mjcp

Anyone off to Top Gear on Wednesday? mjcp

Not sure what the rear bush issues are that were mentioned above. The Rear Trailing arm bushes on my E36 needed doing, My mate and I did them in a day (without the tool) and my E39's rear subframe bushes also took a day (with the tool)... so not to difficult! The E36 (3.2) suffered from VANOS (variable valve timing unit) problems though mine didn't, did seem to make much difference as to service history or driving style... I'm not sure if they modified this on the e46, but if not, budget for the possibility of a £2K bill! There were also a larger than expected number of engine replacements on the earlier e46 M3s. (I used to hang out on an M3 forum around the time the e46 came out) I don't recall what the issue was but there was a recall about 1-1/2 to 2 years in and then the new cars didn't suffer. mjcp

Dark G plate heading towards Gunnersbury avenue on Gunnersbury lane, near from Acton Town station Friday am about 0930... we waved!

My E36 M3 cab (3.2 straight 6, very similar to the E46 lump) cost c. £250 for an Inspection 1 and c. £450 for an inspection 2. These were at a specialist, not a $tealer. (M3's use a virtual fuel tank with (I recall, could be wrong) 2500 litres in it. They need servicing when the tank is empty, ie drive quick, need a service sooner. The Inspection 2 service includes checking and replacing the shims on the valves - they are solid lifters/tappets, not hydraulic - hence, not a job for your local "we service all cars" type of garage.) I would get c. 25 mpg but it could get much lower without too much trouble Insurance was c. £650 p.a fully comp (full NCB, Windsor post code, garage). My 16v Corrado costs about £100 to service, also gets 25mpg (should be closer to 30-35 mpg but has mixture issues), but with spirited driving and costs me £250 p.a. to insure. but... I'd have another soft top M3 any day...

Another Berkshire C...

Ah! I'd just popped into the local Co-Op for some odds and ends when it burbled past. Grabbed a shot of it as it turned onto the main road, then spotted it again turing into a local side street (cul-de-sac) so I'm guessing its a local! Found some better pics (not the same vehicle though): [ATTACH=CONFIG]47610[/ATTACH] mjcp

Italian... Bertone styled... What make and model though?

Thanks for the links and info! There seems to be a few on some German styling sites too @ 65E per side, but once you add shipping its 160E all in, not far off the £145 on fleaBay. I'll check with my friendly $tealer too... otherwise it looks like a little saving up is in order!

hi, Are the roof rubbers (the ones that crack and break at the slightest hint of anything) still available new? If so, is this a pain in the bum or a saturday afternoon job ? Thanks! Marc

:smug: [ATTACH=CONFIG]47390[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]47391[/ATTACH]

Cages +1, Labs (and puppies in general) can be mouthy or not. We had a mouthy one, the cage prevented the chewing of things we didn't want chewed (Skirting board, shoes, kitchen units... you name it, he did it) They are like children when puppies = teething, chewing feels good! The cage should be his place and he will feels safe there. We stopped caging at c. 18 months by which time he had grown out of chewing things that are not his (he has several bones that get rotated and a Kong (google it) ). Labs that are over exercised when young can damage their bones. The muscles get over developed and bend the bones as they grow. We kept ours on the lead *most* of the time when walking for the first 12-18 months. (he was allowed to run on each walk, but not all the time) Buy from a decent breeder, make sure the mother is visible (check her out, look at eyes, how she walks, is she healthy etc) Food: puppies start off on 3-4 small meals a day, moving to 2 a day, morning and night. Use puppy food (ask the vet or local pet food shop for advice*) then a young dog food then an adult food. *there are a lot of cheap foods and even some mid market foods that have loads of wheat in them, its used as a filler, dogs do not naturally eat wheat and it can cause upset stomachs. Royal canin and Trophy are tow that we have used (RC has a lab specific blend) that have no wheat and use good quality meat, the trouble is, they are expensive c. £37 for a 15Kg bag, we use c. 1 bag a month. These dry foods, with water are all the dog *needs* nutritionally, but we do sometimes treat. Do not give treats too often, as they will get fat! Some people raw feed their dogs (and Labs) (google it). You can give bones to dogs but not cooked! Find a good butcher and ask about dog bones (make the butcher feel comfortable with his bad joke about what breed of dog bone you would like) We gave our dog a whole mackerel last summer on holiday which he loved, I've also seen but never tried, dogs eat raw chicken wings,bones and all. Ours steels off the kitchen counter overnight if we leave stuff out... silly us! He will not do it in the day time though... We had a cat first, the two get on fine, the cat is in charge of the dog! Labs suffer with Hip and eye problems which are inherited, ask about HIP scores when speaking to the breeder. A hip score requires an X-ray; no x-ray, no *real* HIP score. Eyes should be "bright" (tricky one to explain, see lots and get a feel for it) Colour can be anything form Fox red (almost orange) to very light yellow (almost white) and everything in between. Also Black and Brown. (Weimars, grey, lab shaped dogs, are not Labs) Eye lids can be black, brown or pink, depending on the genetics for the other colours carried (ours was the only yellow in a black litter, his eye lids are black...) Labs are fairly intelligent, they can learn C. 100 words. they can learn the members of the family by name, they can learn the rooms of the house, they be guided to a retrieve (back, forward, etc), they love to work! (and be rewarded) They should live for 8 - 14 years so plan ahead! Ours hardly ever barks and only started once he was 2.. no idea why? He only does it when strangers come to the door, so not too unhappy about it! We don't have insurance.... now he's 5 we will be getting it though. The vet's bills we have had are: Annual injections, checkups etc (not covered by insurance anyway) C. £ 60 - £100 (we live in an expensive vetting area!) Eye check and antibiotics (he poked his eye on a tent peg while we were camping in the New forest) C. £25 all in! (See what I mean about vet costs!) would not have been worth claiming, too low. Neutering at 10 Months (calms them down) C. £175 (no idea if covered or not) Stiches removed after neutering (we were on holiday not long after his op and the wound got aggravated by a stitch that didn't dissolve) c. £40 However, I know a mate with a new puppy that has done £300 in 4 weeks with bladder infections! We have a credit card allocated to cars and pets... just incase. Ours is happy to walk beside me with no lead on the way to his running ground and the river. In town he is a little more inquisitive (easily distracted) and so we use the lead. Everyone makes a fuss of him in town! He is able to jump into the back of the C without putting feet on the bumper (though hen he gets older, he may need a lift). I hope the above doesn't put you off! Labs make great family (or couples!) pets. They are responsive, loyal and loving. They can give you so much if you put a little effort in. Marc

Two in one day! Saw a bright Red 'raddo going south on the A308 (from M4 towards Windsor) at lunch time-ish. Might have been heading to Ascot? Marc

Dark (Black or grey) VR? reg M588 *** spotted today. I was following between Old Windsor and Windsor about 2 cars back. Not sure you would have seen me. Marc

Oh dear... I had an A3 1.8T sport from new on an R, it was too early for leather (became and option on the very end of R cars if recall) but it went round corners and has sports seats that held me... I was disappointed byt he torque, it felt like there wasn't any as there was no rush as the turbo picked up. I had mine chipped too and that didn't make the torque *feel* any different (but it was certainly quicker after the chip) I'm surprised the 20vT is such a common conversion to be honest... I guess they fit different turbos? Marc

mmmm Talbot! I had a Tolbat Horizon :bonk: Apparently, they were very high-up the technology tree, the factory cost loads to re-tool ahead of production and they had non straight cut gears in reverse too... Still a pile of poop though! My number plate was A95 ROT... might have been sign... lots of ROT in mine! Marc

Nope, I was a late arrival and on the other side of the entrance track... we were walking toward the show area and noticed a "patch" of C's...

3 in one shot!

Saw at least a dozen at Stonor yesterday... :-)

Here's the add I have on a popular jobs website: I thought I might post it here as there are some IT minded types on the forum. Drop me PM if interested and we can talk turkey or cash if you prefer! Marc I have a (wordress based) website with 3 products for customers to signup to. The site then needs to integrate with a 3rd party site via SOAP and their API (It creates an account with the 3rd party and activates the account, checking that the username etc is valid etc). Once a valid account has been created, the site then needs to process the creation of a PayPal Payments Pro recurring payment. I need someone to integrate an existing web page forms with these API calls and PayPal. I have had a person working on this for some time and he has not been able to give the project his full attention. He has the system to a point where the 3rd Party API calls are working and he claims the PayPal sandbox integration is working. Your bid should reflect the case that you may need to start from scratch. However, you may be able to use the existing code. You will need to fully document the resulting pages/scripts etc.! (I can code, just not used SOAP and don't have time to learn). This is an initial project and there is the possibility of further projects (the 3rd party has released additional products which I may add at a later time. The time scale for this project is short, I want to be live 3 months ago! Clarification: For full acceptance and full payment you will need to build/create the following steps: 1> New user can select a product. 2> New user can add their sign up info/payment info for that product 3> Website will add a new user to the 3rd party system 4> Website will process the PayPal recurring payment setup and activate 5> Website will activate the 3rd party account once PayPal is live (could be made live in step 3 if this is too hard to do as a separate step) 6> Website will send an email to my email address with confirmations of above for each transaction. 7> The website systems will catch errors form the above items

Today I have done a C. 100 mile round trip on the M25, A24, A3, A205, A4, M4, A308 and numerous adjoining routes... saw a grand total of 0 Corrados... :thumbleft: I did see a G plate red Mk2 G60 (LHD), loads of 911's/Boxsters, a few new Sciroccos (including an R) and even a Fezza 599... But no C's! Marc

"Power for the Audi quattro concept comes with a turbocharged 5-cylinder makes 408-hp and 354 lb.-ft. of torque. Mated to a 6-speed manual, quattro concept new tracks from 0 to 62 mp in 3.9 seconds. Audi quattro concept uses the very foundations of the Audi RS5, but based on a wheelbase measures 5.91 inches shorter. Weight comes to 2866.01 pounds, which is about 440.92 pounds lighter than the Audi TT RS" The A5 is not a small chassis compared with the Golfs... even if 5 inches shorter. 0-62 in sub 4 seconds is quick to say the least... super-car performance for C. £30K-£40K :-) ---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:00 PM ---------- There is also some video of the concept car here: [video=youtube;n-Vgz_Wyrs4]

The Corrado is a 2+2 sports coupe... That happens to be a hatchback :scratch: Where-as the TT, all though it has 4 seats is more of a 2 seater along the lines of the Z3/4, SLK mould. The 'Rocco Mk3 is a hot hatch... But the Audi coupe concept that is doing the rounds is defo not a Z-car/SLK/TT type, and it looks more coupe like so not a hatch either: (I'd buy one..) Vs. ...and story (concept) with more pics HERE MJCP

I would have too had I been able to trust my spelling or MS Word's spelling (damn you IE for not having a spellchecker); though on the Mac I'm using now apparently has no issues with "gobbledygook". Mjcp

Called the Parts department this morning at 09:03... ring ring ring etc then get the switchboard. They take my name and number and parts details and say "someone will call back". Still no call back as of 14:30, so call back... same thing happens. Still no call back as of 17:23, so I call back... same thing happens. This time I ask if the Dealer principle is in (remember this is half five on a Friday afternoon). Apparently he was, though "with someone/busy", would I like him to call me back? Yes please I say. Got a call from a mobile at 1753, the MD on the line, how could he help? :thumbleft: Explained the situation: "I needed a small part for an old dub, I realise there may be some problem in house but just thought he should be aware of my experience, in case middle management were being "yes men" and covering their asses." He was very apologetic and said I'd have a call Saturday am if that was OK? I said thanks, have a good weekend. 5 mins later, the phone rings he has spoken with both his sites and the parts manager will be calling imminently. 10 mins later the phone rings again. The parts manager is on the line and parts are on their way. Well recovered Mr. Windrush! Turns out they were down 4 staff today, leaving 1 member at each site. Marc ---------- Post added at 07:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:20 PM ---------- And he just called again, at twenty to eight on a Friday night, to see if I'd had the call ... +2!

I have at last got round to fitting the Estorils I picked up a few months back: