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Cynic-al

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Everything posted by Cynic-al

  1. A garage local to me just drills a hole it in based on the fact that the 6 screws usually won't just come out so they don't bother trying. Then again they also just wipe the spark plug tops so not exactly a great example. JLR have announced 500 job losses at the old Jag plant, I think the discovery sport is built there. Dropping a shift.
  2. Did you pay for parking by card? A lot of machines offer that now and the bank statement would be evidence in your favour. They must have the numberplate correct on file as they got your address, did you type it into the machine wrong? If so can you supply a shop receipt or transaction on bank statement? If you want to annoy them ask them to supply all the data they have on you on file for every time you've been in and out of all of their monitored car parks under GDPR, no reason apart from it would annoy someone. Although they are allowed to make a charge if they're switched on There is an Aldi at Scarborough where you have to put your numberplate into a machine before you drive away, not obvious bet it catches loads of holiday makers out. I only happened to see it as one of the kids was messing about next to it and I went over in dad telling off mode. A friend had a similar problem with Dart charge, he phoned and paid after the event and got a reference number, went to France for a while, came back to a 'you haven't paid your crossing' fine letter, phoned them with the reference number they gave him, "that's meaningless to us sir, we will only accept a copy of a bank statement with the payment on." No payment on the bank statement, obviously didn't go through, but what's the point in an reference number if it's meaningless? I have an account setup with all the numberplates on and pay monthly, although the factory I used to visit down there has closed so its maybe twice a year max now.
  3. I find I have to break stuff down into small projects. If I focus too much on the overall thing and getting it finished for a deadline I cut corners on the smaller jobs which ruins the overall finish. You have to treat each job in a project in itself. I also find being able to fit stuff once you've finished it is way more motivating than finishing a part, bubble wrapping it and putting it away in a box, so I try to do things in a sequence that facilitate that.
  4. What about a hydraulic pipe clamp? Come in a huge range of sizes and usually plastic or a polyurethane like material. Only a couple of quid each usually and any hydraulic shop can get them. https://www.kiowa.co.uk/pipe-clamps?recsperpage=25&page=1
  5. When I bought my range rover the LPG tank in the boot was held in place with a brick and there was no electronic shut off valve on the tank and it was completely fine. You all worry too much. Atleast the tesla fires are self cleaning, the heat melts the aluminium and the car just disappears.
  6. I'd look proper hardcore if I turned up at school to get the kids in that white one Come on Tarquin and Tulip, lets go get a vegan ice cream from the country club. Might lose the mudflaps on the kerb though
  7. Plus the electric stuff weights more than the petrol stuff and in different places so the suspension design would have to be reconsidered to make sure it can take it, and the frame to see what would happen in a crash. Image people being crushed by a boot full of badly mounted batteries which then catch fire
  8. For light stuff I made up my own from whatever I could find. For stuff I wanted a little better mounted I bought the pressed metal 2 halves with the bolt either side from the roll cage manufacturer and welded what I wanted onto those then clamped them on. LRS offroad used to do some like this which I often admired as they looked pretty when I went in but never bought any. You can get plastic ones with a range of rubber inserts to give you different tube sizes for mounting light bars etc. 2 things always put me off welding to the roll cage, one was it was powder coated so I didn't want to take that off, the other was if I stick a line of weld half way down a long straight tube am I weakening it should it ever have to fulfil it's function?
  9. I think the conventional motor in place of the engine is easier as you don't have the weight or bulk to fit near the wheel, you have space for the required gearing (a car wheel will by maybe several hundred rpm and a motor several thousand rpm), and you can buy one off the shelf motor and fit it to an existing platform (as most car manufacturers do) rather than 4 bespoke ones and you don't have to run high voltage / current cables down moving suspension, steering etc where of course they will fatigue over time, especially with the environmental factors. I'm sure you could come up with a great hub motor which only has one moving part rather than a motor connected to the hub which would save you the losses of the gearbox / drive shafts / CVs (10%?) and have the brake as part of to the same device but I don't know how far along they are with it? There seems to be lots of amazing electric vehicles from unknown companies that you can put deposits on but can't get the exact details of or see yet. I think I will wait... I think the way Tesla have got product on the ground is pretty impressive, although their finances all seem to be based around keeping investors excited around what's going to happen...
  10. Has to be a Range Rover, Defenders just don't sound right with a V8, not rattly enough.
  11. A friend has hired a few electric cars as he would like one. I had a drive in them whilst he had them, one was an e golf and that was a no go. The other was the lowest spec model 3, so shorter range and slower. The technology is good in terms of drivability, quick enough for a saloon, power comes in very quickly but loses the feeling as you speed up as a conventional engine would be coming on chat by then, nicer to drive than anything diesel or with an automatic box and handled well for such a heavy thing. The technology in terms of the stupid ipad with it's christmas music and snow graphics, the other cars and cyclists on screen, the voice control, the nonsense door handles inside and out, the cruise that tries to drive at the speed limit even though it got the speed limits wrong then has a fit when you get to a corner, the crummy column gear change, the fact that you need the app on your phone to start it / drive it / open the boot etc which of course the rental company wouldn't register you for so you had to use the emergency credit card which doesn't allow you to open the boot without going through the touchscreen, trying to touch basic buttons like window demisters on the screen whilst moving was dangerous in my opinion, etc etc. The build quality felt poor, it felt like a £25k car priced at £45k so I guess the £20k difference is the electric technology. To me it was an electric car built by a technology company not a car company. I think if you could get tesla to license the motor / batteries / drive to someone like BMW you would end up with a much nicer prospect. I was also a little shocked to find out how much they charge you per minute that the car is plugged into a charger after it has finished charging. It's something like 70p per minute. That means if I'm working in France I would have to stop and charge atleast once on the way, say at the tunnel (which would annoy me to have to sit around), then find a hotel with a charging point, which are quite rare, I've looked! Then I can't go to bed until it's finished a full charge and I have to go out and move it. Which means the amount of sleep I get is going to be minimal. For me it doesn't suit what I do and won't unless they come up with batteries that you can swap out, charge on the move or charge very quickly.
  12. Does the caster correction also help get the oil to the nose of the diff or is there enough it anyway for it not to matter?
  13. I'm not sure turning it over with the coil disconnected will do any more than running it? On mine I took the dizzy out and made a bar which went down to the top of the oil pump and put it in an electric drill so that I could run thr pump without turning the engine over. You could tell from how hard the drill was working when it was pumping. To make the bar I got a length of steel rod, probably 14mm in diameter, cut a notch in the end then welded a bit of tube around it to hold it on the oil pump. I can have a look through my random bits of metal pile to see if I still have it if you like. If you take the dizzy off make sure you mark the timing. Take the top off and mark where the rotor is and put a scratch between the dizzy and engine so you can get the timing back and dont turn the engine over whilst it's off. Or set it up from scratch again afterwards. I also fitted a pressure gauge as it wasnt great for oil pressure.
  14. I think they have fallen onto a rock or run into something fast as a dead stop. Slid off a ledge with the brakes on etc. I cant imagine the torque or driving / braking has done that. Still good going though. I've never known anything go like that. I wonder if it was damaged before this event and this was the final straw? Perhaps in the past slid sideways onto something which would tear the thin top and bottom edges of the I section which of course is what gives it the up and down strength. I'm not sure it fair to say they're all rubbish, lots use them and find them quite adequate. I think there are a lot that make them with no design or testing, they just copy what they see, or it could be damage the owner hasn't seen which has escalated. I think it was colin Chapman who used to say if it doesn't break it's too strong 🤣
  15. Nothing wrong with land rover metal cracking brake pipes too!
  16. I think that's what we often dont realise as people in the england. I would happily do that sort of thing at a play site knowing that a car will be past every few minutes, if not you can walk back to reception. There isn't the ability to go much off track in this country as everywhere is very restricted and most places have a phone signal. Over there you can drive for miles in any direction and not see anyone, or have phone signal. It's a completely different mindset to offroading.
  17. I have one somewhere, gave it to the kids so cant comment on its stress relieving attributed!
  18. It's one of the reasons I never had one despite loving them. I also wont buy the bling looking version of any car to try stop it standing out. For me first and foremost they have to get you around, everything else is secondary. I also try to stop the kids (and my wife) leaving things like tablets in view. I try to get them to put them away before we pull into the car park incase someone is watching and wont take shopping back to the car then walk off again. My wife is terrible for leaving her purse and keys on the window ledge They will take anything if it's easy. Cats from 4x4s, spare wheels from vans, tools. We've had a run of cars being pinched from where I live where people break in and take the keys. At first it was high end stuff but the last few have been 7+ year old astras and things. You wouldn't think there would be enough in it for the risk but they must be making enough on it. They even took 4 tractors and a pickup from a relative one night. My theory is the best you can do is make it harder to get than the neighbours. 2 houses been done on my street in the last month
  19. Yes the l200 and fiat fullback with super select can run in 4wd upto 60mph. Not sure why they put a speed restriction on it 🤷‍♂️ certainly an advantage over the others! Or the auto amarok with full time 4wd. That costs you a proper low box though.
  20. That is very true, it's not so much that people are thick just that they dont understand. The dealers dont understand so they dont really have a chance. The number of people I've had to explain to that their steerings gone right in their part time 4x4 pickup is because they cant run it in 4x4 on road, no centre diff. "That's a bit of a stupid design isn't it?" £20k for a pickup or £50k plus for a land rover / land cruiser / g wagon etc. Pay your money and take your choice 🤷‍♂️
  21. Eberspacher heaters are amazing having had them on lorries and boats but a big spend for the few minutes before the engine gets warm. A plug in mains heater is about as cheap as you can go for morning warmth if you park near a supply. My Isuzu engine used to go cold in winter if you were sat in slow or standing traffic. No fault with the thermostat, it was like it from new and in normal driving the needle sat bang in the middle regardless of weather. The needle would drop right to the bottom and the heater would blow cold. In a cold winter I could drive the 6 miles to work and the needle would maybe get to a quarter. Always had a coat in the back! I don't use heated seats myself, apart from once in a car which wasn't mine where I couldn't work out how to turn them off, did a 4 hour drive then put my back out getting out the car, weeks of agony I do like having them for passengers though, pop it on when they're not looking and wait for that split second moment where they think they've wet themselves. Have you thought about improving insulation in the land rover, it would help it get warmer quicker?
  22. Re reading it it appears that that is an FM aerial rather than a DAB aerial specifically which is why you need the splitter. I've always had a dedicated aerial for DAB and the stock car one for FM so never needed to split it. In that case I wonder how good the aerial performs? They give it a good rating but I've never done it that way 🤷‍♂️ These seem to be the dedicated DAB aerials https://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/product-category/dab-car-aerials/body-mount-aerials/ The JVC one seems to be straight whilst the Kinetic one seems to be adjustable mounting angle. This one seems to get a better reception rating. https://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/product/kinetic-dra-6001-dab-dab-fm-sw-mw-lw-car-aerial-3/ Might be worth giving them (or someone else) a call before you order.
  23. I believe your still insured 3rd party even if they decide not to pay out on yours. When I was much younger I put a 4' Panasonic sticker in the back window of my car to mock a friend who put a 2' kenwood sticker in his. Someone broke in and pinched some of the audio and I totally blame the sticker 🤣
  24. From the above website these are the sort that have worked well for me on the front screen https://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/product-category/dab-car-aerials/external-glass-mount-aerials/ I wonder if one of these would work for you near the rear door or bonnet? Mines in the wing mirror so I guess the bodywork doesn't get in the way too much? https://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/product-category/dab-car-aerials/wing-and-pillar-mount-aerials/
  25. The stock one in my VW is in the wing mirror and it isn't as good as the one I retro fitted to the Isuzus windscreen. The only other ones I've been recommended are the shark fin ones but I guess that doesn't suit your application. They do seem temperamental.
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