April 2005
I can't remember which thread but someone mentioned an old make of lorry called Norde, and how they'd seen one travelling at high speed on the M1 in the early 60's.
I was leafing through a magazine called (I think) Heritage Commercials at the newsagents. On the last page was an article about Norde. They built an articulted outfit in the late 50's that was capable of in excess of 70 mph. This had a cab similar to the ERF KV 'egg' cab. Norde also built a rigid 6-wheeler which used a Bedford TK cab, but mounted higher so it looked odd.
Altogether only a handful of Nordes were built, but Norde/Hendrickson rubber suspension was available for lorries and trailers for many years.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
Read more
**** Thread closed. Discussion carries on here:- ****
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=36960
----------------------------------------------------------------
Brilliant!
From VBH and her "mummy" driving the Lambo, to someone adding a Maserati to his collection of Ferraris and driving round a snow covered racetrack and skidding into a barrier!
Brilliant! Read more
Interesting feature tonight on how crashes are investigated. Now we know why the road is closed for so long, and how they can tell if a car is braking at the point of impact etc.
I have a Skoda Octavia 1.9tdi. Great until road performance became poor at 100,000 miles.
Skoda dealer used the analyser and diagnosed a faulty turbo- charger. That advice cost me £55. The new turbo would be £1,300. Trade in value? £1,000. Turbo probably not worth it.
I asked around and found a local garage to fit a turbo for £700.(12 month warranty, etc, recon unit from good trade source) Worth it,so I got it fitted, but then the turbo did not work. The local garage said it's OK, go back to Skoda it's something else. Skoda dealer said it's oil blowback as the turbo failed, cleaned up, etc etc. Back to Skoda frequently. On the analyser again. Advice is fit new genuine Skoda turbo for £1,300. And £225 for this opinion.
Back to local garage, who contact turbo supplier: old turbo removed still perfect, should not have been changed.Bad advice from Skoda dealer.
I think that the Skoda dealer is liable to refund the original £55, the £700, the £225. But asking them to put the turbo right is too much.
Any advice or opinions, please?
Read more
I went to the turbo supplier today Thursday. The new turbo had been installed incorrectly by the highly recommended local garage, and secondly the air mass meter was faulty. PW'ssuggestion (below) was right, and it seems likely that this was the original, and probably the only original, fault which the Skoda dealer diagnosed as needing a new turbo.
Looking for a new car. Have yet to drive any of these but really liked the old focus. The new one is nice, but so is the golf. However, for the money of a golf I could get an A3. Any thoughts? Would be looking at 1.6 - 2.0 petrols. Read more
I have now had three golfs. My first golf was a high mileage and never had any problems with it but as I have upgraded to new newer versions of golf the build quilty, reliablity and servicing has steadily went down hill. At present I have a 2001 Golf 40000 miles had since new. It has had problems with power,diesel light coming on when driving, gears are crunchy, water getting into the air filter and abs coming on at 10 mph it took them 3 weeks to find the problem. My last service resulted in me having to go back as they had ran out of oil.
I for one would not buy a golf again. I am presently looking at the ford mondeo.
Is it technically feasible to convert *the same* engine from diesel to petrol or vice versa?
ie. with the major components still in situ? The same engine block, pistons, con rods etc. albeit extensive mods to fuel system.
Before you laugh yourselfs silly this is a serious question, Now i know it's not practical and costs would be prohibitive but is it possible?
Reason i ask is i was moaning to SWMBO about cost of petrol lately and she said why can't you convert it to diesel? (D'OH!!)
Read more
Here's a tidbit to nibble on.
'kits' were available during the war (ww2) to lower the CR of an engine. this enabled cars to run on the awful fuel available at the time. I believe it was called pool petrol, and was about 67 octane. the kit consisted of a machined plate that you put betweenthe head and block, something very easy to do with a side valve motor. this would help going diesel to petrol, and I suppose you could get away with it on the valves. (cambelt would have enough slack for the few millimetres it would take, but it would throw the valve timing out a bit. You could probably adjust an OHV motor ok, if not then its a simple job machining a longer set of pushrods.
Going petrol to diesel presents another problem. Short of skimming the head or block or both, I think the only other options are higher compression pistons or a new crank with a larger 'throw'.
something else:old 2 1/4 land rover petrol/diesel engines are basically the same engine. but the crank was either cast or forged, depending on petrol or diesel. just to make it interesting, not only were they physically interchangeable, they both had the same part number! so ordering a crank for a diesel could be a lottery, with a good chance of hitting the jackpot!
WTM
Drove a round trip of 300 miles today to look at an ancient but low mileage Rav-4 for my wife. Got there to find a heap of glass and a stove in rear door! We'd forgotten to switch the mobile on! Seems they'd tried to tell us the sad news which happened just after we departed. Car was crap anyway. Never believe a seller.
My wife was so upset (more that I was trying to palm her off with a crappy car, I suspect), and I was so pink fluffy diced off with journeying around the country looking at rubbish, that I took her straight to the local Toyota dealer, slapped down the 5000 quid I had in my pocket, and bought her an overpriced nearly new one. She went home smiling. Now I'm wondering how to pay for it! In my youth ladies had large bicycles with a straw thing for the groceries - biggest expense was broken chain. Read more
Now if I suggest that you shouldn't buy a car that has pink fluffy dice hanging from the mirror, what will DD alter that to?
Folks,
I put my digital multimeter across both batteries (the Monterey has two) in turn today and read the following:
@2750 - 16.89 and 17.46
@2000 - 14.90 and 15.80
Do these seem high? What will I "cook" first if they are?
Are there any other checks I should carry out, or is it time to call my auto electrician?
rg
Read more
SHMBO has reversed our car into a work colleages Ford Mondeo back bumper causing a small puncture.
If it cannot be repaired by plastic welding its a new bumper which is coming in at around £500 all in.
At that price its becoming an insurance job with all the extra costs.
Whilst browsing the internet I found a company doing a good range of pattern and OE body parts at a fraction of the cost and bringing the job into the 'hand in pocket' price (reluctantly!)
There were two ranges described as 'Standard Alternative' and 'Standard Thatcham' which was a bit more expensive.
How good are these pattern parts? Has anyone any experience of finish and fit in respect of plastic mouldings? Naturally I want the cheapest option but it is only fair that the job is done properly.
Fullchat Read more
Bumper??Wonder if there is something under the trades descriptions? Didnt take much of a bump to bust it! The pattern parts were less than £100.Certainly my experience of pattern panels is that they have needed a bit of coaxing to make them fit.
Fullchat
Hi all
Let's say you place a deposit on a car (over the phone with local main dealer) with a 6-month waiting list to your own specification. Is the deposit still refundable under the distant selling regulation should you decide that you do not want the car because of a change in circumstances? this is assuming that the dealer would have no problem selling the car to someone else on the waiting list.
many thanks. Read more
Hmmm,
www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2000/20002334.htm
Exceptions to the right to cancel
13. - (1) Unless the parties have agreed otherwise, the consumer will not have the right to cancel the contract by giving notice of cancellation pursuant to regulation 10 in respect of contracts -
(a) for the supply of services if the supplier has complied with regulation 8(3) and performance of the contract has begun with the consumer's agreement before the end of the cancellation period applicable under regulation 12;
(c) for the supply of goods made to the consumer's specifications or clearly personalised or which by reason of their nature cannot be returned or are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly;
Can anyone help please. I took the battery off to recharge locked the doors. Now i can't get the doors open. i have gained entry through the boot but there seems to be some sort of deadlock on them. The bonnet release seems to be connected somehow and that won't open either. I'm sitting here pulling my hair and that's pretty hard as I'm bald. Read more
Your a diamond. The bulb holder in the boot idea worked. Now I can relax. Many thanx
Browse
.jpg)
I've mentioned on here before that the Midland Red bus company, which built most of its own vehicles right up until the late 1960's, ran their C5 motorway coaches at 80 mph on the newly opened M1 in 1959. Some of these vehicles, when fitted with turbochargers, were reputed to be able to reach 100mph.
Cheers, SS