was cracked. The paint immediately bloomed into a white colour. Oh well.

Got home and started stripping the interior ready for welding. Got carried away and completely remove all the dashboard, heater matrix and sound proofing. Was up until early hours again.

Took stripped car round to local garage, Banana. Took inlet manifold off and as many ancilleries as possible. Also removed seats and carpet. Seriously thinking of some weight saving since most of the interior is tired old tat really.

Weight saving is my next big thing. Plans include replacing the electric and heated mirrors with manual ones, losing the sunroof, losing the check computer and removing all unused wires. I'm also looking at lightweight bucket seats and a custom dash.

Welding finished. Put car back together. Had tracking checked, it was spot on. Steering felt better, but still not as good as it was. Two suspects: bump stear mod and the thin bolts used on the front Powerflex bushes.

Removed bump steer mod. Car felt better. I suspect that the rack doesn't like the twisting force placed on it by the offset bracket of the bump steer mod.

Refitted heater matrix. Fixed leaky fuel pump pipe.

Decided that handling is still not 100% and that the cause is the undersize bolts I had to use through the Powerflex bush. So I removed the central part of the bush so that I could drill the hole out. Handling very odd with the centre of the bush missing.

Custom dash plan is coming along nicely. Looking into Balsa wood, but much nicer idea, I've found a supplier of Carbon fibre. No point in having Carbon fibre look if it's not the real thing.

I've just about had enough of this car at the moment! My enthusiam is as low as it's ever been. It just seems like endless hassle. I can smell petrol in the car, but can't find any leaks. It's rattling at the front and from the exhaust. The handling is still not quite right. Oh, and the gearbox whines and jumps out of fourth gear. If I can only sort these problems out then it'll be a fine car. Of course, from the outside it looks really smart. But that's not what I want from the car really. I want it to drive and handle spot on. Oh well, it's not always going to be easy.