Originally Posted by sewin
Can you clarify the spare wheel carrier, ie. have you taken the spare wheel out of the car. Is it the thing that looks like the local blacksmith made it or are you talking about the cobra with the high level brake light on it. If so the cobra doesn't hold the spare wheel in place , rather its cosmetic to hold the high level brake light and as Dave has said, it's screwed to the ash frame with wood screws by a very competent technician!:

The thing that looks like the local blacksmith made it is the mount for the spare wheel. The "tee bar" passes through the spacer and into the threaded hole (yellow arrow). The rattly cobra is held in place with 4 screws, start with the lower ones (blue arrows) then adjust up and down and secure in place with the two upper screws (red arrows). If you have the cobra too low, the tyre will foul it as you try to position the spare. If you don't have the spacer the whole spare wheel/assembly will rattle horribly, good quality replacements are avalable on Ebay www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156078389756

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