As I've said, at the end of this month the xm comes off the road. Whilst its parked (for how long I don't know) I'm going to go through the car in all areas and put right anything that needs replacing, cleaning up, restoring, waterproofing...you name it.
Yesterday I went looking for a quick job and found that the scuttle seal wasn't sealed at all anymore
The trim was sat slightly away from the base of the windscreen so that had to be tackled. After failing to apply a strip of sikaflex with the trim still in place and not wanting to silicone it, I had no other option other than to strip it all down and do it properly...after all that's the idea of what I want to do with this car, so not knowing what I was doing, a quick flick through the haynes manual and the bodywork trim section on here and I got stuck in. First job I was dreading was removing the scuttle outer edge pieces without breaking them...surprisingly it was an absolute doddle
I found working first by lifting up the leading edge and then prising gently upwards from the base, they popped off with no trouble whatsoever. I refitted them straight away and removed them again so that I knew it would go back together before I carried on. For anyone who hasn't ventured into that yet, you are then left with this. 
Easy bit then, whip out the screws and shuffle the outer scuttle trim out of place. leaving you with this
Surprisingly it wasn't too filthy or full of leaves etc in there leading me to believe that someone had perhaps been in there before? Both drain sections were clear and the whole area completely rust free
So then onto the scuttle panel itself. off with the wipers, which will come off again at a later date to be repainted. Again a doddle to remove.
The absolute pain to remove were the washer feed pipes. Talk about tight! I didn't want to break off the pipe to the jet though
I could see why it wasn't adhered anymore to the windscreen...this small strip of crustiness, was what was trying to provide a seal
Whilst everything was off I turned the wiper motor on and lubricated all the linkages and sprayed what looks like a brake pressure flow valve? in a maintenance spray so when it dries it provides some form of water repellent.
Naturally being me, I cleaned everything up before It went back together
Before
After
With the scuttle panel off I cleaned the base of the windscreen and all of the trim pieces with some all purpose cleaner and ran a strip of sikaflex across its base. then it was a case of refitting it all. Cleaned up and ready for the outer trim to be put back on
To be honest it was a lot easier than I envisaged it was going to be, and now I have learnt a bit more about how to work on these amazing machines
Next up will be each wheel arch area. Liners removed, any rust areas treated, the whole lot refurbed and then reassembled. Ill be taking pictures as I go so that any future owners of the car can see the extent of what has been done on it, and what lurks behind its trim.
. Then im going to clean and repaint anything that needs it, probably replace both drop links again, inspect all the bushes etc and then put it all back together again.