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So what major job might require a complete takeover of the kitchen table like this then? Replacing the brushes on a Valeo alternator you say? Oh. Well, now the weather's warmed up, I finally ran out of excuses for not getting it back in the car: ...which is this ex-police 3.0 Ghia X. Borderline shite when I bought it from Reading's finest no reserve ebay vendors 4 years ago, nailed on shite now I reckon. Getting the alternator out was marginally easier than I had anticipated, but only because I had anticipated complete failure. But anyway, wheel off, and safety first when working under cars: You need to unbolt the track rod end and ARB drop link to make enough space to get it in and out: Bolting it back in is the hardest bit, as it's pretty bloody heavy, and the top bolt is an absolute sod to get to. But I got there in the end, albeit after unbolting it again once as I was convinced that the top bolt wouldn't actually go in once it was held in position by the bottom two. I found out that I was wrong when the fucker fell out while I was doing up the bottom bolts for the second time. I also managed to lose one of the washers from the bottom bolts without noticing at this point. I seem to recall that I had removed the top bolt using a ratchet and a flexi link extension, but getting it back in with that was really not working, so I just did it up as tight as I dared with a ratchet spanner and the 3/8" adaptor that came with them. So now to get the belt back on. The tensioner has a hole in it for a 3/8" drive but there's almost no room; I found that I'd actually left my little mini breaker bar in there for 4 months: You'd need to be Geoff Capes to actually move the thing with that though, so I took it out and put my 3/8" ratchet in instead, then attached a little extra leverage: ...managed to avoid scratching the leading edge of the bonnet this time, unlike when I was removing it . Anyway I had to get the Mrs out at this point to hold it while I put the belt over the aircon compressor from under the wheelarch, but that was easy enough. Bolted the track rod and drop link back up: ...then put the wheel back on, dropped the car down, reconnected the battery, climbed in, crossed my fingers and started the car. So did it work? No. Anyone know a good auto electrician within limping distance of SE London? Or shall I just torch the bloody thing...