craigowl

That's interesting, Yan and david and I know you will be correct. 8) Is this seen in auto and aero engineering? Come to think of it, there are some dry metal/nylon or nylon/nylon sliding parts around in other applications. Presumably a little silicon spray or WD-40 might improve these runners, or can you forsee a snag in using these lubricants, too?

Always have done. Who wants to have a clutch/accelerator or bonnet cable fail on them for the sake of a few minutes work? The things may have already got lubricant on them from the factory but who knows. The last one I got for the C I sprayed white grease into one end whilst holding the cable vertically. I then hung it in the garage that way until I could see that the grease had come all the way through before fitting it. Cant do any harm, anyway. I have always lubed cables in our cars from time to time and we have not had one snap or stick in nearly 40 years of motoring. I am no engineer but anything I can do to prevent a breakdown - I go for it.

Wow - there are some unmannerly, bitter individuals out there. Free speech is a priceless and hard won gift, why waste it for unquestionably negative purposes? Difficult, I know, but try not to let drink or ego allow others to form an indelible, possibly false, impression of your character in the minds of other forum users. R.I.P.

Post the pic out to Iraq and most of the yanks and our boys will make their own way home double quick! :lol: PS IIRC you can bid for a very large hi-tec printed version signed by the artist for a starter of $30,000. 8)

Don't underestimate danger of this, David. When my eldest son took his VR6 to garage complaining of smell of petrol fumes, leaking pipes were identified and they would not allow him to take car away in that state.

The guy painted it when he was 66, I estimate. Maybe his memory was failing :( .

Found this poster called Yellow Rose of Texas instantly appealing. Painted in 2005 by Greg Hildebrandt (b1939) in the style of 40s-50s pinups. Apparently the road sign is there in real life today. As for the girl, well.... words fail me.

In Scotland for the last few years - not that I drive in the rush hour now - I cannot remember the last time someone behind me in the fast lane flashed at me to pull over. I always hated this arrogant, antisocial, impatience. Dont know whether people are more tolerant or whether this behaviour really has decreased. Perhaps being in an "H" or "M" reg car helps? Any comments from you guys involved in the cut and thrust of the daily grind and commute?

Cheers, peanut. Funnily enough, we saw a nice pale blue Capri in Aberdeenshire that day.

Thanks for your input, vr6storm. 8) This spot is about 6 miles north of Fyvie Castle. When I looked up the A947 on google, there were several accident accounts, but all in the last 3 years or so. I am dealing with a non-fatal serious head-on crash here on black ice several years ago, but I do not think the flowers will be for that event. Re driving up in your part of the world, I encountered some appalling tactics on the day in question - do you know the A957, Crathes to Stonehaven road? (I took it on the return journey to miss Aberdeen) 80% of it seems to have double white centre lines and with long, heavy lorries using it, passing is virtually impossible. Presumably these guys are trying to miss out Aberdeen, too. Never mind, this did not deter the plonker in the Golf 2.0 FSI behind me, dipped headlights 2 metres from my rear and the Z4 behind him who overtook me and the lorry in the wet after I had squeezed past the truck at one of the short stretches of broken centre line. On the positive side, the drive from Stonehaven to Dundee in the early evening was swift and excellent on the A90. Considerably different to when I was last on it.

Did a 340 mile round trip to Turriff and back in the C yesterday. (Average = 34.5mpg, by the way, in VR6). The enclosed pic is of the A947 Old Meldrum to Turriff road at what is probably an accident black spot. A bunch of plastic flowers were attached to the trunk of one of the trees near the most distant signpost on the right hand side of the road. The view is looking back towards Fyvie. The road bridges the River Ythan (Towie Bridge) a few metres up from where the photo was taken. Do any of you local guys, just by chance, have any anecdotal information regarding "black ice" and accidents on this bend?

Yes I've moved to Edinburgh now - I'm renting in Broxburn at the moment - will find somewhere to buy soon I hope... Got a new job through here as I was bored of Dundee and the job up there. Miss it a bit but will get over it! Cool 8) . I have lived seven miles from Broxburn - in LInlithgow since 1978 - and worked in Edinburgh 1978-1990. Let me know if you need any local advice. Pop over with the C - or I can find you in Broxburn if you like. My eldest son (35) is in his second Edinburgh house and our youngest lad (32) who works in Edinburgh ("The Scotsman" group) has just moved into his second house in Polmont which is cheaper (but rising fast) than Edinburgh and has a railway station on the main Edinburgh line. Our daughter (26) commutes to Edinburgh Park by car from near Polmont, too. Linlithgow is very expensive, too, now.

O/t You are "moving to Edinburgh", _leon_? New job, or what?

Interesting post, Herr Doktor :) I do a regular return journey of 126 miles and got 34mpg a few weeks ago and thought that was good. I agree with you about lowering - mine is standard, too. My son had his VR6's bumper damaged in one of our fave highland glens and his wasn't even lowered. Life has enough grief in it without worrying about whether your favourite car is going to scrape itself to destruction for the sake of looking cool or marginally improving cornering. :wink:

I agree with those that say it is a coincidence. Good luck, anyway, with your investigation.

Yes, I saw that, Mk1Campane. :) I like quality components, but being an old git and not working, it will need to come down in price with the group buy for me to go for it.

Yes,alex, I just used jubilees I bought at Halfords and with a brand name I recognised (having firstly made a list of the sizes and quantities I needed). I would agree stainless steel ones are a very sensible upgrade. Cheap clips will pinch or cut the hoses and go rusty. The clean engine compartment is courtesy of Autoglym Engine Cleaner followed by their Vinyl/rubber Protector. Car ain't for dirty weather driving either! If you read the instructions on the label on the Engine Cleaner bottle it will describe how to do it. Have not come across anything better in 38 years of looking after cars. 8)

When I changed to Samcos at 100k miles, all the original hoses still appeared to be good for a further few thousand miles at least. I sold the one you are discussing here (to Jenks), as that one seems to be in demand because it is the first to fail. I still have most of the others as spares, having sprayed them with Autoglym vinyl/rubber preservative before packing them away. They will be 12 years old now.

Yes, I think I got 7 hoses and 2 of them carry air/fumes - not coolant. (These two are sitting on engine cover in pic.) Two you do not get in the kit are for the oil cooler at the bottom of engine, IIRC.

daves16v door handle repair kit. Nice, solid piece of functional engineering. Well packaged and delivered promptly. 8) Good one, Dave! :thumb right:

Have used many Autoglym products for years and most are excellent. Have not used this one yet, but Turtle Wax have had this type of wet wax out for a couple of years and I have used them a couple of times with great results on occasions when you cannot be bothered doing a proper wax. Very quick to do, too.

Hello Dave, Hope you are much refreshed after your hols 8) I would like to order a pair of the kits. Can you pm me details of how to do so. Prefer to pay by cheque as I have not taken to Paypal. Best regards Iain (craigowl)

I suspect VR6 drivers (includes me) may soon be getting hammered taxwise and through penalties for having a huge, clumping carbon footprint :lol: . With the extreme flooding event fresh in their mind, the UK population is bound to be more receptive to the climate change story than ever before, IMO. The government and its scientific advisers are bound to be mulling things over bigtime right now. Possibly this conversion to a modern economical but torquey diesel engine powering our Cs will become a hot one in the next year or two?

Herisites Aux pump and 5amp fuse. I am not an expert on electrics, but I guess such a low amperage fuse would have to blow when the pump's electric motor labours or seizes. Matrix bypass valve. Dont know about this, sorry.

Ah, that's interesting, Cazza. So an earlier version just had the simple tube instead of the fancy component the 1995s have?