miketomcat

Unfortunately I can't make it this time, I have way to much to do at home at the moment. Mike

You may end up with it sitting slightly offset when at normal hight. As long as the wheels are pointing the correct direction/angle the offset won't affect handling. Mike

Panhard mod could sort the tyre to spring mount clash. Mike

I already have, a long time ago. to be fair my only vice (apart from being as mad as a box of frogs ) is cars, so make me drive a normal car and I might as well give up completely. Mike

We'll all I can say is the sums I did a while ago don't stack up, especially when the 110 goes tax exempt soon and I already car share for work. Mike

Please explain how running two vehicles is cheaper than running one? I'd still have all the costs of one (granted less fuel) but then I'd have all the additional costs of the second car. Plus I'd have to spend time fixing a car I hate. Sorry but this doesn't make any kind of sense! Mike

You do know your supposed to put the cream in your eye, not eat it, don't you......just saying. Mike

Don't worry I had a eurobox a few years ago. Skoda Octavia, I paid £500 for it. I had to fix the dash as it didn't work, replace a ball joint and get the back doors to actually open. I had it for 18 months, it was by a long way the best, most comfortable, reliable and quite vehicle I've ever had......and I hated every single second I owned it. It bored me into a state of oblivion, I was building the ibex at the time so even had an excuse for having it. I sold it and bought a rusty discovery which I ran until it failed it's MOT then it donated various parts for the ibex. Then I bought a written off 110 which we still have..... Mike

The police more than likely know who they are but can't/won't do anything about it. Mike

I actually disagree with this statement, a sensible eurobox at the price I could afford would likely be not much more reliable than my vehicles. If I were to use garages for repairs then it would be more money judging by my work colleagues. More importantly if you take into account depreciation it's not even close. Yes my cars are an expensive hobby but my cars are not just a hobby they are our commuter hacks, work tug and tow vehicle. I can't do all this with a eurobox. Yes I do know your baiting me and yes I am bitting. Mike

Ours is set to 18°c my eldest and wife are home all day as they home school. We had an open fire in the last house but it was generally only use if utterly misserable outside or we were wet. This house doesn't have one and we miss it. It's jumpers or get cold in our house, we have fleece blankets on the sofa for movie nights having said that my wife will use them in the summer. I would love to do more but it always seems to be you have to pay out X to get a saving of Y and it'll take 3+years to cover the initial cost which I simply cannot do. We already live a fruggle lifestyle and don't see how I can make it better. Mike

Not quite the front prop on a tdci is 700mm, where as a 200 is 667mm. But that's according to measurements of prop lengths. Mike

To honest it's more to do with costs involved. I'm more than capable of building my own eco house at a very reasonable cost. However round here the land alone is more than the house I live in. I could use upcycled materials but they dont meet current regulations or you can't prove that they do. I also live on the edge of a nation park which hinders things further. Don't get me wrong I'm not bemoaning regulations and I understand if they weren't there...... It's just it's all biased to having lots of money or being a big builder. Mike Sorry we've dived off topic a bit.

Worse still is you get trapped in a life where you can't do anything anyway. I want to do so much but can't do any of it because of regulations or the cost of doing it to regulations. I'm trapped where I couldn't buy a house to do the environmental thing because I need the job to pay for it which is in an area that I could do what I would like to but can't afford to live there. Round and round it goes. Modern ideals have forced us into an unsustainable life, I tell my kids if they want to do more for the environment it starts with less electronics, less throw away and less waste. I still can't get them off their tablets, to turn off lights put jumpers on........ Mike

I looked into the idea of building an earth ship (passive House). Ignoring the horrific cost of land and the fact you would have a hard time convincing the planning office. You can't actually build one to meet the current building regulations. I believe there are two that have been built in the UK and neither can be lived in because they don't meet the regulations. It's frustrating that even when you want to do more for the environment etc you either can't due to regulations or you simply can't afford to. We are planning to do an extension next year and I would love to add rain water harvesting for toilets and washing machine but I doubt I'll be allowed or can afford to do it. Mike

I had solar on one of our previous houses. We had it on a deal where we didn't pay for them but didn't get paid for the excess either. Ours were not pointing an optimal direction. Did they provide power that supplied us and saved us money, yes. Was there excess going back into the grid, yes but only on sunny days. Were they worth it, yes but only because we didn't buy them. On balance I would only have them again if they were pointing south, if they came with the house or we paid very little for them. I would fit them if building a house from scratch or seriously rebuilding one. Mike

A fellow land rover enthusiast. May God rest her soul. Mike

The other elephant in the room is, at the moment there are tax incentives for ev but by the time the great unwashed could afford them the gov will have much less tax income from ice. The tax will have to come from somewhere..... So if you can afford the purchase price or it's a company car now is very much the time to have an ev because I feel owning/running a car is going to become unaffordable for the majority in the next 50 years. Mike P.S. I hate touch screens in cars because I have to look at them a button I can find without looking. But then I don't like any technology in cars because I'm a luddite.

I suspect it's ½bspt thread if so you could just buy a flanged plug. Something like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193262375364?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=KP2YQD5PSwq&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=rj9sNdGlTqa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY Mike

I think the ad is legit but I don't think they realise what they are trying to sell. I wouldn't touch that with a barge pole. It's clearly a ringer or a very dodgy rebuild. Mike

I'm sure one of the adults will correct me but I always thought/was told part charging was bad for battery's. If this is the case surely a 10min charge is going to do more bad than good. Also in order to have the ability to do a quick charge whilst going for a pee they are going to need wireless charging in every parking space, which to be honest is I think the only long term solution. Mike

I've always used elring head gaskets not sure if there's a better one to use. Mike

I seem to recall telling you to stop messing around and pull the heads. Mind I should probably listen to my own advice. Mike

That's interesting and I hope your right about the future. My biggest problem is still that I don't want to change either of my vehicles. They are not viable to convert to electric because you lose all of the reasons for owning them. Mike

To be honest I think I'm beyond tests, I'm fairly sure the head gasket has gone again. I think the head needs skimming but to be fair it got us home so I can't complain. I might drag the head off the other engine get it skimmed then I can just pull this one off and swap. That way it's off the road for the minimum time. Then I can get this one skimmed when I rebuild the other engine. Mike