The car sat in shame in the garage over the colder months, having let me down, but during the spring of 2012 we had a few sunny days, and I decided to drag it out of the garage and start to put some things right. The exhaust baffles were now bolted in using locknuts, as anything else seemed to vibrate loose after time (pop rivets included). I set to work on the front end body support.
Because I had not been involved with many Buggies, I was unawares of the front body support that is often used between the top of the torsion bar and the bodyshell. I certainly didn`t have anything similar on mine, which is why my front end had now drooped under the weight of the tank bouncing around for the last few thousand miles. With the bonnet off, I couldn`t see an easy way to fabricate a bracket without taking the body off completely, which I really didn`t fancy, so I instead made up two supports that bolted to the bracket where my front bumper was.

Maybe not the prettiest of brackets, but they were functional - and lets face it, my car is never going to be a show winner anyway. I bolted them on and did the obligatory jumping up and down on them, and they held just fine. I put the car back together, and went to reverse out of the garage.
Now you know how it is when you get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that something has gone wrong - well I got it within six feet of reversing the car. I had no steering. No, I mean it, I had NO STEERING, the wheel was firmly locked in place and would not turn at all. After inspecting my handywork, I didn`t know whether to laugh or cry - but there was a definate air of "Oh Bugger".

The little arm on the bottom of the steering box was firmly wedged against my new bracket, so it was a case of out with the grinder and cut a small slot for it to travel in. It worked, and steering was now a possibility again.
Whilst everything was apart, everything was given a good going over, engine serviced - plugs, leads, rotor arm, all the usual bits changed, and I took the Buggy for a drive round the block. All seemed well, and I assumed that it now had a clean bill of health.
