diff --git a/lib/filters/index.js b/lib/filters/index.js
index 3557f9183..6f692f345 100644
--- a/lib/filters/index.js
+++ b/lib/filters/index.js
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ const replace = require('../replace-vars');
 // reads config that defines
 module.exports = ruleSource => {
   const debug = require('debug')('broker:' + (process.env.BROKER_TYPE || 'filter'));
-  debug('loading new rules');
 
   let rules = [];
   const config = require('../config');
@@ -21,10 +20,13 @@ module.exports = ruleSource => {
     }
   }
 
+
   if (!Array.isArray(rules)) {
     throw new Error(`unsupported type (${typeof rules}) for filter rules`);
   }
 
+  debug('loading %s new rules', rules.length);
+
   // array of entries with
   const tests = rules.map(entry => {
     const keys = [];
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index c1b09bee1..b459c4a87 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ const app = module.exports = {
 
 function main({ port, client } = {}) {
   // note: the config is loaded in the main function to allow us to mock in tests
+  if (process.env.TAP) {
+    delete require.cache[require.resolve('./config.js')];
+  }
   const config = require('./config');
   if (client === undefined) {
     client = !!config.brokerUrl;
@@ -17,9 +20,13 @@ function main({ port, client } = {}) {
   const method = client ? 'client' : 'server';
   process.env.BROKER_TYPE = method;
 
+  const debug = require('debug')(`broker:${method}`);
+
+  debug(config.accept);
+
   let filters = {};
   if (config.accept) {
-    require('debug')(`broker:${method}`)('loading rules from %s', config.accept);
+    debug('loading rules from %s', config.accept);
     filters = require(path.resolve(process.cwd(), config.accept));
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/relay.js b/lib/relay.js
index 76db631ea..c043e85cd 100644
--- a/lib/relay.js
+++ b/lib/relay.js
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ function responseHandler(filterRules) {
       if (error) {
         debug('blocked %s %s', method, url);
         return emit({
-          status: 400,
+          status: 401,
           body: error.message,
         });
       }
@@ -88,9 +88,13 @@ function responseHandler(filterRules) {
         }
       }
 
-      // TEST remove x-forwarded headers
-      delete headers['x-forwarded-for'];
-      delete headers['x-forwarded-proto'];
+      // remove headers that we don't want to relay
+      // (because they corrupt the request)
+      [
+        'x-forwarded-for',
+        'x-forwarded-proto',
+        'content-length',
+      ].map(_ => delete headers[_]);
 
       request({
         url: result,
diff --git a/test/fixtures/server/.keep b/test/fixtures/server/.keep
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb..000000000
diff --git a/test/functional/client-server.test.js b/test/functional/client-server.test.js
index f3a7dcc56..e8de55771 100644
--- a/test/functional/client-server.test.js
+++ b/test/functional/client-server.test.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const request = require('request');
 const app = require('../../lib');
 const root = __dirname;
 
-const { port, localPort: servicePort, resetConfig } = require('../utils')(tap);
+const { port, localPort: servicePort } = require('../utils')(tap);
 
 test('internal sends request through client', t => {
 
@@ -22,10 +22,9 @@ test('internal sends request through client', t => {
   process.env.BROKER_URL = `http://localhost:${serverPort}`;
   process.env.BROKER_ID = '12345';
   process.env.BROKER_TYPE = 'client';
-  const localPort = port();
+  const clientPort = port();
   // invalidate the config require
-  resetConfig();
-  const client = app.main({ port: localPort });
+  const client = app.main({ port: clientPort });
 
   // wait for the client to successfully connect to the server and identify itself
   server.io.once('connection', socket => {
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@ test('internal sends request through client', t => {
       t.plan(2);
 
       t.test('client can forward requests FROM internal service', t => {
-        const url = `http://localhost:${localPort}/service/test1`;
+        const url = `http://localhost:${clientPort}/service/test1`;
         request({ url, method: 'get', json: true }, (err, res) => {
           t.equal(res.statusCode, 200, '200 statusCode');
           t.equal(res.body, 'test1', 'body correct');
diff --git a/test/functional/index.test.js b/test/functional/index.test.js
index 6161a1e14..74d7a1c78 100644
--- a/test/functional/index.test.js
+++ b/test/functional/index.test.js
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@ test('simple end to end proxying', t => {
   process.env.BROKER_URL = `http://localhost:${serverPort}`;
   process.env.BROKER_ID = '12345';
   process.env.BROKER_TYPE = 'client';
-  // invalidate the config require
-  delete require.cache[require.resolve(__dirname + '/../../lib/config.js')];
   const client = app.main({ port: port() });
 
   // wait for the client to successfully connect to the server and identify itself
@@ -53,7 +51,7 @@ test('simple end to end proxying', t => {
         const url = `http://localhost:${serverPort}/broker/${id}/magic-path/x/random.json`;
         request({ url, 'method': 'post', json: true }, (err, res, body) => {
           t.equal(res.statusCode, 401, '401 statusCode');
-          t.match(body, /blocked/, '"blocked" body: ' + body);
+          t.equal(body, 'blocked', '"blocked" body: ' + body);
           t.end();
         });
       });