As a task to break up the wiring, riveting isn’t really the best. Still, I realised I didn’t need access to the footwells any more so on went the side panels. These basically add protection as water and small debris could find its way inside the tub from underneath and the rear arches.

It had been a while since I fitted a panel, so I’d forgotten just how much drilling was involved. I regretted two things, not charging the battery on the drill, and only having the one battery! The air rivet gun made fixing them on a breeze though. Pun intended.

With those on, the tub could be lifted into place. You need at least two people for this to support it.

If you are using the FW bonnet with standard (ZK) rear, do not do these steps! The bonnet is fitted first, this will be covered in a later post

The dash hoop is in a different place on the Mazda SDVs, so the tub needs trimming a bit. It will need to go back a bit in this photo to achieve the 400mm measurement at the rear.

After a battle with the hacksaw and making lots of orange dust, the tub fitted and I could get it in the right position.

The good thing about fitting the tub though is it vastly improves the look of the car, particularly in the looking-like-car department