Your fleet running reports

[Sundayjumper]

Having driven it 3.2 miles to the MOT place & back today, I'm thinking it's possibly TOO EXTREME as a road car for an old person like me now. It has GAZ coilovers & solid top mounts - not just stiff (yeah I could probably back them off, but I'm pretty sure they're only on a middling setting anyway) but also pretty noisy too. Time to go back to std suspension maybe. I quite possibly said the same thing last year. FML.

There's a (s/h) set of Bilstein B8 shocks + H&R springs on their way to me.

The GAZ coilovers can get sold, and the H&R springs too as I've got some Porsche x74 springs I'd rather use. It's arguably a downgrade, so with any luck I'll end up with cash left over from this.

I look forward to increasing my annual mileage AT LEAST 1000%.

[Beany]

And I know you said "Halfords" simply as "not £££££££ Snap-On" but only a small proportion of my tools are Halfords ! Main stuff is Teng but recently I've bought quite a lot of "US Pro" branded tools and although it's clearly lower quality, and I've broken a couple of bits, for domestic work I reckon it's good VFM. To be fair I've also broken Teng & Halfords stuff in the past

Yeah, it's more that it's one thing to say "Oh, changing the clutch on this Ferrari is easy!" (has car on lift, air hammers, massive air impact driver that can dislodge the sun from orbit, oxy torch, multliple gearbox jacks, heating, mains powered LED lighting coming from six places, a kitchennette and toilet next door etc), it's another thing to say that when you've got the car up on jackstands, in the rain, with standard hand tools and a couple of cheap trolley jacks and a big hammer...

[scotta]

Have you been taking any other notes on this, other than in here?

Nah. I don't even frequent other forums nowadays. I'll occasionally drop into the Ferrari one but it's mostly quite irritating - widespread obsession with "factory gated 6sp manual" and humble-bragging about how much they pay to get stuff fixed as if regular 5-figure bills are a good thing. A small number of people that actually know their stuff. So it's a good resource to dip into when necessary, but it's not generally a community I want to be part of.

And as for youtubing, nah, CBA. Personally when I want info I'd much rather a well written description & some photos that I can absorb at my own pace*. From talking to Gavster about his work I know that a) making decent videos takes a LOT of time, and b) unless you're getting millions of views you won't get any money back for it. So..... CBA.

And I know you said "Halfords" simply as "not £££££££ Snap-On" but only a small proportion of my tools are Halfords ! Main stuff is Teng but recently I've bought quite a lot of "US Pro" branded tools and although it's clearly lower quality, and I've broken a couple of bits, for domestic work I reckon it's good VFM. To be fair I've also broken Teng & Halfords stuff in the past


* edit - Pelican do a great job on this.

I snapped a halfords bit on Sunday. One for their lifetime warranty.

Following your subframe with interest - as you know - i need to do similar at some point.

[Sundayjumper]

And I know you said "Halfords" simply as "not £££££££ Snap-On" but only a small proportion of my tools are Halfords ! Main stuff is Teng but recently I've bought quite a lot of "US Pro" branded tools and although it's clearly lower quality, and I've broken a couple of bits, for domestic work I reckon it's good VFM. To be fair I've also broken Teng & Halfords stuff in the past

Yeah, it's more that it's one thing to say "Oh, changing the clutch on this Ferrari is easy!" (has car on lift, air hammers, massive air impact driver that can dislodge the sun from orbit, oxy torch, multliple gearbox jacks, heating, mains powered LED lighting coming from six places, a kitchennette and toilet next door etc), it's another thing to say that when you've got the car up on jackstands, in the rain, with standard hand tools and a couple of cheap trolley jacks and a big hammer...

Hmmm... tbf I'm kinda halfway between the two these days. I've got one of those QuickJack things and quite a lot of tools. I'm not "normal"

I am working outdoors though, which is largely why I've such a backlog right now from the winter weather being so shite.

[Beany]

Quickjack is just a shortcut for axle stands, you're still crawling on your arse, still the same bullshit

[Sundayjumper]

Following your subframe with interest - as you know - i need to do similar at some point.

Yeah. I've been putting it off for possibly years now.

Anyway, MOT has just been passed with no advisories so it can't be too bad ! I'll try to summon the energy to tackle it at the weekend.

[Sundayjumper]

Brother Maynard! Bring up the Holy Hand Grenade!

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[Explosive Newt]

Brother Maynard! Bring up the Holy Hand Grenade!


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Book of Ferrari, chapter 7, verses 1-9

“And lo, the nitrogen gas, being noble in the sight of the Lord, was preserved within the cylinder. And the Lord did grin, and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats and large chu—”

“Skip a bit, brother”



And there was much rejoicing.
(half hearted cheering)

[Carlos]

Brother Maynard! Bring up the Holy Hand Grenade!


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Are they the same as used in the Alfa Selespeed?

[Sundayjumper]

Are they the same as used in the Alfa Selespeed?

They certainly look very similar but I couldn't find anyone saying they're definitely interchangeable so I didn't want to risk it.

[Sundayjumper]

I spent bloody ages at lunchtime & after work trying to remove it with the correct tool - a 27mm spanner. But there’s just no space to do it. Even after removing the engine bay side covers & the whole air filter assembly.

After dinner I went to Halfords and bought an oil filter clamp. Two seconds with that and the accumulator was off. I probably didn’t need to remove any of the other stuff either if I’d just bought the tool in the first place. FFS.

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I checked the pressure build up & decay, and it looks much better. Now taking 8s to prime instead of 4s - indicating the new accumulator has much more usable capacity.

I went for a drive and I’m not sure it’s made a lot of difference tbh. Downshifts are maybe smoother but upshifts still feel too slow. I’ll run the gearbox self-learning routine tomorrow, see if that helps. I didn’t notice the low pressure warning come on at all though even when doing a double up or down shift. In the past it wouldn’t always illuminate when doing that but it often seemed to coincide. If it’s cured that then it’s all a step in the right direction.

[Beany]

Ah, I completely forgot that - we probably had a full conversation about it and everything Did you pull the fuse (for obvious sensible reasons)?

Neighbour had a mate with an M4 come around the other night with a similar problem, and he said he blew the line through with a compressor, so I might see if he can offer me the same service, then (I guess) put the fuse back in.

[Zonda_]

Ah, I completely forgot that - we probably had a full conversation about it and everything Did you pull the fuse (for obvious sensible reasons)?

Neighbour had a mate with an M4 come around the other night with a similar problem, and he said he blew the line through with a compressor, so I might see if he can offer me the same service, then (I guess) put the fuse back in.

No, the wiper was working fine, it just wouldn’t wash so I just used it when it rained, which is a lot up here…

[Broccers]

Bought a tyre inflator thats about it. Recommended if you have a drill already

https://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-dmp18 ... 1-_-TOKEN2

[Jobbo]

Sorry, £64 for the bare tool without battery? Blimey.

I bought a genuine VAG one recently for a lot less. Plug in to a 12v car socket obvs, but I can’t see why I’d run my tool battery down when the car provides power: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275721705533 ... media=COPY

[Broccers]

Sorry, £64 for the bare tool without battery? Blimey.

I bought a genuine VAG one recently for a lot less. Plug in to a 12v car socket obvs, but I can’t see why I’d run my tool battery down when the car provides power: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275721705533 ... media=COPY

It's actually as fast as a garage pump. Worth every penny. Plus I can pump up my ego when it becomes less than over inflated - you should invest.

[Jobbo]

I shall investigate. Cheers Broccers. I’d genuinely not considered a battery one.

[jamcg]

I shall investigate. Cheers Broccers. I’d genuinely not considered a battery one.

You can get knock off versions of that from Amazon for about half the price if you don’t intend on using it much. You can also get ryobi ones and buy a battery converter too

[mik]

I bought a genuine VAG one recently

Have one of those in the E-Tron. Pulled it out for the first time a month or so back, switched it on - ran fine. Moved to next tyre - switched it on - nothing. Not sure if it tripped out or died. Back to trusty manual "floor pump" (which seems to be lasting much better than previous foot pumps).

[Rich B]

I bought a genuine VAG one recently

Have one of those in the E-Tron. Pulled it out for the first time a month or so back, switched it on - ran fine. Moved to next tyre - switched it on - nothing. Not sure if it tripped out or died. Back to trusty manual "floor pump" (which seems to be lasting much better than previous foot pumps).

using a track pump to inflate a car tyre is hard work - I double barrelled foot pump is far easier.