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13681

General Discussion Area / Re: How many miles until your cambelt KIT is due?

« on: 21 November 2007, 10:36:17 »

Mine is due in June by date rather than miles.

Are any of these cambelt parties in Spain?!

I haven't seen any mention of gearbox thrust washer changing parties......

varche

13682

General Discussion Area / TPS, It is a small miracle!

« on: 04 December 2007, 20:46:22 »

A week or so ago my EML came on. The stored codes suggested wrong voltage at throttle position sensor. A secondhand one was duly sourced ( Thanks Issunaz) and fitted yesterday.

Result. The car is smoother on take up, appears to have more power and changes gear better. One thing that is noticeable is the throttle pedal is lower at tickover than it used to be. Much more pleasant to drive overall. I still think my car is gutless compared to a real 2.5 V6 but it is better than it was.

How many other cars are there out there with a failing TPS??!! I wonder what else will turn up as failing?

A pleased varche

13683

General Discussion Area / Re: Hamilton v. The Stig

« on: 02 December 2007, 21:18:02 »

That was some lap and he made it look so easy. How many thousands of laps has the Stig done!

Lewis will be remembered in the truly greats hall of fame. Senna, Schumacher M, Stewart J, Villeneuve G, Peterson R, Clark J.   Mansell despite being British and a true fighter didn't quite make it for me. Neither did Prost.

varche

13684

General Discussion Area / Re: Cheap elite on EBay?

« on: 03 December 2007, 13:31:54 »

It's not for me! Although given the amount of stuff on mine I have had to change maybe I ought to buy it.

I just thought it was cheap.

varche

13685

General Discussion Area / Cheap elite on EBay?

« on: 03 December 2007, 13:10:06 »

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OMEGA-ELITE_W0QQitemZ260188211686QQihZ016QQcategoryZ18424QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

No bids, 1 day to go! Oil cooler? It has got to be worth £99 for parts.

varche

13686

General Discussion Area / Differences between 3 litre and 2.5 engine

« on: 01 December 2007, 12:56:09 »

Just an idle thought but is it possible to rebuild a 2.5 as a 3 litre?

Is the extra capacity from a different crank or bigger pistons? I know the cams are different on the three litre. What else don't they share?

varche

13687

General Discussion Area / Re: Top gear tonight

« on: 26 November 2007, 10:40:38 »

I enjoyed the programme. It was a lot better than the one from Africa.

I never owned any of the three cars featured but had plenty other similar cars from that era. Mostly all ghastly looking back.

Does the memory play tricks? I always remember cars pre that era as being more reliable. Maybe they just didn't have as many extras or sophistication. Maybe people didn't do as much mileage as they were so basic.

varche

13688

General Discussion Area / Re: with how this country is changing....

« on: 25 November 2007, 13:12:58 »

We obviously made the move. Some of the reasons are those listed above. I would say that for pensioners or people of independent means the move is a good idea. Better climate and less worry generally.

It isn't all as rosy as you might think. Using Spain, For example health care for non pensioners costs unless you get a job. If you get a job (and it is a big IF) then the pay and conditions are worse than the UK. Little job security unless you get a government job or a long term contract then it is the opposite - job for life.. Pay at  best 70% of UK levels. Living costs though are less - maybe 70% of UK levels. It used to be cheap here but not anymore.

Social security. Virtually non existent. Young unmarried mothers get looked after by their parents. No free houses, grants and dole each week for life.

Crime and drugs are just as big an issue, certainly in urbanisiations as in the UK. Immigration is possibly a bigger problem than UK.

Red tape is none existent in the UK compared with Spain where it is an art. Also the officials are actually corrupt and take back handers. The Spanish government has set aside 3.5Billion euros to help local councils demolish illegally constructed properties that received illegal planning permission by local councils. One belongs to Antonio Banderas!

varche

    

13689

General Discussion Area / Now it is the filler flap!! GRR

« on: 20 November 2007, 17:32:47 »

Apart from the intermittent fault with the TPS all other outstanding issues on the long list with the car have been sorted.......

Got to the petrol station and opened the filler cap. Waited my turn to be attendant served and next thing the petrol filler flap is snapped off and lying on the floor. I just know that no glue no matter how Super will fix it so I shall now be looking for someone breaking a metallic red Omega.

I wonder what will be the next problem!

varche

  

13690

General Discussion Area / Re: Fuel price protests on BBC news

« on: 13 November 2007, 15:05:53 »

Of course you could all give up your gas guzzlers and get Smart cars or similar!!

There was a potentially interesting programme on TV last night about congestion on roads etc. They made the point that pricing wasn't a bad thing so long as the government DIDN'T use it as a method of extracting more tax. They briefly showed the model they used to calculate the guinea pigs weekly charges for the programme. It was based on the government version. Interestingly even rural roads were charged at 0.5 p a mile!!

It is coming to Manchester in return for government money to fund the trams/metro.

One other thought, how long before LPG price starts to creep up??!!

varche

13691

General Discussion Area / No driving licences!

« on: 12 November 2007, 16:57:50 »

" The Spanish traffic department has revealed that last year across Spain, almost six thousand drivers who were involved in fatal accidents did not have a driving licence. 2,610 of these drove cars, 152 drove trucks, 18 drove buses, 308 were at the wheel of vans and the remainder were driving motorcycles or mobylettes".

I wonder how many don't have insurance? How many didn't have licences that were involved in non fatal accidents?

I wonder what the statistic is in the UK?!!

varche

13692

General Discussion Area / Re: ????? OOF FLEECES ?????

« on: 14 October 2007, 14:16:24 »

Like the design on the Front, not so sure about the back.

Does it zip all the way down?

olive

13693

General Discussion Area / Re: Omega MPG what do you get?

« on: 10 November 2007, 17:50:44 »

What happened to the spreadsheet access being by "sticky" ?

By the way you may get more people filling in data if you don't have price info - just a thought? Then we would all have access to unique data. What fails and when and so on.

Why haven't more people filled in their data?

varche

13694

General Discussion Area / Re: Omega Export business opportunity?!

« on: 11 November 2007, 12:31:17 »

Well some useful dialogue.

I had hoped that Patryk or one of our other Polish members might have an input on the subject. In particular any transfer taxes that might be payable or other hidden costs.

Sircrazydad. I seemed to remember you taking umbridge before on my reference to transfer tax as opposed to import tax. It is a fact that if you buy or sell a car in Spain then each party pays the government a handsome tax. It is split into two parts the buyer for example pays about 7% of its government book value part goes to the state and part to the local county council. Now if you import a car you have to pay to have a Spanish V5 after a comprehensive vehicle inspection and then an MOT. That all comes to about £100. If you are resident then you are deemed to be buying the car so pay transfer tax. the only way to avoid it is if you owned the car for six months min before and you are applying for Residence in Spain and at the same time you are bringing your car with you.  There shouldn't be any import tax to pay when a car is moved to another EU country.

When you read in the papers of East European Countries wanting to join the EU this is just one of the many issues that have to be addressed before membership is allowed.

So how much would it cost to convert to LHD?

Personally I don't see RHD being an issue except at toll barriers and heavy motorway traffic slip roads.

varche

13695

General Discussion Area / Re: Omega Export business opportunity?!

« on: 10 November 2007, 14:27:51 »

I can understand high residuals in Spain where generally cars don't rot away but surely Poland must have as much wet weather and salt on the roads as Britain. Also (sticking my neck out) wages must be less in Spain and Poland than Britain. Strange.

varche