Ask a Shiter

[Mr Livered]

Cruise control: works for some cars more than others IMHO

 

I have it in the Saab (which is quite a fyn nippy car to drive) and the Mercedes (which is ponderous and stately). It never gets used in the Saab but when driving the Merc on a motorway, it just feels right to get up to about 70, stick the cruise on, then just sit back and steer.

[Pillock]

I like cruise, I do enough motorway miles at daft times of the day to make it worthwhile. I can get from M1 J22 to the M25 without moving my feet, although in a manual you lose some of the comedy effect of nailing it from low speed. I've also seen it's slightly less economical to use it (but not by much) which is weird, since our transport office put out posters telling drivers that they were to use cruise control to help drive efficiently.

 

There seems to be some weird thing on hire cars - I think we use Europcar at work, and every single hire car I've had for years has had it fitted. Understandable when they're giving me Insignias and Golf GTIs but even on a fairly miserable looking Corsa...? Is there some need for it on hire cars? Vauxhall cruise seems to accelerate harder than you can possibly get on the pedal though which is amusing.

 

With regard to feet, they don't relax in my car since there's nowhere to put them so they just hover a little bit. In the Touran, the driving position is such that it's more comfortable to put your feet flat on the floor - it's very upright and van-like. So it felt a bit more unsafe to start with but I've got used to it.

 

In my younger days, I definitely* didn't* show off a Vectra Exclusive hire car by overtaking my mate on the motorway with my feet on the dashboard.

[dollywobbler]

On slightly older cruise controls, you could accelerate by holding the + button. I tried this in a Citroen C5 mk2 once and properly shat myself up. Hadn't noticed that actually, holding + changes the SET speed, very quickly. I'd managed to set the cruise speed to 100mph. It was trying to get there pretty quickly too!

 

It is useful, but can be massively frustrating in the UK. It isn't just hills - you discover that a lot of people are completely unable to keep a car at a consistent speed.

[beko1987]

I had an accord something as a pool car once, it had cruise. Remember going from 60 in the inside lane, across to overtake some stuff on the cruise up to 90ish, then back down to 70 on the inside just with repeated prodding on the + and - button on the wheel. Was most fun

 

Until you went too slow for the gear you were in (manual) when it used to stutter and almost die unless you dropped enough cogs to keep going, which paused the cruise as you pressed a pedal.

 

And yes, entering a slip road at 30, hitting the resume button when you last had it at 95 and holding on is a great game!

[skattrd]

Powerflow and other stainless steel aftermarket exhausts?

 

Are they any good? - It depends who puts them together, it varies.

Are they as noisy as fuck of can you get a quiet one? - You can usually specify how loud/noisy you want them when you get it made. They usually change the backbox/tailpipes to suit.

Do they fit them well? - It depends where you get it from, but usually yes, as some are custom made on/to the car.

 

Anything I should know?

How do they compare to a PD Gough item? what?

 

The reason I ask, a bit of a disaster on the Scirocco front, new back box fitted in May, never looked or hung right, bit of a rattle caused me to examine more closely. Its just not correct.

I'll have a different one fitted properly and take the offending box back to where it was purchased with some strong words and the sharp edge of my tongue.

 

Are you looking at a full system or just part?

In my experience Powerflow or whatever is just the brand of parts they cobble together to make the exhaust on the car. I have a Powerlow stainless system on my Avanzato rally car that was cobbled together by a place I won't use again.

 

On my Scirocco I have a custom exhaust system made by Blueflame and apart from it being a tad noisy (twin 3" tailpipes) I would wholeheartedly recommend them for a custom system. I have no idea how much it cost though as it was fitted by the previous owner (who worked at Blueflame).

 

If I was you though I'd have a check on the Scirocco forum for used stainless exhaust as they do turn up occasionally.

[alf892]

Cruise is fun on a manual too.........on a bendy b/c road get a high speed in say third and hit cruise. Then drive the whole road just knocking cruise on and off and just steering.

[catsinthewelder]

THe BX appears to be leaking diesel from it's slightly crusty steel fuel pipes.  They are about 11mm diameter,  do you fine chaps think that replacing them with 10mm brake pipe would be a reasonable idea?

 

My last BX had already seen it's steel pipes replaced with what looked like thin garden hose and it was rubbish,  I put in proper rubber fuel pipe instead and that wasn't much better so a solution in metal of some sort is required.

[dollywobbler]

My TXD (now with Minimad) got a rubber pipe replacement for the corroded pipe. Presume that's still ok? That was proper fuel-specific rubber pipe as used on rally cars.

[catsinthewelder]

That's the stuff that I put on the last one but it wouldn't fit in the clips and looked a bit of a mess.  It also got pulled off when Ms C drove through a big puddle resulting in 1/2 a tank of diesel ending up in the school carpark.

[Station]

Tried asking on Retro Rides, but may as well have asked a 2 year old child - nobody seems to know much about carbs nowadays.

 

I'm looking at getting a Weber carb for my Justy as the old carb is crap.

Do Weber's all have the same base plates - ie are all the bolt holes spaced the same widths? I am asking this because in theory, I can buy a cheap Weber off an old Ford and get a base adapter plate made up for it to fit.

THANKS.

[Mr Livered]

Tried asking on Retro Rides, but may as well have asked a 2 year old child.

 

I'm looking at getting a Weber carb for my Justy as the old carb is crap.

Do Weber's all have the same base plates - ie are all the bolt holes spaced the same widths?

Lol at the RR thing, there are some very knowledgeable people on there though, you never know when one might show up and help you out.

 

I believe that they're the same fitting as long as it's the right vintage (ie same age as your car), but don't spend too much £sd on my say-so! Are you being quoted a reasonable price?

[Sigmund Fraud]

I'm looking at getting a Weber carb for my Justy as the old carb is crap.

Do Weber's all have the same base plates - ie are all the bolt holes spaced the same widths? I am asking this because in theory, I can buy a cheap Weber off an old Ford and get a base adapter plate made up for it to fit.

THANKS.

 

That's a fairly easy question to answer : NO. Weber made dozens of different designs, and they don't all share the same base plate.

 

If you told us which are the 'candidate' carbs, I'm sure someone could advise on whether they are compatible.

 

On a slightly different note, what is wrong with the current carb ? People often write carburettors off, when all they need is a clean, new set of gaskets and adjustment.

[Mr Livered]

Glad you posted that Mr Fraud because it means I was RONG it seems. Give us the info Station and we'll see (I have a box of miscellaneous carbs here).

[Station]

I'm wanting to put a 32/36 on - I don't mind paying extra for a really decent carb with the important things - reliability and parts availability.

[Sigmund Fraud]

It's been done before, and there seems to be an off the shelf adaptor ! Check here for more.

[drum]

Cruise control; love it. The wife's alfa has it and I like to switch the computer to instantaneous mpg while on cruise so that I can monitor the gradient of the road - how sad!

 

I wished the a4 had it for our French holiday in the summer. Hours of motorway driving didn't half give me cramp in the right leg.

[cobblers]

I'd never used cruise control til saturday when I was driving my mates car down the A1, I did about 130 miles without touching a pedal, it flipping blew my mind! By the time I came to  come off the motorway I'd pretty much forgot where the pedals were

[cort16]

I sometimes play the cruise control game on the way home from work. You wait until your on an a-road then see how long you can drive for only speeding up and slowing down using the cruise control.

The slowing down part is particularly nerve wracking. Some of the older ones I've used only use throttle but I'm sure the old A6 I had pressed the brakes.

[barefoot]

I'm sure the old A6 I had pressed the brakes.

I bet it was the weight of the bastard!

[Station]

It's been done before, and there seems to be an off the shelf adaptor ! Check here for more.

 

Aye seen that, that's where I got the idea from.

 

Had three cars with cruise control - Astra GSi, Merc and 300ZX. Tried it for a couple of journeys, but pretty pointless on UK roads.

[Bobthebeard]

My daily 944 seems to be losing coolant when not in use. As in, can use it all day and the coolant stays up to the mark, but when parked up overnight it drips onto the drive/road. Probably around half a litre lost over a couple of days. Am thinking water pump? Any ideas? No overheating or any other signs.

The drips are coming from the front of the engine around the bottom of the timing belt area if that helps. Advice gratefully received!

[Mr Lobster]

Right, bit of technical help please -

 

Vehicle - '04 SEAT Toledo 1.8T, 90k miles.

 

Symptoms - Misfires at all engine speeds, EML flashing, curious bit of a burning smell from somewhere.

 

Started as soon as I got in the car after it had been stood for ten minutes. Before I start delving too far I'm wondering about coil packs? Anyone any other ideas?

 

Ta.

[twosmoke300]

Either coil packs or ,if it's like the Audi 1.8t the ignition amplifier on the back of the air box. Usually the amp if the misfire seems to move cylinders

[barefoot]

My daily 944 seems to be losing coolant when not in use. As in, can use it all day and the coolant stays up to the mark, but when parked up overnight it drips onto the drive/road. Probably around half a litre lost over a couple of days. Am thinking water pump? Any ideas? No overheating or any other signs.

The drips are coming from the front of the engine around the bottom of the timing belt area if that helps. Advice gratefully received!

No idea, mine did that.

And then stopped.

[phil_lihp]

A waterpump leak would, I'd assume, only happen when the engine's running; at least, mine does.  Not a drop when the engine's off, practically gushes out when it's cold but when it warms up and the metal expands the leak slows to a tiny drip.

[trigger]

A quick question, if I was to buy a car from Ireland that's on Northern Ireland plates would i have to pay to get it re-registered in the UK?. Is there any kind of import tax to pay?.

[skattrd]

If it's on N.I. plates then isn't it all ready UK registered?

 

Wheres our resident N.I. gallic V6 chod lover? He'd probably be able to answer this better than me.

[George-Roper]

https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/registering-an-imported-vehicle

 

https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/moving-vehicles-between-britain-and-northern-ireland

[trigger]

Hmm... So I won't have to re-register it then or pay import taxes, It's on a rare 6 digit Irish number which is apparently worth some money, Mind you I can't afford the car as I need to pay to get it shipped over and that will be over my budget, which is £0.

 

Shame as it's pretty much my Favourite car ever.

[skattrd]

If it's a rare car then I'd try and find a way to do it if you can Trigger, if you don't you'll regret it.

 

I brought my Storia back from Ireland on the cheap, from memory it was something like £70 flight out and £120 ferry back, plus a bit of fuel.