There has been a thread running which began to discuss means of avoiding the copy-protection mechanisms used by some music publishers and CD manufacturers.

Whatever you might think about the issue, either from the point of view of the price of CDs in the bona fide record market (for example, The Growler wrote: "Given the obscene price of CD's I would applaud any effort to copy and share them...") or from that of the morality of maintaining a writer's or performer's copyright, trying to beat the copy-protection measures amounts to fraud, and this website could be sued for publishing, and thus promoting, any means to achieve this. We cannot afford to run this risk.

So I'm afraid I've withdrawn the whole thread. I apologise to those who have posted sensible responses to the initial contribution.

I've also asked the moderators to withdraw any future contributions on the topic.




 
Martyn [Back Room moderator]
====================
mailto:webmaster@honestjohn.co.uk Read more

Hi folks,

Got back from the IOM on Friday morning after spending several days staying at my brothers in Bradden. The first time SWMBO has let me go over on my own, on the bike, since we got married, (1987 last time on the bike) and at her suggestion! What a wonderful girl she is!

The island has changed out of all recognition since the last time I went on a bike, I have seen the changes when I have been visiting my brother but they didn?t really register until this time. The roads are very much better and not wanting to take anything from Mr Jeffries new lap record, they must make it easier to go round the circuit. There are no speed cameras (fixed) but plenty of mobile ones, but they where being used in the correct places, coming into a 30 limit after a 60 limit. In a 50 limit by a bad junction. I didn?t see one in 5 days in a place that I would have thought they are trying to catch you out. But on the other hand in the unrestricted parts of the island THERE ARE NO SPEED LIMITS, go as fast as you want and as long as its not being stupid so what.

In the five days I went around the course on the Blackbird for only 2 full laps, both during the afternoon. (When I was younger I would do it at 05:30 flat out all the way, and can?t now remember my fastest time). Traffic was bad; the driving was bad, some of the riding was even worse! But the euphoria of coming out of Ramsey around the hair pin and through the SPEED UNRESTRICTED signs until you hit the down hill to Creg-Ne-Ba cannot be put into into words. (Last time I was on the bike the 60 limit now in force from just after Kate?s cottage, before Creg-Ne-Ba, until you hit the outskirts of Douglas wasn?t there) and it spoils the end of the run. But what a run, I?m starting to get to be an old git, but the ability to throw the bird around and hunt down R1s, (you wouldn?t believe how much faster a bird goes in a straight line over 140 than an R1) makes up for the minor restriction. And all of the time I was riding I was using the style of riding taught to me by Les Packham on a 2 day Honda MAC course, ride fast and smooth. Use the entire road, make sure you can see, look as far ahead as you can and DON?T take the racing line. The roads are open for most of the way over the mountain with a few restricted corners taken at much slower speeds. I wasn?t overtaken once on either ride, I had no crises of confidence but I now know the birds not a scratcher, very very capable, but limited on some of the best and fastest roads to be found.

How the racers go at the speeds they do beggars belief, I was riding as fast as I felt both my bike and myself where capable of. Some of the time it was the bikes limitations, mainly it was mine, but using the riding techniques taught to me by Les I was always fully in control, I knew the limits and didn?t go past them, and had a very fast and enjoyable ride.

This brings me to the islands speed limits, at no time did I feel a need to abuse the posted limits, they where there for a purpose, safety, when there wasn?t a need for them they don?t have them. I suppose this will change, but just knowing that the car in front will soon be in an unrestricted area means that you just wait, and then off you go.

I hope that this reads OK of my personal experiences over a few days of the IOM,
BUT

EVERYONE SHOULD DO IT ONCE


All the best


Bill
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Hi all,
My car has a serious problem. Any tune up boys in the house?!
PATIENT:
Volvo480 turbo. Power curve 6 months ago on rolling road showed a standard torque and power curve form, peaking at about 130bhp at 5200rpm. Nothing has been changed except the exhaust which was replaced after grounding out on a tree stump. The CAT has been removed. A power curve run this morning was booked to create a snapshot prior to any further work. I was expecting maybe some boost creep after 5000rpm, instead l was told the car has a serious loss of power issue.
SYMPTOMS: comparing the two power graphs.
TORQUE:
Normal shape up to to about 3000rpm. Dropping sharply after this and never really recovering except slightly after 5000rpm.
BHP:
About 10% lower than before up to 3000rpm. It then goes down and plateuas around 40 - 50 bhp LOWER than before and only picks up to after 5000rpm to finish at 101bhp at 5800rpm. Hmm nice.
BOOST:
Comes up to 7psi (as intended) but start to fall away to 6psi btween 3-5000rpms recovering to 7psi agin after 5000rpm.

Other symptoms:
Idle problem. When out of gear it hunts/chases momentarily although this is intermittent in how much it does this. (Wavering idle thread)
I haven't been thrahing my car of late so as the problem isn't noticeable up to 60mph l was initially suspect about the readings.
However l have since found a private straight where l ran it to 110mph, and have been able to sense the hesitation after 3000rpm (on the same straight the car would pretty much squirt to 125mph without problem.) The turbo guage also reflects what the rolling road curve has shown.

Initial suspicions.
LAMDA sensor: Damaged by the exhaust fitters, it may not be sending a reading or is stuck at one particular reading.
POINTS: I know that the 480t can run like a dog if the wrong points are used. (I will be checking these over the weekend to see if they are the right ones.)
The tuner said that this wouldn't be enough to cause this problem but the LAMDA might?
Additionally the tuner suggested:
FUEL LINE: unlikely as it picks up again after 5000rpm
BOOST CONTROL: OK so it loses 1 psi after 3000rpm but that would account for up to 50bhp loss! More likely this is a symptom rather than the root cause.
IGNITION TIMING: The engine is falsely reading high charge temperatures and retarding the timing. This could be faulty ECU, or sensors.
TURBO itself. Does'nt smoke or make a noise. But it is not unknown that a turbo could be hitting the sides of the housing at certain revs, creating a flow resistance but spinning correctly at higher or lower revs. Sounds plausible but with no noise or smoke this is less likely but not impossible.

Car is going in tuesday for diagnostics, but this could turn into a money pit if it proves hard to find. I am tempted to rip out the intake manifold (cracked?), turbo, lamda etc... and replace as much as l can with spares and salvage.

I don't expect an exact diagnosis, (unless anyone has had this before and just 'knows') but eliminating a few possibilites or suggesting a few tests l could do to narrow it down would be great.
I am absolutely gutted at the moment, sob.
Thanks for reading,
Dan Read more

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