Change the timing belt so I can put the zone chip in without the dread in the back of my mind that it would snap, old one looked ok, was last changed in 2000 but has only done 20000 mi since. Oh well peace of mind for Ԛ£30 and it was quite easy. So I decide to attack the leaking rocker cover and noisy tappets, all ok (I thought). Right the heat sheilds on the exhaust manifold gaskets had rusted in to oblivion so I start to take the manifold off, only to discover some monkey before had snapped a stud!
That's ok I can live with 11 of 12 manifold studs, the next 4 come undone easily 
Then Ping Ping Ping Sh*t 
So the middle four on the top are ok as are the middle for on the bottom - to cut a long story short I cried then took it to the local agricultral engineers, "AGRI ENGINEERS!!!" I hear you say, yep their a dab hand at any stuck screw or bit of welding. 1/2 an hour and 3 of 4 are out and as I type he's drilling and tapping the last one to M10 as it wouldn't come out. What a shag, always happens with older cars though part of the fun.My tappets still sound like a jam jar full of nails being held by a grannie with parkinsons, a noisy tappet is a happy tappet. Although I'm not sure if this still holds true.
