This mod is shockingly simple and only took me 15 minutes between taking pictures and looking for tools.

Basically, Mk2 and early Mk3 wheel wells have the spare wheel stored facing upwards with the tools underneath. Not very handy if you want quick access to them, plus the fact that the earlier jacks are shocking, with a very small footprint making them highly unstable!!

Later Mk3's by comparison have the spare stored facing down with all the tools inside in a handy casing. The jack is also far superior!!

Here's a reminder of what the early arrangement looks like...



Note the hole in the middle. This will come in handy later on.

Now the first step is to remove the old bracket. This is done by drilling out the spot welds...



Try not to go right through if you can, but it's hard not to with a conventional drill bit...



What you will need next (from left to right) is a long M8 bolt, 2 large M8 washers, an M8 nut, the original cup fitting and the original M8 wingnut...



Stick the bolt through the hole with a washer either side. Then put the nut on and tighten up to a sensible torque.

Here I have also cleaned and painted the area to protect the exposed metal from rust...



Chuck the spare wheel into the newly converted wheel well and apply the cup fitting and wingnut...



Get hold of a late-spec toolset and sit this into the spare wheel...



Job's a good'un!!

Good thinking batman

mine stores that way up anyway I thought they all did!

Nope - all Mk2's and early Mk3's are the other way up - hence the FAQ!!

Hmm, that's strange. My J reg already stores that way.

I think it's probably only H-reg's in that case.

I know Krupa was asking on here whether it could be done - and his is an H-reg.

It is the same on all mk2's as well AFAIK.

in mine only the jack is under the wheel and i never use that. the wheel nut bar is on the side wall of the boot, just open the boot and grab it!

too much time on your hands dude....too much time.

But it only took me 15 minutes

I thought it was a good idea myself!!

Mine's a J reg and it's the old way.

Might have a go at because I've put an old alloy in as a spare and the nuts don't fit on because it's too big.

Another reason I did this was that the wheel wrench and towing eye have been made homeless by another 'crazy' scheme of mine.

...so this way they are all tucked away neatly in one place rather than sliding around under my seats

the plastic holder for all the tools causes them to rust if the boot leaks.

Both of my G40's have been K-reg August 1992 registered and both had the older spare wheel types. My mate has a K-reg August 1992 CL coupe and that has the newer spare wheel type fitment. Not really a pattern there, but i suppose if you went and looked at VIN numbers which relate to assembly date then there probably will be a change over date

Yeah - I guess the G40's just sat around for a while before they were actually registered.

It definitely seems around 1991/1992 they were changed over.

Probably around the time the GT hatchback was withdrawn from sale

mine is a j reg G40 and mines the old way , my mates late mk2 G reg is the new way, so is my othe mates H reg GT

Now having a mk2 that way IS weird!!!

I'm so confused!!

its my old mk2 parade it was a H reg, not a G sorry! and it had a 5th alloy which was fitted the new way up when i bought it, as it had a foam thin on the inside of the wheel which held the jack and the screwdriver and the wheel brace

Excellent, this is something I want to do to mine, especially knowing the towing eye and wheel brace go in there too. I want to mount my MagLite to the side of the boot where those two are at the moment, doing this will allow me to do so.

Is the late spec jack as spesh as the old one? Or is it better?

Looks pretty simple as you say, and it'll stop that fooking rattly jack from doing my head in too.

Nice job Steve! 8)

The late spec jack is about twice as wide as the old one, so is a lot more stable.

It also seems to be of a scissor arrangement - but I haven't fully wound it up yet.

Highly recommended anyway!!

Is the jack and tools secured? Justa asking because my mate had them loose in the boot, and when he crashed, they teleported from the boot and smashed him around the head! But come to think of it he was a twat....and not really a mate.

good faq

From memory the later jack is the same as the older version, just black with a better winding handle!

The old one can be secured properly to stop rattling if you have all the correct bits used

the jack in my ranger (that I guess I must have never used) had a foam pad attached to the base (not stuck on but slotted onto it) Never seen one before but I guess that will have gone some way to stop it rattiling.

sons G-reg(1990) country is the old way,as is the daughters H-reg(1991) cl coupe and i have a L-reg(1993) boulevard that is also the old way round so that just confuses things even more

My J reg was the old way (Was a 1991) and my L was the new way (1994).

Good FAQ its these little things that make the car better!

Think I'll give this a go on the mk.2 when I get 5 minutes to myself

Did this one on Sunday - superb!! And if you get really bored you can punch the old retailing bolt out of the frame as its only spot welded on. Not that this serves any purpose!!