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 🤣
 

As promised, here is just a selection of special spanners that I've made up to do a specific job from one draw:

 

This lot are actually to work on Aussie Fords,
Oddly enough I've not need to make any for my MGF........ yet.......there is still time!

I decided to see if I could find a no spark / non magnetic spanner as used in hostile environments, such as coal mines. I found some & they’re expensive, a 10mm ring/open ended would cost £56. They are bronze.
I wonder how many were chucked down old shafts when the engineers left for the last time.
However I did find a carbon fibre offering at a much more interesting price of £3.65, I shall order one & although there a bit small, they are non magnetic.
After a light application of inspiration an appropriately modified version will emanate from the workshop, after which my life will be improved, if only by a modicum.
After viewing Cobber’s collection of suitably modified tools, his life improvements must be measured in country miles.
M

I use a cranked 10mm ratchet ring, those bolts are short enough to avoid conflict with the bottom of the speaker bar. To make it easier, I sometimes remove the two bolts at one end of the speaker bar, to allow it to lift slightly.

Because of the design of the roll bar & it’s mounts, the speakers are not enclosed but dangle on brackets beneath, taking the magnet assembly annoyingly close to the fixing screws.
The carbon fibre device I have ordered, suitably modified, will ease the irritation.
M

   And to finalise. The carbon fibre ring spanner arrived the other day & I thought I’d received an empty package, in the very bottom corner I found the spanner, which was considerably smaller than advertised, it was however 10mm. 
It has been reimagined & for those need further proof that necessity is the mother of invention, I enclose a picture (hopefully). 
M

I once had occasion to remove a clutch from a Rover V8 fitted to a kit car.
I could not reach the top bolt on the bellhousing for love nor money, so purchased a transfer drive.
For the uninitiated the socket wrench goes on one end and the socket on the other, the drive internally is a toothed belt.
They are still available on ebay. And I am trying to download a link with little success.