Ask a Shiter

[twosmoke300]

What has happened to Fred transit ? Has he had a name change or has he gone or am I blind/ stupid?

[Richard]

Fred Transit is a woman. I think she's either drifted off or is taking a break.

[Timewaster]

What has happened to Fred transit ? Has She had a name change or has he gone or am I blind/ stupid?

Fixed that for ya.

[mat_the_cat]

Fred Transit is a woman.

 

It was a surprise for me when I twigged! Partly as most of us are blokes, but with a username of Fred I assumed that was based on a real name...

 

I can only think of two ladies on here - are there more?

[Richard]

At least three are regularly posting at the moment- Caffiend, Louise2cv and Luckythirteen.

[trigger]

Hang on, Caffiend & Luckythirteen are women?!

[sheffcortinacentre]

shes busy I think, saw here last week.

 

& its Frederica.

[The Moog]

What are symptoms of xud head gasket failure?

 

Pug is drinking water with no obvious leaks. White smoke at start up and noticed some white smoke yesterday caught in headlights of car behind yesterday.

 

Not air leaks as I have clear hose running directly to pump with two in line filters.

 

Oil is black with no mayo.

[twosmoke300]

I thought the whole Fred transit woman thing was a joke. Sorry for any offence caused.

[TagoraSX]

What is the approximate weight of a car door from something like a mk2 granny from the 70's/80's?

 

I want to put an ad on shipley and its asking for the weight.

[willswitchengage]

Is filtering illegal in Germany/Belgium/Luxembourg? The internet tells me it is in France.

[Sloth in a bowl]

I'm considering changing the Kia Pride front seats for something that has a lower ass and longer back. Making it more comfortable and holding me in place better on high G cornering.

 

How standard are seat mountings or is it going to be a job where I need to drill new mounting points into the base of the car. I'm already assuming that replacement seats will not fit the current mounts.

[Sloth in a bowl]

What are symptoms of xud head gasket failure?

 

Pug is drinking water with no obvious leaks. White smoke at start up and noticed some white smoke yesterday caught in headlights of car behind yesterday.

 

Not air leaks as I have clear hose running directly to pump with two in line filters.

 

Oil is black with no mayo.

If only a pint every 2000 miles then just keep it topped up, if worse then throw in some K seal and see if the coolant loss stops?

I had suspect water to exhaust on the V40 for ages but as it lost very little and only when the engine was cold, I never fixed it.

[Asimo]

I'm considering changing the Kia Pride front seats for something that has a lower ass and longer back. Making it more comfortable and holding me in place better on high G cornering.

 

How standard are seat mountings or is it going to be a job where I need to drill new mounting points into the base of the car. I'm already assuming that replacement seats will not fit the current mounts.

In my limited experience the only standard thing about car seats is the bums that sit on them.

 

Lots of seat things have to be sound for safety reasons, more still to allow the runners to work properly, belt mounts etc may be involved  so why not cut the floor section out of the donor car and weld that into the Kia complete with runners, anchors etc (done to MOT standards)?

 

There may be a Mazda or 'subishi or something else related to your car which would be a genuine swap rather than a major project but only intensive scrappie-surfing will tell. Good luck!

[Sloth in a bowl]

In my limited experience the only standard thing about car seats is the bums that sit on them.

 

Lots of seat things have to be sound for safety reasons, more still to allow the runners to work properly, belt mounts etc may be involved so why not cut the floor section out of the donor car and weld that into the Kia complete with runners, anchors etc (done to MOT standards)?

 

There may be a Mazda or 'subishi or something else related to your car which would be a genuine swap rather than a major project but only intensive scrappie-surfing will tell. Good luck!

Plan B is to buy a pair of 2nd hand pride seats and gut/re trim them to a better shape.

 

Pity that Ford Festivas were not sold here as they look to have better seats and the option of a very perky 100hp motor.

[laser wheels]

You know when you see a car you are interested in, and you put the reg number in the search box on the insurers website to get a quote and it comes up with a different car? Is that a bad sign or not? It's always looked a bit suspicious to me, but am I being too cautious?

[320touring]

You know when you see a car you are interested in, and you put the reg number in the search box on the insurers website to get a quote and it comes up with a different car? Is that a bad sign or not? It's always looked a bit suspicious to me, but am I being too cautious?

The 735 Ive just bought had a private regards swapped off. Took about 2 weeks for the databases to catch up.

 

Alternatively, porky digits can lead to unexpected results. .

[laser wheels]

Yeah, this isn't so much private regs or reg swaps which I can understand but more like cars coming up as, for example, the same model but different engine size or the Fiat Multipla this afternoon which came up as a Brava.

[michael1703]

What's the name of the thing that goes on a clevis pin which looks like two spring washers that is used as an anti rattle device?

[steve_earwig]

My dad would probably call that an anti-chatter spring, but I never know if my dad knows this because he's smart or he made it up to stop us asking stupid questions.

Hmm, my meter goes up to 10 but as the digital display passed 20 amps I disconnected it in rather a hurry. I wondered why the fuse blew but as I only just added a fuse I thought I'd miscalculated. This is on a mate's Moto Guzzi, the starter was meant to have been rebuilt but I'm beginning to think it was rebuilt by a chimpanzee. More investigation required I reckon. Ta muchly

Thought I'd give a "followup" on this. the starter works fine and didn't blow the 25 amp fuse I stuck on it. The main reason the engine wasn't turning over fast enough to fire is because of the Mickey Mouse jumpleads my mate was using, I lent him mine and it fired up straight away. Btw if anyone's wondering why a bike has a pre-engaged starter on it, it's a Moto Guzzi, so it's full of stuff you don't expect to see on a bike, in point of fack't said starter started life fitted to a Fiat Tippex or something.

[Lacquer Peel]

Hey crew. The centre silencer is burst on my Fabia, a new one is £28, far too much money obviously.

It's burst at the back edge of the silencer, would silencer repair stuff even work on the edge or should I swallow the £28?

[michael1703]

£28, not worth bodging

[Lacquer Peel]

I am tempted to go to one of the mega scrapyards down south and buy a good used exhaust, it needs a few other things from a donor car. Has anyone been to UPI Inverkeithing recently and seen any diesel Fabias?

[wuvvum]

Not having a great deal of luck with the front calipers off the Volvo.  I tried pumping the pistons out by reconnecting the calipers to the car and heaving on the brake pedal.  The nearside caliper managed to pump three of the pistons out, the offside managed one.  Then the seals burst on both and pupming just resulted in the caliper pissing out brake fluid.

 

Is there any way of removing (very stuck) pistons which are completely retracted into the caliper, without the aid of hydraulics to push them out?  There is a slight lip on the outer ends of the pistons, but there's no way I'd be able to get enough leverage on these to prise the pistons out.

[rml2345]

I am tempted to go to one of the mega scrapyards down south and buy a good used exhaust, it needs a few other things from a donor car. Has anyone been to UPI Inverkeithing recently and seen any diesel Fabias?

I wouldn't bother with UPI Inverkeithing as the office is run by feckless idiots who have no idea what's in the yard. Even telephoning them is pointless as they'll tell you something is there that clearly isn't.

 

Edited to add: Nothing seems to hang about there long.

[nigel bickle]

Wuz ,G clamp the free pistons in, then try again.  Your 'stuck ' one will be the only one able to move.

 

The seal, although shot should hold up enough to allow reasonable hydraulic force.

 

Or send them off for refurbing/exchange.  Past Parts at Bury St Edmunds cant be too far away?

[Inspector Morose]

Wuv, try screwing a grease nipple in the end and pumping it full of grease to push the pistons out. The grease being thicker won't piss past the dead seals so much and might give enough force to push the pistons out. They've got to come apart anyway to rebuild them so an extra few mins cleaning the grease out won't hurt. Worked for me once or twice.

[wuvvum]

Why is so much of the world run by complete and utter cunts?

[Station]

What is the little plastic thing in locking nuts for? The little nut shaped thing and the little T shaped rod thing? Can't work it out, but they're in every locking nut set I've seen?

 

[Station]

Is there a way to permanently block sellers from ebay searches? I commonly search for the cars I own and I constantly get the same seller selling 'used' aerials/wipers/led bulbs using the same images 1000's of times. I know how to do it for individual searchs, but believe it or not, ebay what with their incredible rapport with the customer/seller hasn't yet implemented a system to do this.