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34216

General Discussion Area / Re: Vectra Blown Engine Advice...

« on: 03 October 2007, 09:28:48 »

How has the valve bent? It can only be because some other failure has caused it to bend and no, the engine would not run correctly with a damaged valve. If it were in that condition his mechanic should have done a compression test to verify something is seriously wrong with that cylinder and would have advised not to drive it if he knew his stuff.

Sounds like it has been driven with a defective water pump, which is a bad idea when it's driven from the cam belt, and the cam belt has failed, bending the valve. He bought it from you with a known (minor) fault and has made it worse by not rectifying it immediately.

How does the manifold relate to this? Is this a separate problem or is he claiming it has caused the bent valve or something?

But ultimately, the car was sold without a warrantly and he has been badly advised by his mechanic regarding the noise leading to further damage.

Kevin

34217

General Discussion Area / Re: Sat Nav

« on: 03 October 2007, 15:44:36 »

I'd like to see some scumbag un-sucker that from the windscreen and run off with it in his pocket!

Kevin

34218

General Discussion Area / Re: Autotrader

« on: 02 October 2007, 21:39:55 »

I went to meet some guy when I was trying to sell Emma's fester as he lived a fair way away and suggested meeting half way. Big mistake. Couldn't get rid of the guy. He was sitting there repeatedly offering half the asking price and I was sitting there wondering if I could bundle him into the boot and drop him off in the middle of nowhere  

Kevin

34219

General Discussion Area / Re: Autotrader

« on: 02 October 2007, 21:25:20 »

Only time I ever put an ad in Auto Trader I got about 1 serious enquiry and  the phone was ringing all bl00dy evening for a month with total time wasters.

Never again  

Kevin

34220

General Discussion Area / Re: Fifth Gear on Monday.

« on: 03 October 2007, 12:14:03 »

Did Top Gear ever do a review of the Omega i have been looking on the internet for months but can not find it?. :-?

It would make my day to see them do a part on How the Omega is set to be a Classic car in years to come

I hope it wasn't Clarkson who tested it  :-?

Kevin

34221

General Discussion Area / Re: Fifth Gear on Monday.

« on: 03 October 2007, 11:08:41 »

or are they just there to pull in the Viewers?

That's the one, I think.

Problem is, they all talk about new cars 90% of the time. Quite apart from the fact that I find it hard to get excited about any current car models* I also am not in the market for spending 10's of thousands of quid on a new car, so the content is irrelevant to me from the start. If it happens to be delivered in an amusing way, that makes all the difference.

Kevin

* - models within my grasp, at any rate

34222

General Discussion Area / Re: Fifth Gear on Monday.

« on: 03 October 2007, 10:37:25 »

Top Gear 'aint so serious either but it is good entertainment loosely themed around cars

My wife went on an episode of "used car heaven" once and I went along to watch. It was quite interesting. I drove the cars she tested (Hyundai Coupe, Honda Civic and PT Cruiser - bit of an odd bunch) and one of the guys from 5th gear was there doing a review on the PT Cruiser. He didn't even drive it. Just turned up and spouted out a load of nonsense about its' smooth, powerful V6 engine, etc. etc. He was just making it up! The car he was talking about, which I'd driven 5 minutes earlier, had a gutless, rough 4 cylinder engine.  

Kevin

34223

General Discussion Area / Re: Fifth Gear on Monday.

« on: 03 October 2007, 10:09:18 »

I didn't see the 5th gear in question but most of 5th gear's "tests" are total rubbish because nobody behind the show appears to know anything about cars IMHO.

They did a back to back test of a load of "big" sports cars against the likes of Caterhams, Aerial Atoms, etc in one show I watched. I could have told them the results before they even bothered. Yes, of course a Caterham will whip a 911 on an autotest circuit and, surprise, surprise, a DB9 beats an Aerial Atom on a 2 mile drag down a long straight section of runway. A total waste of petrol doing tests like that. Now, put the Caterham against the Atom and it might have been less of a load of drivel.

Now, with petrol additives and octane boosters you will end up with less or the same power unless you recognise the correct circumstances to use them. They dilute the petrol with something that doesn't burn, at the most basic level, after all.

Put octane booster in a factory standard Corsa and it'll do nothing whatsoever. Get a race tuned engine with 12:1 compression and a tankful of supermarket petrol and it'll make the world of difference to how that engine runs. It will probably save it from being wrecked, in fact. If you don't start out with an understanding of what the product does, you won't test it in a meaningful way.

Kevin

34224

General Discussion Area / Re: CID - explain please...

« on: 02 October 2007, 17:21:47 »

True. The MID's got a plastic cover over it, hasn't it?  

Not something I'm really considering. Just thought it'd fit nicely.

Kevin

34225

General Discussion Area / Re: CID - explain please...

« on: 02 October 2007, 16:24:32 »

Worth bearing in mind that sat navs have come a long way since the Omega went out of production. The money's better spent on a Tom Tom IMHO. Especially bearing in mind that you are stuck with the audio system that's included. I do, however, appreciate the convenience of having it integrated. I have often wondered about hacking out my MID and shoving a tom tom in there

Kevin

34226

General Discussion Area / Re: who says they cant be tuned...

« on: 03 October 2007, 12:05:32 »

...from the same seller....not omega related but look at the length of that gearbox, this only has 10 miles on it  

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320164715807&ssPageName=MERC_VIC_RSCC_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT&refitem=320162449815&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&usedrule1=StoreCatToStoreCat&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget

I think it's an autobox with a centre diff bolted onto the back for the 4wd. Still, the diameter of the autobox section at the front looks pretty hefty. I bet a 6.6L diesel kicks out a few LbFt.

Kevin

34227

General Discussion Area / Re: who says they cant be tuned...

« on: 03 October 2007, 09:21:00 »

I like it

Must make a cam belt change a bit of a pain in the @rse though.

I wonder if that's a standard AR35 bolted to it?

Kevin

34228

General Discussion Area / Re: Project Tractor engine swap

« on: 02 October 2007, 09:21:08 »

Nothing to do with head thickness, its down to the inserts of the precombustion chambers, thats why it cant be skimmed

Ahh! That does make sense actually.

Kevin

34229

General Discussion Area / Re: Project Tractor engine swap

« on: 02 October 2007, 00:34:41 »

I look upon that as a challenge myself - I wouldn't worry over say 10 thou'

I agree. There's no logic behind it. There should be millimetres of clearance between valves and pistons so a few thou to reface the head won't do a lot. It won't alter the valve timing by any significant degree. It won't affect compression that much, and if it is a concern you can always skim down the pistons to match (although it's a lot more work stripping down, of course).

Sounds like a ploy to make you buy a new head to me.

The Haynes manual for my Zetec engine says no oversize pistons, bearings, etc. available. That wasn't the case when I decided to re-bore it.

However, as the donor engine hasn't had a head gasket failure or been cooked it's unlikely to need a skim.

Kevin

34230

General Discussion Area / Re: Project Tractor engine swap

« on: 20 September 2007, 20:17:43 »

You don't need a locking kit until you put it together again, surely?  

Kevin