engine cover removal (those 3 screws at the front)

I often see complaints about how hard it is to undo the 3 screws that secure the engine cover at the the front......it's not hard if you use the right tools for the job, in fact it it easy...as easy as shitting the bed and kicking it out with your feet!
A 1/4" drive ratchet with a 10mm socket is the answer
 
 

Cobber wrote:

I often see complaints about how hard it is to undo the 3 screws that secure the engine cover at the the front......it's not hard if you use the right tools for the job, in fact it it easy...as easy as shitting the bed and kicking it out with your feet!
A 1/4" drive ratchet with a 10mm socket is the answer
 

Cobber I, in common with everyone else on the Forum, am delighted to hear that you have recovered from your recent Trauma.  I will be interested in the upcoming How-To on the Clutch Change.  I live at the bottom of a valley and every route out involves a hill-start & rapid acceleration into an all-too-rare gap into heavy traffic on the A30.  It is difficult to avoid riding the clutch with a "generous" dose of power, in order to get out into that brief gap in traffic.  It is therefore only a matter of time before I will need a clutch change.

I read the post above with interest;  I suspect you have an F with no loudspeakers in the T Bar.  I think the complaints about difficulty reaching the bolts at the front of the engine cover are from those WITH the deeper speaker housing/T-Bar.  See photo below:

 

Yes I'm a F'er but TF'ers should perhaps look at cutting down a socket so as it's not so high as to foul the offending cover, you do not need to bugger up your !/4" drive set just buy a extra 10mm to modify for use as a special tool kept just for this job.
Another possibility is to find a ratchet combination ring spanner that has a thin enough profile about the head to not foul on the lip on the engine cover
Below is a selection of ratchet 10mm ring spanners showing the varying thicknesses of the head profile with the thinnest being on the right

 

Another possibility is a straight handled ring spanner with an offset to the ring itself as in the pic below

 

In my work I have to fabricate special tools all the time by cutting  bits off spanners, welding bits back on ,grinding others off and heating them up with the oxy-acet torch to bend them into new and interesting shapes to do the job you need them to do. As a result  I never throw broken worn tools away, they're kept just for the purpose of cutting and shutting as we call it. I also keep an eye out for old spanners at markets, clearing and gararge sales etc.
It's a bit late in the arvo now but if I get time tomozz I'll did out some of the weird and wonderful creations I've made to do specific jobs and take a happy snap of them to give you an idea.
It's often quicker and easier to make the tool you need then torment your self trying to use something that wont play nicely at remember once you've made it you have it for next time. 
Never say that there won't be a next time because if you do you are guaranteeing that there will indeed be a next time!
 

One of the trinkets I have on the car are “roll over bars”, they are very pretty.
However they have speakers mounted on brackets below the bars as part of the structure & the magnet of the off side speaker is close to one of the fixings. The net result is a constant fight between me, my mini ratchet & magnet flux. I use the word “flux” as it is near enough to the word I use when the ratchet attaches itself to the magnet yet again & I’ve to fight to get the bloody thing off.
I intend to make a brass spanner.
M

Airportable post=208543 userid=5200One of the trinkets I have on the car are “roll over bars”, they are very pretty.
However they have speakers mounted on brackets below the bars as part of the structure & the magnet of the off side speaker is close to one of the fixings. The net result is a constant fight between me, my mini ratchet & magnet flux. I use the word “flux” as it is near enough to the word I use when the ratchet attaches itself to the magnet yet again & I’ve to fight to get the bloody thing off.
I intend to make a brass spanner.
M

There you go necessity becoming the mother of invention right there!

Airportable wrote:

One of the trinkets I have on the car are “roll over bars”, they are very pretty.
However they have speakers mounted on brackets below the bars as part of the structure & the magnet of the off side speaker is close to one of the fixings. The net result is a constant fight between me, my mini ratchet & magnet flux. I use the word “flux” as it is near enough to the word I use when the ratchet attaches itself to the magnet yet again & I’ve to fight to get the bloody thing off.
I intend to make a brass spanner.
M


David Aiketgate commented:-
DITTO 🤣