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For the love of god/gods/goddesses how on earth do you get the rear header off? 9 hours in to engine removal and this is the only thing left before i can drop it out.

Dropped out the top link on the shock which improves access but I'm petrified of rounding off the nuts as I can't get a direct line of force to two of them.

I wonder if, with the front engine mounts out, the engine can pivot forwards giving better access?

Jeepers - want to get the RSV lump in today!

You need a flexible joint - you can't get straight-line access.

I'm off to buy a 6 point socket. Why do they even make 12 point sockets?

I know its a pita but if you remove the back wheel and shock it does help....

blinkey501 wrote:I know its a pita but if you remove the back wheel and shock it does help....

Did mine while the swinging arm was out too ..... was still a PITA ......

I was rather hoping that drinking cups of tea and staring at it would work. It hasn't so far...

Well - shock out and that gave me enough to get to the far right, but I've got 1/2" drive sockets and they were too fat to get to the bottom left nut. So I undid everything bar the bottom engine bolts and managed to tilt the engine forwards enough to get a spanner on that last nut. What a hideous design - it looks like RSVs are more accessible?

Anyway - this probably explains why all the nuts on the rear header were little more than finger tight!

So everything undone, more photos taken, lower the engine jack - bloody hell - how tight a fit is that... it barely moves.

Check there's nothing I've missed.... nope - it's just stubborn.

Decided to have a cuppa... see if the engine pixies come out and do while I'm not looking.

Probably would have been better to get that guy at the tyre shop to do it for £150.... but I do enjoy playing with growed-ups Meccano.

I use a combination of 1/4" and 3/8" drive sockets and a ring spanner for the rear header nuts. 1/2" square drive socketry is far too big for cramped spaces like that.

This socket set has saved my bacon more times than I care to remember:

http://www.buybrandtools.com/acatalog/b ... t_set.html

Add a longer extension bar and a knuckle joint and you're good to go.

I concur... ended up raiding Machine Mart - I remember Griff saying pretty much the exact same thing three years ago when I first got it!

What I didn't appreciate was the zig-zag/see-saw manouver to drop the engine - which is why it's far easier done with a hoist rather than with a platform jack underneath.

Every day is a school day.

I have a fairly old Sealey slim pattern socket set, deep and shallow 6 sided sockets ( with cut away corners to fit over mashed nuts ), about 10 or more wobble bars..
not been defeated yet !
Halfords 3/8 wobble bars offer the best angle defeating I have seen to date

KitchenSync wrote:I'm off to buy a 6 point socket. Why do they even make 12 point sockets?

One day when you will need the 12 point because the ratchet just won't click.