Your fleet running reports

[Mito Man]

Costco tyres, Is that a voucher offer that’s on just now?

I noticed it at their petrol station, think it’s on till something like 23 September.

[JonMad]

Costco tyres, Is that a voucher offer that’s on just now?

Offer runs 3-23 Sept.
£40 off a set of 4 of 16”, £60 off 17s, £80 off 18s or higher.

[JonMad]

I only went in for a hot dog.

[Foz]

Costco tyres, Is that a voucher offer that’s on just now?

Offer runs 3-23 Sept.
£40 off a set of 4 of 16”, £60 off 17s, £80 off 18s or higher.

cool, that's the 4S tyres sorted then

[scotta]

Caliper update

Nipples sorte with a few helicoils, seals all checked and ok.

Cosmetic work ongoing.
Hours and hours of prep and 5 coats of paint in, another 4/5 tomorrow, then stencils and about 5 coats of high temp lacquer.













Note the visitor

Those look like the same callipers that were on the R26.

[Foz]

Maybe the rears, the fronts are fookin mahoosive!

The rears are the same as the 996 Boxster S fronts iirc

[Sundayjumper]

Went down to my parents’ place for lunch today, and the van did this:

F89F67A2-1410-48A5-8E07-074CE902D648.jpeg (73.31 KiB) Viewed 2907 times

[NotoriousREV]

MrsREV is complaining about the brakes on her 420D M-Sport. It has the optional upgraded calipers on it but it still feels like it’s not going to stop you. You get that initial, over-servoed bite but press harder and they feel very wooden and it definitely feels like it’s not slowing as well as it could. I’ll get it out for a proper look at the weekend, try a few hard stops to see if it’s glazed pads or something. If that doesn’t help, I might throw a set of Brembo pads in it from ECP.

[Mito Man]

Are upgraded brakes on M sport models a new thing now?

[McSwede]

MrsREV is complaining about the brakes on her 420D M-Sport. It has the optional upgraded calipers on it but it still feels like it’s not going to stop you. You get that initial, over-servoed bite but press harder and they feel very wooden and it definitely feels like it’s not slowing as well as it could. I’ll get it out for a proper look at the weekend, try a few hard stops to see if it’s glazed pads or something. If that doesn’t help, I might throw a set of Brembo pads in it from ECP.

Don't know if yours has the same calipers as my M140i but upgrading to M4 pads seems to be a common swap.

[Barry]

Civic needs a new window "mechanism" I'm told by local garage monkeys. £160 ish from Honda. No comments on the odd thermostat issue as yet.

My brain is still flitting between sensible barge - Octavia vRs for eg, or trying to get something fun but young enough that it won't get upset when I chase a 968 and a 996GT3 for three days.

[Sundayjumper]

Spending has started on The Egg

New number plates. The old ones were manky, they were held on with ugly screws, they had a previous supplying dealer's name on them in large letters, and they had the Euro / GB thing too. I prefer very plain plates, held on with double-sided tape so that there's no visible fixings.

Front lower arms & ARB bushes. Both look knackered and - hopefully [1] - are the reason for a slight clonking noise from the front. For the arms there's lots of options, from the suspiciously cheap unbranded eBay jobbies for <£50 each, to howfunkingmuch from VW. I settled on TRW from CarParts4Less at about £130 each. I've used TRW parts on other cars and they've been alright.

Wiper blades, pollen filter. Blah.

Compressor repair kit. The compressor for the air suspension gradually loses efficiency as the piston seal wears. Mine hasn't packed up completely but it does take a while to pump up. A complete new compressor from VW is howfunkingmuch^2, but it seems the fault is only ever the seal, and an enterprising chap manufactures an improved seal kit for £25. Another cool thing about the car, it has an air tank that is primarily for the suspension, but there is also an outlet under the driver's seat where you can plug in the supplied adaptor (stored under the rear seat) and use it to pump up the tyres

And some Thule t-track adapters. I already have a plethora of Thule bits & bobs, so just needed to spend £8.98 on the Tour Egg fittings.

Activities with zero marginal cost:

For reasons that were not fully explained, after taking the photos for the advert, the previous owner tried to respray the driver's door handle and made a massive balls-up of it. Just the handle, the rest of the door was fine. So today I removed the handle, stripped it back properly, and repainted it properly.

I had one of those air conditioning bombs in stock, so ran it through for teh LOLZ.

The wiring out to the tow bar was a mess so I've tidied it up a bit and removed the caravan socket as I won't need it. It's just a simple spliced-in connection at the moment so I'm pondering whether it's worth the ~£150 to get a vehicle specific wiring kit that interfaces with the car and modifies the stability control, turns off the parking sensors, fog light.

Generally cleaning the thing. It was allegedly valeted before sale but if that's true they they did a really sheet job of it.

I tried to check the oil level but was baffled by the dipstick coming out totally coated with oil. It turns out it was drastically over-filled. I drained nearly four litres (it's an imprecise exercise removing the sump plug and shoving it back in against the flow of oil a few seconds later) and I'm convinced it's running more smoothly now. To be fair, the dipstick is an odd design and I can see why it happened. I think I'll do an oil change soon just for my own peace of mind.


[1] if it's the active-damping electrically-height-adjustable air shocks I will need to contact the mortgage company

[Sundayjumper]

Here's a pic of the dipstick, nicked from the internet:

dipstick.jpg (50.94 KiB) Viewed 2814 times

The correct level is within the ribbed section, and no more/less than the smooth section either side of it.

It had been filled nearly to the ball on the far left

[Sundayjumper]

Civic needs a new window "mechanism" I'm told by local garage monkeys. £160 ish from Honda. No comments on the odd thermostat issue as yet.

Seems cheap for a whole mechanism, have you checked the hateful one-make forums for a fix ? These things are often quite simple, just a clip or a cable.

...something fun but young enough that it won't get upset when I chase a 968 and a 996GT3 for three days.

Have you considered a 968, or a 996GT3 ?

[Mito Man]

Don’t forgot to engage jack mode brah.

[Barry]

Civic needs a new window "mechanism" I'm told by local garage monkeys. £160 ish from Honda. No comments on the odd thermostat issue as yet.

Seems cheap for a whole mechanism, have you checked the hateful one-make forums for a fix ? These things are often quite simple, just a clip or a cable. I could probably source the broken part via eBay but I'm on two weeks leave and don't want to waste it elbow deep in the car.

...something fun but young enough that it won't get upset when I chase a 968 and a 996GT3 for three days.

Have you considered a 968, or a 996GT3 ?

No doubt that quoted price is plus VAT. Not that bothered about the costs, the car has cost me very little over the years so recent bills are to be expected. Am on two weeks leave to recover from the project stresses so I'm not about to spend it elbow deep in the car tbh, better things to do etc.

And yes, I have considered a 968/996GT3. Not willing to limit my life enough for the time it would take to accumulate that kind of money. I could justify a 997 CS at best but running costs of such cars puts me off, I'm too much of a tight northerner.

[Sundayjumper]

And yes, I have considered a 968/996GT3. Not willing to limit my life enough for the time it would take to accumulate that kind of money. I could justify a 997 CS at best but running costs of such cars puts me off, I'm too much of a tight northerner.

Then a nicely sorted silver 996 with aerokit would be perfect ! Coaster had one for sale... oh...

[Barry]

And yes, I have considered a 968/996GT3. Not willing to limit my life enough for the time it would take to accumulate that kind of money. I could justify a 997 CS at best but running costs of such cars puts me off, I'm too much of a tight northerner.

Then a nicely sorted silver 996 with aerokit would be perfect ! Coaster had one for sale... oh...

He offered me that at a very good price to be fair to him, but again, running costs and lack of use make it hard to justify such machinery. Bear in mind I'm used to cheap Japanese cars that cost peanuts to run, it would be a shock to me having to budget for warranties and potential big bills.

[Swervin_Mervin]

N52 engined 130i

[mik]

Why would you want shonky porkies when teh world has loltuses?