(Pictured: Darren relaxes after a hard weekend under the MR2).

At the weekend, Darren, David and myself were hard at work upgrading the suspension and brakes on the MR2. It was bitterly cold at all times, but at least it was dry. Karen was kept occupied producing teas, coffees, chilli-con-carne, and bacon rolls which were very much appreciated.

Our first problem was trying to undo the top off the strut to release the damper unit. I had to blag some Stillsens (sp?) from my father. It still required an awful lot of brute force, hammering and swearing. Because the new units were gas dampers, we all fully expected the originals to be the same. Unfortunately they were oil-filled units which we only discovered when the first one poured it's contents all over our drive! Won't be making that mistake again...

David stripped out the front of the car and played go-fer for various tools and other items whilst Darren and I got down and dirty with the grubby bits of the car. Once back on it's wheels we found the brakes were very soft and spongy. So we got the car back in the air and bled the entire system again. This time it felt much better and we just need to get some bedding-in miles on the new discs and pads.

A big thankyou to Darren and David for their hard work and support so far!