November 2006

Round The Bend

Driving round the M25 (near J19, I think) I saw the reason for the roadworks were stated as "bridge parapet upgrade".

I wonder if anyone knows what sort of upgrade we can expect. Is this spin for "repairs" or will we be seeing some magnificent architectural improvement - perhaps in the Art Deco style?
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IanS
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gsb

What you saw, appears to be nearly the finished article. The M25 there I think goes over the Met tube line from Rickmansworth to Chorleywood. Certainly looks more robust than it used to.

giamburrasca

Hello all. I am an occasional collector of pre-war petrol cans, and have recently acquired a particularly straight Shell Aviation can. From traces of paint underneath several newer layers, and from looking at advertising posters from the time, it appears that these cans were painted a golden colour and that it might have been metallic. Can anybody confirm this and/or suggest a pantone number or a paint type for the job. Thanks muchly in anticipation. Read more

henry k

No hard feelings.
to confirm the site I referred to was
members.chello.nl/b.voogd5/fuel_cans.htm
They may be another good starting point.

www.vintagecollectibles.co.uk/petrol-cans.htm

There are a lot of enthusiasts out there. Some even in Ireland but this is not aviation
www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/lon...l
www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/ima...g

Try contacting Shell who will probably have some sort of archive to reference?
Good luck on your quest

Cornish Lass

Recently noticed when stopped in traffic, particularly facing downhill, my brake pedal slowly creeps down to the floor. I know its not really good practice to sit with footbrake on and not use handbrake, but who doesn't?

Checked fluid levels several times in last 2 weeks and doesn't seem to be losing any and no sign of any obvious "damp" patches around wheel cylinders. I'm not sure if this is a new development, or I've just not noticed it before. I did a quick "google" and found info on a phenomenon known as "diesel brake creep" which is unique to the diesel set-up. Could it be this?

Don' t really want to book in for work if its not necessary. Is there a foolproof method I can use to check if its normal or something more sinister???

Thanks in advance, L Read more

Number_Cruncher

found info on a phenomenon known as "diesel brake creep"


I've had a quick nosy at this, and I find the explanation given is nonsense.

The maximum pressure drop across a servo is atmospheric, (no matter how hard you suck, you can't produce negative absolute pressure) whether this vacuum is produced by the engine or a pump, it doesn't matter.

I concurr with the advice given above - have a competent garage check the system thoroughly, rectifying the fault, before using the car again.

Number_Cruncher
Chuckie888

Hope this topic has not been discussed before; there seems to be a fundamental flaw with the use of these cameras according to the Sun newspaper (so it must be true then!)

www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002410000-2006480146,...l Read more

Dynamic Dave

Thread locked. Continue discussion about SPECS in the link provided earlier in this thread. DD.

Jonathan {p}

Hit and Run incidents are up - mostly in london

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6102520.stm Read more

sierraman

police need to dish out form HO/RT1 (producer) like they used to in the old days, before told not to do it

Not much point if the producee has nothing to produce,adding 'failing to produce' to their other offences that they don't bother going to court for.

telecaster

Oh dear, took my galaxy in yesterday for it's suitability test for taxi.

Thought it would be a quick glance over job and home..................

But no.................tester informed me that as car had no spare wheel he could not pass it..........

So that mean i have to get a galaxy spare , plus a jack, plus a wheel brace and return.


Another round trip of 120 miles just so he can look in the luggage area at the wheel..............


This non spare is gonna cause a lot of hassle i think....in fact I may even buy one!

I wonder what the situation in the uk is with this?

{Subject header changed to eliminate the vagueness - DD} Read more

telecaster

I am in southern Ireland "Kenny"!

Brianb

I was thinking of making a few subtle changes to my diesel Passat saloon. Tinting of the rear windows was the first item on the list, as with kids in the back it would make the car cooler. This got me thinking of what else would make useful improvements at a reasonable cost?

Diesel tuning chip, 30bhp increase, nice!

18" Alloy wheels, the standard 15" alloys look like shopping trolley wheels on a big car.

This then led to thinking how this would affect my insurance (Directline), so a search of their website was a YES. Surprisingly even the window tinting if it wasn't a factory fit would effect the premium. I expected the other two to have some effect, maybe the next insurance group or similar.

A search of a company specialising in modified car insruance wanted £400 more than I'm paying Directline (£300 of which was for the above mods).

What do all these people do who fit bigger wheels and chips do about insurance, does eveyone pay £3-400 over the norm for subtle changes? Read more

Mike H

Just to add my bit, specialist brokers either for the type of car, or offering owners club affiliated schemes, may be the best bet. I have a Saab 9-5 chipped from 150bhp to 192bhp, with sports suspension upgrade, and alloy wheels (the last, as someone else commented, were a factory option and standard on some models). I paid very little extra, currently £300 pa with full NCB - but then again, I am 53!

On my last check round, I found that most of the mainstream insurers weren't interested, but I went the owners-club route.

kal

Hello a friend runs a BMW 540i 2002 model, the car suffers from a cooling system fault. The check cooling system light comes on once a month, a half a litre of water is sufficient to top up and the warning light goes out. Is thier a problem or not? The car has only covered 40,000 km, the car is run in the middle east where the ambient temperature is 30-40c for most of the year. The car generally runs well, no misfires, offers strong acceleration etc etc. I have not noticed any leaks etc

any replies appreciated..
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jon_s

Morning all,

Now the cold mornings are upon us again, I have a recurrence of a problem with my 1998 Volvo S40 - namely that upon unlocking the car, two doors are not unlocking fully. This problem has affected the car for some time and always happens when the ambient temperature is low. It used to affect only one door, which was manageable, but two is becoming a bit of a nuisance. The doors can be opened manually by pulling up the locking buttons, but I've noticed they are extremely stiff. Incidentally, they appear to always lock OK, it's opening that is the problem.

Is this likely to be simply stiff or corroded mechanisms (helped by some judicious lubrication), or do I need to consider renewing components, for example the locking motors on the affected doors?

Thanks in advance.

Jon Read more

BB

Most Volvo's I have been in over the last few years, including my own S60 has had a problem with the central locking. My S60 and my mechanics V70 passenger door unlocks when trying to lock with the remote and a friends XC90 passenger door remains locked when he tries to unlock. This is all year round though.

IanJohnson

A38 Roundabout at Lichfield, 0700 this morning.

Stationary/stop-start traffic, coned down to one lane (this is a rural NSL dual carriageway). Pass a sign saying "Census" adn decide I am going to tell them I am travelling from Holyhead to Norwich on my daily commute . . . but. . .

They are not stopping anyone - so why do it?

perhaps they were waiting for the BiB to make the "request to stop"!
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Clanger

Perhaps they saw your nose growing and decided to wait for someone to give them accurate data.

;-)
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land