Ask a Shiter

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I'm looking for a pair of seat belts to replace the static ones fitted to my Cortina and have been offered these Mk4 belt for £20 + P&P, sadly the drivers one is frayed, would you say that this was bad enough to fail a mot?, I don't want to say yes if it's going to fail the test.

 

It will pass very easily. I've had much worse pass without even getting an advisory.

[Cavcraft]

Roadworks/F.D: Cheers.

[Father Ted]

I caravan.

 

There I have said it.

I try not to hold anyone up on the roads, and with 2.2L of turbocharged dizzler lugging it about a couple of times a year Im no slouch.

 

Anyway I use a fair old amount of gas, mostly in heating the van during the colder months as the van is sited through the season and we do use it up to the end of December. So I have invested in a couple of rechargeable gas cylinders (SafeFill), now this is all very well, but can I get the local Autogas station to let me fill them? Can I thump. Despite the inbuilt 80% cut off valve and safety gubbins apparently its OMG GAS BOM KAOS!

 

So I had the idea of bolting a LPG filler to the towbar bracket and putting the HP hose into the boot terminating in a POL to fit the cylinder. Very similar to the set up offered by |Gaslow but of course theirs terminates in their own special fittings.

Can I get a JIC to POL adaptor anywhere? Can I buggery like.

Anyone got any ideas how I can rig something up?

Gahhhh, at this rate I'll be back to paying CalorGas extortionate prices.

[barefoot]

White Moccasins ?

 

I'm doing my best to keep up at the back here, but seem to have missed where these were introduced.

Can someone help me out please?

[Father Ted]

White Moccasins ?

 

I'm doing my best to keep up at the back here, but seem to have missed where these were introduced.

Can someone help me out please?

 

 

Which actually cae from this:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-BX-19 ... _571wt_932

All though if you look at the advert now the mocasans have been cropped out. Shame.

[wackywacerwill]

Check the ebay tat thread

[barefoot]

Thanks - spectacular!

[worldofceri]

Is it just me, or are pretty tyres with symmetrical curvaceous treads like this one...

 

 

...not as popular / being made as much as they were a couple of years ago in favour of

new fangled asymmetric devices ?

 

I quite liked the look of them but am led to believe that they are only any good at clearing water

& are apparently ridiculously noisy.

 

Can anyone shed any more light / confirm ?

 

In my (limited) experience tyres with that type of tread pattern are shit. They seem more common these days on budget tyres. Perhaps there're designed to appeal to a certain type of punter who values appearance over performance.

[Cavcraft]

Is there actually anybody at all on eBay selling an old rusty car that isn't a 'barn find'?

[warren t claim]

Can someone please explain to me the origins and reasons behind ratlook VWs?

[cobblers]

Do you mean "proper" ratlook (Externally tatty beetle with a new floorpan and about 250bhp), or this wankfest of 17 year olds thinking they are being mega different and off the wall by ruining a perfectly good mk3 polo by going sledging on the bonnet and sticking ratfink stickers all over the windows?

[warren t claim]

Do you mean "proper" ratlook (Externally tatty beetle with a new floorpan and about 250bhp), or this wankfest of 17 year olds thinking they are being mega different and off the wall by ruining a perfectly good mk3 polo by going sledging on the bonnet and sticking ratfink stickers all over the windows?

 

The latter.

[Cavcraft]

Can someone please explain to me the origins and reasons behind ratlook VWs?

 

Someone probably found a rough looking one somewhere, got it on the road and used it 'as is'. Because it's the VW scene countless sheep followed it thinking they were 'cool' and original', then people who had shit rusty cars decided instead of restoring/respraying them properly they'd just 'rat look' them or spray them mat black.

[cobblers]

I don't think it's really got a lot to it - The latter people saw the former people, and realised it needed a lot less skill and planning than modifying a vehicle in a "normal" way, and used the "rat" cues on their own vehicles which were simply rough motors, conveniently forgetting about the key being a super nice chassis or whatever. Since it was pretty easy to do, a scene formed around it a bit. Sites like http://www.rat-look.com were created and [peopled sort of egged each other on at buggering up a motors in more and more hip and off the wall ways, and here we are.

 

 

It could all be a conspiracy put together by the people selling yellow headlight paint, matt black aerosols and the government. Yellow headlight paint and matt black manufacturers see sales soar, and since no fucker wants to buy a motor that's been "ratted" the government get loads of old motors scrapped off the road

[ashmicro]

from shat-look.com

 

"People often ask what the rat look is all about, and why we do the things we do to our vehicles. Thing is, there isn’t a simple standardized answer to this question as rat look is one of the few styles of car modification that is truly unique to the individual."

 

 

Indeed. Keep taking the tablets.

[Father Ted]

rat look is one of the few styles of car modification that is truly unique to the individual.

NO IT FUPPING ISNT. EVERY FUPPING RAT LOOK CAR LOOKS SHITE

[M'coli]

I think it comes from the surfing crowd in California, some years ago. In the dry states of the US the campers wouldn't rust structurally but the paint will get hammered by the sunlight and eventually fade, peel and that, and any light rain would cause the patina of rust on the upper surfaces.

These shonky-looking examples would be at the bottom of their value when the young surf dudes decide they need a set of wheels to allow them to sleep, eat and live in whilst still accommodating their board, so a cheap VW bus is bought (in the early 90s, you could still buy roadworthy examples here for under £500) - thus the rat-look van.

 

Now the oxygen thieves have decided that it's cool to strip paint off otherwise sound vehicles because all the shonky examples got binned in the past, and so have ruined many nice cars, VWs included. I really fancy a mk1 Passat, but I am loathe to buy one dare I be associated with so-called "Dubbers"...

[RoadworkUK]

Re Rat-Look, Dubbers etc. I always think that a VW show, or any other one-make show of the sort of unprecedented scale that VW gatherings enjoy, must be really bloody boring. Dozens of the same car, all with very similar modifications and presentation. This is why I spend so much more time here on Autoshite than on the Audi or Rover 800 forums: Variety.

 

I was asked if I wanted to go to Dubfest (or summat). I nearly cried with panic lest I accidentally said "yes please".

[CreepingJesus]

Rat-look has existed for a long time - there was/is a similar thing in SoCal hot rods to what M'coli mentioned, and for much the same reasons. You want an actual steel bodied rod, then a sun-faded patina'd wreck from out the back of a farm is the cheapest way. Often they don't even bother refitting glass and suchlike.

Rat bikes were championed by (much missed) magazine AWOL, with them regularly fixing bikes with gaffer tape, beer cans and jube clips. Especially arch-nutter L'il Mark, who replaced the gubbed forks on his Superdream with lengths of scaffolding pole (iirc). It didn't work out well.

They also championed survival bikes, which were much more inspired by Mad Max. If you can find a pic (i've tried and failed. Google-fu not good tonight), there was a guy called Tom Tuohy used to build incredible survival bikes. Frames made of gas pipe, Rover V8's, and all painted with army surplus paint, was the order of the day.

I kinda understand what the rat-lookers are doing now. Just doesn't impress me somehow; it was always argued to death in AWOL that you can't make a rat-look anything. It has to evolve, according to its' circumstances, and the bodge repairs that are performed upon it. Any movement whose results are so predictable is always going to be a disappointment to me.

[CIH]

Seems pretty simple to me; enthusiam > skill, and no interest in learning to do something that takes time. Anyone can sticker-bomb a wing, FFS.

[Tartan58]

As usual these "indurvijewals" in the VW scene have taken a half decent idea and taken it to the extreme and ended up with something shite.

 

This is how to do rat-look properly and to my eyes looks more perfect than any show queen.

http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/features/octane_features/271861/feature_aston_martin_db24_mkii.html

[barefoot]

I'm a bit into VW's

 

 

but I really don't get this Rat bollox.

I know a bloke who bought a niceish 1960's split that looks like it's been polished with a brillo pad.

just the top layers of paint removed, at random & obviously recently.

 

On a slightly different tack,

Does anyone here fish?

& is there any chance you could post me about 20 feet of fishing line?

 

I've acquired a load of very small bells & need to hang them underneath my van in time for the

summer festival season so that they'll jangle nicely in the breeze for that full on hippy vibe.

[cort16]

Has anyone had problems jump starting a car from a newer car with jump terminals under the bonnet?

 

I tried to jump start the BMW off my Audi A6 last night using the jump points under the bonnet of the Audi and although the BMW was getting juice (lights etc) it didn;t have enough to crank. I jumped the BMW off my spare battery this morning and it fired right up.

I'm only asking as I tried to jump start a car off my old Alfa 159 afew years ago and it did exactly the same thing. It could be that I'm just being a fanny of course.

[chaseracer]

Allow me to be the first to enquire as to the shape of the terminals...

 

[cort16]

What sort of oil would you chaps recommend for my SD1 2600?

I'm going to service it on Saturday and I could just wang some of that discount semi synthetic castrol GTX Asda are selling cheap into it but I thought there might be some new product that's a bit more sensative to prolonging the life of old, old school boat anchor type engines.

[eddyramrod]

My understanding is that you should use an oil appropriate to the engine. Sounds stuffily simple, right? What I mean is, the Rover engine was designed back when the 20/50 multigrade was king, so fill it with that. You'll either have to go searching for it, or it'll be on the bottom shelf as a budget option, since the manufacturers expect you to be using a much younger vehicle that requires fancy synthetic/semi-synthetic oil. If you can find a known-quality 20/50, like Duckhams or GTX, grab that.

[cort16]

Thanks. I'll just go with what the book say then.

[Rocket88]

Ref "what oil".........for full hilariousness, lob a sump full on 0/30 fully synthetic in an A series Mini, fire up, and stand back . It'll be all over the floor in about .00009877 seconds. Old stuff doesn't like modern thin oil. PHACT

[ashmicro]

On a slightly different tack,

Does anyone here fish?

& is there any chance you could post me about 20 feet of fishing line?

 

I've acquired a load of very small bells & need to hang them underneath my van in time for the

summer festival season so that they'll jangle nicely in the breeze for that full on hippy vibe.

 

 

I'll post you some of this if it's of use

 

 

I'm actually pretty anti-fishing, I only bought this to make a planetarium thing for my niece's nursery school.

[Cavcraft]

{rhetorical question}

 

What would you do if you're were completely skint, had a parking fine to pay and promised your missus that you were getting forty quid tomorrow and would give it to her for the shopping etc?

 

1) Do exactly the above.

 

2) Put it as a 40% deposit on an incomplete, partially fucked, partially Barried up Corsa C and make up some elaborate lie when she gets home from work?