Having decided to keep the car on the road this Winter, it came as a nasty shock when the normally refreshing breeze that comes in to the Opal changed into a howling Arctic gale. The problem was due to my nice new side-screens flopping about in their guides so that at any speed over 10 mph they turned into side-scoops. The problem is caused by the original holes apparently just being drilled down through a door cross-piece and open on the inside. Hardly a lasting piece of engineering design. There should be a locking device or two, but I've only seen them on Vic Steele's original motor and the reason for their disappearance is very obvious - strain! The solution attempted by yours truly was to re-sleeve the old holes with aluminium tubing. I took the side-screens along to Hub's in Poole to get the best fit and their 8 mm (5/16th) internal diameter tube is just the job - but it comes in 4m (12 ft.) lengths.

On the first door, I made the mistake of fitting the tubes without the side-screens but, being a quick learner, the tubes were positioned with the screens in situ on the other door. Not only did the screens fit the windscreen pillar better, but I learned about something my first-years call Tolerance (or the lack of it!). Some slack has to be built in to any device for easy operation. The bottom of the tubes were sunk into half-drilled holes in both an existing cross piece and a newly inserted piece. Finally, a small plate was fixed across the top of the tube to keep everything in place. Before refitting the door panels I took the opportunity of re-aligning the doors.

By twisting the doors, the loose joints- were quite obvious and, only needed a new screw at 45 deg to tighten everything up. As the final shape of the doors is determined by the side panel, this where one has to take up Yoga classes. After several months training it is quite possible to push the top of the door outwards with the one hand, pull the bottom of the door inwards with one knee, hold the door panel in place with the other knee, stay upright and screw in the dozen fixing screws tight enough to hold the door at the correct angle with the remaining hand. Any other parts of the body not in use can be used for balancing.