The procedure is pretty much obvious.. the clam is fixed to the front wheel arch liners (5 bolts each side), the sills (2 bolts each side), the front undertray (another 5 bolts), the tops of the door aperture (1 bolt each side) and around the bonnet aperture (4 bolts). The electrical connections are all together on the RHS - just unplug.

The bonnet stays attached to the clam so can be lifted off with it. You'll need at least one person to help you - two helpers are even better as you they can support the clam while you make sure it doesn't foul anything.

The manual recommends removing first the front road wheels and then the wheel arch liners, but I found it was just as easy to leave these in place. You still need to release the two screws that hold the liners to the clam at the front of the wheel arch, and the outer one at the rear to give access to the foremost clam to sill securing screw. Turning the front wheels onto full lock and lifting the corner of the liner gave enough clearance to achieve this.

NOTE: If you haven't replaced the wheel arch liner and undertray securing screws with stainless steel ones and your car has ever been out in the wet then be warned that these will probably not come undone, so you'll need a small drill or mini-grinder to remove their heads, and some replacement screws and rubber nuts.

TIPS:

• 1/4 drive sockets with lots of extensions and some ball-end hex (allen) keys are very useful for reaching the bolts around the door and sills.
• some non-corrosive sticky goo (blue hylomar etc.) is dead handy for 'gluing' packing washers in place during reassembly.

Things to check while the clamshell is off:

• That the clamps securing the radiator hoses are in good order and secure.
• If you have an early car, consider replacing the door check plates with the later versions as the early ones have been known to fail.

The end result...note fully equipped heated workshop!