Well, after driving home from the MOT, the steel blue one decided to surprise me with one more tiny job...
When I opened the bonnet, I heard a sound that should not have been there, also a smell that's not supposed to be there... Exhaust gas!
Since the exhaust manifold was dismounted in order to remove the head, I thought that I needed to tighten the exhaust manifold, so I did.
I could tighten the nuts back to the correct torque, but it was not much. not much at all!
The my eye caught a hairline on the exhaust manifold.... oh no, cracked manifold!
Although my friendly MOT station told me that they did not notice the crack, even though they closed the exhaust on a running engine, this is not how you're supposed to finish a project. SO one more final pig of a job ahead!
I did not take many pictures, but in stead spent many hours to complete the job.
Here is what I have though:
First get the PAS belt and the PAS pump out of the way so I can reach all the exhaust manifold bolts.
Then remove all the parts that need to go off (a lot!) from the top:
Do the same from below:
Car back on the lift again, Overhead crane in position:
Turbo, pre-cat & downpipe assembly in a sling.
You can lift it with one person, but since this is a single handed operation, this gives way more control and less chance of damage:
Lift Off!
Look here!
The other side (front) is even worse...
You are left with a gaping hole in your M100...
Here's the assembly:
Now for the fun part: Get all the rusty bolts, nuts and studs out
I used copious amounts of light oil and approximately one liter can of Butane to blow torch the hell out of the patient AND the donor.
Here is the donor after de-rusting, ultrasonic cleaning and freshen up all treads
(the background-cow cow is not in my garage...)
Let's build it back together
Presto!
Damn, it is a tight fit!
Then, after a whole day of hard labor, the finishing touch.
As you might have noticed there was still something missing from the beginning
Can you guess what?
You guessed it, a brand spanking new skidplate!
In fact so new, that the mounting holes needed to be drilled.
What a lovely sight!
There you have it.
250 Hours later...
Next step: Import the car in the Netherlands and shift it to the proud new owner!
I hope you have enjoyed my updates and I will see you all back on my next project 
)
