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34081

General Discussion Area / Re: RoSPA Advanced Driving

« on: 16 October 2007, 22:13:09 »

It was almost cooked upon removal, and plucked on one side, thanks to the brake disk.

It was him or me, unfortunately. 60MPH down a single track road and he just hopped out of the hedge a car length in front of me

I thought at the time that I didn't see him in the mirrors and maybe he'd jumped back in at the last minute. Imagine how popular I was when I rolled up at a nice hotel in Peebles 30 miles later with said stowaway and proceeded to shove it in a carrier bag and dump it in one of their bins.  

Kevin

34082

General Discussion Area / Re: RoSPA Advanced Driving

« on: 16 October 2007, 21:59:11 »

Do they test you on "pheasant avoidance" and "hedgehog awareness" or do you lose marks for being an animal in charge of a car?

 

Oh, dear! That's me failed then.

34083

General Discussion Area / Re: Boycott / Petrol Prices

« on: 18 October 2007, 19:34:41 »

Where is your post score gone???  Not upset anyone have you??

Shark attack. That's not the worst of it. You should see the wounds.  

Just a view on the tax revenue....  If we purchased less fuel, then the to55ers Government would get less duty, however, we would still be buying the same amount but, from another source!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep. got to fund all their red tape some how. Road pricing would be fast tracked into existence and the number of speed cameras would rocket.

Kevin

34084

General Discussion Area / Re: Boycott / Petrol Prices

« on: 18 October 2007, 19:03:02 »

Problem is, they only have top come down a penny or two and everyone'll flock back.

As it is, those two have the highest prices around here anyway so I wouldn't fill up there unless I was on vapour in the first place.

Speaking of vapour, promoting LPG conversion en masse might be a better solution.

Kevin

34085

General Discussion Area / Re: Today looks to be a truly great day.....

« on: 18 October 2007, 19:37:34 »

Fantastic to see it in the air again.

I was lucky enough to get an air-to-air view of one of the last Vulcans when I met it in a glider in '91 and it was truly awesome.

Kevin

34086

General Discussion Area / Re: Today looks to be a truly great day.....

« on: 18 October 2007, 09:41:59 »

I didn't say I was warm when I arrived!


Kevin

34087

General Discussion Area / Re: Today looks to be a truly great day.....

« on: 18 October 2007, 09:28:02 »

Well, fingers crossed

Couldn't hope for a better flying day. I even dug the Westfield out of the garage for my commute today  8-)

Kevin

34088

General Discussion Area / Re: Its worrying....

« on: 18 October 2007, 09:31:38 »

(god knows how this got through an MOT 500 miles ago)

That's the shocking bit. I got pulled up at my last MOT for low pads. They were at about the level at which changing them is on my todo list but still perfectly safe. And yet a deathtrap like this sails through. Presumably you can't see the pad condition without dismantling?

Kevin

34089

General Discussion Area / Re: Its worrying....

« on: 15 October 2007, 11:34:46 »

The Xflow isn't too bad, not because it wasn't rubbish to start with, but because of the number of people who have put effort into sorting out the issues and tuning them. Mate of mine had a 190BHP one They generally make the Exxon Valdez look oil tight and need regular rebuilds, especially if on the standard pistons...

It always amazes me how many pushrod engines are around in the US. Got a brand new Chrysler Voyager hire car a couple of years ago. Looked under the bonnet - pushrod V6 engine. I remember laughing about them as being antique when they were still fitting the Cologne to early 90's granadas.

I guess if anyone's going to put a V6 in a UK car it's got to be pretty refined and perform well. In the US it could well be going in a poverty-spec car and thus there's a market for basic engines that doesn't exist here.

I heard that Ford were developing a 2 stroke direct injection engine destined for the Ka but the EU emissions rules shifted and scuppered their plans so they had a rummage around in the parts bin and found the pushrod lump there.

Kevin

34090

General Discussion Area / Re: Its worrying....

« on: 15 October 2007, 09:34:03 »

Problem is, getting a car serviced is now relatively expensive compared to the value of a mundane car like this. I've spoken to people who say "it's not worth getting it serviced. It would cost more than is's worth" without realising that servicing is about replacing consumables. From an economic perspective, it doesn't make sense to fill some cars with petrol but you won't get far without it. In reality it doesn't matter how little your car is worth, if it's run out of brake pad you need to do something about it, just as you do when it's run out of petrol.

At the same time, main dealers have been peddling the myth that modern cars are so horrendously complicated that DIY car maintenance is now a thing of the past for most people, whereas when I was young I can remember my dad, and most of his mates, all did their own routine maintenance. I suspect taking it to a main dealer for new brake pads was even less affordable then than it is now, but people understood cars so they didn't, on the whole, get neglected.

Kevin

34091

General Discussion Area / Re: Its worrying....

« on: 14 October 2007, 22:05:12 »

Worth checking the breathers are clear while you're at it. Emma used to have one of those and (before I started maintaining it for her ) the oil got into such a state that it threw a con rod through the side of the block. It was blamed on contaminated oil, as there was plenty of it, and nothing to suggest a problem in supplying it to the bearings.

It certainly used to generate plenty of mayo. First time I serviced it I took off the rocker cover and there was an imprint in mayo of each rocker in the top of the cover This only a few K after a reconditioned engine was fitted (see above).

Oh, and the alternator is connected to the battery by 2 lengths of 17 amp cable in parallel. That burnt through on the A34 one night. Another callout for yours truly recovery service. Twas a fun drive back to Alton in the rain with no wipers and only sidelights

I'm glad she's got a Mazda now. One coil pack failure in 70k  

Kevin

34092

General Discussion Area / Well, it made me laugh

« on: 17 October 2007, 17:33:17 »

One day Mr. Smith, the president of a large corporation, called his vice-president, Dave, into his office and said, "We're making some cutbacks, so either Jack or Barbara will have to be laid off." Dave looked at Mr. Smith and said, "Barbara is my best worker, but Jack has a wife and three kids. I don't know whom to fire."

The next morning Dave waited for his employees to arrive. Barbara was the first to come in, so Dave said, "Barbara, I've got a problem. You see, I've got to lay you or Jack off and I don't know what to do?" Barbara replied, "You'd better jack off. I've got a headache."

 

34093

General Discussion Area / Re: save a broken Omega!

« on: 18 October 2007, 18:35:55 »

If anyone wants an opinion on it I can go and have a look.

Kevin

34094

General Discussion Area / Re: Halfords 150pc socket set... on offer

« on: 17 October 2007, 09:28:01 »

The nicest thing about it is the box. It's got 90% of the tools you're likely to need in a single box. Almost tempted to get one for the car boot, but it's a bit dear for that.  I've got all the tools but they're spread all over the show amongst several cars, tool boxes and the like. Takes me about 10 minutes to find anything.

With that, you could get yourself mostly kitted out, bar a few important items, in one hit. Maybe that's worth 100 quid.

If you made a list of what you actually need and shopped around for it you could do better. I certainly wouldn't buy it at the non-discounted price

Kevin

34095

General Discussion Area / Re: Diana

« on: 17 October 2007, 17:50:51 »

Whilst I also sympathise with Fayed I can't help thinking he's a little bitter with the establishment of this country for repeatedly turning down his attempts to gain citizenship.

I also think he needs to ask himself how a member of our royal family came to be travelling in a car driven by a drunk driver in his employment, at those kind of speeds.

Kevin