THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[warren t claim]

I don't really get it to be honest. Why there was such reluctance to adopt decimal currency and drag the UK into the 20th century is beyond me.

 

I don't have a clue how imperial weights work either.

 

I find it surprising that we measure the width of tyres in metric but the wheel diameter in imperial. That must really piss the French off.

 

As a Scouser I always remember that there are 28 grams to an ounce....

[Cavcraft]

Burton's as in 'I'll show my arse in Burton's Window if my ***** goes a week without breaking down'?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Jeez. I've never understood pre-decimalization monies and even after all this explanation I still have no fuggin' clue. Much as I like to think I could happily live in the 60s with no modern 'conveniences' I'm glad I do't have to deal with that lot every day!

Me too. I could be short changed by every shopkeeper in the country and I'd never know.

 

My favourite part of the old money was pricing some goods in guineas - one pound and one shilling. Obviously the money wasn't complicated enough and some consumer goods needed to be sold using a unit which hadn't existed as a coin in over a century and was worth the mental arithmetic friendly amount of 'a pound and a bit'.

 

This is a nice TV, but that floor stand doesn't look like it's worth one pound and a bit plus half of one pound and a bit less of a bit.

 

[The Moog]

Had a fiddle with the Micra today. The front has been clonking a bit over bumps. It has got new front dampers and springs look alright. When I grab top and bottom of the wheel it wobbles a bit, is this wheel bearing?

 

 

And I have finally reached the end with my saab. Fitted the new pick up bellow and put it all back together and it wont start. It has been a pig from start to finish. I am thinking of lugging it on bay with 99p no reserve. Only issue is that I have got a new set of tyres on it. Will track down some space savers first and take them off to fit to the Volvo.

[Shep Shepherd]

Just obtained a TÃœV Emissions Sticker for TV2, as I'll have to drive through/park in at least one Umweltzone (low emissions zone) in Germany when I'm there in a couple of weeks:

 

 

It cost me €12.50, but it is valid throughout Germany and is good for the life of the car. Not sure what happens if I ever need to get a new windscreen, though, as it doesn't look likely that the sticker will be reusable...

 

I suggest that anyone considering driving to Germany obtains a sticker ASAP, if they haven't already done so, in order to avoid a €40 fine should they inadvertently end up in an Umweltzone. I drove The Volvo into one in Duisburg last year without realising and got away with it, but I might not be as lucky this time...

 

Shep's Link-O-Matic: http://www.tuev-nord.de/de/verkehr/ENGL ... e_8648.htm

[Guest]

My favourite part of the old money was pricing some goods in guineas - one pound and one shilling. Obviously the money wasn't complicated enough and some consumer goods needed to be sold using a unit which hadn't existed as a coin in over a century and was worth the mental arithmetic friendly amount of 'a pound and a bit'.

There's a good bit in School for Scoundrels (the 60s one) where the main character haggles down the price of a car and the unscrupulous dealer quietly changes from pounds to guineas, thereby making the final price actually slightly more than the starting price. For that reason alone, I'd like the guinea to be reintroduced.

[Shep Shepherd]

Nice to pass the info on, Shep. But WHAT A SCREW JOB by the German gummit and their blood-sucking henchmen at the privately-owned TUV. Fuquers.

 

Many Germans - especially those who own older cars - consider the whole "Umweltzone" business to be a useless piece of regulation, as most of the fine particulate dust in cities comes from brake pads and modern diesel engines...

[messerschmitt owner]

Nice to pass the info on, Shep. But WHAT A SCREW JOB by the German gummit and their blood-sucking henchmen at the privately-owned TUV. Fuquers.

 

We have one here - the biggest in Europe IIRC - thank you Mr Livingstone - my seven-year-old, 22,000 mile Merc 416cdi isn't allowed into London as of 1 January next year (that's January, 1 for those on the other side of the wet stuff) as it will kill babies, attack all women of child-bearing age and cause everyone else to asphyxiate.

[Cavcraft]

And if you chose to carry on driving it they can happily continue dry bumming you in extra charges.

[Shep Shepherd]

Didn't the car-hating cat-voiced cnut want to ban every pre-1986 vehicle from Greater London at one point during his time as mayor?

[Cavcraft]

I'll give you that one!

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

this emission bollocks is alarming...I think they're also doing it in Italy.

 

Hey, burning tons and tons of natural gas in the winter releases masses of CO2...Instead of picking on those who are too poor and/or too shrewd to buy new cars every couple of years, how about trying to penalise everyone who's got a gas boiler and see how popular you become?

[mnde]

.

.

.

The STOP and (!) dash lights came on during my journey home today in the BX... I got home and opened the bonnet to be greeted by this:

 

 

 

Where the leak is coming from: the operational return from the pressure regulator/height correctors.

 

 

Here's a video if you're interested:

 

 

Bummer... Well that means, GSA, you're Back in Play!

 

 

...while I decide what to do.

 

 

Mark.

[dollywobbler]

There is a BX forum, and there are most posts under the For Sale heading than any other single heading on the forum.

 

Actually, you're wrong. There are more posts in the Technical section than any other.

[autofive]

My favourite part of the old money was pricing some goods in guineas - one pound and one shilling. Obviously the money wasn't complicated enough and some consumer goods needed to be sold using a unit which hadn't existed as a coin in over a century and was worth the mental arithmetic friendly amount of 'a pound and a bit'.

There's a good bit in School for Scoundrels (the 60s one) where the main character haggles down the price of a car and the unscrupulous dealer quietly changes from pounds to guineas, thereby making the final price actually slightly more than the starting price. For that reason alone, I'd like the guinea to be reintroduced.

 

the Swiftmobile

 

[Cavcraft]

Is that (as it looks) a short piece of pipe Mark? Hopefully won't be too hard/expensive to replace. Can't you ask Richard if he has any spares, he seems quite popular at the moment?

[Cavcraft]

{BING BONG!} DOCTOR REQUIRED TO WARD1, I REPEAT DOCTOR REQUIRED TO WARD 1. URGENT, PLEASE BRING TRANQUILISERS. {BING BONG!}

 

*Warning, more faces than the town hall clock content*

 

Well, the Jag's just gone and I've taken a) leave oy my senses and a 'not very well rated' car in part chop.

I did say Lagunas were GR8 cars didn't it?

More to come probably tomorrow. After I've woken up and looked out of the window and prayed it was all a bad dream.

[wuvvum]

Is it one of these?

 

 

I actually thought mine was quite a pleasant thing, but then I didn't have it long enough for it to start going wrong. They're not the easiest of things to sell on though...

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The AS community can breathe a sigh of relief as the new battery is in place on the Scorpio, the only casualty being the nut holding the plastic cover that fell somewhere by the tray (it was the last one, everything seems to be in place and I had a spare one so I didn't look for it too hard). Even if it's a shit brand ('PROFESSIONAL'? who are you? J.P. Belmondo?) and only 515CCA, it works and still hasn't blown up, so I guess that was a bit of a success, especially considering the 'square terminal' scarcity and price premium- a Yuasa would be an extra 25+ quid.

 

In other news, I've located some of the cheapest semi-synthetic 15w-40 of EVAH at Wilkinsons (13.something for 5L of API SL spec), so I'll be treating the Accord to an oil change (or, more likely, a heavy dose of pain and misery) in the near future. The radiator still seems to be working reasonably well, so I'm not touching it yet...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Good work LAU! Looking forward to hearing all about the oil change, sort of

[Guest Len H]

I think 15W/40 is a bit thick for a whizzbang 16V DOHC engine.

[r.welfare]

Probably won't matter given the high mileage on it, but I'd agree 10W40 is more like it.

[wuvvum]

Asda are doing 5 litres of 10w40 semi-synth for a tenner at the moment. Or at least they were last week when I went in there.

[cort16]

I'm going on holiday for 2 weeks and I've a feeling the oil change thread might still be going when I come back.

Good luck though, you'll never know how to do it if you don't try,

[Justin Case]

In other news, I've located some of the cheapest semi-synthetic 15w-40 of EVAH at Wilkinsons (13.something for 5L of API SL spec), so I'll be treating the Accord to an oil change in the near future. ...

 

In case you have any difficulty in removing the sump plug, may I be the first to suggest the employment of a bigger/smaller* socket/lump hammer*

 

* Delete as applicable

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Put no truck in the phrase "semi-synthetic", for it is a marketing term, having no technical meaning. It's like saying "good", or "yummy", or "nice". Means nothing. If they have 100% dino oil for 10 pence less, go for that and save your money.

 

I don't think there's any mineral oil about that's not 20w-50.

I'll go to Asda and see if I can get that 10w-40...Had my eye on some Gulf-branded 10w-40 in Home Bargains (a tenner for 4 litres...can always top-up for free at Shit Fit), but it had all gone by the time I returned to buy it.

 

In case you have any difficulty in removing the sump plug, may I be the first to suggest the employment of a bigger/smaller* socket/lump hammer

 

Funnily enough, last time I did an oilchange, removing the filter was a right pain in the backside. The wrench was put aside and the age-old hammer+screwdriver approach was chosen.

[Cavcraft]

Is it one of these?

 

 

I actually thought mine was quite a pleasant thing, but then I didn't have it long enough for it to start going wrong. They're not the easiest of things to sell on though...

 

 

In about fifteen minutes time I'll tell you why I found that so funny

[The Moog]

Stripped out the VW gearlever and linkage this afternoon and discovered not only is the plastic bit is broken but there are two plastic tangs that sit on the end of the selector fork that are missing. Luckily someone has remanufactured them. Two bit of plastic plus two metal holding pins .. .that will be £25 please ... ouch. So refit kit is £50 plus this now. Any more and the gear linkage might as well be swapped for the cable one for £300 and means no messing about

 

Had another think about the saab and think I have replaced a cable tie with a jubilee clip and that is what is stopping the bellows fitting into the white plastic reservoir. So that is my last try before I give in.

 

Also crossing fingers that the hub for the micro will turn up tomorrow before i have to drive to edinburgh.

[Negative Creep]

Knocking from the BMW has stopped as quickly as it started. Had a look around underneath and nothing seems to be out of place, so I'm at a loss as to what was doing it but I'm not complaining. I can only guess a bit of debris got trapped there, or the bit in question has fallen off .

[Pete-M]

Probably won't matter given the high mileage on it, but I'd agree 10W40 is more like it.

 

They're meant to be run on 5/30 aren't they? Or you end up shafting the cam followers.