They even left a present on the passenger seat, no doubt delivered through that newly made "slot":
Obviously, the metropolitan police have more pressing concerns than vehicle vandalism where there wasn't a selfie taken with the perpetrator caught red handed but I reported it anyway (another statistic) and will sort this out myself.
The discovery was made on the day that I had booked N7 for a new set of tyres. I've not been a great fan of the Toyo T1Rs and have decided to fit a full set of Michelin Pilot Sport 3s (205/45 R16); I'd have gone for Pilot Sport 4s, but the choice now available on 16" rims is now extremely limited - and the only PS4 has 50 section rubber that will likely foul the wheel arch lips. Far too early to say how good they are, but from the short drive back home, no concerns regarding abnormal handling characteristics.
The plan had been to get N7 ready for the sprint season - and allow me more time to work on Project Shed (there are big plans for the car, and not enough time to do them ahead of the 2020 season) - but these may change depending on how far the scope of the re-fresh now extends (you'll start to understand why in a moment).
The refresh was to tackle the following jobs:
1. Sort out all the water leaks (there is now a much larger one to contend with - the passenger seat is absolutely sodden wet thanks to that new "ventilation" hole in the roof!
2. Repair/replace the passenger side window + both window alignments (relates to leaks mentioned above).
3. Replace heater airbox (again, relates to leaks above).
4. Replace all four Hydragas spheres with re-gassed replacements (I'll need to swap the shortened displacers from the current 'spheres to the replacements)
5. Remove dent from passenger door (Yummy Mummy damage I think - no insurance details left, obvs) - I have replacement passenger door in case
6. Replace dent from passenger front wing - this wing will likely need replacing - I have a replacement, but it needs painting.
7. Replace headlamps - I have a pair of remanufactured replacements to fit - the ones currently on the car will be swapped over to Project Shed - it's lights are genuinely terrifyingly dreadful... and the ones on N7 are actually not too bad!
8. Replace light bulb in clock (this sort of thing annoys me intensely!)
9. Swap rear rotors for standard items (I have VHS rear discs, but they are not standard class compliant, so will be removed for now)
10. Fit Yellow stuff rear pads, change front rotors and AP brake pads (old and worn - needs doing)
11. Change brake fluid (I use DOT 4.1).
12. Sort out tracking (misaligned steering wheel is another pet hate).
With new tyres fitted, and with a soaking wet passenger seat, I had all the justification I needed to remove most of the interior, bring the seats indoors to dry, remove the carpets and the stinky sound deadening and review the state of the floor pan.
Things did not look too bad with the sound deadening still in place. However the rear under carpet section and even the front under carpet sound deadening was wet, and on the passenger side, absolutely sodden
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
The true horror was only revealed on removing the sound deadening:
I thought I had taken pictures of the floor pan too - but they appear to have disappeared? The floor pans had extensive surface corrosion, but all things considered, not as dreadful as it could have been. But they make Project Shed's interior look pristine in comparison! The advantage of no carpets perhaps?
The rear bulkhead panel was dreadful. It hadn't perforated (at least not yet), but the lower edge is frilly and a couple of the screw bolt heads had largely disappeared through rot. Nice. Luckily I was able to remove all of them and got the panel free. I'm now on the look out for a good replacement...