RobinJI

I can't remember the last time I locked a wheel on a tarmaced road. The only time I've ever made ABS kick in was driving my Mums Fabia over the Welsh mountains in the snow, at which point I wanted it to sod off and die. Personally, I think it's a good thing to exist on most peoples cars, but daily driving without it doesn't bother me at all. As for daily driving a mk2 Golf. It'll all come down to how well it's been looked after. The interiors aren't actually that basic, there's no exposed metal or anything and hi-spec ones got power steering, electric windows, central locking etc.. It depends on the spec and condition of the car. If it's a basic early model with 200k on the shell and nothing done other than doubling the power output (and potentially removing any real suspension), then it's going to be a bit sketchy and potentially horrid. If it's been looked after, and the conversion's done well it should be a reliable and fun car. A good condition one that's been looked after's actually a pretty comfy cruiser. The interiors are well made and solid feeling, much nicer than a lot of modern stuff in my eyes.

All it appears to do is stop you having to think about what you're writing. That conversation you put up could easily have been done with in 2 or 3 texts surely? Which you could easily have managed in one minute. Seems just like Facebook messaging to me? My contacting people with my phone basically consists of: Inane bullshit that doesn't really need saying goes through facebook messenger. Anything I'd like an answer to, but doesn't really matter when ie: "Up to much saturday, fancy heading for a ride?" gets sent in a text. Anything that matters/I actually want a reply for soon I'll call. If there's no answer I'll text, because voice-mail's annoying. Texts are bloody handy if you live in an area where having no signal's a pretty common thing. You hit send, and as soon as you get the tiniest bit of signal, it goes through. They reply and as soon as you get a tiny glimpse of signal you receive it. Most data based things seem to try for about 30 seconds then just go 'failed' until you hit try again. (It's worth bearing in mind you can register to be able to text 999 now, for this exact reason.)

Well Golf/A3's have a speedo sendor that goes in the hole for a cable. I guess there's a small chance it could be made to work on the 924 box. The clocks aren't really able to be altered, they're one big PCB with all the dials built into it, hence my funky sideways dials to get it as small as possible with the original pivot points. Mileage-wise, mine was on 118k. If looked after they'll happily hit 200k and keep going strong. The valve stem seals in mine seem to be a bit shot, but otherwise it runs perfectly. If you get a complete car you'll probably end up with a free engine by the time you've sold one or two bits and weighed the rest in. It's definitely what I'd have done if I'd had the space or time to break a car. I want pay-day to arrive so I can start reassembling the MX-5 and think about getting it on the road.

Trouble is, when it comes to motorway miles a 'high mpg engine' becomes a 'normal mpg engine' when it's in a car with tiny wheels and the aerodynamics of a 70's hatchback with the back cut off Little wheels and ancient aero make my Scirocco worse on fuel on the motorway than a 1.8t mk4 golf/A3. It's definitely better on fuel than them anywhere but the motorway though, as the weight starts making a huge difference. Paul, if I remember right I payed £220 for the Passat lump that's in my 'rocco. That was including the full loom (with the plugs sort of labeled up), ECU, dials, pipework, intercooler etc. Basically everything but the box. I'd have said £200-£300's fair for a longitudinal 1.8t, they're definitely cheaper than the transverse ones. Personally I'd go with the factory ECU for what you want it for, it's simple enough to wire up if you know your way around a wiring diagram. You'll need to either get the immobilizer coded out of the ECU or use the dials as well (the route I took). Not sure what you'd do about the speedo if you used the dials, kind of depends where the 924 takes its signal from.

That's a bit harsh Jardo. I've met Andy, and yeah, the evidence is very much swinging towards him being all talk and no action, but he's a pleasant enough guy to be around. Seems more like he needs convincing to pull his finger out/take the leap rather than anything else. Just got home from watching a VSCC day at Wiscombe Park. What an awesome sight/noise/smell. Definitely one to remember for next year. I'll get some photos up sooner or later.

A good few rolls of clingfilm encasing the car's generally annoying/amusing yet harmless. Or make a fake plate, with the correct reg, but with the little text at the bottom saying something inappropriate, see how long it takes to get noticed. Also George, nice one, curve looks nice and punchy, must be great fun.

16/20, I was expecting to be pretty much 20/20, but I do like being busy/active.

It's kind of ironic the way a large chunk of your supposedly superior views seem to come from the programmed natural instinct to find patterns within random situations.

I finally found some mojo to sort the Scirocco's bodywork, and now £10 worth of crap products has kicked me back to not wanting to look at bodywork ever again. I spent Thursday night sanding the crap paint off my boot, then today I ground the rusty patches back to clean metal, filled the pitting that left then primed it up. Prepped it nicely getting the primer lovely and flat then tried to put some top-coat on. The paint I'd bought was complete and utter crap, it just spat all over it, spraying hugely fast/aggressively and yet not atomising properly. On top of that it was so thin that getting enough on to give a 'wet' coat (rather than just a load of unconnected spatter) made it run massively. The paint also went on really aerated. I'm pretty sure it's not a reaction, it's just full of air as if it's been whisked or something, I think it might be down to the hugely aggressive propellant but It's very odd, and basically ruins any chance of the paint being ok once I've flatted the runs out. Oh, then to add insult to that, the masking tape I used left half of its self behind when I removed it and it's being bloody stubborn to remove. Great fun. So yeah, one day wasted and my car looking no better than before. Brilliant, thanks Car Plan (the paint) and B&Q (the tape), I won't be buying anything from either of you again.

It quite literally isn't. You want to move somewhere with a low crime rate where automatic weapons are legal..... ok.... makes sense................ hang on, no, it doesnt, it doesn't make any sense at all. It makes about as much sense as a unicycle riding polar bear singing queen.

42.5. 7:30 - 4:30 Mon - Thurs, 7:30 - 4. That's as a design engineer at an architectural metalwork company. It's low stress in a pretty relaxed office and I leave at bang on 4:30 every day, still full of energy to get stuff done outside work, which is perfect for me right now.

That's a really interesting article Adam, cheers for that! It backs up what I've always read/been taught, which is great timing considering I'll be wanting to tackle making one soon. A friend's just done pretty much exactly #4 for his dissertation (BEng in motorsport engineering if I remember right) and I'll be trying out something pretty close to #6 soon just for fun, starting with this bumper and some plywood: The bumper comes straight down from the forward tip. I suspect the figures wouldn't be quite as impressive as in that test because of the intakes in it which aren't taken into account in that study (and I believe can have quite a large effect on front end aero), but it'll hopefully still give some drastic improvements over the overbite they have as standard. Over time I'll be hoping to sort the full underside out.

We use these for servicing when rallying. waterproof, well made and very hard wearing. The only downside's that they're bloody warm, which is great in the winter but hopeless in the summer. (unless all you're doing's rushing around under a car for a few minutes every hour or 2.) I'd have generally said you probably want something designed/sold for farming, it tends to be better value and often harder wearing than stuff for mechanics or racing.

Well I bought the Audio-Technica ATH-M30s at the end of last week and they arrived Saturday. I was away over the weekend so only got to take a look at them today. Really pleased so far, they're a much more neutral sound than my Sennheiser in ear ones, which personally I like (I'd rather adjust to my taste with the equalizer than have the headphones decide for me). They seem nice and clear, and I'm definitely preferring the over-ear ones to in ear in the office environment. They look well thought out from a longevity point of view too. Very pleased for the money.

Some cool stuff in here. Currently working designing Architectural metalwork, which tends to be fairly simple from a modeling point of view, so as to keep it simple for the guys in the workshop to make. I've not had much of a play with rendering though, so don't have any pretty pictures to show for it at the moment. I'll find some examples of previous work when I get a chance.

Another cheaky video of the Astra from Somerset Stages:

If it's blowing much before the lambda that'd account for the bad economy. If it's all sealed up properly then it shouldn't have any effect on fuel consumption on a turbo car, might be worth seeing if you can seal it up unless it's awful?

Yeah it's the temperature gauge, as well as being the radiator cap. It's a detail I particularly like, even if it is a bit tricky to read from the drivers seat!

Yeah, he was into trials for quite a while, back when I actually rode regularly too! He's an old school friend and I still go mountain biking with him occasionally. I've got a huge amount of want for something vintage sooner or later. Probably lightly rodded or a mild special (just because I like playing with things.) I really can't wait to be in a possition where I've got space for a few cars! Just the 2's a bit of a struggle at the moment space wise. The Porsche looks good, I like the gold personally. I think your idea of gold centers and white lips would work well reversed, with the lips gold and the centers white. Oh yeah, this came up behind us while we were trundling home in the Jowett, this was the best shot I could get over my shoulder with my phone!:

Jardo, Awesome, so glad you'll be back in a proper car. Paul, those look great. Was that from rattle cans or a gun? Should really suit the Porsche. A few quick shots from Mondays random trip to the beach, there's a lot of fun to be had puttering around the countryside in this thing: The destination, West Bay: A quick stop at Pilsdon Pen on the way home: The view from the top:

The Grados look nice, but I'm wanting over ear rather than on ear really (I wear glasses about half the time and having my ear pushed back onto the arm's annoying) and they need to be closed back or I'll bug the other guys in the office. (I know I hadn't mentioned that though, so thanks anyway!) I was reading a few reviews earlier as well as chatting to the other guys in the office and I'm probably going to go with a set of Audio-Technica ATH-M30s (RRP ~£70, on Amazon for ~£45), they're sensible money and very well reviewed, as well as being exactly what I'm after in terms on closed back/over ear. I like that the reviews say they've got a very neutral sound too, I'd rather hear the music as the artist intended then tweak it to suit my taste if I want. Any reason I shouldn't go for them? UKHippY. Surely another set of CX300s would be a safe bet? You know you like the sound, and for what they cost I wouldn't have said a years hard use was bad going. Don't they have a 2 year warranty anyway?

Tell them that's not a real question, and to go away until they've got one. What's the actual question, they've gotta be testing your methods of calculating something, not just your ability to find a graph on Google. I'm guessing they want you to find a torque curve online and calculate the SFC and power from it or something? You can't really calculate the torque curve without making a load of assumptions or having a plot of acceleration or something, have they told you to assume anything?

Thought I'd bump this back up as I'm looking for some over-ear headphone to use at work. Aiming to spend around £30/£40. I use a pair of Sennheiser CX300IIs at the moment, which I'm really pleased with but I'd like to switch to using over-ear ones. My first thought's Sennheiser HD203s (~£30) or HD205s (~£40), but I'm not sure if the 205's are worth the extra or if I should be looking at other makes too. I'd be tempted by wireless ones (with the expectation of paying a little extra to keep decent quality), but most seem to be random brands I've not heard of, plus they all seem to be bluetooth, which isn't ideal as at work I listen off my PC not phone, I'm guessing I could get a dongle if I really wanted? Probably just stick to good old wires though.

What data have you been given?

I've generally heard better things about the Rainsports. I've got T1-R's though (2 sets in fact) and have been pretty happy with them. I've only got them on the Scirocco over the Rainsports because I was in a hurry and nowhere had Rainsports on the shelf though, and the MX-5 came with T1-R's on the nicer wheels. Had an interesting day today, started working on the MX-5 fitting a load of FIA approved roll-cage padding but got interrupted when my friend Alan swung by to say hello in his 1934 Jowett, which lead to an impromptu trip to the beach in it, taking the very senic route. I kind of want something vintage, there's something hugely fun about pottering along in the sun in them. One day maybe.