Hi there from the damp and grey shores of Great Britain. It's strange that seems to be no CR-V Owners Club in the UK, but there you go…

Anyway, please bear with me while I introduce myself. I'd fancied a CR-V for some years and recently bought a very tidy 2002 model, one of the last of the Mk 1 types. It's the LS (or 'poverty spec.' as we call it over here…), so is limited on the number of bells and whistles it has, but you know what - we've had it for a couple of months now and already love it! I bought the vehicle through my son who runs his own used vehicle business - one of his contacts had acquired it after it had been parked up for 2-3 years in a private underground car park in London. Mileage from new was only 36500, but as a precaution I had the cambelt changed and also replaced the oil in the rear differential. Basically, the car runs as sweet as you like. It feels robust and capable and I think we'll be following on with a Mk3 model - depends how long we keep this one though, as it runs so well, so it seems a shame to think about selling already, but I would like a few more toys on board!

There's a few niggles that I need to sort out, like replacing the Civic alloys for some OE CR-V alloys (currently having four of these refurbed as we speak) and some decent tyres, fitting some front fog lights and a load cover (the latter bought via the 'bay), so a couple of questions to follow and if anybody can offer any advice, I'd be grateful.

1. Does anyone have any advice on fitting the rear load cover (Honda OE with brackets), any do's or dont's? I've no manual so will be going in blind, and while I'm not incompetent, any advice would be appreciated. I see that maintenance manuals are available on eBay for a few quid - anyone got any experience of these, i.e. are they good, bad or indifferent?

2. Does anyone know if Honda installed the wiring for fog lights on the '97-'02 LS or did they cut costs and not bother? Am I right to assume that the switch for the front fogs should be installed in one of the blanks under the radio?

Thanks in advance, any advice appreciated.
Bixby