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1

General Car Chat / This is one for all the JLR fans...

« on: 29 April 2019, 14:22:29 »

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-jaguar-idUSKCN1S40UD

I honestly had to check it wasn't the 1st of April.

2

General Car Chat / I didn't really want one.. now I can't have one.. I really want one

« on: 24 April 2019, 10:20:58 »

I'd been looking around at something to replace the Skoda, as I think we've previously discussed.. anyway, I started off looking at Mini Clubmans (Clubmen?) as I quite like driving her indoors' Cooper S, then as I couldn't find the "unicorn" car started looking at other things..

Things that can tow a reasonable weight, have a decent boot etc.

Looked at E60 Touring - nice, mostly 2.0 dervs, did see one very nice red car but it sold before I could get there.
Looked at pickups as I miss the Ranger, but without paying 4x my budget you're looking at very old examples with interstellar mileage
Looked at Touaregs..

..found myself looking at the V10 TDI Touaregs
..decided I maybe wanted one I found not too far away, but wasn't convinced due to the hideous economy figures
..but that one broke down before I could get there and is no longer available

Because I never got to look at it, I now desperately want it

I am a fickle creature

3

General Car Chat / Towing rules.. and Smart cars.

« on: 03 April 2019, 15:14:19 »

This post is a twofer:

1) I passed a Smart Fortwo on the M40 yesterday that had a towball on the back. Yep, a towball. Sticking pretty much out of the middle of the bumper.
I'm going to assume it's for mounting a cycle rack, because they aren't type approved to tow.

2) Any of you here with Japanese import cars? 4x4s, probably.. do you tow with them? Technically they don't have a GTW listed, so the legalities are .. well, it's probably illegal. But do you? Would you?

4

General Discussion Area / What a week..

« on: 27 March 2019, 17:31:21 »

Hot on the heels of being shunted up the rear of the MINI, followed by two very long days travelling around the country - one day in a Transit van collecting dining chairs and another *cough* Ford V8 (380 FE including autobox) *cough* and one day in the car taking the OH to her eye hospital appointment and looking at another MINI, then a packed weekend came..

..our dog suddenly becoming very lethargic and going off his food.

Trip to the vets to discover that his abdomen was one giant "mass".

We didn't get to bring him home

Heartbroken. The house is so quiet.

5

General Discussion Area / A special kind of dumb..

« on: 19 March 2019, 10:24:14 »

It takes a special kind of dumb to brake-test a car when you're on a motorbike: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-nottinghamshire-43517795/m1-reckless-bikers-caught-on-dashcam-pulling-wheelies

(Half way through the clip)

I got there via this clip: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-47615086/m1-milton-keynes-amazing-escape-from-lorry-and-car-crash

I'm now feeling grateful that all that happened to me the other week was a bump up the backside, rather than being wiped out by a Polski lorry!

6

General Car Chat / Naughty Naughty JLR..

« on: 14 March 2019, 09:35:44 »

They saw what VW were doing and said "We want a piece of that!", apparently...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47564225

tl;dr: "Jaguar Land Rover recalls 44,000 cars over emissions"

7

General Car Chat / Buying at car auctions - any advice?

« on: 06 February 2019, 08:52:24 »

We've been looking for a new (different new, not new new) car for Lou, specifically an automatic Mini, post 2006 (to avoid the chocolate CVT gearbox), 1.6L Cooper as it's mostly town work etc..

..having looked at some proper nails at "back street" car dealers - the last one had a fog lamp hanging out, stank of burning oil, had a broken gear lever release, pulled to the left like it wanted to mate with the hedge and sounded like it had a knackered wheel bearing and, heck, the "dealer" hadn't even bothered to hoover the crap out of it - I'm drawn to auction cars as they look much better than 90% of the stock on forecourts.

Lou is wary of auctions though, as you can't test drive them, despite me pointing out that most of these "dealers" are getting their stock from the auctions.

Any advice? Is it madness to buy a £3-5k car at auction? Are they all nails?

For anyone with a BCA account, I was looking at this one: https://auctionview.british-car-auctions.co.uk/Results/LotDetail/24d84ad563d348ac8921d9073f75d7fb?VehId=2e6166a4-8c5a-4b0f-b645-5fdcee7aaaa3&FromSearch=true&searchQuery=q=Mini&bq=make_exact%3AMINI%7Cmodel_exact%3ACOOPER%7Cgearbox_exact%3AAutomatic%7Cfueltype_exact%3APetrol%7Cplate_exact%3A2012%2062%2C2010%2010%2C2008%2058%2C2008%2008%2C2007%2057%7Cgrade_exact%3A4%2C5&sort=Relevance&missingMileage=True&awaitingAppraisal=True&page=1&extraFiltersActive=true&returnTo=MT57FZS&promoAppliedSets=&Source=Search&selectedVehicleIds=

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General Car Chat / One for the Engineers in the room - head skimming

« on: 17 January 2019, 14:00:02 »

Random question of the day:

Dedicated machines for skimming heads exist - they look like big single-purpose milling machines, to me, with a giant fly-cutter head.

Is there any reason you couldn't strap a head down to a suitably large general-purpose vertical mill (like a Bridgeport) and skim the head with any fly cutter large enough to clear the complete head surface? I can't think of one, but maybe I'm missing some Machinist Devilry..

</random thought of the day>

9

General Discussion Area / Your daily dose of rage inducing "news"

« on: 21 November 2018, 09:47:56 »

http://www.ladbible.com/news/news-kids-are-setting-themselves-on-fire-for-a-social-media-trend-20181118

tl;dr: "Kids" are setting themselves on fire for "social media" and, shocker, end up in hospital.

Quote

They weren't expecting it to go that way. It was just a challenge, so it's a lesson learned for all of them.

I despair.

10

General Discussion Area / Far canal! Not a bus anyone wanted to be on...

« on: 02 November 2018, 14:52:52 »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-china-46069327/china-bus-plunge-fight-blamed-for-causing-fatal-crash

I don't know about the fight being the cause - it looks more like the driver made a decision to simply steer the bus off the road.. and off the bridge

11

General Car Chat / Did I spot TBs big black .. Jaguar?

« on: 17 October 2018, 08:57:58 »

Going up the M1 last night, around the MK area. Personal plate of some form..

.. but then I thought "Nah, can't be. It's only doing 70 and it's in the middle lane."

12

General Car Chat / Here you go Al (and 1980s Merc lovers)..

« on: 29 August 2018, 13:34:14 »

One for you? I know you like a bit of 1980s Teutonic motoring.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302862727890

(Originally spotted in a FB group and was going to post it at the time, but now it's properly for sale - not mine, obviously, I'm not overly enamoured by 1980s Mercs.. although I probably wouldn't kick this particular one out of bed if it were RHD)

13

General Car Chat / Corsa B steering column upper bearing

« on: 02 August 2018, 10:43:55 »

On the off chance someone here knows...

The upper bearing (p/no 90334860) appears to be NLS - it's available from eBay US as it's also used on other GM cars, but at crazy prices (£30 or so for a £5 bearing).

Anyone know of an equivalent available in the UK? It's a double-row roller bearing, I believe; I'd need to drift mine out of the (plastic) housing to measure properly.

Corsa B ePAS columns are commonly used on kit cars and they are starting to show signs of wear for some folks, although mine seems alright for now, it can't help to be prepared - and I know some of you are the font of all knowledge when it comes to parts interchangeability

14

General Car Chat / Replacing the Skoda..

« on: 14 June 2018, 09:11:09 »

So I've come to my senses (some would say) and am considering off-loading the Skoda to save the £460/mo PCP and get something older and bought outright now that I'm no longer doing starship mileage.

So what does a friend send me? This: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dodge-Magnum-R-T-AWD-5-7-Hemi-with-Prinns-LPG-Low-Mileage/173350442688

Why, why must he tempt me..

15

General Discussion Area / How to save the NHS..

« on: 24 May 2018, 09:58:44 »

Tax us out of the arse some more, apparently.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44230033