why the heck is it always...

[Pastry]

...the last bolt/screw you need to undo on any job is the one thats totally siezed up[]

job 1; i found a small plant growing in the left spoiler drain... while taking spoiler off the last screw was siezed resulting in a rounded head. luckily managed to cut a groove in it with the dremel and got a large flat blade driver to shift it. found 20 years worth of what can only be described as 'soil' between the spoiler and the hatch glass.

job 2; took the wheels off to remove liners and inspect arches for rust.... the LAST bolt on the arch liner was corroded and rounded off nicely, cue more dremel action to get a smaller spanner on it. no rust found

so 2 tips maybe useful for other novice tinkerers;

1. buy a dremel (i say dremel but mines a black and decker i got for £25 in the sale)

2. grease or wax any corrodable/siezable fixings when putting it back together.

was nice to have sunshine this weekend, enjoyed the tinkering

 

[awattam]

I got some good advice a while ago - try undoing the worst looking bolt first rather than starting with the easiest looking one. That way, when it rounds off you've not undone all the others leaving yourself with a half dismantled car!

I can reccomend 'plus-gas' as well. Not many places sell it but it's a proper dissasembly lubricant. 100x better than WD40.

It's not always possible (depending on loaction) but welding a nut onto the offending bolt usualy works as it puts a lot of heat in as well as giving something to get a proper socket onto it.

When you can't weld (like the spoiler bolts) then there's a product (made by loctite I think) which is a cold spray to try and have a similar effect to the heating and break the rust seal.

Glad you got your 2 tricky bolts out []

 

[Tipper]

Dremel is always useful but sometimes nothing beats attacking the problem with an angle grinder!
Halfords sell something along the lines of shocklock which is a freeze spray too.

 

[Mike_Pollock]

I've always (18 months) washed my car at least once a week but it does live outside and have had the same problem of what looks like cress growing in the spoiler. I dont think I'd get the spoiler off as all screws look tired!
Mike

 

[Pastry]

yeah was a cresslike plant in mine too []

The drains are a just straight groove in the spoiler moulding. I'll use a pipe cleaner to clear them in future, but I like to know how its put together, and was nice to remove the rest of the built-up muck. The spoiler isn't as heavy as it looks. I considered running without it for the novelty but the car looked a bit strange, its definitely a part of the 944's charm.