kevin the chicken

Richard did mine for me and I was well pleased with the difference it made. I did the shockers and springs at the same time. Not only was the ride better but so was the steering, it seems to turn in much better.

I always said if my car couldn't manage a rolling road session I wouldn't be confident using it on the road. Mine has been on the rollers twice without problem. I would rather find out a problem when it was in a shed off the highway than 100 miles from home on a motorway. It ran better afterwards both times and last time gained a big chunk of power that I would never have found. Don't be scared, get it on the rollers.

I can't make it to Stoneleigh again due to work commitments. Do you want me to send you a stamped addressed envelope. I can't imagine I will be the only one, I might be able to furnish you with a few stamps for other members if that helps

Blimey, common sense, whatever next?

I have used that rain x on a daily driver in the past bob. It does need reapplying periodically but probably not that often on a car that isn't used in all weathers like mine. I suppose its just the wipers that wear it away. Didn't realise you could still get it. Seem to remember it worked quite well.

I'm lucky in that our local garage are very helpful. I get a timed appointment as I don't want to leave the car outside in case it's raining as I don't have a roof. I always do the brake testing for him as he has a bad knee and is also a bit wide to fit in the car. When the wipers didn't work he lent me some tools to sort it out while he did the rest of the test. If our other car goes in for service he sends the bill rather than make us pay it on the spot, nice that there is still some trust out there. We have used others when we had no choice but we always go back.

Are things like cycle wings, bonnet and nose cone included Paul? I wouldn't want to build one but these are all parts on my car that have seen better days.

I have often wondered as my previous car was a civic type r which felt quick and was supposed to get to 60 in around six seconds. Now in a car weighing a lot less with slightly more horsepower it feels quicker but you have to get past that first gear before you can make any serious progress. It's not traction that's the problem but the gear itself, might be fine for setting off with a caravan in town but not much good for a quick exit

I wondered why you can't use them over fibreglass too. Decided I would just lay something else over the car underneath. Just got a halfords one as they seem to be highly recommended

Me too please dave

Success. Screen arrived this afternoon as promised, refit and back on the road this weekend.

I was looking online at lifts only yesterday. Every time I want to work on the underneath of my car I have to go through this rigmarole of carefully jacking each corner up until I can get it up on axle stands. It's not that bad but space is limited and I keep thinking there must be an easier way to do it. I did consider a two post lift but that would limit space in the garage as I am always moving stuff around to work in there so I think my best option is going to be a scissor lift. I did think about going down the ramp route with something homemade as you are but I think I will put some money aside for a scissor lift as that will slide under one of my other vehicles when not in use.

Everybody is on the booze by the pond. I'll have to dig one.

Want to collect screen today. Phoned first on the direct dial number to make sure it was there but got redirected to national helpline. It just kept ringing and ringing and as I only had an hour timeslot I set off. On arrival the chap on the reception desk knew nothing about it so he went off to ask somebody else. Apparently they went to pick it up yesterday but the firm they were using were closed. Said the reason for all the delays was down to the firm breaking one screen and then saying it would be ready in three or four days and then failing to deliver. Sounds like a load of bull to me. They could have phoned to let me know. Anyway they now say they are going to deliver to my house on Monday afternoon. England expects

Been misty here for a couple of days but clear today. Hopefully finally dry enough to cut the grass

I'll find out on Saturday but hopefully my wife's last phone call should have jogged some memories as to its whereabouts.

Phoned around loads of places to try to get a new screen cut for my series 7. The only people who said they could do it were national windscreens. You phone the local number but you can't speak to anybody local as you get redirected to a national helpline. No matter I thought so I took it in. Sure they said we can do it, just send it off but it will probably take a week or ten days. I said that's fine and left my details and the frame. That was on the 13th of March. Hadn't heard anything so last week tried phoning the national number. Oh we will phone you back when we find out what's happening if you give us the registration number. No I didn't leave one, I left the frame. Oh we can't find it without the reg number. Lost my temper then, my wife said I'm not at work this week I'll sort it out. She phoned eight times,on three occasions to be told the manager would phone back. Nope. Today we have been told it would be ready tomorrow but we were told that last week. My wife told them we are coming in to collect either tomorrow or Saturday morning. I think they have lost it. Would I recommend Them? What do you think. Watch this space

Think you've been watching too many mad max films! What horsepower are you expecting?

I used to watch mythbusters which was an American tv show in which the two hosts aimed to either prove or disprove well known urban myths. One of these was the mobile phone in petrol station one. No matter what they did they didn't manage to cause a fire with a mobile phone and they did try hard. They did show however that static caused by somebody sliding their way out of the car and then earthing themselves by touching metal was sufficient to cause a good enough spark to start a fire or explosion. There were even a couple of cctv clips showing this happening. More importantly on another show they proved that it is possible to Polish a t**d.

Putting up a fence to keep houdini the lurcher in and the local scroats out. Can't wait

Anybody used an exhaust pipe expander and if so how did you get on with it? I am trying to iron out a restriction in my exhaust system and being able to flare out some ends to make slip joints would make things a lot simpler

I've used silicone hose from auto silicone hoses from ebay. In fact I've used it for all my engine hoses water, oil and vacuum with no issues so far. I much prefer it over rubber as it's more supple which means it's easier to get over things which is important when your arm is bent in three angles it's not supposed to. Also available in a selection of colours

On my xe one is for the pipe in and the top one has a breather on it. I don't have any oil vapour escaping now since I put a better quality breather on. Mine also has a drain fitting at the bottom but there has never been anything in it. If I was you I'd get the one with the outlet and put a pipe on and hang it down out of the way near the road. Most of what should come out of a healthy engine should be water vapour anyway. Cheapest, simplest option.

Is the outlet for a breather pipe? If you have an oil catch can you could connect it to that. If it is a breather then it will need to be connected to something or it will blow oily vapour around. Surprised one of the pinto boys haven't replied by now, God knows there are enough of them. If you haven't got a catch can and it works OK then why change.

OK thanks everybody. That gives me some idea of what to go for. Just got to find some suitable awning rail now. Looking at some types I wouldn't fancy trying to curve it neatly around the top of the screen.