The new news 24 thread

[Mally]

1 hour ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

 

I need to put some thought into this for a start. For that reason, it's maybe better to wait until I've got life stuff out of the way - so next month or even April would be a better time for me.

Don't leave it too long.

 

I'm 76  

 

 

[brownnova]

The Elgrand saga rumbles on… so the fan belt snappage also whacked the camshaft position sensor. Which in turn has also broken the connector plug for the CPS. The garage has sourced the sensor, but can’t seem to source the plug. Nowhere seems to list a plug for the Elgrand specifically. So I’m wondering if one’s with the same engine code will work… 

In the meantime, the MoT is expiring this week. 

[cobblers]

2 hours ago, brownnova said:

The Elgrand saga rumbles on… so the fan belt snappage also whacked the camshaft position sensor. Which in turn has also broken the connector plug for the CPS. The garage has sourced the sensor, but can’t seem to source the plug. Nowhere seems to list a plug for the Elgrand specifically. So I’m wondering if one’s with the same engine code will work… 

In the meantime, the MoT is expiring this week. 

There's a fantastic facebook group called "Automotive connector identifying". Put a picture of the broken connector up and some vehicle details and someone will tell you exactly what it is.

[High Jetter]

12 hours ago, Cookiesouwest said:

Today I paid someone 150 quid by PayPal and posted my MK4 Mondy instrument cluster to an address in Dorset.

I'm really hoping I get it back. Preferably fixed.

Hmm, not that far? Didn't @cobblers want your business?

[17-Coffees]

After 2 years and 11 months having been made redundant from my job as a mechanic, tomorrow I start a new job as a mechanic...at the same place. They got in contact with me, and well...it's much better pay than I was on maintaining that stock is maintained for customers of a multi-billion pound business. (That sounds better than saying, stacking shelfs at the local Tesco)

I'm somewhat a bag of nerves about it as I feel I recall nothing! 😬

Wish me luck tomorrow night! 😂

[AnnoyingPentium]

Good luck!

[Pete-M]

Reverted to night owl mode. 

3am this morning and I've just spent the last hour learning about audio time alignment. 

It's because I'm one of those people who reads manuals when he buys something. I like to see if things can do cool stuff. 

This led to me sitting in the car at 3am measuring the distance from my ears to each speaker in the car. With a tape measure, a pen and paper, and some audiogeekery website with a magic calculator that works out how long sounds will take to get to my old cloth ears. 

It's literally to do with the speed of sound. 

Anyway, it turns out there's nearly a millisecond of delay between sounds from the left front speaker and the right front reaching my head. 

A millisecond isn't much in the grand scheme of things admittedly, but if you can delete that delay by adjusting the speaker timing to compensate then things mysteriously sound much better (to the listener whose ears are in the correct listening position).

Anyway, it turns out the stereo in the car can do this voodoo, but it is hidden deep in menus nobody other than people like me ever look at.

It works, too. Better than I expected it to. It isn't even a particularly modern or expensive unit. It's a £130 Alpine CDA-193BT job. As the car has a DAB aerial but no DAB radio I'm guessing they've taken the good stereo out and got this from Halfords or summat. 

This is what happens when you RTFM. 

[cobblers]

It sounds much better for the driver, but very weird for the passengers. Fuckem!

[reb]

I have a JVC stereo that can do that, I'll be honest I couldn't really hear the difference. Well, maybe?

The thing I found made the biggest difference was the various EQ presets which put the Volvo Premium Sound System EQ controls to shame!

It also has an overly complicated pivot system for the faceplate to allow you to adjust the angle of it, the same motors move it out of the way to allow you to eject CDs, unfortunately there seems to be a slipping belt or something so it needs a helping hand.

I might put it in the Volvo for a bit, I had it in the C2 until I sold that, I could put it in the 205 but the location would be really awkward for ejecting CDs.

[Fat_Pirate]

2022 Williams F1 car appears to be missing something:

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

4 hours ago, Pete-M said:

Reverted to night owl mode. 

3am this morning and I've just spent the last hour learning about audio time alignment. 

It's because I'm one of those people who reads manuals when he buys something. I like to see if things can do cool stuff. 

This led to me sitting in the car at 3am measuring the distance from my ears to each speaker in the car. With a tape measure, a pen and paper, and some audiogeekery website with a magic calculator that works out how long sounds will take to get to my old cloth ears. 

It's literally to do with the speed of sound. 

Anyway, it turns out there's nearly a millisecond of delay between sounds from the left front speaker and the right front reaching my head. 

A millisecond isn't much in the grand scheme of things admittedly, but if you can delete that delay by adjusting the speaker timing to compensate then things mysteriously sound much better (to the listener whose ears are in the correct listening position).

Anyway, it turns out the stereo in the car can do this voodoo, but it is hidden deep in menus nobody other than people like me ever look at.

It works, too. Better than I expected it to. It isn't even a particularly modern or expensive unit. It's a £130 Alpine CDA-193BT job. As the car has a DAB aerial but no DAB radio I'm guessing they've taken the good stereo out and got this from Halfords or summat. 

This is what happens when you RTFM. 

You could do this with my Kenwood. Also setting it up for size of speakers, length of car etc. Can't do it now, it's sitting in the wardrobe ready to go in another shite car. 😆

[reb]

2 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

You could do this with my Kenwood. Also setting it up for size of speakers, length of car etc. Can't do it now, it's sitting in the wardrobe ready to go in another shite car. 😆

I think my JVC did all that too!

I think it was actually quite expensive when it was new, it has a ridiculously high resolution screen for how old it is, unless you tell it not to it plays random greyscale videos* while it's on.

[AnnoyingPentium]

29 minutes ago, reb said:

I think my JVC did all that too!

I think it was actually quite expensive when it was new, it has a ridiculously high resolution screen for how old it is, unless you tell it not to it plays random greyscale videos* while it's on.

That's very cool! My Kenwood isn't too old, but I didn't pay that much for it since it was in a sale of some sort.

[High Jetter]

Never felt the need to do that, my ears must compensate for any slight delay. I do have to balance adjusted so the further speaker is slightly louder than the nearer to get the impressive* stereo effect though.

[Pete-M]

16 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Never felt the need to do that, my ears must compensate for any slight delay. I do have to balance adjusted so the further speaker is slightly louder than the nearer to get the impressive* stereo effect though.

The difference is remarkable if you actually bother to do it. 

I don't normally bother, but this time it actually worked!

[Zelandeth]

I think the effect depends somewhat on exactly where the speakers are too.  By far the biggest difference I've noticed with that sort of calibration was in the Saab.  That has the front speakers in the dash top and right back to the sides of the parcel shelf.  So they're a decent ways ahead and behind you (provides a really good sound stage actually), and the effect there was *really* noticeable.  I've not really been able to tell a huge difference in any other car I've tried it in.

Things like the Caddy complicate things a bit too as the front speakers actually have a paired tweeter and woofer in the dash top and door which are wired together - but separated by a metre or so - one basically level with your ear, one a metre ahead of you so there's *always* going to be some phase differential shenanigans going on unless you totally redo things from scratch and do away with the dash top speakers.

[wuvvum]

4 hours ago, reb said:

I think it was actually quite expensive when it was new, it has a ridiculously high resolution screen for how old it is, unless you tell it not to it plays random greyscale videos* while it's on.

The Kenwood stereo in the Toyota does that, except they're in two colours (cyan and red).  It plays a video of a surfer swimming with bottlenose dolphins, unless you turn it off - but you seemingly have to do that every time you use the stereo.

Edited February 16, 2022 by wuvvum
Typo

[SiC]

4 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

but you seemingly have to do that every time you sue the stereo

An out of court settlement seems to be the way of "resolving" inconveniences nowadays. 

[barefoot]

I've got a radio which I think still works...

[Ghosty]

Sent the saloon Civic off to my local garage of choice for a new clutch. It's fucked, needs thrashing to get off my drive at which point it invariably stalls when you try and pull away, then bogs down or kangaroos if you give it less than 2000rpm til it warms up. And when it's warm it slips under load. Quite badly. 

I was going to provide a clutch but it turns out they vary with chassis number and the ones that motor factors list as fitting is the wrong one - the right one is (possibly) for a non-VTEC CRX but not listed as fitting Civics. There are something like 3 different size friction plates and this one has the biggest one. 

I can't be arsed trying to source the right one and arguing with factors about what the right part is, so I figured I'd farm it out and make it someone else's problem. 

So off it goes, the garage wanted to see it to confirm the labour rate as it was dependent on if they needed to move the subframe (you don't). Comes back half an hour later, they looked at it, adjusted the clutch cable, tried to stall it and came to the conclusion it didn't need a clutch and sent it away. 

 

FFS. 

[Spurious]

6 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

Sent the saloon Civic off to my local garage of choice for a new clutch. It's fucked, needs thrashing to get off my drive at which point it invariably stalls when you try and pull away, then bogs down or kangaroos if you give it less than 2000rpm til it warms up. And when it's warm it slips under load. Quite badly. 

I was going to provide a clutch but it turns out they vary with chassis number and the ones that motor factors list as fitting is the wrong one - the right one is (possibly) for a non-VTEC CRX but not listed as fitting Civics. There are something like 3 different size friction plates and this one has the biggest one. 

I can't be arsed trying to source the right one and arguing with factors about what the right part is, so I figured I'd farm it out and make it someone else's problem. 

So off it goes, the garage wanted to see it to confirm the labour rate as it was dependent on if they needed to move the subframe (you don't). Comes back half an hour later, they looked at it, adjusted the clutch cable, tried to stall it and came to the conclusion it didn't need a clutch and sent it away. 

 

FFS. 

Cheaper than a new clutch right?

[chaseracer]

42 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

Sent the saloon Civic off to my local garage of choice for a new clutch. It's fucked, needs thrashing to get off my drive at which point it invariably stalls when you try and pull away, then bogs down or kangaroos if you give it less than 2000rpm til it warms up. And when it's warm it slips under load. Quite badly. 

I was going to provide a clutch but it turns out they vary with chassis number and the ones that motor factors list as fitting is the wrong one - the right one is (possibly) for a non-VTEC CRX but not listed as fitting Civics. There are something like 3 different size friction plates and this one has the biggest one. 

I can't be arsed trying to source the right one and arguing with factors about what the right part is, so I figured I'd farm it out and make it someone else's problem. 

So off it goes, the garage wanted to see it to confirm the labour rate as it was dependent on if they needed to move the subframe (you don't). Comes back half an hour later, they looked at it, adjusted the clutch cable, tried to stall it and came to the conclusion it didn't need a clutch and sent it away. 

 

FFS. 

Fair play to 'em.

[chodweaver]

Pink Corsa failed it's MOT, but this doesn't warrant a post in the grumpy thread because it only failed on a hole in the flexible section of the exhaust and another in the sill return/offside rear wheel arch. Welding repair already completed, exhaust repair happening tomorrow, then it'll be up Four Sail...

Mrs CW will think she's dreaming if i actually get rid - I haven't achieved a fleet reduction since the Renner VS went to northern monkey by roffle. And that must have been 2016, ffs

[AnnoyingPentium]

3 hours ago, wuvvum said:

but you seemingly have to do that every time you use the stereo.

Does it store your presets for the radio stations okay? Otherwise the memory wire is funny.

[Sunny Jim]

How are people getting on in the storms? Guess who's on a Water Rescue training week? 70mph winds and hail in Capel Curig made this afternoon's session there interesting. The wind chill actually meant it was warmer in the river than on the bank. Probably the most dangerous bit of the day was my drive home down the Llanberis Pass - had to wrestle with the wheel a few times to stay on the road. A hot shower now I'm home has helped warm me up, I reckon I'll probably eat my own body weight in carbohydrates this evening.

There'll be a bit of a respite tomorrow before it blows up again on Friday - they've already said they're going to shut the Britannia Bridge, glad I don't have to go to Anglesey!

Stay safe everyone.

[Arthur Foxhake]

13 hours ago, Pete-M said:

Reverted to night owl mode. 

3am this morning and I've just spent the last hour learning about audio time alignment. 

It's because I'm one of those people who reads manuals when he buys something. I like to see if things can do cool stuff. 

This led to me sitting in the car at 3am measuring the distance from my ears to each speaker in the car. With a tape measure, a pen and paper, and some audiogeekery website with a magic calculator that works out how long sounds will take to get to my old cloth ears. 

It's literally to do with the speed of sound. 

Anyway, it turns out there's nearly a millisecond of delay between sounds from the left front speaker and the right front reaching my head. 

A millisecond isn't much in the grand scheme of things admittedly, but if you can delete that delay by adjusting the speaker timing to compensate then things mysteriously sound much better (to the listener whose ears are in the correct listening position).

Anyway, it turns out the stereo in the car can do this voodoo, but it is hidden deep in menus nobody other than people like me ever look at.

It works, too. Better than I expected it to. It isn't even a particularly modern or expensive unit. It's a £130 Alpine CDA-193BT job. As the car has a DAB aerial but no DAB radio I'm guessing they've taken the good stereo out and got this from Halfords or summat. 

This is what happens when you RTFM. 

Sound delay is one of the main reasons I never go to the cinema.

Unless you have a seat in the right place, the sound delay is terrible.

Sitting on the extreme left, right or rear of the cinema ruins it for me.

I am a miserable cunt though.

[beko1987]

27 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

How are people getting on in the storms? Guess who's on a Water Rescue training week? 70mph winds and hail in Capel Curig made this afternoon's session there interesting. The wind chill actually meant it was warmer in the river than on the bank. Probably the most dangerous bit of the day was my drive home down the Llanberis Pass - had to wrestle with the wheel a few times to stay on the road. A hot shower now I'm home has helped warm me up, I reckon I'll probably eat my own body weight in carbohydrates this evening.

There'll be a bit of a respite tomorrow before it blows up again on Friday - they've already said they're going to shut the Britannia Bridge, glad I don't have to go to Anglesey!

Stay safe everyone.

It's certainly fooking windy here! The lights keep dimming, I've got all the phones and torches on charge!

One of the bins blew over a few minutes ago and I think I'll just leave it down. Glad I don't have to go to the office tomorrow, the roads are always awful round here with tree's and branches all over the place, and being out pre 7am you're usually the first to come across it!

[AnnoyingPentium]

29 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

How are people getting on in the storms?

Yes.

[Fumbler]

2 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

How are people getting on in the storms? Guess who's on a Water Rescue training week? 70mph winds and hail in Capel Curig made this afternoon's session there interesting. The wind chill actually meant it was warmer in the river than on the bank. Probably the most dangerous bit of the day was my drive home down the Llanberis Pass - had to wrestle with the wheel a few times to stay on the road. A hot shower now I'm home has helped warm me up, I reckon I'll probably eat my own body weight in carbohydrates this evening.

There'll be a bit of a respite tomorrow before it blows up again on Friday - they've already said they're going to shut the Britannia Bridge, glad I don't have to go to Anglesey!

Stay safe everyone.

It's all very exciting on the south east coast. Cladding is blowing off walls over 100' up, guttering is being blown off and they're forecasting hurricane-force winds on Friday. It's so bad they've cancelled Friday overtime work altogether! The drive home certainly was interesting.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Saw a right scene this evening.

Went to get fish and chips in central Canterbury and as I'm standing on the pavement outside the shop admiring a bright yellow Lamborghini, I hear an almighty crash, look up and a Deliveroo scooter has gone into the back of a red car (didn't actually catch the model) on the other side of the road.  Bloke gets out of the red car and starts shouting at the scooter driver, demanding insurance details and getting very aggressive until it was pointed out by a bystander that the blue Golf that's directly behind the scooter went into the back of the scooter, smashing it in turn into the back of the red car.

After about three or four minutes of shouting, everyone seems to be getting on better when they try to pick up the scooter.  As soon as the scooter is upright, the engine starts and it's evidently still in gear so these two blokes are desperately trying to stop it crashing into the door of the Lamborghini and kill the engine.

I thought they'd actually tapped it but it didn't look like there was any damage.  Lamborghini owner nowhere in sight.  Another scooter pulls over (another Deliveroo) and the arguments start all over again.  Fuck knows why.

Police turn up.  Lamborghini driver turns up and the chip shop owner (who obviously knows him) tells him to check his door.

'For fucks' sake, I've just had a 25 thousand Pound door fitted!  That's how much they cost!'

He seems happy that the door hasn't been damaged and drives off, making a racket with his V12, briefly drowning out the continuing arguments across the road (at this point I have no idea why they're even arguing). 

Get my food, scarper back and drive off.  Filmed the first argument but sadly missed the scooter-Lamborghini-interface antics.