Hi,

Definitely leave it until Saturday.

No, there is a seal between the two halves of the outer drum - it is
like a big O ring the diameter of the drum. See item 7523479780 on
ebay. If I were doing it again, I wouldn't bother buying one and risk
having to take everything apart again - you may make a different
decision.

everything else is quite straight forward. The only other tricky bit is
hanging the drum when you put it back in. It is hard to hook the
springs into the metal casing. I eventually used a long cable tie round
the hook on the spring, threaded it through the hole and pulled the
spring up through the hole and hooked it over.

Feel free to mail me directly with any questions. I check my email
every evening. You can post any useful information to the group later
for posterity.

Alan.