34321
General Discussion Area / Re: No More Mobile Mechanics Service
« on: 23 September 2007, 23:04:13 »Quote
How are you at rat catching?
If you want some of my underpants to use as bait just say the word.
Kevin
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If you want some of my underpants to use as bait just say the word.
Kevin
34322
General Discussion Area / Re: Trip to the DVLA Office Tomorrow... Question..
« on: 23 September 2007, 23:12:16 »Quote
I can see the DVLA being utter barstewards Angry
My experience is that it's pointless phoning them or contacting them any way other than by a visit. You get put through to someone in Swansea with no idea whatsoever. Turn up in person with every piece of documentation related to the car, just in case, queue up with the shady car dealers and don't take no for an answer when you get to the desk.
If you enjoyed that try registering a kit car for your next challenge
Good Luck
Kevin
34323
General Discussion Area / Re: Sunday driving quiz is back!
« on: 23 September 2007, 23:47:37 »
I got flashed by one on the A43 back when SWMBO was still living in Wellingborough (6 years or so ago). Dual carriageway at national speed limit and I was doing 70 MPH at the time 
Nothing ever came of it. There had been roadworks and a 40 MPH limit there until very shortly before and I suspect the camera had been left at a lower setting.
Kevin
Nothing ever came of it. There had been roadworks and a 40 MPH limit there until very shortly before and I suspect the camera had been left at a lower setting.
Kevin
34324
General Discussion Area / Re: R.I.P. the Pub... What about this.....
« on: 23 September 2007, 16:22:04 »Quote
Bit like Amsterdam Coffee shops?
They serve really nice... erm... Coffee in those. So I'm told.
Kevin
34325
General Discussion Area / Re: Rear Wheel Drive - Driving Tips
« on: 21 September 2007, 23:58:12 »
Mate of mine had an old 1300 Chevette when we were at school and the back end could stepped out at will. It's much harder in an Omega with 4 times as much power.
Matt is right about the Omega being a bit of a big barge for those sort of antics though. That and relatively soft suspension make it a bit of a handful to gather up so the emphasis must be on avoiding a slide.
Add a Westfield to the list of cars to try
Kevin
Matt is right about the Omega being a bit of a big barge for those sort of antics though. That and relatively soft suspension make it a bit of a handful to gather up so the emphasis must be on avoiding a slide.
Add a Westfield to the list of cars to try
Kevin
34326
General Discussion Area / Re: Rear Wheel Drive - Driving Tips
« on: 21 September 2007, 23:24:20 »Quote
i did one years ago, its strange how you never forget the advise that an expert gives you..
It was an interesting experience. I took my Dad along too. He's had a couple of minor incidents where he'd locked up the wheels and slid into things he could possibly have avoided with a bit of cadence braking. When we got to the cadence braking bit where the bloke jumps out in front of you and you have to apply the brakes but still maintain control to steer round him after a couple of attempts I was avoiding him every time and missing the traffic cones, etc. My Dad nearly ran the bloke over and whatever the guy said he simply couldn't bring himself to come off the brakes and steer.
I'm somewhat relieved that he drives a car with ABS these days.
Kevin
34327
General Discussion Area / Re: Rear Wheel Drive - Driving Tips
« on: 21 September 2007, 23:05:01 »
I'm no expert by any means but RWD cars can bite the unwary to a greater extent than FWD cars, but are much more satisfying to drive once you've had a little practice, IMHO.
The main problem is oversteer, which is unlikely to happen in a FWD car unless you really try to provoke it, simply because the rear wheels aren't doing a lot in terms of the traction that they must deliver. In a FWD car, you have both the majority of the cornering forces and all the power delivery through the front wheels. Overcook it on a roundabout or while turning and the front will just drift a little wide. The natural reactions of coming off the power and turning into the bend will sort the problem out every time.
In a RWD car the rear wheels have the power to deliver and not a lot of weight over them so a little too much power can provoke the rear wheels to give before the fronts. This results in oversteer as the rear end of the car steps out. This requires turning OUT of the bend and reducing power to correct and this is a less natural reaction. Coming off the power too quickly can cause the slide to continue as well, so smoothness is a key factor.
If you haven't ever had a session on a skid pan I can recommend it as a good way to learn the required reactions in safety and at low speeds, where eveything happens at a pace at which you can take it all in. Just make sure you'll be in a RWD car!
Keeping your tryes in good condition and correctly inflated is also a key factor, and it's probably a good idea to keep the best tyres at the rear of the car by rotating them as necessary, especially in the winter months.
Thinking a little further ahead is also key. Avoid having to unsettle the car once you're in a bend by adjusting your speed in good time before you have to turn. Once you're in the bend if you feel you can put some more power on do so smoothly and try to feel for the "balance" of the car. A difficult thing to describe but you'll get to recognise a level of throttle input that "feels right". Don't be tempted to plonk your foot straight down or to overstep the point where the car feels right. As you straighten up out of a bend you can add power to maintain this balance.
Kevin
The main problem is oversteer, which is unlikely to happen in a FWD car unless you really try to provoke it, simply because the rear wheels aren't doing a lot in terms of the traction that they must deliver. In a FWD car, you have both the majority of the cornering forces and all the power delivery through the front wheels. Overcook it on a roundabout or while turning and the front will just drift a little wide. The natural reactions of coming off the power and turning into the bend will sort the problem out every time.
In a RWD car the rear wheels have the power to deliver and not a lot of weight over them so a little too much power can provoke the rear wheels to give before the fronts. This results in oversteer as the rear end of the car steps out. This requires turning OUT of the bend and reducing power to correct and this is a less natural reaction. Coming off the power too quickly can cause the slide to continue as well, so smoothness is a key factor.
If you haven't ever had a session on a skid pan I can recommend it as a good way to learn the required reactions in safety and at low speeds, where eveything happens at a pace at which you can take it all in. Just make sure you'll be in a RWD car!
Keeping your tryes in good condition and correctly inflated is also a key factor, and it's probably a good idea to keep the best tyres at the rear of the car by rotating them as necessary, especially in the winter months.
Thinking a little further ahead is also key. Avoid having to unsettle the car once you're in a bend by adjusting your speed in good time before you have to turn. Once you're in the bend if you feel you can put some more power on do so smoothly and try to feel for the "balance" of the car. A difficult thing to describe but you'll get to recognise a level of throttle input that "feels right". Don't be tempted to plonk your foot straight down or to overstep the point where the car feels right. As you straighten up out of a bend you can add power to maintain this balance.
Kevin
34328
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG my new Omega?
« on: 22 September 2007, 00:04:28 »Quote
Oh I nearly forgot, leak testing, when I was at Night School learning how to weld properly, we were taught to use soap and water for checking Gas setups. Then they brought out a 'Leak Testing Spray', which was basically soap and water !. Also for those in the electronics environment we used to use IPA to clean solder flux from PCBs. Then Health and Safety banned the use of of this, so we had to start using Aerosol sprays, the main constuant of which was............ IPA !!!.
Life seems to go round in ever decreasing circles !, all these politicians who don't really have a clue about reality, making up rules that are meaningless/impossible to meet. All this stuff about Global Warming, its actually Climate Change. We are spending a fortune on insulating our homes to meet the new 0.3 thermal standard in case it gets colder, but there is a good chance that things will get warmer, so sod SEDBUK A boilers, we will all need Air Cons, presumably to a similar standard !.
Cheers Ken
... And with every round of new red tape everything gets more expensive, the country gets less productive and more UK jobs go to China and India... where they don't give a sh!t about health and safety or the mythical "Climate Change".
Kevin
34329
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG my new Omega?
« on: 21 September 2007, 23:44:44 »Quote
Sorry but soapy water cant be sensitive as gas sensor devices ..
I'm sure anyone who was going to sign their name on an LPG certification would be just as thorough (if not more so) checking a DIY install as they would one of their own.
Kevin
34330
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG my new Omega?
« on: 21 September 2007, 22:24:44 »Quote
2 words - heating gas
The business of getting it into your car isn't trivial though, and it'd be a bit suspicious for me to be using tons of LPG for heating when I've got a natural gas supply for that :-/
Quote
Another 2 (buzz) words - Carbon Neutral...
Ah, Ruth Kelly and her "Zero Carbon Homes". Clearly no-one in government understands thermodynamics. I guess they'll each have a nuclear reactor humming away in the cupboard under the stairs.
Quote
and easiest way to do that is to increase the tax.
It's the only way the government will go. Anything else might require them to listen to experts (ones that haven't been previously paid off to toe the line) and make difficult long term decisions. Far less risky to whack up the tax and let people figure out their own way to avoid going broke or getting hypothermia
Kevin
34331
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG my new Omega?
« on: 21 September 2007, 21:42:27 »
.. and call me cynical but I swear the government are just waiting for a few more people to take it up before they spin some shock horror story about it being just as bad for the environment as petrol and whack up the duty on LPG.
Then again, I was saying that 8 years ago when I bought my last car and pondered an LPG conversion, then didn't bother.
That had a horizontal spare wheel well too.
Kevin
Then again, I was saying that 8 years ago when I bought my last car and pondered an LPG conversion, then didn't bother.
That had a horizontal spare wheel well too.
Kevin
34332
General Discussion Area / Re: LPG my new Omega?
« on: 21 September 2007, 20:04:51 »
It's a shame there aren't more tank options for the saloon because I'd convert mine if it didn't mean losing half the boot.
I'm surprised no-one has considered exchanging the petrol tank for something smaller and using the space thus saved for an LPG tank. I guess that's down to having to engineer a different solution for each car but there are companies around that'll make custom fuel tanks in either plastic or aluminium for reasonable money.
How much range could you get out of a doughnut tank in the spare wheel recess?
Kevin
I'm surprised no-one has considered exchanging the petrol tank for something smaller and using the space thus saved for an LPG tank. I guess that's down to having to engineer a different solution for each car but there are companies around that'll make custom fuel tanks in either plastic or aluminium for reasonable money.
How much range could you get out of a doughnut tank in the spare wheel recess?
Kevin
34333
General Discussion Area / Re: My Police Force Application...
« on: 21 September 2007, 12:19:44 »
Excellent news, James. Good luck with the next steps
Kevin
Kevin
34334
General Discussion Area / Re: Abandoned ex-plod MV6?
« on: 21 September 2007, 19:39:24 »
... and mention that if nobody claims it it's yours!
Kevin
Kevin
34335
General Discussion Area / Re: Silver facelift tried to run me off the road!
« on: 21 September 2007, 19:22:08 »Quote
QuoteCrikey! This talk of hazard perception and multiple choice sounds scary. My test was a case of driving the tester around Farnborough for 40 minutes and if he hasn't soiled himself by then you've passed.Er, no! Plan to beg/borrow/steal small car with a manual box.
Well done, Theo, and all the best for the practical. Are you taking it in the Omega?
Kevin
Ahh. Good thinking. A mate of mine did his test in an auto and ended up with an auto-only license
Kevin