So after the devastating revelation the clutch wasn't going to work, trawling the GBS owners Facebook page for answers and a call to the factory, it seems we must have just been really unlucky. Some people trim the clutch fork and get enough clearance, some people just wang it in and have the clutch pedal so it rams the fork into the footwell panel which is just enough to clear the bite point. Ours just wasn't having any of it! We tried shuffling the engine over to the passenger side which gained us a bit of clearance but not enough for us to be happy. Last thing we want is to be ready to go for a drive and find the clutch doesn't work, or for the clutch to wear over time and then stop working mid drive one unsuspecting day...

This simply will not do!

The plan was to put a dog leg in the clutch fork. This irritatingly meant the engine would have to come out & the gearbox split before we could crack on with the modifications to the clutch fork

Disclaimer: Matt's currently at night school doing a City and Guilds qualification in TIG welding. The sorts of phrases that morning were:

• "I don't really know what will happen if I try to weld hardened steel"

• "These angles are stupid, my arms don't bend enough to get the filler rod in"

• "There's so much crud coming out of the fork, I don't know if it's weld or glass"

• "'Be reet' without heat treatment, what's the worst that can happen?"