RobinJI

I'm currently both polishing a turd, and running a shit car into the ground. And I'm loving it haha

Exactly this. If I bought a car that was already fast then what would I do with it? Sit there feeling good about my wise purchase then realize I'm bored now my hobby consists of doing nothing but sitting around feeling smug? Id rather buy something interesting and put a little effort into making it even more interesting and unique. Yeah it's not the most finantially sensible way to spend your time, but then most things worth doing in life aren't. Plus you tend to learn a hell of a lot along the way, and I love learning.

Nice one Mike, glad you're getting stuck in, you won't find a much better car to start learning some mechanics on than the MX-5. Just ordered an entirely new fuel system for the Scirocco, literally everything between the tank outlets and the fuel rail. So the mission over the next week or two of evenings will be to drop the fuel tank to give it a good clean out and strip out all the old system (Not very fun as it involves removing the rear axle and I know my rear shocks lower bush is seized in place on both sides ) I also need to make some sort of housing up as the fuel pumps and swirl-pot will be living in the cabin, but I want some sort of firewall between them and me so I'll make a box around them vented to the outside.

Cheers. I'll probably chuck some 10w50 in there and see what happens then. I don't really give a damn about the car but it'd be nice if it doesn't puke it's internals all over a motorway before the MOT runs out. I've generally been having a bit of a break from cars recently, hence why I've been so quiet in here. (Well, that and since moving I spend like 10% of the time I used to on the internet, I actually struggle to keep up with this thread, even thought it's the only forum I still regularly check!). I've been loving having one less thing to worry about, but the sun shining lots has made me itch to get something fun back on the road. The plan's to get the Scirocco back on the road for Bristol Volksfest at the latest which is mid June. In the mean time I want to replace the whole fuel system (well, just clean out the tank.) get some decent coilovers on it, re-weld my seat bases (one of my first attempts at welding hasn't stood the test of time.) and add some bracing underneath. Should be doable if I actually pull my finger out!

Yeah, as long as the bolts are new so shouldn't snap then an MX-5 manifold should be fairly easy. So since buying it in February my £250 406 has done one track day (well, sprint day) and then last week it went to the Alps and back when my housemates Mazda 6 shat it's big end bearings a week before he had a road-trip there arranged. During this time it's used no noticeable amount of fluids and given me no hassle other than a blown headlight bulb (there was a spare in the glovebox.) I'm pretty happy with that so I thought I'd treat it to an oil change sometime soon (maybe Sunday?) Anyone got any suggestions of what oil would be a good idea to throw in it? I'm thinking slightly thicker than the book says because it's pretty tired (193k) The book says 5w40 or 10w40. I'm thinking cheep 10w40 but I'm tempted to throw 10w50 in there. Anyone got any thoughs? I've never really had tired engines before. In other news I've ended up agreeing to do some more co-driving this year, I'd decided not to do it this year for cost/time reasons, but the guy who was meant to be replacing me pulled out and I've stepped in for now to save the mad rush to find someone new. First rally will be TSH stages on the 16th/17th down at RAF Portreath. It was probably the most fun rally we did last year, so I'm actually pretty happy to be doing it, although I'm still hoping Ben can find someone else for the majority of the season as really I'd rather spend the time and money on driving and playing with my own car. Speaking of which, if all goes to plan I'll be ordering some new suspension and a bunch of fuel system components in the next week or two to get the Scirocco back on the road before long.

What an awesome day. Thanks Adam and Luke for organising it, and thanks Adam for letting me have a play in the MX-5, you're an absolutely legend for being so happy to let other people use your car like that, I'm sorry about the tyres! The 406 was a laugh if nothing else, and was genuinely better than I expected, at least it didn't just understeer off the course at every opportunity like I thought it would! It was great to meet everyone and put faces to names, and I'm very keen to do the next one. As for poring money into unsuitable cars, I'm painfully aware of how bad an idea it is, and yet it's somehow hugely appealing. I think I'm broken. I'm definitely someone who finds tinkering to be half the fun though.

I'm in for sure. As yesterday demonstrated, I don't really care if I have a suitable car or not, so count me in. (although it would make me happy if I'm in the scirocco.)

I'll be in the 406, took a look at the Scirocco at the weekend, got annoyed with not being able to do things properly in time and decided I'd just take a massively unsuitable car rather than one that could potentially give issues. (In other news related to the discussion on the last few pages, I'm becoming increasingly tempted to loose the turbo on the Scirocco, there's just so much mess that goes with it.) I'm still game for a convoy. Adam, I've actually got a whiteboard in my boot at the moment for some reason, it can remain in there if it'll help? I'll also bring my Canon along as well as a Sony Action-cam with a suction mount. Duncy, if the 406 proves useless I'd be happy to share a space and do a half-day each? The super slow/stiff gear change is my main worry, along with it's chronic lack of guts. On the bright side, I don't give the tiniest bit of a crap about it, which should make it quite fun. (it cost barely more than scrap money and I commute by bike.)

Does the sunroof actually leak? Surely a sunroof looks 100x better than a piece of alloy riveted over the hole regardless of how it's acquired. Your car's not a racing car: it'll look silly for next to no advantage. If you're really worried about weight then tiger-seal some poly-carbonate into the hole. It'll look half sensible on a road car, still cost sod-all and save just as much weight. Good job on the purchase by the way, I'm looking forward to seeing it sometime. I often wish I'd started with a mk2, would have made my life a lot easier. Then again I quite enjoy taking the awkward path.

Usually it is yeah, and it's a handy thing to know, except for Mike, because MX-5's actually have '0.6L' stamped on that part of the dip-stick. PS, meant to say, it was good to meet you Mike, sorry I forgot to leave the throttle body with you, the guys I was with left a little without warning (well, or I didn't pick up on it) and I had to just jump in as I was getting a lift with them.

The funny thing is, I'd be less annoyed by that if they were limiting all traffic movement, rather than just old cars. They're basically saying it's fine to pointlessly drive when other modes of transport are more suitable* as long as you use a modern car, which seems like trying to minimise the impact of a poor transport system, rather than just addressing the route issue that cars are a crap mode of transport in a crowded urban environment. (* I've not been to Paris, but in general whenever I'm in a large city, my car's the last thing I'll look to as a means of getting from A to B, and from everything I've heard about paris, I wouldn't want to drive any car I cared about around there anyway.)

If I'm in the 406 I do, but I'm kind of hoping I don't have to resort to bringing that! If I'm in the Scirocco (which I should be if I pull my finger out soon), I've got a towing eye and a rope, but no actual towing hitch. Seized/damaged oil control rings are very very unlikely to cause any kind of catastrophic failure. As long as you keep the oil topped up you'll be able to thrash it as long as you want and all that'll happen's that the oil consumption might get worse, it shouldn't actually stop running.

I should be along yeah. I'll be sure to pop over and say hi.

Most don't have what? I'd actually completely disagree. My housemate's got an MGF that he bought purely because it came into his work as a part ex silly cheep and he'll make money selling it in the summer having had some fun in it for now. I've borrowed it a fair bit while the Scirocco's off the road and it's been great. It's definitely quieter than my old Mk1 MX-5, both with the roof both up and down. The interior's more spacious than the MX-5 (more elbow room and head-room.) The boot's bigger than I was expecting, and if you include the space in the front probably about the same as a 5. To drive, the steering's not as nice feeling as an MX-5, but it's still great fun on a back road, the damping/spring rates are great for UK roads as standard and the back end's way more playful than I was expecting. I thought it'd be scary when the back came out but it's surprisingly easy to catch and it loves being steered with the throttle. It feels well poised and very nimble. The forward visibility's fantastic because of how low the bonnet is, which makes it very easy to maneuver and park as well as giving the driving position quite a nice overall feel in my eyes. Oh, and it definitely has less scuttle shake then my old MX-5 had. (before I fitted the roll-cage.) It's genuinely a great laugh to drive, and I'd say it's probably actually easier to live with then an MX-5 (mk1 at least, I suspect a mk2's probably on a par for comfort.) The only real downside in my eyes is that the seat's are a bit crap (the base is too high and flat) and the engine's a pain to work on because it's mostly behind immovable things. I couldn't comment on reliability as I've covered fairly minimal miles, but looking at it's overall build quality, I wouldn't have any worries setting off on a long journey in it. Yeah, they're just two metro subframes, but they've done a good job of joining them together. They drive well, they don't weigh anymore than the competition and have comparable power, if not a little more, and they got a 4 star NCAP rating so are obviously fairly tough. The TF has coil-over suspension, which removes concerns about the hydroelastic stuff in an F. I've not had any experience of a TF, but I don't think they're that different besides the coil-over suspension and the looks.

I doubt it, the Ibiza's Polo based not golf. I guess there's still a little chance but it doesn't strike me as likely.

I've got a few 4x100 wheels with old 195/50r15's on them, I may well be able to chuck a couple in if you wanted? 6:30/7ish at Michael Wood sounds good to me. Luke, I've sent some money across.

All sounds good. Luke, let me know where to send money (and whether you want a deposit or the full amount) and I'll fire mine across. I'll book it off work tomorrow. Mike, I'm keen to convoy one/both direction, be silly not to really.

I'm keen for some sort of social/food thing after, makes the drive more worthwhile if I'm there longer, and it'll likely let the traffic clear for the drive home. I'll happily come along regardless of the numbers. No idea if I'll have pulled my finger out and get the Scirocco going again, I'd hope so as there's really not much to do to it. If not I'll nick my housemate's MGF, or just thrash the comically unsuitable 406 I've just bought, it'll be a laugh regardless.

Basically this. In a big city you won't need one, and most students wont have one. I only had one because I needed it in the holidays. It's worth checking with the university too, as a lot won't let you have a car if you're staying in their halls of residence. Personally I'd avoid it if you can. The public transport here's not great, but it's good enough to get buy unless you're in a very rural area. The V40 is about the least Volvo-ish Volvo, being based on a Mitsubishi chassis. It's just what I'd been looking at, there's plenty of choices out there but the Peugeots do seem good value for money. The big stuff always seems to be fairly well put together but I'm never convinced by the build quality of the smaller stuff.

£250. It's a 90bhp HDI, so it's bound to be very slow and it's on 190k with an engine management light on, but apparently it runs sweet and drives fine. My housemate's a car salesman and this came into the garage he works at as a part ex, I'd been saying to him I wanted to get a diesel estate sooner or later for tooling around in so he offered it to me. I know 406's are pretty tough, the boot's huge and it should be good on fuel. I can't really loose for £250. Personally I'd be tempted by a v40 if I was spending £1000-2000 on a small-ish estate, that was my plan for the end of this summer, and might still be as an upgrade over this.

I really like the idea behind it, and completely 'get' the concept, but bloody hell it's ugly. Sorry. I bought a car yesterday. Well, agreed to buy, I'll be collecting it next weekend. Unfortunately it's very dull and has many miles on it. On the other hand, it was stupidly cheep, has a huge boot, a diesel engine and (hopefully, not 100% as I haven't actually seen it yet) cruise control. 'One mode of transport please'. The Scirocco will still be going back on the road soon though, this will just be useful for getting to the hills with bikes and general getting from A to B use, plus it'll mean when the Scirocco's rear seats get replaced with some climbing frame I'll still have a car I can use for normal person stuff.

Any engine raise in the Caddy will require fabrication. The engine mounts, exhaust downpipe and probably gear linkage will need modifying as a minimum, you can't just put hockey pucks under the mounts as the engine mounts completely differently to the cars people do that on. The engine doesn't really sit any lower than the lower arm mounts do, and the sump's steel and bloody tough. I wouldn't treat it as too much of a priority to move it up unless you want to go REALLY low. If you want it to look lower and get the tyre closer to the arch, without loosing ground clearance then 15s would be the way to go. You should be able to pick up some cool 15s for sensible money second hand, it's such a common wheel fitment and size. Smaller tyres on the 14s will give you more arch gap and less ground clearance. Just depends what look you want really.

1. Rainbird 2. Pete 3. Dann27089461£8284 4. Mike (Who's not really a "Mad Man", he made bad choices 13 years ago) 5. RobinJI 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. (11.) (12.)

Ditto. I'm game for any of those dates really but the 5th seems a sensible distance away and as Azarathal points out, is the right side of payday. PS. Genuinely a shame you can't go Jardo. I think I need to make a trip up to see you and Nick sometime soon.

I believe the plan was for it to be a weekday, because the track's less likely to be booked up, and might even be cheaper? (not sure about the cheaper bit). I'm still game for this by the way, and I'm very easy going with dates.