Nuggit

Cheers guys! jslootweg : I'm going to keep it updated, just waiting for a bit of good weather so the nice man can come and put my sunroof in! gezza : hehehe ... yhpm mate! corradude : dude! we're ten-away brothers ;D therapor : Cheers :D Been a hell of a sweat so far! vr6storm : Good God ... cheers for that! what a difference!

Just dealt with them to get my RM outer dishes. Cheapest in the UK that I could find, and believe me, I tried. Customer Service is refreshingly excellent. My rims were delayed, and rather than bullshit, Simon from RW contacted me virtually every other day apologising and keeping me updated as to where they were, and their work is well worth checking out on the website. Some beautiful jobs, and the rims I've got are excellent quality, really well finished; I deal with polished ally and chrome a lot. These are mine : http://www.retro-wheels.co.uk

Can't find the original thread, so a new one! Rescued this puppy from the car auctions, decided to do the best of everything to it, it's now 'my' car due to spending so much on it, and believe me, you don't want to know how much. She's only a 1.8 16v, but that might not last. I've put so much work into her, it's untrue. As she went in. Gary@EPIC Paintworks is a god. I'll plug the guy (not literally) until the sun goes down. Beautiful job. The skimming stage from the back, couple of parking dents/key marks. (The windows did get taken out) And from the front, Gaz's cup of coffee is irrelevant. She was a cup stand for a short while. Outside EPIC, ready for going. Loaded onto our transporter shortly after. Front lights in, looking pretty damn sexual! From the side. Don't get used to the rims and the ride height! And from the back with the M3-style lights, courtesy of Richard @ Venom. Another top bloke. The rims, as ordered and arrived beautifully from 'retro wheels', 2x2" dishes, 2x2.5" dishes, gold bolts. Top guys to deal with as well. Really nice chaps. In addition, we have : A mint dark trim, (restored by me), FK Coilovers, Lupo wipers, badgeless grille. Wheel 'baskets', alternate spoiler and badges to be painted 'glitter-rainbow-flake-black', electric spoiler-type sunroof, new roof-strips and rubbers all round, small integrated boot build coming shortly (also by me), just what I can remember. I've got this horrible suspicion she's going to end up with a G60 or Audi T lump under her. Let's see ;-) Edit : The sills have been painted with stone-chip, they'll be going yellow later, just letting it cure a bit, so it does look a bit high. Edit #2 : Might as well plug us properly ;-) Outside EPIC, undercover Loaded on our wagon. We used the winch, due to laziness. And randomly, a picture of my incredibly rare Series 4 Innocenti Lambretta, only 1500 made for Saudi in the 60's, this is one of only 6 in the UK. For anyone who cares, that's my R1 to the right.

*cough* I have a massive soft spot for Defenders :D I like the fact that if you wanted, you could just ... drive in a straight line until you ran out of fuel. Houses, gardens, hills, swamps, lovely :D

In answer to the previous question, nearly every Alfa I've heard of being sold (and I know of a few, I don't do them anymore) has come back with faults, and usually serious ones. Nearly every model, nearly every engine, ranging from gearboxes through to bits falling off it. The only one I'll touch is the 3L GTV, purely because they sound so utterly utterly gorgeous.

I've had a Chimaera 4.5, and can confirm it was utterly wonderful. Didn't like being sat around, admittedly, and the roof leaked a bit (and I do mean only a bit), but by god it was fun ;-) The kind of car where you sit at traffic lights hoping for a boy racer, and then stick your right foot down, leaving only two huge rubber trails and the distant sound of a manic hyped-up idiot screaming 'AHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA' Literally.

It'll break within twenty minutes, I'm utterly sick of hearing about problems with them. *grumpy and cynical, despite the fact they are, admittedly, gorgeous*

*cough* someone not a million miles away had ambulance air-horns under the bonnet of their Cosworth, and blue flashing strobes. ..... Very illegal I understand, but I can *imagine* it's very very very amusing.

Glad to hear you're having fun Andy! Ignore the philistines :D

Try this mate : http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/rftech/boxcalculator.asp Works for me... if you're going to the back seat, take the opposing angle to the rear bench, and try to apply it to the front of the box, so it evens things out. Make sure you line it properly, acoustic wadding etc. Sealings damn important as well.

As random top-tip, and I've known mechanics who haven't clocked on.. If your alternator goes screwy, replace the brushes. They're available from all good industrial electrics places, it'll cost you about ten quid instead of 90. They're located on the rear/side, and have a model/serial number printed on the back, usually held in by two screws. I used to work at an AutoFactors, and the sheer amount we took back, charged huge amounts for, and they just needed brushes, is scary. I wouldn't usually bother mentioning it, but C's seem to be a high mileage car, worth spreading it maybe. Steve

Ack! those waterways are lurrrvely!

Not that I'm one to cast aspersions, but I've cracked rims before on cheap coilovers. Not that I'm saying these are, but they tend to come with ridiculous poundage springs. I can post pics of the rims :-(

Fastest I've owned, Sierra Cosworth c) 400hp Fastest I've been in, 184 in a Supra TT, awesome machine. Most interesting... I had a beach buggy for a bit with a 2180cc flat-4 aircooled in it.

This is a beautiful level of insanity :D You have my respect... and have made me think about finishing my Mk1!

That's about the worst I've seen.... lucky bugger...

Paintworks's all in the prep. I see this day in, day out, shoddy fucking jobs which could have been excellent with someone who cared, and tbh, could be saved with some post-work. 2 grand is out of bed for a spray job mate, sorry. I can get a crap blow-over done for 400 quid, rising to 1200/1500 max for a spot on job. Best way is to go through people you know. I have 3 bodyshops I use. One for cheap and cheerful, one for general use and fancy stuff (his penchant), and one for the dogs bollocks stuff, got a Bentley in for a full paint right now, and I bet it ain't gonna cost 2 grand. Shop around mate, and ask for references.

Skinny : Around the 300 quid mark for a full trim, but ONLY for the first 5 or so. There's around £150/180 in materials, and a week's work in it. We'll see what transpires, but I think trims are vastly overpriced anyway, people get ripped off constantly. I want to sort that. Interiors should be cheaper.

Sam (I'm guessing that's your name!) You can have the alarms re-certified by any good auto-electrician/alarm fitter, if it helps, take a look at the wiring loom. If it's all-black, chances are it's a CAT1, and worth doing, certainly sounds like it is, with it having both. You might also find a part-number/manufacturer name on the underside of the siren, or on the circuitboard inside the fobs.

I drove an RS4 the other month, know exactly what you mean mate... Right foot went down, and I finally understood the meaning of Primal Scream.

Ching! I'll take one. Where am I paying to and how?

2 grand!? Is it gold? :D

Hey Joe :D Kind of... I'll do it to someone's specs (someone's already PM'd me, and we're talking!), without taking even a deposit, and if they like it, they buy it for cheap money. I've overestimated his quote, just to be sure. Hate it when people go 'Oh it's 100 quid', and then it turns out to be 300, and snottiness ensues when you tell them where to go :D The first few will be cheap, as we'd prefer to work on the quality, rather than a deadline, after that, if all goes to plan, we'll crack it up production-line style. Steve

Goldie : Thanks! I'll be quite honest mate, I'm not sure how one would go about doing a wheel... so I'll stick on the side of probably not viable, tbh, it sounds like tricky work, and it'd probably work out cheaper to buy a new one. Joe : How much do you need, and what colour mate? I'm waiting for the swatch list atm so I've nothing I can show you... Zippy : No pics yet mate, neither of us have done a car seat specifically; Hence why we'll be working in Alcantara to start with, it's just easier. Will : We'll be doing mine over the next fortnight, so I'll be able to give you a picture of work, and a spot-on price. VWD : I can't price 100% yet, But I would estimate around the 250/300 mark for a full trim, to start with. I've got to stress guys, this is very much a 'suck it and see' enterprise :D We decided last night to see what we could do, so we're half gauging interest at the moment, but we've both got experience with trimming. (I used to do custom ICE builds, he used to be an industrial stitcher/sewing chap) What I'd like is for people to post up what they'd be interested in, and I'll get an interior, and trim it, without taking any money, or any obligation on their part.

One of the other 'issues' you might come across is that they won't cover you fully comp when the vehicle isn't attended, unless it's on commercial premises. Tbh, it varies between companies what qualifies as a 'trader'. I don't think Tradex'll have it, but a friend of mine's done it with Catteralls, and as far as I'm aware, has had no problem. Afaik, I don't think they require any books, just a percentage of cars you trade in that are sports/performance. Beware though, they're expert at wriggling out of stuff, and they'll put the premium through the roof if you do. If I was feeling cynical, I'd say that it's cover for the letter of the law, not the spirit ;-)