Rear valance removal

27/04/03

In order to fit the new Twin or is that dual Exhaust I need to remove the rear valance and duplicate the current Exhaust Hole on the other Side. This is purely bolted on but due to restricted access proved to be a little interesting. The unit is held by two 13mm bolts at each side with seven 10mm across the rear. I decided to remove the 10mm's first so as the side bolts had easy access and would take the weight while the others are removed. The first bolt undone with little effort but then the fun started. The next bolt sheared and I then found that it was not possible to undo the center three bolts because of restricted access from the silencer. After some deliberation I decided to use a standard 10mm open spanner with a length of tubing over the end to give me the leaverage. It was slow going as it was ony possible to move an 8th at a time. What made it worse is that all three center bolts sheared before the nut was fully off.

Eventually after the rear bolts were 'removed' I decided the tackle the side. After closer inspection it appears as if the near side had been cut/broken off, refixed and then fillered over in the past partly covering the bolts. With a suitable sharpe implement I removed the globs of filler only to find that it had also been fixed with a now rusty self tapper. At least I had access to the bolts and hoped that was the worse of it. As I undone the bolts they began to spin (ah). Not to worry just find the other side in the boot and put a spanner on it, or at least that what I thought. After removing the expansion tank (Which was in the way) and pulling back the carpet I could not get to the front bolt and the second one had been 'rounded', Bo####ks. Not to be put off I decided to start on the drivers side. Again these bolts could not be removed and I had no way to get the other side as they were under the battery box, Bo####ks, Bo####ks. The only remaining solution was to cut the bolts off with a dremel. After trying this I decided the best plan would be to cut the fiberglass around the bolts and repair the valance afterwards. Once removed I should be able to get better access to cut them from the body.
NOTE: After cutting the bolts off I discovered they are supposed to be round.

	With the rear and near side bolts removed I started to get signs of movement.
	Ready to cut the drivers side bolts. Note the silicon around the drainage pipe that also had to be removed. (Another PO Mod)
	This is a view in the boot of the metal plate the rear bolts are fixed to. It was extremly rusty probably due to an earlier problem with the boot drainage pipe. The view is looking into the boot with the carpet being the rear behind the number plate.
	Success, Finally off and it only took around 4 hours (Over a couple of days)!!
	The exhaust port I need to replicate on the other side.