craigowl

mrbeige Some of these organised up to date guys recommend taking low resolution kwik pics with a digital camera when disassembling components. Never tried it yet - but "you know it makes sense"!

beeftech said Same factory as Micky Mouse watches - in back street in Hong Kong, circa 1960s. Headlight switch made in same sweatshop as those toys you get in cheap Christmas crackers. :evil:

g60dub said Its OK, None taken really. Best regards

Thanks guys. I knew I would touch a raw nerve! G60dub said That upsets me! I spend hours looking after my cars - 1995 Corrado and 1991 Pug 205!

The longer I have the Corrado, the more I think it is poorly designed and built. The latest thing I have found is that, after taking it out of the garage on a cold day, the amount of water vapour that has to clear from inside the car is phenomenal. The heater and bodywork do not leak, but water caught in places in the vehicle when it was last out does not drain - it has to be turned into steam first and then blown out (like Alien?). Although you can dry the outside of the vehicle properly, quite clearly, pockets of water are caught up around the windscreen/dashboard/vents area and you have to suffer steamy windows for a good part of an hour before the inside is dry again. What a pi## poor car, but I still like some aspects of it. A pity it was not more perfect, though. Is the Corrado over rated? Its the best car Ive ever driven but Ive mostly always had less pacy reliable things. Are there other cool cars about at similar cost with less niggles?

Timo said Your right, they are great. I had 3 versions all from new. The only serious failure was a BLOWN HEAD GASKET - somewhat inconsiderately of her, on the Isle of Arran when we were on family holiday. My daughter's £250 one with 120k miles on clock has seen her learn to drive, pass test and now she commutes to Edinburgh in it. Maybe it will last for years - maybe not. On the whole, though, you can trust them. A naturalist on Deeside I had dealings with had one with 350k on it at the last count. He had never washed it and it allegedly had no rust. Story made the Scottish "Sun". Not a glamorous car, but an understated great.

Excellent work Olly. I fitted up a splint on my switch when it broke nearly 2 years ago. I briefly described my repair on the forum, saying that the mended switch will last longer than the car and slagging Teutonic quality technology. Your howto is much more sophisticated than mine and I am retired with plenty of time, so you deserve great credit!!

Ive been in the AA for 30 years but this is first ive heard of this report. I suppose you had to know of its existence to get a copy. This Slick 50 stuff then, OK for brushing onto rusty hinges on the garden gate then or pouring onto the Christmas pud? :)

Very interesting post oilman. Thanks. Is Slick 50 one with chlorinated additives?

Visually extremely appealing at first glance.

Impatient locals or regulars behind you at night in the rain when you are approaching a strange airport or town centre and dont really know where you are supposed to be going or what is the best lane to be in and cant read the road signs until you are level with them. Even worse with passengers who give you bum steers.

NelsonWilbury said Have seen pix and comments about dinkus. Ask dr mat to explain irony!

Kevhaywire said metman is dead :cry: - reincarnated as Craigowl. Berkshire pubs are 8) 8) . I have been married to Berkshire woman for 35 years, too. :)

2 pics taken on Craigowl in about December 1965. First shows view to north towards Grampian mountains. Car is Cortina mk1 estate. Not mine - I didnt have car for another 5 years. 2nd pic is looking sw to River Tay.

musicman said Not now. Retired. My name isnt Craig, Craigowl is a hill outside my home town, Dundee. Perhaps I should change my name to Schecter, but I still can't play it. Pic of Craigowl to follow later.

Common misunderstanding about windchill temperature. It does not matter whether the air is still or moving at, say, 40 knots (46 mph) - the temperature sensor, or one of the older mercury in glass thermometers will still read plus 3 C if the temperature of the air is plus 3 C. However, the calculated "wind-chill equivalent temperature" will be about minus 7 C. 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) This is what the temp will "feel like" to a human being. Ice would not form except if the person's clothes were wet and the humidity of the air was extremely low. The freezing being caused by the removal of heat by latent heat of evaporation.

musicman said Very good point geetarman 8, and not many people will know that! Well worth spreading the word. Because bridges merely have air below them, which is a poor conductor of heat, they cool off a lot more on radiation nights than does anything in direct contact with the ground, such as the highway. Even on the coldest of nights there is an upward flux of heat from below the earth's surface trying to balance the loss of heat to space from the earth's surface. Car roofs and bonnets behave like bridges, too. Further, a blanket of fresh snow, full of air, acts like a roll of insulation, stopping the earth's warmth from escaping upwards. Most or all of our lowest temperatures occur when there is a good snow cover. Gritting and salting authorities are usually aware of the need for extra salt at certain spots - or where the bridge is made of metal - a non-corrosive deicing chemical. Safe driving all. After a couple of days of milder windy weather, you may have noted that colder, wintry conditions are expected before Christmas. On Saturday, bookies were only giving 2 to 1 for snow on Christmas day. Consultants are giving them too much help! A few years ago I dont think you saw odds as low as 2 to 1 a week before Christmas. A couple of my former colleagues won over £1k a few years ago - it made the front page of the Scottish Sun and our boss was not pleased!

Scruffser said Always use quality oil and filters. For those of us with enquiring minds, though, are you able to point us to some evidence of a sound scientific nature that Slick 50 is not good? I will never use it again if I can read some authoritative proof about its worthlessness, otherwise I will be left feeling there is some unfounded prejudice about the stuff. Car manufacturers are bound to be against its use - they want us to have cars wearing out, preferably well before 100k.

Dr mat said Good call doc! Believe it or not, I have not seen the little frost symbol, merely because the C is cuddled up in the garage in nasty weather - that is for little Pugrot! Anyway, that is the forum working well, we are learning things from each other. :) 8) That is what I had read, too. Never actually got down on my hands and knees to look, evemn though I wear an anorak :) b However, when I have been out in the C the temperature on the MFA has corresponded well with the air temperature recorded by my air temp sensors at the 4foot level. We need to remember, though, that on clear, still nights and mornings, the temperature gradient between the ground and 4 ft above it can be really steep. An "official" air minimum temperature of, say, plus 2C can see tar/concrete temperatures of minus 1 C and grass turf figures of minus 3 C. Any way, whatever you believe, be observant and take care.

For those of you that know this already, apologies. However, if it prevents one of you guys from coming a cropper, it will be worth it. Remember that in the winter half of the year, whilst the air temperature indicated by your car may indicate a temperature above freezing point (0 degrees C), under clear skies when the sun is low or below the horizon, the road surface temps can be one or two degrees colder than an indicated air temperature. (Unless the car designers have taken this into consideration and set the values lower than truth - im not sure if many/any do.) Below is a graph showing today's shaded air temperature (about 1.2 metres above the ground in this case - the standard height for measuring air temp in Europe), and the corresponding figures recorded by a sensor on a tarmac square at ground level. The 2nd graph for a day in June shows that the opposite occurs. Heat gained during the day mostly keeps the tarmac temp above the air temp, even during the night.

My local garage owner, a formula Ford racer and Ferrari owner, who is always cynical about anything gimicky, said he thought that, on the whole, Slick 50 was beneficial. My Peugeot 205 is still performing as good as new after 13 years of ownership. In recent years I have added about 20ml of Slick 50 to the engine oil at each change. Whatever the theories, whether they be scientifically based or merely hunches, if you find something works you stick with it. I havent had an engine wear problem in 32 years of car ownership but I tend not to screw the guts out of them, which will favour longevity. So, as we say in Scotland, "case not proven" either way.

kevhaywire said Ahh. So that explains why you sometimes talk about being torched by a big black geezer in a previous life and dont like women who look like Sigourney Weaver?

That might be the original filter from new Storm2?

Dinkus said Don't knock flat caps (and Barbour Jackets - and a beard), they can work in your favour. Years ago, I was in a job which involved travelling all the highways and byways of Scotland and some of the islands in summer. I used to find that on single track roads with passing places, if you drove hard along the straights whilst wearing such attire, nearly every car coming the other way quickly scurried into a passing place to let you proceed. As I was only driving newish Polos during that time and not, say, an intimidating vehicle like a Range Rover, I put this courtesy from others down to the fact that I looked like a local - e.g., a shepherd, forestry worker, factor, etc. So, if you drive around the sticks looking as if you own the place just watch the touristes run for cover :oops:

From an expert engineer specialising in VW:- "....Had no feedback on Slick 50 in the gearbox. I have personally fitted to Scirocco boxes and the present car has run 100k miles with no failure. It does smooth the gear change. .........Certainly haven,t heard of Slick 50 causing problems. It does wear out though. Indications are that it lasts for 40k - 50k miles. The big bonus for the VR6 is to combine engine oil slick 50 with Castrol GTX Magnatec 15w40 oil. The result is a very quiet engine with hardly any OHC tappet noise, just purrs." Another split of opinion re the C. :roll: