nelmo

I called the DVLA and they mailed me back with all the required docs and a guide on how to fill them in.

I'd probably want it to set fast, otherwise it would flow down to the pointy end, no? I think it's too high to grind down and get a decent slope on it. Digging down is going to be tricky - what do you reckon is the thinnest I can have the bottom of the ramp? Is 1 inch too little?

Thinking about it, my drive is not solid - gravel above very compacted earth/soil/rock and not perfectly level, so trying to drill anything down is going to be tricky to keep level - I might just go the concrete route. My main concern with concrete is making the bottom of the ramp too thin, so it cracks. Will need to try dig down a little to get some depth at that end, although not sure how easy that will be.

Doh, ali, why didn't I think of that! Thanks for the offer Jaimo - if you can find yours, let me know but don't knock yourself out, there are several companies on eBay who will make them to measure. I might try do it myself although I don't think I have the equipment to bend ali that thick...

Please be gentle, I work in IT so know nothing about what I'm about to ask (apart from the brick bbq I built a few years ago)... My garage has a one inch lip down to a slightly sloping drive. When rolling my kit out of the garage for the first time at the weekend, I used a couple of wooden planks but when reversing back in (under power), the planks just shot out as the wheels turned on them. Reversing up without the ramps, I think my bash plate hit the lip. So, I was thinking of building a simple concrete ramp using the ready-mixed stuff from Wickes (or similar). But looking online, a ramp may not be as simple as I thought. Has anyone done this? Is it doable? Or is there something I can buy (plastic?) that won't shoot off when I reverse in? I want something I can leave in place. Any suggestions?

I need to get the VIN number stamped into the chassis. I don't have a welder so I can't do it on a separate plate and I've read that the manual stamping kits are a bit iffy and could deform the chassis rail. One person said they engraved it with a Dremel - anyone done this? Anyone know where I can get a stencil for that (assuming I can't do it freehand)? Or any other methods?

Thank you all for your help - really useful and I guess it's better to find this out now than at 70mph or IVA Is it OK to leave the single flare joints (so the ones in the MC and in the rear 4-way) as they are male ends or would it be better to do them double's anyway?

Watched a video of making a double flare - definitely not what I've done. Bugger.

Why does it have anything to do with IVA? Flexible brake lines are not an issue and I can't read anything in the IVA manual that might be a problem - it just talks about materials and fixing points being of sufficient strength (it does say there can't be any leaks :-) ). I was more concerned that maybe a flexible pipe on one side and copper on the other might provide a different level of pressure or something?

Yes, it is at the panel join. I was thinking flexible only because the connections look far more secure and don't rely on me having to do a decent flare. I don't think I did a double flare but I haven't got leaks on any of my other connections (so far, anyway) and I did them the same way. I guess I could re-do the whole run off the car, as Ian suggested, but if I'm going to do that, I may as well go the flexible route, if possible (the extra cost isn't huge, I don't think?).

I did the original flare on the copper pipe myself (so could easily be the problem) but I have chopped off the end and done it again. The problem is, the pipe is now on the car and filled with fluid, so access is tricky and I've got slippery fluid all over the place while trying to do the flare. The 2nd attempt was better than the first but obviously not good enough and I'm running out of copper pipe to keep chopping bits off. Also, having to keep bending the copper pipe up (so I can get the flare kit to it) is going to snap it soon or at least weaken it for the future. Ian, I don't think the existing short length of flexi is a problem - I'm thinking of just replacing the whole run of copper pipe from MC to the caliper, with flexible pipe (so no joins, no leak). Can I do that on just one side (front nearside) without also doing the offside as well?

I've got a tiny leak in one brake line, at the join between the copper and flexible pipes (car not finished yet). I've tried several fixes but it's not having it. I'm considering changing to a flexible line the whole way but just for that one side - is that OK? Or would I have to balance it and do the same for the other side or even all 4 lines? In other words, can I mix copper ant flexible lines?

Hiring anything with a towbar is expensive (£100 a day) and most caravanners do much more than 2 weeks a year. My current tank is the best car I've ever owned;comfy and reliable. For excitement, I've got a motorbike and (hopefully soon) a kit car.

A fly or some other insect.

I've got a Lexus RX400h (for your budget, you could get the newer 450h). Hybrid, so £250 Road tax, basically a Toyota, so incredibly reliable (mine has 125k miles and still in great nick). Really comfy, lots of toys and pulls my 1600 kg caravan with no problem. The 3.5L engine is great (270bhp on mine, more in the 450h) but despite hybrid, economy isn't great - 30mpg average, 20mpg towing but it is a big, powerful car so I don't think that is too bad. My mate has a Volvo XC90 (old one) and seems OK except has worse economy than mine.

You need to find the flux capacitor...

Whenever my Windows laptops have died (normally because of a virus) , I install Ubuntu until some bit of hardware goes and then it's new laptop time. I've just had to do that with my 6 year old ex-Windows 7 laptop and I'm just trying to get the Emerald software working on it. It runs but I haven't tried actually connecting it to the ECU - hopefully, it will be OK.

9 years old?! Is it maybe just decomposing? :-)

Done the trick - many thanks...

If you sell it as an auction, I thought they got a percentage of the selling price, up to some maximum? If you sell it as a classified ad, you pay £15 (may have gone up now - couple of years ago) and that's it.

Hmm, I've installed Ubuntu now and the Emerald installs and starts up but I can't load any maps. The open map command sees the files but nothing happens when I select one; no data shows in any of the screens and I don't get any error message. KT, do you recall having to run anything else to get it working? I've installed Wine v1.8.

Excellent, thanks.... ☺

Just as I need my rarely-used laptop to run the Emerald software, it seems to have gained some virus or something that is making it run like Usain Bolt's one-legged dog. When this happened on a previous laptop, I installed Ubuntu and it was brilliant. I'm thinking of doing this again but I need the Emerald software to run - anyone else running Ubuntu and the Emerald software? (Emerald doc is a little old, suggesting XP as the latest OS it is compatible with! . I've emailed Emerald but I'm not sure they'll know).

Sadly, looks like their journey is over early - but a great read and a great idea for a trip.

I've done exactly that - check my blog (link below) for pictures. The hardest part was finding the right tap size to use on the thermostat (3/8" BSP) . I put the 2nd water temp sensor in a special adaptor in the pipe coming off the thermostat (that is for the temp dial which isn't as important). I think all the detail is in my blog so I won't repeat it here (select the 'cooling' label).