The grumpy thread

[Cavcraft]

Cav

 

Could it have been this lot?

 

http://rescueaccidentassistance.com/default.aspx

 

I *think* they were among the number of firms who phoned us when Katie was hurt.

 

Cheers, just called them and they denied all knowledge and certainly seemed to be genuine, though that could be a red herring or whatever. Anyhow they reckon that it'd have been the insurance company of the thrid party who crashed into me a couple of years back and that the details could have been sold to 'almost anyone'.

 

And the insurance company in question? Direct Liars. Not content with being absolutely fucking shit to deal with, full of lies and false promises and piss arsing me about for months on end it looks like they've flogged my details on to some con artists.

[TimothyClaypole]

open another account now. dont wait for total ban on selling that usually follows in the next 60 days

 

I've already got another account that's just "resting" setup just in case.

[Negative Creep]

Try to get through to my tax office so they can take me off BR tax code. 21 minutes and counting on hold, I don't have a landline so this is costing me 25p a minute

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Try to get through to my tax office so they can take me off BR tax code. 21 minutes and counting on hold, I don't have a landline so this is costing me 25p a minute

 

you need skype or, better still, the Voipbuster.

[Negative Creep]

I gave up just short of 30 minutes. The rather useful www.saynoto0870.com has given me the local rate number but can't get through on that either

[cort16]

i've been cocking around from 7.30 to 11 trying to filler and primer the 2 quarters of my bmw.

 

It was just a grind off rust, kurust, little skim of filler but It must be on it's 9th slim of filler and after hours of sanding it all down from 180 to 3 billion grit sand paper it looks flat, feels flat then I put the primer on and BAM ! more ridges than a bag of mcoys crisps. AAARGH!.

One arch is now done and the other is going to get 4 inches of filler primer once I buy a tin of it and heat it up in the microwave for 10 minutes or what ever you need to do to persuade it to come out the can.

[shite_meister]

all the other shite they ladle on to cars now to make people think they're driving a lexus.

 

Bloody hell, that's about as harsh as you can get. I cannot abide Lexarse. The epitome of dull motoring.

 

LS400's V8 engine is a goodun (when they're not knocking followers for six), but it's wrapped in solid beige bilge. How anyone ever thought that getting a Toyota Carina, xeroxing it up 30%, adding electric seat belt height adjustment and calling it a silly name made it the pinnacle of engineering excellence I'll never know.

 

Yes, they're quiet, but that's about it.

 

I appreciate that you dislike particularly the Lexus LS400 and I'm a BMW man through-and-through despite knowing their weak points, I think we have a pretty similar taste in cars I have owned loads of Rover SD1s and Rangies and I like a big BMW however may I just politely put the case forward for the LS400?

 

I used to really dislike Japanese cars, I found them just dull, boring and about as interesting as anything Cheryl Cole has to say, however when I took a job with Lexus ten years ago (in the parts dept with no factory brain-washing/training may I add) I grew to appreciate the build quality, the engineering and attention to detail especially of the LS400, to me the first generation LS400 (of which I currently own) wallows around corners in a way that a big BMW wouldn't, but its beauty for me is in its build quality, its twenty years old yet drives like a new car, its silent, it all works and touch wood it has been reliable, when Toyota started the LS400 project they started from a fairly blank sheet and to my mind they raised the bar in terms of build quality, fit and finish. Take a look and a 1991 BMW 735i, Mercedes S-Class and an LS400 and its the LS that still feels the most modern. Granted the styling was as you say 'enlarged Carina' but with age the styling is growing on me; think early ninties Japanese Diplomat and it begins to make sense.

 

To me the original UCF10 mk1 model LS400 is the best because it was a more pure and dare I say a more focused design that the later models which were essentially just face-lifted mk1s with added toys and 'lets just redesign everything so it looks newer' (with VVti the exception)

 

The engine is an engineering piece of beauty, its very understressed, it was built in such a way that Toyota could race it in some series (I'm too pissed to remember or care right now) so it was very well made and up untill say about '94ish they were non-intereferance engines so if that cambelt did by some chance break you could be assured that all 32 valves would be alrighty. I would concede though that the engine is no performance powerhouse for a 4.0 litre, it was obviously engineered for refinement rather than balls-out performance and it can be noticable especially in this day in age of modern turbo diesels.

 

I wish it had the presence of an old Merc and the handling of an old BMW but the fact is it was the best that Japan could offer and I think they did bloody well, they just had that typical japanese quality of not having that certain 'It' factor like say a 1991 BMW E32 750i on Alpina wheels or the classic elegance of a 500SE.

 

But cheers anyway.

 

Oh and as for the IS series I think apart from the clocks which i obviously the IS' series 'gimick' its fairly average, but I would like a late GS300 Sport...in Blue.

[Pete-M]

As you know, my current wheels of choice are a '94 XJR. I love it because it's got loads of poke, is well built, has that Brit interior that nobody else seems to have managed to pull off. It's also frickin' gorgeous.

 

Before the LS400, the XJ would have been a fair bit less competant, a lot less reliable and the electrics would have been a disaster. It would have been literally thrown together in Coventry and the public left to find out how to fix it. It would have been an XJ40. This I thank Toyota for. They did raise the bar technically, sensibly and build quality wise with 'em, and they forced Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes et al to do the same. It's just a tragic shame they built the Lexus with absolutely zero character. I'm thinking of chucking an LS400 engine and box into the 604, so I'm not totally blind to the LS400s good point, but to me the LS400 is a brain car, not a heart one. I don't do brain cars. I drive Skodas hundreds of miles a week, I get my fill of good, worthy and sensible when I'm in those. I like my cars to be a little bit more sociable. I love the Jag because it does sideways ludicrously easily, because it sounds great when I welly it, because I enjoy fiddling with silly things like tempramental CD player (Alpine to blame for this). The Lexus will just work until something very expensive breaks. On the Celsior I tried a few years ago, that was the air suspension...

 

I'm gonna flog the Jeep soon, and may well replace it with a bloody Camry. I'll hate it, but only because it'll be boring.

[meggersdog]

In an attempt to leave more cash in my pocket and less at the filling station I bought an inline fuel heater.Before fitting it I replaced the fuel and air filters.Everything is now all fitted and working correctly so today I filtered some waste engine oil.Mixed two gallons with the same amount of diesel and filtered it through a 5 micron bag filter.Now the car smokes like a steam train and it doesn't clear when warm.Arseflakes.

I know of other cars running a 50/50 mix without smoking and I've studied this website http://www.bluegrassfuel.net/ so have I got to take the fuel filter off tomorrow and fill it with injector cleaner ?

[TimothyClaypole]

Reading that link, it says start with a 10% oil to diesel mix then increase it until you find your vehicles level so I'd say 50/50 is too much for yours if it's smoking a lot?

 

Also they mention a 1 micron filter not 5.

 

 

I'm dubious of them saying a 97 Passat has the same build quality as a Kia though...

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Before the LS400, the XJ would have been a fair bit less competant, a lot less reliable and the electrics would have been a disaster. It would have been literally thrown together in Coventry and the public left to find out how to fix it. It would have been an XJ40. This I thank Toyota for. They did raise the bar technically, sensibly and build quality wise with 'em, and they forced Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes et al to do the same. It's just a tragic shame they built the Lexus with absolutely zero character.

 

But don't blame Toyota...think about it. As a company with a very strong focus on quality engineering etc, as opposed to "lifestyle", Toyota probably never WANTED to build the Lexus. However, they probably had a look at (non-US) sales of the Camry being in Tagora territory, and realised that the average new car buyer, especially in the luxury market, doesn't really care THAT much about quality and will only buy it if it comes in a "lifestyle" package. Hence the creation of the Lexus nameplate, which is unrelated to the company's core principles and therefore totally devoid of soul.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

In an attempt to leave more cash in my pocket and less at the filling station I bought an inline fuel heater.Before fitting it I replaced the fuel and air filters.Everything is now all fitted and working correctly so today I filtered some waste engine oil.Mixed two gallons with the same amount of diesel and filtered it through a 5 micron bag filter.Now the car smokes like a steam train and it doesn't clear when warm.Arseflakes.

I know of other cars running a 50/50 mix without smoking and I've studied this website http://www.bluegrassfuel.net/ so have I got to take the fuel filter off tomorrow and fill it with injector cleaner ?

 

What car is it?

Which in line fuel heater are you using?

I've experimented with running on used engine oil and smoke does seem to be a given.

 

From a brief glance, the website seems to be advertising some kind of 'dieselization' of used engine oil using chemicals, very different to what you're doing.

[Tayne]

.

[Richard]

My friend used to run his 1.7D Cavalier on 4 parts waste engine oil to one of petrol. I followed it once, not pleasant.

[Rod/b]

What makes me grumpy? Fucking shipping agents going bust when my worldly posessions are in a container on a ship, and then not paying the local agent. Wankers. So my entire life is now sat in a port and nobody will deliver it until i pay 700 quid i've already paid.

[seth]

Been a bit of an odd day today. Didn't get much sleep last night so I've been tired all day and its the 15th anniversary of my dad dying. Took Ickle_Seth up to the cemetery to have a talk about grandad. She asks more questions and understands a bit more now than she used to but still difficult to explain these things in simple terms.

 

Having a beer now.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

GRUMPINESS HITS NEW LEVELS: The girl who said she was delighted to see me after years of having lost contact (that's something good about faecesbook) and even invited me to stay in her place next time I'm in town not only failed to turn up for dinner as had been scheduled, but she hasn't even texted to say she was going to be late/unable to make it, while my "best friend" who is a lawyer (having lawyer friends is even worse than it sounds) also didn't ring/e-mail with the template for a legal document that I need to write by tomorrow morning!

[meggersdog]

In response to my previous post.The car is my 20 year old Discovery which already had a quarter of a tank of diesel in it.The heater is from P & L trading who trade on ebay.Due to plastic pipes the heater is before the lift pump,the pump is a handspan away from the filter and it automatically cuts in and out when up to temperature.I spoke with a guy who is running a VW Caddy on a 50/50 mix and he told me to try it for a month.After driving about yesterday all seems well.There is smoke on start-up but nothing like it was before and it clears quickly.There is black soot under hard acceleration but looking at the photos of those injectors from that website I think it's clearing everything out which is why matey told me to try it for a month.I've seen the emissions results of a car running 50/50 and it is much cleaner than straight diesel.If you factor in shipping costs the processor on that website works out at just over £900.00.Due to this cost I phoned customs & excise to check the legalities of running on waste oil.At first the customs man thought it might be classed as a fuel extender but because you are processing a waste product as an alternative fuel he then said it should be classed as a biofuel so no duty to pay.

So not grumpy at all.I will let you all know the results after experimenting for a month.

[tonedepear]

IMAG0208 by Tony Lloyd, on Flickr

GR8 for learning to park.

[Station]

I have a tool fairy, I've lost so many tools over the year, I'm going to have to replace 1/2 of them. I have one 'advanced' screwdriver left out of 8, I had 18 ratchet spanners (bendy and fixed head), I only have 8 left, most being of sizes I'll never use (9mm?!?!). I had four pairs of mole grips, now I only have one, and any clamping with them just opens the joint to maximum. Shite!

[Des]

There is definitely some kind of a curse thing going on with tools when used anywhere near cars, I've done the research, need a phillips to tighten a window winder? I will find nothing but flat, and phillips too large or too small, then remember the 1/4 inch bits with the cordless, guess which one will be missing, If I'm lucky I'll find a small flat electrical driver to stuff in. Go back in 5 mins for a flat to tighten a hoseclip, they've scarpered and all the phillips have crawled out of the woodwork to laugh at me. Work on something other than cars, find I need to remove something obscure like a tiny countersunk pozidrive, it's a bit rusty and looks like I'll only get one chance to remove it, as I turn toward the bench to rummage I'll stand on a small pozi screwdriver, even though I just tidied and swept up, reaching to the bench to steady myself as I stoop for my prize my hand will find another small pozi, small pozis will begin falling from the sky. Less tools you have the better.

[Station]

It's bad when you need one, otherwise that's a day over and you can't do anymore.

[warren t claim]

I have a tool fairy, I've lost so many tools over the year, I'm going to have to replace 1/2 of them. I have one 'advanced' screwdriver left out of 8, I had 18 ratchet spanners (bendy and fixed head), I only have 8 left, most being of sizes I'll never use (9mm?!?!). I had four pairs of mole grips, now I only have one, and any clamping with them just opens the joint to maximum. Shite!

 

Earlier this year I threw a party to celebrate the purchase of my 100th 13mm/half inch ring spanner and socket.

[The Moog]

Internet .. or lack of it. Been without it for 8 weeks and finally got it back today. It is never anyones fault is it!

 

Also work have decided that they need to block AS so couldnt even see it there.

[revolting peasant]

[warren t claim]

I had that leaflet about AV arrive today. I'm still not sure what I'll vote for on election day.

[revolting peasant]

[autofive]

1. Ebay.

Why the fuck is it so bastard hard to set up an account to sell your old shit.

You can only list 10 things a month, on an auction (no BINs), and they want to hold on to your money for 21 days after the event.

 

you get your money after feedback from the buyer has been left, or 21 days. Ask buyer to leave feedback asap and explain why - it worked for me

[dollywobbler]

An incident today has reminded me just how pleasurable driving around here is. Sadly, today's journey was like being back on the mean streets of Birmingham.

 

First of all, White Van Man overtakes me in a 40mph zone when I'm already doing 40. That pisses me off, but what can you do? Next, coming through one of those terrifyingly built-up but still 60mph roads in the sticks, some dizzy bint pulls out in front of me. I'd already eased off as I could quite clearly see her (wonder why she couldn't see me then) and I'm always cautious on what is a pretty dangerous stretch of road (lots of driveways and a blind junction - really good fun). I ease off but I'm not braking, so I do get quite close, though I then back off. I can see her gesticulating as if she's being electrocuted.

 

Then she turns right. I try to keep the car moving, as I always do, but it soon becomes apparent that she's not going to turn right, so I stop. Perhaps a bit close. Then she gets out and starts screaming at me and how I'm threatening the life of her precious boy in the back. I retorted that if she cared so much, perhaps she shouldn't pull out in front of people but this failed to calm her down for some reason. It's starting to turn into a Jeremy Kyle special only there's no-one here to edit in the bleeps - a great example to set in front of her child then! Eventually I reverse, squeeze up the inside of her stationary car and I'm away.

 

Kind of a reminder to self that it's a lot less stressful to just brake and let the idiots get on with it!

 

I'm also grumpy that I wired my MP3/CD player into the Saab, carefully undoing a previous wiring mess, only for it not to work - it's not reading CDs. Bother.

[boobydoo]

^^ I find that with annoying wimmin, its best to comment viciously on some unnattractive physical attribute of theirs. i.e fat arse, flat chest , faint moustache .......that soon shuts them up and they get all tearful and back off.

 

Job done.