Ask a Shiter

[Spiny Norman]

I can say with some certainty that what you've got there is a Volvo 164.

 

Plants look like some kind of lupin maybe?

[Cavcraft]

Lavender?

 

If it is a Foxglove type thing I think they're quite poisonous.

[MrDuke]

I'd say Lavender (too small to be Foxgloves or Lupins) - try crushing the leaves in your hand and smelling them. If you want them to grow slower and 'fill out' a bit, cut a few inches off the stems.

[warren t claim]

My six year old son wants to go out for a ride on the back of my GPZ. Should I let him?

[SambaS]

Ooohhh, new sensations

[KruJoe]

Alone? No.

With you at the controls? Yes.

HTH.

[The Moog]

Cheers might try that with the pay slip.

 

Bit out of touch with prices but my sister is trying to flog her car. 03 clio, patchy history, 1.2 Xtreme edition. got new mot. Is 1500 quid too much? Sounds it to me cause I think she is doing the usual I paid x then spent x on it so now it is worth x2

 

[Cavcraft]

Clios don't seem that popular at the moment, I'd suggest nearer a grand but it's still worth trying it at about £1500 I suppose. Interest, or lack of it, will tell you if the price is right.

[Cavcraft]

Spraying plastic:

 

Is it really a matter of just buying the proper stuff for the job then spraying, or will I need an undercoat of some sort? It's NOT to paint the dashboard on a Corsa I hasten to add, it's for a bike seat.  

[catsinthewelder]

It tends to be damn tricky to get a durable paint coating on plastic,  can you not get a seat the right colour?

[Cavcraft]

Yeah, but that involves spending money!

 

I've got one of these now...

 

 

...and  want to 'do a VW camper scene' with it by boshing a sprung seat and different bars on it. I have a seat, but it's black and I want to change it.

[Des]

Here's what the exact same bike looks like in white.

 

[CreepingJesus]

The stuff you'd use to colour Corsa dashboards something hideous, is probably the best bet. Bike seats and dashboards tend to be made of closed-cell foam, so it ought to work. Leather dye if it's a leather seat, obviously.

[cort16]

What the story with those bikes billy I've seen pictures of hipster types attempting to look cool on them in magazines? Is it a brand of bike or a L00K?

[Brent_Crude]

Anybody familiar with the last run of Saab 9-3's? On the off-chance that one of you is... it has a 'A/C OFF' button with a green LED. When this is illuminated does it mean the A/C is off or on? I had a quick glance on the Saab forums and they can't seem to decide between them either.  

 

"Surely it is obvious, by the drop in temperature?" I hear you ask... and it would be if the A/C actually even worked! Which leads me to the next part of this question: is there a way of doing a reset on the A/C (remember, this is the last run of 'facelift' 9-3's) and comprehensive list of fault codes? 

 

I am keen to try and solve this myself before taking it in for an unneccesary aircon regas etc. 

 

Sorry to ask this on here, but the Saab forums lack the common sense or clarity that makes Autoshite DA SHIT.  

[Cavcraft]

Thanks, CJ, will give that a try.

 

Glen: 'fixies' are all the rage, or certainly were recently, look on them as the scene tax of the cycle world if you like. Fixed gears with a free wheel one side and the other some device that means you have to keep pedalling. Johnny explained this to me but I'm a bit too dim to take it in, though talking to a lad on one yesterday he said the best way to stop is to sort of hold back on the pedals and then get a rear wheel drift, yo, going.

 

I don't like the sound of that so the cog is on the free wheel side where I can stop pedalling when I want to and use the brakes like a totally uncool fat middle aged bloke would.

Got the bike because it was cheap and had planned to swap the running gear onto one of my old racers as they seem to make decent coin when done. Probably just leave it as it though for now.

[worldofceri]

Re:  Wuvvums Horticulture Section:

 

Deffo not lavender.  Don't know what it is though.  I think we've got some in our garden - seems to be a cultivated plant that seeds itself quite easily rather than a weed.  Looks OK if you let some grow in a nice clump but if you let it spread over the whole garden it'll look like you've been taken over by a pernicious weed. 

[Pillock]

Stupid question: why do recovery drivers drive around with a car on the beavertail or flatbed with the drivers window down? Even when it's raining...?

 

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[KruJoe]

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Is that necessary?

 

(Sorry)

[nacho man]

Stupid question: why do recovery drivers drive around with a car on the beavertail or flatbed with the drivers window down? Even when it's raining...?Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

I thought it was so if the car locked its self he can pull the keys out, I think they leave the keys in and ign on so the alarm aint going off all the time.

 

Probably one million percent wrong.

[philibusmo]

I have an answer to you plant based question Wuvvum. That there is Purple Loosestrife which is common across England and Wales (but not Scotland which is generally a little too cold) and it self seeds easily but isn't a weed as such. Usually found need ponds or bogs but often found in drier areas.

[phil_lihp]

 

I've pulled three of these rather nice hubcaps off a Vauxhall Victor FE - they were covered in green mould and general muck but the one I've tried has responded quite well to some fairy liquid.  Stupid questions are, are they chrome or stainless steel, what would get them to polish up fairly well and would they fit other cars?

[MrDuke]

Is that necessary?

 

(Sorry)

 

My phone automatically writes that at the end of forum posts, and I have to manually delete it all the time. Problem is, it's written 2 or 3 lines below my text, so I can't actually see it on the screen unless I scroll down, so I usually forget it's there. One of numerous reasons why I rarely use my phone for posting.

[CreepingJesus]

Pound to a pinch of salt those Victor hubcaps are chrome on pressed steel. Make sure you've rinsed and dried them really well, 'cos Fairy is quite aggressive (although it did the trick). Polish them with something old school, like Autosol or Duraglit and they'll come up nice.

As for fitting them, I'm not sure myself. I'll await that answer with interest.

[wuvvum]

I have an answer to you plant based question Wuvvum. That there is Purple Loosestrife which is common across England and Wales (but not Scotland which is generally a little too cold) and it self seeds easily but isn't a weed as such. Usually found need ponds or bogs but often found in drier areas.

Cheers PBM, that certainly looks right.  According to the interwebz they can grow to 10 feet tall - could be interesting... 

 

WOC - it's confined to clumps round the edges of the garden at the moment (apart from that one by the wall of the house) so doesn't look too untidy - if it spreads too much I might have to start pulling it up, although that would be a shame as the bees round here need all the help they can get at the moment.

[Des]

Easy to remember secret farmers rule for plant identification: Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green.

That stuff's purple so deffo not lavender.

[M'coli]

Could be catnip...

[barefoot]

Why do passengers in hot weather insist on putting their naked feet on the dashboard?

 

The problems I see with this are;

1, The dashboard is probably the hottest piece of plastic in the entire car.

2, In a seat designed to hold you in just one position, this would only be comfortable if you lowered the backrest to nearly flat otherwise you'd be bent double.

3, Even a minor bump with your feet like that doesn't really bare (sic) thinking about.

 

Twats.

[rml2345]

I don't get that either! Although if someone put their feet on my dash they'd be walking...

[Spiny Norman]

I don't get that either! Although if someone put their feet on my dash they'd be walking limping rather badly.

FTFY.