Nearly Fixed

All the repair work is done, and it’s just a matter of finishing refitting all the external parts.

The paint work came up beautifully, with no trace of the accident visible. The chequer plate panels need fixing in place, and without them, the panels look very deep behind the wheel arch (they are the correct size, though). Once the chequer plate has been fitted, the corner protectors can be bolted back onto the cross-member, joining the twin step and reversing sensor mountings that have already been bolted below the NATO hitch.

The lights are all refitted and checked, and the painters managed to fit the batteries in the non-standard position, together with the split charger and accessory fuse box without any trouble, so apart from reconnecting the sensors for the reversing proximity system, the electrics are all done.

The damaged right hand wheel arch spat will have to be temporarily re-used until a better replacement is sourced – I need a second hand one as they start out glossy, dulling down over time to a matt finish with a slight glittery effect to them. I don’t want to replace the whole set with new unless I have to (even though it would be done on the insurance) as I don’t like the look of new spats. The right mud flap also still needs to be refitted, once the chequer plate is on.

Mark, the owner of Defendoor.co.uk, kindly sent me some samples of his new product. It’s a flexible cover that clips into the fuel filler aperture on all 110s, TD5 and later 90s and all 109s with rear mounted tanks. They’re made of black plastic and can be embossed with any emblem or logo. I gave one of them a test fit (the one with the embossed silver “DIESEL” lettering in several languages) and was impressed with how secure it is. It looks very smart, too, though I’ll be sticking to the plain black version. I doubt it’ll be long before these become a very popular addition on vehicles used in muddy or snowy conditions and a common club item, given their ability to be branded. Hopefully, Mark might develop a version for the pre-TD5 90s.

So, I’ll be going back to Rogers on Monday morning to finish off the reassembly, and should have it all done by lunch time. In the next few weeks, I will be carrying out a simple mod to fit a high-level brake light system to the rear door to make sure my braking is obvious to others – one lesson from this accident is that it pays for other drivers to see what you’re doing without any possible ambiguity.