JJ0063

Plates on, hopefully up to @mercedadestandards!

It’s the intention, I’ve set myself a minimum of 18 months It’s mad to think this is only a year newer than the Volvo but honestly driving it home today I obviously had the new found confidence to put my foot down now I know the chain isn’t going to let go, it feels really nippy, it’s comfy, with a private plate it could pass as a 5 year old car, it’s also just a car I’ve always had on my want list but they’ve always been out of budget. I am happy that the investment I’ve put into this isn’t lost though, like I say I’d be very confident that if I really wanted to I could stick it up for £7k and it’d be gone in a week bearing in mind the work I can evidence for it, but the honest intention is to actually use it - Mrs JJ likes it too and I can see her taking it over the Fiesta at times too. With that in mind - what’s the future of the T5 now? That’s yet to be decided.. I’m not good at keeping 2 cars, I get annoyed that one just sits unused and with potentially 9/10 grand on a good day tied up in the T5, I don’t know what il do with it. Mrs JJ wants to keep it, my bank account doesn’t particularly. We’re going to Scotland in March/April time for Mrs JJ’s 30th and the plan is to find a dog friendly airbnb and go up in the BM. If that’s a success, I may shift the T5 in May/June when they’re in demand and just move on to holidaying that way. We’ll see!

Reinsurance, an underwriter insurers themselves for an amount they forecast to write, say 100m, so they can only sell 100m worth of insurance premium during that one year. That’s part of the reason some underwriters dip in and out of the markets throughout the year - they can’t write too much premium or they’ll end up running out before the years out.

Busy day today, got home to a fucking massive box. Dog guard and divider to keep the pug from killing the Labrador when we go out in it..

I was going to try and be tasteful?

I did something for you today, I drove past a BMW main dealer so went in and bought a set of OEM BMW dealer plates 😉

For those of you interested, here’s a before and after: And costs, their fixed rate is £1099 for the below ⠀ • Genuine Updated Chains⠀ • Genuine Updated Guides⠀ • Genuine Updated Tensioners ⠀ • Genuine Sprocket⠀ • Engine Oil & Filter • Injector Seals ⠀ • Rocker Cover Gasket ⠀ • Air con regas ⠀ • Two year unlimited mileage warranty⠀ And I also paid £399 for the ZF8 gearbox service which includes a new genuine ZF gearbox sump, genuine ZF Lifeguard oil and is filled via the correct BMW method The garage is called BM Mini Tech in Colchester 👍 I am very happy, even with all of that work I’m what £6698 deep into this car, I’d confidently get my money back if I sold it tomorrow as a freshly chained 2013 320D M sport.

Less than 5 hours and I am now leaving, chain and box all done. Well happy!

Just over 4 hours from me pulling up outside and he’s currently running it up and bleeding the coolant.

Pretty clean for 168k!

Engines out, he said the internals are immaculate for the miles and the chain is nowhere near as bad as they’ve seen with half the mileage so in reality I probably could have left it longer but hey, once it’s done its done and I haven’t got to worry about it. There’s still a decent amount of slack in it but bar that he’s said it’s clearly a well maintained engine, no oil leaks or anything. Hes now fitting the new kit then I’ll try and grab a photo as forgot to grab one, then it’ll be having a gearbox service before I go too. Only thing he mentioned was the crank pulley is just starting to perish so will need to keep an eye on it but that’s not anything hard to change so I can do that myself if it ever gets worse

So today’s the day, I’m in Colchester for the chain and possibly gearbox service. Waiting room is freezing but I have Ricky Gervais on Netflix.

This is the bit you need to get your head round and I honestly think you’ll dismiss until you find out first hand that it’s not going to be what you’ve got it in your head it’s going to be. On paperwork you own that vehicle, you’ve not seen it in years, you’ve got no idea what state it’s in, even if it turns up tomorrow and it starts runs and stops, you will 100% not be nipping up to the NEC and back in it. I completely understand why you think you will and that you genuinely believe it’s going to be a perfectly good car to take you blasting across the county collecting all these lightbulbs people have kept aside from you. You’ll only be real with yourself when you realise it’s not a practical option. Look at the certain annoying YouTube person who has one, listen to what he says about them being dangerous things to drive and whatever else he’s said - and that’s coming from a chap who lives in an area with quiet rural roads and has years of experience. You’ll be in absolute carnage driving round central London trying to dodge buses, taxis, cyclists and more. I know everything will fall on deaf ears but just because you own the 3 wheeled peril, doesn’t mean it’s a practical car for day to day use. If you eventually get it on the road properly, you will have one of those moments when you realise everyone that’s tried to hell you was right but I think we all know until you see for yourself, you won’t listen

You’re creating a problem that you don’t actually know exists yet though? Majority of disabled spaces give extra room for loading/unloading.. In your head you’ve decided that you simply cannot have a rear load because every time you park, someone’s going to be 6 inches up your arse. In reality, let’s say you buy a car of some description - where on a day to day regular basis are you planning on going? I just can’t see it being a problem you can’t live with. Bearing in mind you currently have no car at all, what’s the harm in buying an ‘An’ car and seeing how things go? If you bought an estate with a hoist or a set of ally ramps and after 6 months it was that much of a problem that every time you park somewhere someone’s parked up your arse, then yes sell/roffle/whatever and move to something else Currently you’re limiting yourself due to a problem that in the real world probably doesn’t actually exist in a way that’s anything more than an occasional inconvenience

An E7 is a factory/purpose built taxi so yes is still a decommissioned taxi. A Peugeot Expert MPV that has been licensed then decommissioned is a Peugeot Expert MPV Even best case scenario you bought just an Expert, it’s still a big 2.0 engined 7 seater vehicle for someone with 0 experience/no claims etc Why do you keep putting yourself through this looking at unrealistic cars when there’s a million and one insurable, obtainable cars out there you could get tomorrow? I don’t know how to say it without sounding rude (not my intention) but it feels like you enjoy the task of trying to achieve the unachievable I dare say in 12 months time we’ll still be going round in circles, whereas if you went and got a little 1.4 estate car with a hoist to get a scooter in the back, you’d be on the road building NCB up, getting actual road experience and putting yourself in a much better position to try and insure something a bit more obscure I know you’ll never listen but until that happens the answers will always remain the same I’ve had to decline people in their 50s who have had a normal car for 20 years trying to insure taxis before, it won’t just immediately become easy once you hit X age or X license length

Google any insurer reviews and you’ll see a load of negative. Like anything, people only tend to go the length of leaving reviews, creating threads, posting on social media etc if things go tits up. How often do you see a thread on a forum of someone saying that they’ve just finished a policy, nothing happened, nothing went tits up, the policy was fine and it’s now ended? In the grand scheme of things Axa are a fantastic underwriter, they give a lot better cover than quite a few insurers I work with.

Also think I’m set on J77, going to order a new set of standard size plates

Only thing missing from the car for me to be completely happy with it was Apple CarPlay, I ordered an Android screen from Amazon at the weekend but it was horrible quality, screen was too big and it barely worked. After a bit of research I found something called an MMI box which is basically a 6” square box with a loom that you put between the existing screen and stereo. This means I keep the nice OEM screen but it adds wired and wireless Apple CarPlay, and wired / wireless Android Auto. It’s £205 new but I searched on eBay and a second hand one had just been listed for £100 so I grabbed that and fitted it today. Much nicer, all looks OEM, original stereo and menu is all still there, you just hold the menu button down for 2 seconds and it switches to the MMI display.

I love you for this post Black wheels certainly won’t be happening and I’m even leaving the 320d badge! It won’t be lowered, I will be replacing the front splitter as it’s got the two side bits but missing the bottom middle piece so I have it to fit. Plates 100% won’t be 4d I can assure you. I am however a sucker for gel I’m afraid…. We’ll see though

Can’t decide on what plate to run on this one.. any thoughts? If I run J77 it’ll be on a standard size plate rather than shortened due to the F31 running a plate holder on the front so I cant use a shorter plate.

I reckon hes cottoned on!

Let’s call his bluff

That’s brilliant 😂 Replying saying you’ve had a chat with your financial advisor and he’s said you’ve make enough charitable donations this tax year but it’s a kind thought. Or, don’t reply now then report the item as not being received and get the cunt a strike for not receiving the item you’ve paid for.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGej8u4G3/ is this clip in the wank bank @LightBulbFun? Just stumbled upon it.

N47 engines are famous for having issues with the chains/guides, I’ve heard of people doing 280k+ without any issues but I’ve also seen a few with under 50k on the clock end up with a snapped chain. I personally can’t live with the anxiety of each time I start the car wondering whether it’ll let go, and this being on 168k it’s of course high mileage regardless of it having full history.. I purposely set out to find a car that was cheap enough to warrant buying it and then paying for the chain to be done so at least that way I have peace of mind that it’s been done and been done properly by a reputable place using decent parts