Gearbox is back from the shop. had a couple of hiccups trying to collect it... kept accepting shift swaps at work, and it didnt line up with repair shops opening times.

Front bumpstops/gaitor kit finally arrived from "Shop4Parts" which now means i can actually build my front end, now all i need is time.

first on the list after gearbox reinstall is timing belt, the only job im actually kinda daunted by, not sure if itd be easier with the box out... might see how much movement is in the front engine mount buuut im super wary of damaging it. at this point im not sure how far off i am of just removing the engine. didnt really wanna get into an "engine out" job.

Once all that is done, test fit the bigger wheels... welding the rear... rebushing, upgrading and rebuilding the rear... then onto diag of why i get a flashy injector light. after that its "just cosmetics" left to sort

I’d take the opportunity to do the belt before you put the box back in. I use a big trolley jack under the engine then just release the remaining mounts so that you can get a couple of inches clearance for wiggling the old stuff out, new stuff in

Cheers Jamie

Belt done.. snapped the lower cover bolt so that tied me up for a couple of hours. Tis now retapped and copper greased.
Box is inplace and half bolted up so its starting to bear some kind of resemblance of an engine bay again which is nice.

Next on the list is front suspension, brakes and wheels.

My current daily scraped its MOT so this isnt as important as it was a couple of months back. Which is nice means i can take my time and do things that little bit better

just an fyi, my nexcloud is down for a bit whilst i attempt to streamline my homelab. may be up at the time you press a link... it may be down... if its down i apologise. normal service shall be resumed as soon as i get it sorted.