Tempest

When I bought my Mk1 Rocco, which was the first car that I swore I didn't want to bring to garages any more (as I am too touchy about my Mk1 Rocco), I started reading the US Haynes and Bentley, you then start doing some jobs, which increasingly get bigger and bigger as your confidence grows. It's mainly an issue of confidence, or put differently, the scare of breaking something that you can't fix any more. I learnt as I went along, often realising that some of the stuff in the manuals is not quite detailed enough. Forums have been of great help, too. Sometimes it's indeed more fun to have a mate to tinker on your or his car with, as you then bounce off ideas and learn even more. Tempest

Had my FK königsports on my Mk2 Rocco for 3.5 years, no problems encountered. OK, I don't drive my Mk2 Rocco in the rain, nicely waxoyl up the struts anyway, and avoid the numerous potholes wherever I can. The days of smooth roads in Germany are over, too, BTW :-( I am talking from experience, as I regularly fly out to my parents, visit friends and rive around there a bit. Leda? Hmm, yes. I did at Darren's recommendation contact them to see what they can do about my slightly leaky rear Scahs Racing coilover dampers, to which they gave me an almost reasonable cost of cloning the shockers :-) Alternatively Bilstein can clone my rear Sachs shocks :-) I know, bit off-topic, sorry . Tempest

Who said stuff the government dream up is to be fair? :lol: All cars have been pretty much emission rated in Germany, even Sciroccos with carbs, no CATs, etc, way back in the 80s, when all this started. Back then the first wave of perfectly good cars landing on the scrap started, when the government encouraged people to buy cars with CATs, by increasing the roadtax beyond belief for anyone driving a car without a CAT. Tempest

Certainly do, albeit it German only ;-) http://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/0,1518,455300,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/0,1518,457812,00.html Strictly speaking yes, I was told, but, of course, how is a foreign license plate car supposed to get such a sticker (the authorities even want 10 Euros for this sticker), let alone which German emission group a foreign license plate car falls into. Tempest

According to the news and forums in Germany, all cars in Germany will have to display yet another sticker in the windscreen as of March 2007, indicating the vehicle's emission class. In Germany all vehicles are categorised according to their emissions (no sirree, not nearly as simple or fair as in the UK), e.g. things as Euro 1, Euro 2, D3, and whatnot more. Now for the bad news: In an attempts to meet some obscure and greenparty-induced rubbish regulation from Brussel, that's been in existence for the last 10 years or so, Germany has now realised that it needs to meet this regulation or else. What's this regulation about? It defines how much fine particle emission is allowed to be present in any one plave within the EU. Apparently, centres of large cities have a much higher concentration of fine particle dust, and this apparently contributes to bad air, bad health etc. Soooo, in a blitz-attempt, the German government have dremed up the following solution to meet this EU regulation: Ban all vehicles from the centres of participating cities (Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, München, to name just 3) with a certain emission figure, indicated by the above-mentioned sticker attached to the windscreen. This means that approximately 2 million cars are affected in Germany, can no longer drive through these cities any more, forcing their owners to potentially scrap their pride and joy (yes: Sciroccos and Corrados are pretty much all affected !!!!!) and get the German economy going again (or so the government and car-lobby hope) by buying some crap new Germna car, that no-one can afford, not to mention no-one likes the styling of. Of course, this all will hopefully tremendously backfire as: a) Without cars in the city centres, customers for local shops in major inner city shopping areas will go elsewhere, thus killing off whole inner city economies b) Poorer people cannot afford new cars, or have to take out huge loans (of course also available from your friendly German car dealer/maker) c) Poorer people will buy foreign cars instead, hence NOT supporting the German industry at all, as that's often all they can afford d) Oldtimers, which cannot be modified to meet new emission laws (including some Sciroccos and Corrados) will not be allowed to enter city centres any more, thus people living in these cities will never be able to see oldtimers or classic cars in their cities ever again. e) Some potentially really nice cars will end up on the scrap (just like the car industry wants this to happen, we hang on to our cars far too long in their opinion, we're not supposed to love our cars, we're supposed to view them as utilitarian things, like fridges, throw away, buy new) f) Lots of poorer people actually live in the city centres, and hence can't drive home in their cars any more !!! Until 2012 this new law will be expanded to larger parts of the participating cities (not just the inner city centres). It's a question of time till the b*stard green parties and lobbies have it their way, and even the country-side might be affected, i.e. all old cars will be banned!! How's that for a country like Germany that always shouts about its car heritage and its value to its citizens? Apart from the fact that it has been shown, that most of the fine dust particles do not stem from the vehicles' petrol or diesel (well, yes, I'm in favour of getting rid of those nasty noisy things :lol:) emissions rather than tyre roll, industry, nature (yes, tree pollen!!), and that by banning older cars this might only reduce the fine particle dust emissions by as little as 5%! Madness, sheer madness! Let's hope the UK won't follow too quickly, given that Tony Blair's government has also discovered the green bandwagon of banning cars (looking at introducing road charges etc.). Tempest

109k, currently resting for the winter :-) Has had its probs, but getting on top of them by now. Tempest

What a day yesterday. Set off on one of my many, in the meantime getting rather boring and tedious, trips to good ol' Kent, usually 3.5 hour jobbie one way (thanks to all the roadworks, of course, taking place all at the same time rather than one being phased in after the other therefore maximising the nuisance factor for me the driver), best time was 2.5 hours when the roadworks and speed limits weren't there yet, and chose the M11 to avoid the dreade M1 (from Luton onwards a nightmare), and M25 Enfield tunnel roadworks. No prize to be won yesterday, as I got stuck from 11 am till 4 pm lock solid due to some moronic accident, during which they just simply kept us waiting. I mean FFS, does it really take 5 hours to clear a 2-way motorway? Is there anyone I can make responsible for this? All in all, carried on to the customer, only to then get stuck in the what were now already rushhour traffic jams for the afternoon on the M25 at the QE bridge :mad: Got to the client at 18:00 instead of 13:00, and back home again at 23:15, as I still needed to train the client :mad: What has been your best time stuck on one of Britain's finest motorways? Tempest

Something I still haven't got used to that that rule does not exist in this country, as I regularly get myself into swearing contests with IMO ignorant car drivers who don't yield to me. The law in D is pretty obvious, and holds for everyone taking part in traffic: If you do not change your direction of travel at a junction, you have priority unless the right-before-left rule applies. That's admittedly been solved better in the UK thanks to road markings at virtually every junction. It took me 6 years to realise that when people flash their lights at me in the UK, they don't mean for me to feck off, like I was used to in Germany :lol: Although penalties on flashing your lights to make someone in front of you clear the lane (called Nötigung in German) have recently even been increased, you'll still see the typical BMWs and Mercs, Porsches and suchlike do this, as this law cannot really be enforced. The plod can't be everywhere to check. A joke in Germany is to say that all BMWs already come with headlight flashers built-in, that activate from speeds of 130 km/h onwards :lol: Tempest

Just visit your friendly MOT tester. I did back in June and asked them to hold their probe into my expansion tank :lol: to check for HCs or CO in the coolant. Tempest

Oi, watch it, before a Dutchman starts with English jokes :lol: Ahh, that was easy, you weren't even driving first time round ;-), and this year it was a doddle: We had the motorways all to ourselves, once we'd arrived at midnight :-) Germany was a nightmare this summer, however, trying to fight our way through that dreaded Ruhrgebiet (like London M25/M1 et al), except for that nice stretch of motorway where my parents live. I love that bit :-) Tempest

Berlin is a fair disatnce from any of the ports. I'd suggest Hook of Holland as your arrival port, as that offers you the shortest route: 443 miles Although once you're on the A1 in the Netherlands (getting there via Utrecht can be a bit of a swine, if you end up in rushhour traffic), it's pretty straight forward, one straight line to Berlin along what then becomes the A30 in Germany. Snag is the A30 is interrupted in Bad Oyenhausen, where you literally leave the motorway, drive through a heavily speed-camera infested village before you get back onto the A30 motorway again! Tempest

You didn't quite read my answer carefully. It's a convenience thing, as the supermarkets have left me with little other choice, living in a big city, as I do. Believe you me, if there were more local shops left, not driven to bankruptcy by big supermarkets, then yes, I'd prefer those, but there aren't any left in Coventry :-( Unless I move to the country-side, but then I would need a daily car to get to work, which would get penalised by the ever so green (all of a sudden :roll:) government with their latest CO2-emissions craze following the Stern report (I wonder how much that guy made with his report?). Tempest

And I shall answer: I would if I could, but unfortunately living in a city, where supermarkets have always won the battle against the smaller shops, effectively killing them off (whereas in the countryside, these supermarkjets aren't interested in building their big huge tinfoil shopping dungeons, as there aren't enough customers, unless they're willing to travel large distances, hence far better chances for small shops to carry on existing in those areas), I have no choice, although I do support the Coventry indoor market whenever I can, and yes, the fresh fruit and veg makes a HUGE difference to the supermarket crap. Running my own small business supplying PCs I know what it's like standing up and having to fight against the big chains: You learn to identify the enemy and hate them Unfortunately the public with their regular jobs in councils/big corporations, far far away from the small shopkeeper and his worries couldn't care less about this. Tempest

A lot: Tescos are a grocers, they sell stuff that should end up in our tummies, then in the loo :lol: Come to think of it: That's where their car-modding stuff will end up, too :lol: I personally believe that a shop should have some sort of specialisation in what they sell. Bad enough Tesco sell food! Let alone whatever they want to sell now :lol: Tempest

I wouldn't trust anyone to wash my car, other than possibly a Rado enthusiast. I wonder what their "The Best" or whatever Tesco call their premium product range is like in the zorst and RR department :lol: Tempest

Watch it, sonny :lol: Mk1 Rocco :-) Sounds interesting :-) Tempest

It all depends on what you define as standard as opposed to improvements; For example, Lupo wipers are an improvement, an absolutely necessary one at that, too. Well, mine's mostly standard :lol: But I'm not finished yet. Tempest

So I went to the owner (a female) who was standing next to the car talking to a man. I butted in, all excited about finallyt seeing a C on my way to work, parked up even, but the owner wasn't really up for a chat, not interested in the CCGB (although had heard about them), as she was in a hurry on her way to work. How can work be more important than a C? :lol: Oh well, more success hopefully next time. Tempest

That almost sounds as if those solicitors themselves have made a mistake and realised it (possibly because your Dad's partner is good at intimidating people, don't know, just a guess), but now can't own up to it without losing face big time. Personally I'd seek legal advice from your trusted (if there is such a thing with solicitors :lol:) solicitor. The whole thing sounds extremely dodgy to me. Your Dad might turn in his grave if he knew what's happening here. Tempest

For some strange reason they're not listed on C&Rs website, only in their paper catalogue. Those part numbers are from the receipt I received with my caliper kit. I simply attached them to the existing caliper carriers (i.e. the ons that were already on my C, which was totally standard when I bought it). Part numbers are for left and right caliper, 3rd part number is for the Goodrich hose kit (2 hoses, one for each caliper). So, yes, you need all 3 items, cost approx. £274 minus the refund you get when sending them your Mk2 calipers. Tempest

Re-check all the timing marks on the camshaft, flywheel and dizzy. Could be that you went out a tooth whilst fitting the new cambelt. Tempest

Vicki Peace, the membership secretary, email her your new address details on vicki.peace(at)btopenworld.com, replace (at) with @ ;-) Tempest

Possibly even get an assessor yourself to value your C. Disgraceful that offer :-( Tempest

Saving up for a coilie-kit on my C, looking at Konis though, a wee bit more expensive :-) That's only because I already have a Milltek on my C :lol: On my Storm I went for the zorst first, BTW. Tempest

Right, some C&R part numbers for their Mk4 rear brake caliper upgrade kit: BCAL1J0615423: rear brake caliper G4 - n/s BCAL1J0615424: rear brake caliper G4 - o/s BHOSGSVW0506-2P: Goodridge G4 rear caliper convert hoses Tempest