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Hendry

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Posts posted by Hendry

  1. Why does everybody I see driving a Fiat 500 appear to have the seat adjusted to a bolt upright position?

     

    From what I remember from working at a Fiat dealer when these were new, the seat squab that you park your arse on is angled upwards at the front, so to counter that you need to sit bolt upright to be able to see out the middle of the windscreen and not be looking up at the sky. I find them horrifically uncomfortable little cars seating position wise. 

     

    The height adjuster doesnt lower/raise the height of the whole seat by the frame like most cars, it seems to just lower/raise the back angle of the seat squab you sit on. 

  2. Deep Impact Blue? 

     

    It is indeed. Quite a soft paint finish, seems to chip very easily. Bonnet, front bumper, the very back of the rear doors on the sort of arch part (where the door shape protrudes outwards) and the sills are full of road rash, and were like that when it was bought at 50k miles and under 3 years old. 

  3. Without going into too much detail, had my lawyers earlier regarding access to my baby girl, and my ex has put a proposal in via her lawyer to mine and all shes offering is 12 till 6 every Sunday 'supervised by paternal grandparents'

     

    Before my ex stopped contact I was getting her a Sunday lunchtime all day on a stay over through to Monday lunchtime, and from 1 till about 7/8 on both a Tuesday and Thursday. Now it looks like itll need to go to court, and no idea how long thats going to take, and thus how long its going to be before I see my wee princess again.

     

    Edit by Moog perhaps not best thing to say in public.

  4. Brake Pad Wear Sensors.......how do they work?

     

    I always thought it was a bit of wire which when the pads reached a certain thickness the wire snapped breaking the circuit and putting the warning on, and since the circuit was now broken it was on permanently until bridged or new pads and wear sensor fitted.

     

    However on my car I got a 'check brake pads!' warning and an amber (O) type warning light on earlier, however, it didnt come back on after i switched the engine off and back on for another couple of miles, then later when switched off and back on it didnt come on at all the whole journey, then it came on straight away another couple of times when i went out somewhere in the car, then final time it came on about 20miles into a 30mile journey.

     

    Pads are getting low but theres still a decent bit of meat on them having checked (and when I had a caliper replaced my mechanic said around 3000 miles left on them, only done 4/500 miles since)

  5. Just so so so fuming today because I havent seen my baby daughter for over 2 weeks. 

     

    Skinned my knuckles punching a wardrobe door that hard in sheer frustration too! 

     

    Fuck life, it can just fucking fuck right off, its a cunt! :(

  6. Is that a proper RS bodykit on the Orion? I remember going to an RS dealer somewhere near Lincon whilst on hols and getting a brochure. All the bodykits were pretty much the same - glue a spoiler onto the bottom half of the bumper to make it deeper, a boot spoiler, sill covers.

     

    Still remember a pretty much stock Granada, looked like a 2.0 GL or something in a solid colour like Doom Blue, and then this bodykit glued to it for the photos making it look like a pig wearing lipstick. Oh, and every car had 7-spoke RS alloys.

     

    I bet that kit is a rarity now though, hardly ever see period stuff like that. Probably all got binned off in the 90s in favour of some awful smooth Max Power job.

    Wasn’t just RS dealers who did the RS accessories from memory, the dealer my old man got his later mk5 Escort shape Orion from wasn’t an RS Dealer but had a RS wheel stand in the service/parts bit, always liked the 5 spoke ones with the RS inside a hexagonal bit on the centre cap. Brochures and pictures on the walls of cars along with the price lists with RS stuff on them when we went in to get his car serviced.

     

    Best one is seeing a standard car, like the doom blue Granada GL you mention, with the RS accessory kit but still with steelies and trims.

     

    Shame that although OEM genuine accessory spoilers, skirt kits, bumper extensions etc still exist in the accessories brochures for moderns you hardly see any cars with them fitted compared with back in the day Fords with RS accessories or Vauxhall’s with Irmscher stuff or even Peugeot’s with SP grilles and so on were common. Guess there’s just not the same level of ‘tasteful car customisation’ there used to be sadly.

     

    That Orion looks cracking btw! :D

  7. I think the Insignia looks exactly the same as a hatch and saloon, the only way I can spot a saloon is the lack of rear wiper.

     

    Theres one round the corner from my house, and it looks odd, not as short an overhang at the back as the hatch but not as much overhang at the rear as youd normally expect from a saloon tailgate. 

     

    Anyway as this is a communal mk4 thread i should probably say my fathers hand grenade 1.6 TDCi has now clocked up 95,000 miles and hasnt blown up yet *touches wood* it will be due a cambelt kit and aux belt kit soon at 112,500 miles. I suspect this will be fun convincing him to have it done, as hes never had one changed on a car in his life except my Jetta, and only because he had to because the aux belt snapped, got caught in the timing belt causing it to skip teeth, causing engine damage (7 bent valves, 9 rockers, head damage) although Im hoping this will be enough to convince him to get the Mondeos done to avoid that. Hes never owned a car with more than 70,000 miles on it, except the 3 taxis, Jetta, Mondeo, and a Vectra C 2.0 DTI which had a timing chain. 

  8. Fuck that noise. Practicality is one of the strong points on these. So hatch as a minimum, imo.

     

    Having on my third Mondeo, finally acquired an estate, I am never going back.

    Never! :-)

     

    Now if said saloon was a minted mk1 Si...

     

    Agreed! I much prefer the look of saloon cars in general compared with hatches, but they just arent practical enough, sure the saloon has a massive boot too but it cant accommodate odd shaped items. 

     

    Plus newer saloon cars just dont look as good, mk1/2 Mondeo, mk3 Cavaliers, Vectra Bs all IMO look better as saloons than hatches, but Insignias, Vectra Cs and mk3/4 Mondeos dont. 

  9. Cheers man. Ill have a looksy and see what engine code it is in the morning.

     

    It will be on that 'car pass' piece of card you had the other day when looking for your radio code. 

     

    I had a 52 plate mk4 Astra 1.6 16v and it was a Z16XE, so id guess the 1.8 by then was Z18XE too. 

  10. Beaten to it but was going to say all Vauxhalls of that era have a 'car pass' with all that sort of info, on it, key codes, immobiliser codes etc. That other card with key number on it is probably reduntant now as its the code for the locking wheel nut removal key. 

     

    Although it doesnt look like it, the radio is din size, I had the Delco CDR500 in an Astra mk4 and swapped it out for an Alpine unit no bother, straight swap with no messing about. 

  11. ^^ Hendry.

    Thanks for your insight and comments, will pass them on.

    The lad's been doing the job about 5 or 6 months full time, how long would you expect it to take for a capable willing trainee valeter to be "up to speed"? By that, I mean an acceptable speed as fairly judged by an experienced valeter or decent boss.

     

    I think the way things are going he may stay in the motor trade for more general experience but with a different employer. Early days yet as he's only 18 but I think he'd be better off if he was free of the malicious asshole of a manager he seems to have atm.

     

    I would say after about 6 months he should be up to speed, however thats if hes been trained properly, my old supervisor told me rather than showed me what to do, then he and I would work on the same car as at that time there were 3 of us and only 2 bays. But within the first week i got left to my own devices and had to learn for myself the best way to tackle particular jobs, by doing it wrong or the hard way, rather than just being told the best way to do things from the get go. Then you learn which corners can be cut, when somethings enough etc.

     

    I could go out and spend 5 hours cleaning the inside of my own car and I still wouldnt be happy and I keep mine fairly clean, but car dealerships would be looking at 3 hours per used car id guess, on a not too bad one, maybe an hour on a new car, then filthier ones can add up, if you need to spend time buffing out scratches, spraying kerbed wheel trims, bringing a pogweasled car back to bright red, or removing tree sap, moss, etc. or if the interior has dog hair, has been a smokers car or has stained seats which need shampooing. There are so many variables and unless horrendously bad a manager will be thinking 'not too bad, shouldnt take too long' Ive made the same mistake myself, doesnt look too bad, has had mats in it, seats dont look bad, and it takes you a load of time to get decent, then you look as if youre slacking because you committed to it not being too bad before you started. 

     

    Another way to look at it is that arsehole managers are widespread, learning to deal with them is an important life skill.  Learn to deal with this one and he'll be set for working anywhere else.

     

    Sometimes you cannot deal with certain people no matter what you do and have to leave, its what I had to do, no job is worth making yourself miserable over, dreading getting up to go to work in the morning, worrying yourself sick all night after work what you are next going to get pulled up for. 

  12. You are right !  Mine is 13L Polar sea blue.. I thought it must be  Nautilus as the Arctic brochure says" owners are free to select from 3 colours  Flame red , or one of two optional  pearlecent finishes,   Nautilus blue or Champagne "  So , could you choose from the normal Astra colours too?

     

    I dont really remember seeing any Arctic ones in nautilus blue, however there were 2 Arctic models, Arctic I and Arctic II. If my memory serves me right Arctic I didnt have electric front windows whereas Arctic II did. And the Arctic I was the 1.6 8v SPI engine, not the 1.6 16v like yours. 

     

    I dont know that you could choose from all the colours the rest of the Astra range came in, i can only remember them in polar sea blue, flame red, champagne as you said, and some silver ones too. 

     

    I used to have a brother to your car hendry with eca on the end of the plate!

     

    Was originally a 1.6 but had been to mark wale performance in Chester and had a 2.0 16v red top put in! 5 door in red stealth as hell! Well it would of been but it wasn’t that fast!! I swapped my r5 turbo for it! Going back some years now mind!

     

    Do you mean eGa? Glasgow registered. what was your reg?

     

    I remember a guy up here in the Glasgow area who around 10-12years ago who had a red 5 door which had started out as a 1.6 but had been a 2litre redtop conversion, black wheels if I remember right, but possibly not the same car.

  13. My mate's son, 18, been working as trainee car valeter since last summer at a car dealership. He's keen on the work and is good at it (I've seen his work on a really dirty car).

    Unfortunately he maybe is a bit too keen on doing a good job as he is continually harrassed for being slow. He has speeded his work up as far as he can while still producing acceptable results but is bullied and intimidated by his manager who is also in a clique with many of the other employees and with the salesmen who generally treat the lad like shit.

     

    The lad likes the job otherwise but doesn't know what to do about it. The level above his immediate manager listened to him in a progress meeting then had a meeting with his manager. Afterwards his manager was very sarcastic and conspired to turn the rest of the team against the lad. The manager apparently has contacts with other local garages.

     

    Is this normal these days?

     

    He wants to continue but doesn't want to get a reputation for causing trouble, but he doesn't want an unjustified reputation in the local motor-trade for being a slow useless twat either.

     

    I've maybe posted this in the wrong thread (mods move it if necessary, thx) but I seem to remember someone else with similar motor-trade experience mentioning this a while back. Hendry maybe?

     

    Yes it was me mate. Sounds like either his face doesnt fit, which in big dealer groups or franchised dealerships can be a problem, they do tend to be quite cliquey, and a lot of motor trade guys despise working for franchised dealerships due to the internal politics. Could also be because of his age they think they can get away with treating him like shit and he wont do anything about it for fear of being seen to be ratting on people and cant be trusted. A lot of main dealer general managers, service managers and salesmen are arseholes tbh. 

     

    It really depends how anal he is, and how quickly he's turning cars around. I would get constantly pulled up for doing less cars in a day than the others, but I was getting hit with filthy cars constantly because I had an eye for detail and could do a good job on them, there was another valeter who was good but he always got tidy cars because he could work very fast so he would knock 4/5 easy valets out per day, me id manage 2 filthy ones, but this other lad was in with the supervisor so always got the easy ones, another valeter was a bit older, had done the job for years but wasnt great, ok but not great, and was slow too, he usually got middling ones cleanliness wise, but when his cars sold you knew youd have a bit of work to do tidying up before handover. Another guy was a cut corners type, worked very fast, but mainly so he could arse about having a carry on, and always got away with it, and our supervisor started doing less and less cars because he was doing other shit, he was good too but started going downhill, my main problem was when I started my eye for detail was ok but not brilliant, so I could turn cars around quickly, but as time went on I started noticing more and more, and I thought if I can see that so will the sales manager and I'll get pulled up for it, and so will the punters buying the cars, and if they see stuff and point it out and it puts them off the car (used car buyers in a franchised dealership quite often expect cars in brand new condition because theres a big name and a manufacturer sign above the door) then we would get carpeted. Its hard to find a balance between doing a good enough job without being too picky, being quick enough but yet not spending ages on every wee bit and being too slow. 

     

    Valeting cars is a cunt of a job, its a lot more high pressure than you think, and generally the valeters are the hardest working folk in a dealership, I thought yeah I can clean a car properly, I like cleaning my own car, this job would be ideal but its not a job id ever go back to or do again. If you go on detailing world and look for topics on them cleaning utterly filthy cars inside, some of the stuff we did was even worse than that. Cleaning dirty cars constantly does also slow you down when you do clean a reasonably tidy car too. 

  14. The colours are different . In sunlight the damaged one is like a peacock blue pearl ( L reg GLS .)

    The arctic is Nautilus blue , more of a purple colour (R reg Arctic colour)

     

    I'd be interested if they are available, but will have a look down the breakers first

    Your Arctic definitely isn’t Nautilus Blue mate, my mk3 was that colour and it looked emerald green. Colour code Z283 14L

     

    Possibly it’s polar sea blue.

     

    This is Nautilus blue (my old one):

    5452556264_8fcb8b1d8d_z.jpgbb8e2b5c by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

  15. Should know but don't, is that either a late 8V with an 'Ecotec' engine cover, or an early (X16XEL?) 16V?

     

    Think its an X16XEL, I had a late 8v 1.6 mk3 with the 75bhp SPI X16SZR lump and they didnt get the Ecotec engine cover. 

     

    At least finding a donor engine for this should be no bother as these were fitted to loads of Vauxhalls, and the later Z16XE isnt much different, Id recommend doing the piston rings and valve stem oil seals on any 1.6 16v engine as they are bad for those going and burning oil. 

  16. As I've said before, this forum has a decent contingent of under 30s and a large proportion of under 40s.

     

    Less under 20s but to be fair at that age, you're more worried about what the other/same sex thinks about you and going out getting drunk. Plus it's only 2 years or so of experience on the road, of which you're limited to 1l corsas that weight nearly a tonne and half. That engine was just about useable in a Corsa B, but the added bulk of a Corsa D (are we on E yet?) isn't something to get thrilled about.

     

    Once insurance and life starts becoming sensible and settling down more, cars become more of a thing for a lot of people.

     

    Oh yes we are on the Corsa E! Sadly! Have been for about 3 years now, I had one of the first and while not a bad looking thing it was an utter hateful, uncomfortable, slow, unrefined, thirsty heap of shoddily built nonsense which was in the dealers near enough every fortnight with things going wrong that dont tend to go wrong on 10 year old 100,000 mile cars. Mine was a 1.4 and was still a lethargic, underpowered slow piece of crap. 

     

    I fail to understand how anyone could actually live with a 1.0 n/a Corsa D, clearly Vauxhall sussed this out as the only 1.0 engine in the Corsa E is a Turbo unit. 

  17. All valid points, especially about cars of that area having more appeal and looking more like an object of desire than a kitchen appliance. But I still think attitudes to cars are different now, in both kids and adults. 

     

    Now, viewer discretion advised...the following is purely anecdotal and based on casual observation of people within my sphere of existence.  Other experiences are available.

     

    When I was a kid, cars were kind of a big deal.  To both me and my friends, but also my dad and his friends.  We'd be arguing on the school bus whose dads car was fastest, he, and other dads in the area, would be out polishing and titivating their pride and joy on a Sunday afternoon with a healthy amount of rivalry and admiration for one another's machines.  They'd help each other out when they had problems, lend each other tools, Haynes manuals, ramps, compare reviews on cleaning products, polishes, oils, motoring shops etc etc.  You know, sort of like an online community, except in real life.  None of them worked in the motor trade, it was a hobby, they saw cars as a reflection of themselves, they would keep the same one for years and years and years and take pride in keeping it the very best it could be, admiration would be conveyed in the form of compliments from other dads in petrol stations, rather than likes on an internet site.  For my part, whenever anything was going on with cars, either my dad fixing or servicing his or going to his friends' to help them with theirs, I would be all over that!  I wanted to be involved in all of it right from when I was old enough to walk and talk.

     

    Now, maybe because it happens online rather than in real life, maybe because cars don't need such frequent maintenance and servicing, maybe because they're more complex and require garage servicing and specialist diagnostic tools or maybe because they're all on PCP, I honestly don't know, but I don't see that level of enthusiasm today either from the parents or the kids.  Not a single person in my office is really a 'car guy' (or gal) I mean some of them like to have a nice one, but they have no idea how they work, they don't service them or work on them themselves, and this is an office full of supposedly technical people.  Cars are treated more like disposable white goods, when it needs attention it goes to the garage and that's that.  After 3 years get another new one, hell sometimes its the even the same friggin make and model, it just has a new warranty.  As for kids, possibly as a result of this, they don't seem that interested either.  My Nephew could not give less of a shit about anything to do with cars, my mates kids are the same, as are his friends.  I took a friend of mine to look at a new car a few months back, he brought his lad along who was about 11 at the time and he did nothing but moan all day that he was bored.  That would have been my dream day out.  They'd rather watch some youtube 'vlogger' talking shit about computer games or whatever it is they follow.

     

    I kinda agree, I remember a 7 year old me all excited because my dad came home one day in a 3 and a half year old 1991 H reg Ford Orion, being amazed by the dolby digital cassette player in it, the torch key, how the central locking worked, that it had a sunroof. I cant see any 7 year old boys being excited because their father comes home one day in a 15 plate Focus 1.6 Zetec, however I dont really remember many other kids being into cars the way I was either, knowing the reg's of all my friends' parents cars, which dealer they had came from, etc. A couple of them were into cars a bit but thats about it. 

     

    There were cars I wanted when I was younger and had to settle for less, for example buying an 04 Clio 1.2 Dynamique and wishing it was a Renaultsport 182, or buying an 05 Astra H 1.8 Design and wishing it was the VXR, but I could go out and find those cheaply enough now, easily afford them but I wouldnt because I dont see them as 'special' anymore.

     

    I think most people, whether into cars or not, will have a car that holds a special place in their heart due to parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles having one when they were kids, or has happy memories, the difference is most wont go out and buy one of those cars to relive that. 

  18. I put a cheap private plate on my van that matches the Duster / my company name which was based on such / means absolutely nothing to anyone else

     

    Meh, whatever

     

    What did your old one you left on your first Lag II mean?

     

    I wish Id known you could plate rape cars for their original reg years ago when I had my first car because id have kept that and transferred it onto every car ive had since, just for sentimental reasons of it being the reg of my first car. 

  19. The wheels on it are 'structure' steel wheels, likely off a Zafira B.

     

    The alloys look like ones off a Vectra C Club model, racking my brains trying to think what wheels were on a late Zafira Elegance, I think they were the same ones as fitted to later mk4 Astra SXis, 10 spoke ones. 

     

    I notice the front mudflaps have trapped moisture and started rusting the paint on the wings. 

  20. While a lot of young people have PCP'd new cars these days, there are still some who drive older stuff, either because they cant afford PCP or because they are actually interested in cars, then theres all the ones who modify cars still, marque specific forums are evidence of this, that not everyone has gone from driving old cars or bangers as their 1st/2nd/3rd car until they can afford something new-ish, and these are the sorts who I think will push the prices up on older cars when they want to relive their youth or have a 2nd car for tinkering at the weekend or a Sunday drive when they are in their 30s/40s. 

     

    I think stuff like the mk2 Focus ST, mk5 Golf GTi etc will fall into that category, yes they are still kinda new-ish and still not exactly cheap but they are nearly at the bottom of their values and will be worth fortunes like mk1 Golf GTIs, mk3 Escort XR3s and RS Turbos etc. are. Maybe stuff like Corsa D VXRs for people who had 1.0 Life Corsa Ds and always wanted a VXR but could never afford one when they were current. 

     

    I cant though ever see a 1.8 petrol mk3 Mondeo LX or an Insignia 1.8 Exclusiv ever being classics in the way a mk1 Sierra or a mk2 Cavalier are becoming. 

  21. Am I being very cynical re the Parks of Hamilton Skoda that photographing it sans registration number would put temptation in the way of a potential purchaser having the mileage corrected before it undergoes it's first MOT in a few weeks?

    Service History can be misplaced so Shirley it could lose 350k off the milometer and no one would be any the wiser.

     

    Nope! I also wondered why it had had its plates removed. 

     

    Is it just me who thinks 4grand is a lot for a 409,000 mile base model Skoda, even if it is just turning 3 years old. If I was Park's however, id have it in their Skoda dealership as an advertising tool 'This Car Has Done Over 400,000 miles, Skoda reliability, look at the condition, etc.' 

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