horney

-1 in the tropics of northern hampshire. Nick

Took these today in a little flurry of snow. Nick

I suspect a fluid change and a good bleed of the system will see you right. Might as well get the pipe replaced at the same time. Nick

You can buy the camera from argos (well you could, it's been replaced by a newer model now). It's a Canon EOS 400D with the standard kit lens on the front. The shot was taken in my local Asda carpark on a tripod with a slow shutter speed but I can't remember for how long. 20 secs maybe. I needed a longer lens hood to keep the rain of the front of the lens and I should have altered some of the settings as it's very grainy. I'll maybe give it another go on a rainy night when the car is clean and enter it for Jan 09. Nick

Best I could find on Youtube. I like the rear but the front is aweful, like a crashed Fiat Coupe! Nick

You guys think so? I was really fed up with it, ha ha. Nick

I've got the hottunning ones on my b3 passat. I found them bouncy to the point where on sections of undulating Dual Carriageway at speed I was worried about bottoming out the sump! They go proper low though! As for gold plated lowering springs for £1500? I haven't paid that much for a car in 8 years (had about 10 cars in that time). Nick

Some up to date pics: and with the wife: Nick

Haha, what a tool! Nick

Where are you Oli? Maybe a local member will be willing to do the headgasket with you for a few beer tokens? Nick

Looks nice, these valvers are such hard to resist bargains at the moment. I keep wanting to buy another one and have a pair! Nick

Golf GTI cup would be a great place to start. My mate did mighty minis (Cheaper than mini 7's!) and loved it. He would still be doing it now but he relocated to Canada with work. nick

That is aweful, some people have no respect. Really sorry for you mate. Nick

BTW the best "scene" out there at the moment as far as I'm concerend is the whole retro scene. All different brands getting along and having a bal fiddling with motors. Admitadly the Corrado is viewed as a little too young to be considered retro but I think this is just proof of it's ahead of time styling as many newer cars are considered retro when the Rado isnt. Check out retro rides - http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index ... rd=general nick

There's a flip side to all this. Sites like this, www.golfgti.co.uk, southern dubbers, No-Rice etc are all that is good about the scene. Varied ages of people wih an interest in driving and modding there cars but keeping some level of sanity and respect for each other. I used to be heavily involved in the Classic Mini Scene and while less bitching there was far more anoraks and beards that made life hard work. In many ways the VW scene is a victim of it's own success. Enjoy the good stuff and ignore the bad. As for shows I avoid Edition 38 and it's ilk and prefer the more aircooled orientated events and also the events that involve using your car like SPring and SUmmer festival and action days at Castle Combe. Nick

You're not wrong, edition 38 hs gone downhill in the last couple of years. Too many people on there believe their own hype. £15K for a MKII Golf? Wit comments like "Spent more than this on just the engine" "couldn't build one the same for half this amount" "One of a kind" It's all true but just because you sepnt £30K building it doesn't mean it's worth more than any other MKII with decent paint, a 20vT and leather. Infact in many ways it's worth less because it will always be known as that persons car so you'd have to spend £1,000's more making it your own. So you might as well start with a £500 Driver off ebay in the first place. The recession over the next 3 years is going to make most of these "scene heros" pretty humble I think. I would guess most of them modded these to some extent or other on credit cards and loans or perhaps on capital released from remortgaging. Also I think a lot of the big scene firms will go under. The first thing you do when money is tight is cut back on luxuries, modding cars is a big luxury. Hopefully this will bring us back to when people modded their cars in their garage with their own tools and help from their friends. None of this "Here's a blank cheque, make me cool" that seems to go on these days. If you car wasn't painted, tuned and photographed by the right people or has the right wheels on you're a nobody. Er I just added more to your rant really, sorry! Nick

It is annoying isn't it? I need to mine this weekend. Nick

Tis only the beginning. Vauxhall are the only manufacturer left in BTCC with a works team. Not sure how they're going to justify that next year when they are asking staff to take off 9 months on 30% pay to keep the business viable! nick

Although not all £1K Rado's are nails, I paid that for mine and while it's certainly no minter it's not a complete shed either. In answer to the OP's question no it's not, not by a long shot. The most unreliable car I've had was a 1983 Mini City that once broke down 7 times in 24hrs, a NYE and NYD I will never forget. I've also had Golfs, Fiats and Fords that have been more unreliable. It isn't my most reliable car either though, that accolade goes to my VW T25 Campervan which has never required an AA call out in the 3 years I've had it. In about 4 months of Rado ownership I have had to call the AA once (wouldn't start), fix an oil leak, fix the heater blower and change the thermostat on top of service items like oil and filter change. The real difference is with past cars I'd lose my temper with them. My last Golf GTI went because it wouldn't start one morning and I lost my rag and sold it. MY Golf GTI before that went becuase it had a few niggles and it did my head in. When the Corrado does something wrong I just shrug, open my toolbox and get busy without really complaining. My wife says it must be love. Nick

Sound slike you got it all covered then :-) Part of me is glad that they are trying to make sure cars are modded safely but I'm not very fond of the way they're going about it. The SVA for a start is designed to cater for kit cars. Making modified production cars go through this seems to be a little mental as Minis, Beetles and pretty much anything built before 1960 will never pass without hardcore mods to it's design. If they want to crack down there should be a new test for modified cars that is testing the car against engineering cmpetence and the car over all taking into account it's original form and function. nick

And a rough summary of the SVA, the actual manual is weighty tome! http://www.crendon-cars.co.uk/sva.html Nick

Engine change regs here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Ow ... DG_4022054 "Change to engine and cylinder capacity (engine size) DVLA will need written evidence of any changes to engine number and cylinder capacity (cc). Written evidence can be: a receipt for the replacement engine written evidence from the manufacturer an inspection report provided for insurance purposes written confirmation on headed paper from a garage if the change in engine size took place before you bought the vehicle" Nick

What else did you send them? I may be wrong on the mileage so I'll double check but the info you sent should be on headed paper as a form of reciept for the engine (so from the business you bought the engine from). I have a horrible feeling they may well just send it all back to you. Easiest thing to do is if you know a friendly garage and get them to give you a reciept for all the work "they did" cough and slip em a few quid for being so kind. Not sure about your car passing an SVA either TBH, it's a funny old test and doesn't just take into account how well the car is built. Corrado's for sure stand a reaonable chance as they aren't that old but MKI Golfs wouldn't pass. I'm pretty sure the Dashboard in a MKI Golf (and MKI scirroco) doesn't meet SVA requirements for a start. Stuff like aircooled beetles and Classic minis are almost impossible to get through an SVA due to their age and construction. Nick

Ah yes 83, I knew it had a 3 in there somewhere! Other stuff is all true I'm afraid fella, I know people who've been getting letters back from the DVLA when they've tried to change the engine number. They will no longer change it on the V5 without documentry evidence detailing, CC, mileage and fuel type. This cam ein in the last few months. Now the MOT is computerised MOT testers are encouraged to report people for not keping the V5 up to date. They are also being asked to report any non standard modifications to VOSA for inspection. This means any unreported engine changes or modifications over and above your springs, shock and the odd spoiler should be reported to VOSA who would then inspect the car and decide whether or not it should be subject to an SVA test. The points system would be used to decide if the car should retain it's identity or issued with a Q plate. I know of a fair number of modified Dubs that very clearly should be runnning a Q plate and are likely to fall foul of new legislation as they tighten these things up. Oh and passing an SVA test is not as easy as an MOT. An aweful lot of modified dubs would need extensive further modification to pass the SVA and be allowed back on the road. As for exhaust volume issues this is the oficial update sent to all MOT stations last week. Important bit highlighted at the end (section 7.1). http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp13 ... icture.jpg Nick

All vehicles must have side repeaters if built after 1973 (I think it's 73 anyway), you should fail without but some MOT testers are a little slack/forgiving. As the new MOT rules ar eintroduced more and more of these little mods will be picked up on the vehicle failed. For instance engine swaps now require a letter from the garage that installed it or engine manufacturer stating mileage, CC and fuel type. WIthout this the DVLA will not update your V5. Then when you MOT your car and the computer sees two diferent engine numbers the car will be failed at best, at worst VOSA will be called to inspect the car to decided if it needs an SVA test and a Q plate. There was an update this week on exhausts. When revved for emmisions testing it should not be louder than standard ones in average condition. Fail if it is. Shouldn't really effect many folks as I assume, like me, most know their MOT tester well and he'll use his discretion. All this however is a sig that bit by bit moddified cars will be legislated off the road. Nick