Funkster

Convoyed for a bit with N*** PWV on the M5 on Sunday - nice standard car although I think it had different wheels. My passengers were amused at another identical car showing up ) Anyone? I thought I kinda recognised the plate from someone's sig... -- Olly

Nox in the field of automotive engineering is used to refer to the collection of (harmful) oxides of nitrogen. Emitted levels of these are legislated and so on. http://www.epa.gov/air/urbanair/nox/ -- Olly

The reason nitrous oxide (N2O) is used rather than pure oxygen (O2) is that oxygen cannot be kept as a liquid at room temperature. As a result any useful amount of oxygen that you wanted to carry would need an enourmous and heavy tank, with the gas stored at an enourmous pressure. Welding oxygen bottles are at 2500psi when full and is still only as dense as 280g/litre. Nitrous oxide, on the other hand, becomes liquid at room temperature at a mere 800psi, and the liquid has a density of 1.2kg/litre. Admittely only 430g of this is oxygen atoms, the rest being inert nitrogen, but this is still an easy way of storing a lot of oxygen. It also has the characteristic that the oxygen is not liberated from the nitrogen until it is subjected to heat - the heat found in your combustion chambers. As such it is *slightly* less dangerous than pure gaseous oxygen when released into the atmosphere. I bet you really wanted to know that. -- Olly

Red C, lowered with bigger than standard wheels, spotted yesterday in a small road just off Humber Road in coventry. I waved. Anyone on here? -- Olly

I'd be interested in the oil cooler kit - not sure what they normally cost though :) Yarr, -- Olly

fwiw, I found that I had to take the bolt out of the rear engine mount as otherwise the crank pulley hit the chassis rail and prevented the engine coming up enough to get the pump or pulley off. Still managed to do it in about 3 hours, and I took photos so I'll put 'em up here sometime. Doesn't seem to have made any difference though, didn't drop below 90 quickly after moving off, although it did come down after a while. Also got oil up to 114 while just tooling around the back lanes, and it's cool out tonight. Anyone had any bad experiences with aftermarket radiators? -- Olly

You can have a GPS recovery system already... http://www.auto-txt.com I have one on my 'rado, but then I got it free 'cos I'm their designer :) -- Olly

Another vote here for if-it-happens-I'm-emigrating. Mind you, GPS is spectacularly easy to jam and if anyone forced some government-stamped box of tricks onto one of my cars (yeah, right!) there would be another, suspiciously heath-robinson, box of tricks sitting next to it that would cut my road tax bill substantially! Bunch of crooks. Group move to argentina anyone? -- Olly

Forgot to mention, there were a couple of Delta Integrales and a 180ps TT Quattro there too. The Morris is blue with a white stripe and does 11-second quarters when the nitrous is applied ) Cheers, -- Olly

'lo all, I've just got back from the Triumph Register's annual Curborough sprint event, and was pleased to have chalked up the fastest time of the day - 30.7 seconds (on the short course). The hit-list includes an RS6 (he was 2nd fastest), a BMW bike-engined 3-wheeler, a Rover turbo powered TR7, some westfields, a very hot MG midget, a super-sports trim MGTF, and a motley selection of other tuned classics. Great day out, but now I need a new front left tyre! Oh and I need to sort out my ABS, the dead front right sensor was increasing my braking distance I'm sure... ) -- Olly

Excellent - I'll have a go at that if GSF have a pump in stock. Am I likely to break anything else in the process? I'll put a new belt on as the existing one looks a bit tired. Thanks, -- Olly

It can really be done in an hour? The manual makes it look more involved. I'm half tempted to change mine this weekend 'cos I'm sprinting the car on tuesday and would like to alleviate any cooling system paranoia. I noticed on a hot day last week that although it would cool on the motorway, if I let the temp creep up to 100 in traffic (where the fans would catch it) and then moved away at say 45mph in clear air, it wouldn't get below 95 again. Both rad pipes seemed to be the same temp at this point, but it's hard to tell. Pesky hot VRs! -- Olly

How does one access the hidden digital tacho? Also I've heard there's a way to turn the MFA into a digital speedo - I tried holding the button down when turning the ignition on once but this only served to removed some stuff from the list of available things. Cheers, -- Olly

But the fan will after-burn even if you disconnect the rad switch... albeit only on slow speed, which the manual leads me to believe is all there is. innit? -- Olly

Yellow sensor (now black/blue) does the run-on fans, not the fans while the ignition is on. Also, it costs 26 quid from the stealer... fwiw. -- Olly

Saw a white C (didn't catch plate or engine type) on the roundabout at the A444 end of the A4082 in coventry this morning, at about half 8. I didn't get spotted as far as I could tell. -- Olly

Performance is closer than I had expected! Especially if you let the speeds climb a bit as the scooby is hardly slippery. Obviously the scoob can destroy the C off the line but with a rolling start in 2nd there isn't much in it. This is compared against the estate version WRX, standard apart from an STi exhaust. Not sure if it's a different spec to others. -- Olly

Saw J*** UNH on the southbound side of the A46 as I was queueing this morning - he didn't see me though. Dark coloured, looked very clean and tidy from what I could see. Yarr, -- Olly

There's 3 bolts on the stat housing - if I could get my stupid frikkin' good-for-nothing bentley manual to run I'd post a piccie. I can't so I can only add that there are two short ones and one longer one, all with their 5mm socket heads facing away from you as you look at the housing from the front of the car. fwiw, -- Olly

It shouldn't affect your alarm - you don't really need to take the battery out (although it does give you more room if you do). Kev, you mention separating 'stat housing from the rest of the housing but not removing the rest of the housing from the block - I couldn't get a tool in to undo the 'stat housing bolts without removing the whole lot. What did I miss? Taraa, -- Olly

The demo version of 311.2 is here: http://www.ross-tech.net/vag-com/downlo ... e3112n.exe hth, -- Olly

I bought an alpha-bid lead just recently and it works just fine. You need version 311.2 of VAG-COM to make it work as the newer ones don't support generic leads. Yarr, -- Olly

Sounds like you need a generous helping of VR6-noise! There's nothing more encouraging than the sound of even a standard C at full bellow. If you're stuck, drop by the west midlands and you can have a go in mine :D It's easy to get naffed off with a project that's taken so long and still isn't right. I've had quite a big break from my MG and I'm feeling very keen to crack on with it now. Yarr, -- Olly

I have VAGCOM and the OBDII connector, can help out in Coventry/Warwickshire depending on timing. Drop me a PM. -- Olly

No engine faults showing in VAG-COM, although it seems my front right ABS sensor has gone for a burton: Address 03 ------------------------------------------------------- Controller: 1H0 907 379 E Component: ABS/EDS TEVES 04 2 Faults Found: 00285 - ABS Wheel Speed Sensor: Front Right (G45) 35-00 - - 00285 - ABS Wheel Speed Sensor: Front Right (G45) 04-00 - Mechanical Malfunction Coolant temp reported by the ECU was if anything slightly higher than what the gauge was showing. I'll have to sort out batteries for my laptop 'cos it only works off the mains at the moment and I'd like to see what the ECU thinks the temp is while driving. Cheers, -- Olly