Al Milton

Worked OK for me, nice one Mat Simplicity itself!! Al

Nice and subtle little old lady

The other half calls it 'Kitty' but refers to me working on it as Wiggy, (after the Jasper Carrot character) . A Wiggy on Kitty has a certain ring, don't you think............. I have a few more choice names at times depending on how much the car bites back during the build, that I couldn't possibly post here, Al Mmm, just noticed Nelson posts, for all you cricket lovers...

Our benevolent Government seem intent on bleeding more cash. I was sent this message below to work this morning, please be charitable and sign up to help try and change the Government decision, if possible!! Hope the link works, if not, could you help out please Matt Moo? Just checked link, seems to be working at present!! Thanks for your time. Al LIFEBOAT crews fear being scuppered by crippling new charges for using their radios from Ofcom, the communications regulator. The RNLI could see the price of using its VHF emergency frequencies rise to £250,000 under plans to charge the full commercial rate. The charity, which saves hundreds of lives every year currently pays an annual £48,000 at a discounted rate of 50 per cent. It relies on donations and fears the move will have a disastrous impact on fundraising. Peter Bradley, RNLI operations staff officer, said: 'It's a lot of money when you think in terms of lifeboat days and little old ladies collecting pound coins.' 'We could buy several inshore lifeboats for the same amount.' 'The Government rely on us to provide this search-and-rescue service, at a cost of £124 million a year, but they want to charge us for doing it!' Ofcom has set out plans to bring 'market forces' into maritime and civil aviation communications in a policy it calls Administered Incentive Pricing. £250,000 represents an awful lot of charity collections, even more so in the current economic climate so, if like me you feel strongly enough about this, please sign the petition below. http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/RNLI-RF-licences/ Please forward to anyone and everyone you think might help by signing the petition.

Least this'll solve the problem of speed humps vs sumps Does look a laugh Al

You feeling hungry again Bob?? Hobnobs and butties on order, chefette booked Al

There is an alternative.. Robinj66 arranged his BUI for the same day as SVA, so technically he was driving back from the SVA which you are allowed, but via DVLA. Just an option, sure someone will throw more light on this and correct accordingly, but could be a little tricky to arrange though...... Al

Well done Robin, it must have made a change to have the rain hold off Looking forward to hearing it thundering around Kent Al

I know of an industrial incinerator that could have a job ticket raised for disposal of said jobsworths, working temperature 1500C+........ Probably get fined for emissions though......... Beaurocrasy gone stark raving bleedin mad, are they on commission or something? Al

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE BORN IN THE 1940's, 50's, and 60's ! First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer. Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Nandos. Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on Wednesday afternoon or the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death! We shared one soft drink with 2 of our friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because...... WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.?? We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY, no video/dvd films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. Only ladies had pierced ears! We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time... We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays, We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet! RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully's always ruled the playground at school. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla' We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers, the bleeding heart liberals and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Hi Steve, I have made boot panels out of 9mm hardwood ply for my Spec and covered the three 'flat' outer panels (one over the diff, one dropping down following the chassis tube and one returning to the rear panel along the said chassis tubes), with fibreglass, just adds a little more strength (and water proofing!). Covered the rest of the panels with the fibreglass resin to water proof them, paying attention to the edges. Will also stone chip these panels to cover up imperfections in my fibreglassing. Probably overkill I know, but I want to protect the tank. Sealing the panels is planned to be with exterior grade silicon and fitting the panels together with 'L' brackets. I'm going to use the RH 30ltr tank which sits in the 'recess' in front of the rear panel, (2b position??). The increase in the boot space available is substantial. Enough room for the other halfs packing for a weekend and a change of pants for me Just got to fit them now!! Al

Hi John, Just looked in the Haynes manual, Rover 2.0ltr EFI MEMS unit requires max pressure 4.1 bar, constant pressure 3.0 bar +/- 0.2. It doesn't state the delivery rate though (GPH). Hope this helps. Al

Hi John, You can borrow my pump, I think the tank is the same. I am changing to a smaller 30 ltr tank to give more boot space anyway, (got to fit the other halfs' packing in the boot at some time!!), so you are welcome to try my pump. Sorry, but I would have called, but have misplaced your number. By the way, on these tanks, (Ford Fiesta I think), the swirl pot is integral to the tank and Rob N's explanation says it all. Cheers Al

Blimey, either you were unlucky Dave or we were lucky. Al

Hi Robin, Going by your post, have you ever thought of leaving the Legal profession and becoming the next Mr. Haynes The car did sound good though, heard you coming up the A2 . Shows how strong the monocoque is by putting up with the prop going west, that was bad news. Funny how the tester didn't pick up on the last minute scuttle hole 'trimmings' Give me a shout when you need the harnesses. Al

Can vouch for the head gasket. Apparently they have a history of going around 60k miles, the one on the other halfs Rover 414 went at just over 59k! Al

Just got in from a bit of window shopping. Aldi, (or at least the one in Ramsgate), currently has 1kg ABC class fire extinguishers by Kidde called Lifesavers (apt) for £6.99, complete with mounting bracket. Seen similar a few weeks ago at £14ish. So got 3, one for both tin tops and the other for my 'Spec when it finally built. (hope the 6 year guarantee wouldn't have expired by then ) Definitely worth a look... Al

Maybe it did happen twice, but probably not, just some rehashed report then. But with the cost of oil, i'm sure they could afford another one with their small change.... Al

Written by To The Point News Friday, 16 May 2008 The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, sat in its hangar in Toulouse , France without a single hour of airtime. Enter the Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) to conduct pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine runups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi . The ADAT crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then they took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft. Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an empty A340-600 really is. The takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the cockpit because they had all 4 engines at full power. The aircraft computers thought they were trying to takeoff but it had not been configured properly (flaps/slats , etc..) Then one of the ADAT crew decided to pull the circuit breaker on the Ground Proximity Sensor to silence the alarm. This fools the aircraft into thinking it is in the air. The computers automatically released all the brakes and set the aircraft rocketing forward. The ADAT crew had no idea that this is a safety feature so that pilots can't land with the brakes on. Not one member of the seven-man Arab crew was smart enough to throttle back the engines from their max power setting, so the $200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling it. The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown, for there has been a news blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere. Coverage of the story was deemed insulting to Muslim Arabs. Finally, the photos are starting to leak out. ooops.bmp oops_2.bmp opps_1.bmp oops_4.bmp

Hi Ed, Welcome aboard. I've only made it to Ryarsh once, (nice pub by the way!), and the locals are a good bunch. Cheers Al

A driver is stuck in a traffic jam going into Central London. Nothing is moving north or south. Suddenly a man knocks on his window. The driver rolls down his window and asks, 'What Happened, what's the hold up?' 'Terrorists have kidnapped Gordon Brown , Tony Blair and Alistair Darling . They are asking for a £10 million ransom. Otherwise, They are going to douse them with petrol and set Them on fire. We are going from car to car, taking up A collection.' The driver asks, 'On average, how much is everyone Giving?' 'About a gallon

Hi Robin, The chassis number format for my SuperSpec is SuperSpec (SS) Produced (P) Month (09) Year (04) Number 8 or 88 (repeated to fill in required digits?). I am sure that someone can shed more light on this, but it seems feasible. Would it be possible to tag along to the SVA test to get a flavour of what to expect? I presume you are off to Gillingham? I'll bring the Hobnobs Cheers Al

Blimey Will, those 3 years have flown. Congrats on the pass, glad to hear the cars' mechanically reliable and not causing probs! Al

Tried putting the cable the other side of the pedal, same result but opposite 'kink' So repositioned the washers to move the pedal further to the left. This helped, but also filed down protruding edge on eyed fixing on the cable to allow a flush fit. This is a lot better with only a very small 'kink'. Tightened everything up, but will now release slightly to allow cable to pivot, thanks for the heads-up Richard Also, don't suppose you have a piccy of your cluth release lever arrangement Richard? Thanks for the tips and pointers chaps. Al