October 2001
Picked up the girlfriends new MINI Cooper on Saturday.
It's fab!
Even worth paying a months tax for just 2 days use.......
Its a very nice piece of kit and everyone is stopping outside our house to have a look! Lovely to drive - feels like a much bigger car on the motorway and yet like a Caterham on the country roads! What more can you want?
Sold the old Cinquecento for a grand today as well so motoring wise pretty damn chuffed.
Piers Read more
Can anyone recommend a GOOD book on working with sheet metal/panel beating etc.so that I can have something to give me a bit more guidance and knowledge (something like a Haynes Book ?)
Is there a book ( or Video or WebSite )out there that will explain the various tools and methods of using them to deal with shaping sheet metal.
I know that you can`t replace "hands-on " experience in the trade , but there must be something written down explaining how it`s done .
All suggestions gratefully received.( even if the book is out-of-print )
Scott Read more
Many thanks for all the info.
Scott
Hi everyone,
Question: how on earth does a basic 4 cylinder 1.4 produce 160bhp with a turbo?
I am of course talking about one of the early re-incarnations of the Renault 5 turbo I. Is this some sort of theoretical peak value? Or does this model have a massive turbo with a spool up time akin glacial movement??
Other models with turbo have more realistic 110bhp etc... but l've seen this 160bhp business in more than a few places, so whats the explanation?
If you could squeeze this sort of power out of a small engine why don't all cars have one!
Dan Read more
> (my first was a 100E which burned
> petrol and oil in equal quantities, or so it seemed
If you have a 1959 G12 Matchless and you need new rings which are mostly not available any more, then you can use the rings from a 100E. However, then your Matchless will burn a huge amount of oil as well. Believe me, I know.
Does anyone know of an additive to the cooling system that will repair a cracked cylinder head. The problem only shows on the warm up procedure by missing and loss of power and occasionally runs hot. A new head will cost more than the car is worth but it is otherwise in good condition - thanks for any help Read more
Can you please advise what this product is called - it may help my ailing geriatric V6 Volvo 760!
thanks in advance.
Will you please TURN YOUR CAPS LOCK OFF!!!! Read more
Sad link, chap(esses).
HIGHER lower's just the same.
I had a wonderful weekend. Driving down from Cheshire to London I noticed round Stoke that my brakes felt a little odd. Pulled off the main road, looked underneath the car and could find no obvious leaks - checked the brakes a good few times more and everything seemed okay again. Was careful on the motorway because of the earlier problems but about 100 miles further while on the M1, the traffic braked in front of me and my brake pedal went to the floor. A very frightening experience and I fortunately managed to get the car under control by repeatedly pumping the pedal and applying pressure to the handbreak. It turned out the driver's side rear brake cylinder had failed and by the time I got the car back home, the entire wheel was soaked with brake fluid. Obviously these things do wear out but I have never heard of anything like this before - usually you get a minor leak which is noticed on service/MOT and never causes problems. This has to be a dangerous problem, the car (as some of you know) is a 93 Cavalier - has anyone heard of similar things happening on this or other cars? My local Vauxhall dealer (Grasmere, who I thank very much for managing to squeeze my car in on a very busy day yesterday so I had it for today) said it was an exceptionally bad case. I guess a lot of people would not have realised that pumping the brake pedal would have helped and could have panicked!
I know the car is old now but it only has 67k on it and a FSH - Does anyone think I should take the matter up with Vauxhall, or was it just a one off and I was really unlucky (or lucky I guess, given things could have been much worse)? Read more
Dan, Brian
Thanks for the replies about the fluid warning lights.
I find the fact that brakes can fail before the warning light comes on pretty worrying, just glad that it seems to work on Pugs. The fact remains though, shouldn't they work on all models? Otherwise there must be a lot of people driving around out there thinking that they don't have a brake problem 'because the light hasn't come on' when they could be close to something pretty catastrophic.
Just adds weight to my theory that you should never rely on anything even slightly technological when it comes to brakes. Good old fashioned wheels and drum off inspection with your own eyes or those of someone you can trust seems to be the only sure answer.
i NOTICE THAT MY NEW XSARA TD110 ESTATE WEIGHES 60KG MORE THAN MY 6 YEAR OLD PEUGEOT 405 TD ESTATE.
wHERE WILL ALL THIS END?
IF YOU LOOK AT THE WEIGHTS OF THE VARIOUS vw gOLFS OVER THE YEARS YOU REACH THE INESCAPABLE CONCLUSION THAT THE THINGS ARE GROUND OUT OF DEPLETED uRANIUM.
i'M WELL AWARE THAT THINGS HAVE TO BE MORE CRASHPROOF,BUT ADDED WEIGHT INCREASES THE ENERGY TO BE DISSIPATED IN DIRECT PROPORTION.
oNE SOLUTION WOULD BE TO GET A DESIGNER OF AIRCRAFT INTERIORS TO DO THE SEATS,HAVE YOU TRIED TO LIFT A CAR SEAT RECENTLY?
dONT.
aND WHY DO DEISEL ENGINES INVOLVE GREAT LUMPS OF PIG IRON AS CYLINDER BLOCKS?
HAVE THEIR DESIGNERS SOMETHING PERSONAL AGAINST ALUMINIUM?
aND WHAT ABOUT COMPOSITES?
lOUGHBOROUGH TECH WERE RUNNING ENGINES WITH COMPOSITE BLOCKS DECADES AGO,ITS NO NOVELTY. Read more
I was told that the manufacturers of range rovers used ultra thin wire to save weight, but they also put in a gearknob made out of turned steel that weighs about ten pounds (slight exagerration)
i NOTICE THAT THIS DOESNT HAVE A RED DYE.
WILL A DEISEL ENGINE RUN ON IT?
i IMAGINE SOME PUMP LUBRICATION WILL HAVE TO BE ADDED?
iT IS,OF COURSE ILLEGAL,BUT I FEEL NO MORAL COMPUNCTION TO BE BOUND BY UNFAIR LEGISLATION,ANY MORE THAN aMERICA DID A FEW YEARS AGO.... Read more
My central heating fuel doesnt look very red.......
BEING TERMINALLY SAD i FEEL THE DASH OF MY NEW CITROEN XSARA ESRTATE (tURBO 110,OF COURSE) NEEDS CHEERING UP.
wHO MAKES INSTANT WOOD DASH KITS THESE DAYS? Read more
I'm sure thereare still ads for these in motor magazines - maybe Autocar or something like that...
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I would love to, unfortunatly I cannot drive [shocked mutters of disgust by the regulars]. Maybe somebody could teach me to drive in one, then I would love it, you always seem to love the car you lear to drive in dont you?
Funny how you get preconceptions of what people are like, o well.
Back to the mini, [stupid name now, what does it mean?] I will admit I like how the roof fits onto the body, the back could be almost nice, but the front is hideous, awful from any angle. Anyway, thats the fun of opinions.
Kev