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The Car Thread


MadManMike

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Yeah it is a bit shite. I just saw the first two cars and thought it was appropriate :)

Vids from the weekend... If you haven't got much time, the 2nd half of race 2 is the best stuff I think. I'll work out a 'highlights' list later...

Race 1: Cut short cos of a little dink...

Race 2: If there's not a lot happening out front, look at the rear view mirror instead!

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Does anyone know how to test a potentiometer using a multimeter?

Completely new to this and presume mine is going as when I blip the throttle it doesn't react like the connection is dirty slash faulty.

Is it a case of using the multimeter on the ohms setting and should the value of resistance gradually decreases or increase as the accelerator is pressed? If so then that should be simple to see if it'd working right or not.

It's on a ford focus tdci too if anyone can confirm if ma theory is right. Cheers!! :)

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Something went bang on my car on Friday, "pulling to the left" ended up being driving to the left with no option.

Car has been abandoned at my work now as it's making all kinds of grinding sounds when I drive or brake. Add to that, my right front tyre is now also flat.

It's booked in for discs, pads & tyres already, but this unidentified bang feels like it may be significantly more expensive to fix.

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I miss my MX-5 :( I definitely plan to own another when funds allow, but at the moment I'm more concerned about getting the mini finished, so I'm deliberately holding off a 'fun car', and sticking sensible so I don't distract time or money from the mini.

As for which is gayer out of a 500 and a MX-5, it's pretty even for new ones, but a 500 is much more gay than a mk1 MX-5 nowadays, I see way more modified mk1s on the road now than I do standard ones, and very rarely driven by women.

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Something went bang on my car on Friday, "pulling to the left" ended up being driving to the left with no option.

Car has been abandoned at my work now as it's making all kinds of grinding sounds when I drive or brake. Add to that, my right front tyre is now also flat.

It's booked in for discs, pads & tyres already, but this unidentified bang feels like it may be significantly more expensive to fix.

Pulling could just be from the tyre being flat/driven at low pressure. Get them to check the alignment when they do the tyres and see how far out it is. If it's a long way out then you'll know if something's up. Worth doing when you get new tyres anyway! :)

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Oil extractor pumps - Need to extract about 4.5 litres, Pela look good but anyone had much experience with them? Skoda octavia 1.9tdi 130 if it makes any odds.

I got a £50 jobby from a Wilcos. Think its a Laser (basically the same as the Pela). I've been doing oil changes with it for at least 4 years, and have never had a problem with it. They are so good, I could confidently do an oil change in a suit, haha!

You just have to be aware that they wont' get rid of every single last drop of oil, but it makes life SO much easier. Even when you drop the oil from the sump, there's still bits of old oil floating around the system anyway, so I don't think it really matters.

Sometimes it takes a bit of trial and error to get the pickup tube positioned correctly in he sump for maximum extraction, but after a few goes you get it perfectly. My one has marks at 1L intervals, so you know when you have all the oil out (if you know the sump capacity!). Also makes disposing of the old oil very easy...I extract into the pump vessel, fill the engine with new oil (after fitting a new filter obviously), then pour the oil into the empty oil can using the funnel attachment on the extractor vessel. Happy days!

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So I just won these to stick on the car, with the view to refurbing the others and selling them on for a nice potential bit of cost covering.

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...3#ht_500wt_1413

However - I've never had to organise a courier pickup, so has anyone got any decent firms they'd use? I'm contemplating going up myself but it'll probably cost as much anyway!

EDIT: And if anyone says they won't fit, you should be wrong because the guy had the same car without the schnitzer stuff on it. He was told he'd need spacers to fit them and couldn't be arsed. I've got the spacers, obviously.

Edited by JDâ„¢
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et18-20's standard offset for a 5 series, so if they're much wider than standard you might need a little extra shock clearance, 8.5 doesn't strike me as silly wide though, so you may be ok.

I've got a bit of a dilema about what I should do car wise. At the moment, I've got 3 cars, and I need to reduce that number to 2, as my dad wants to knock down the barn the 3rd one's been living in.

I've got my Passat, Scirocco and Mini. The Mini's not going anywhere, no question over that, so one of the others has to go unfortunately. The Passat's been my daily the last year, and the Scirocco's been sat in a barn with a snapped hand-brake and a seized engine.

Now as far as I can see, I've got 3 options:

1) Keep the Passat, Scrap/break or fix and sell the Scirocco, pocket the cash, this would leave me with ~£300/400, and a 1993 1.6td Passat Estate.

2) Sell the Passat, use the money to fix the Scirocco, Daily that instead. This would probably also leave me with ~£300 if I'm lucky and I don't get carried away when 'fixing' the Scirocco, and a 1988 Scirocco Scala with whatever engine I can get in budget.

3) Sell both, buy something completely different, so I'd end up with ~£1100/1400 to spend on something.

Now the sensible side of me says option 1 makes by far the most sense, or option 3 with the money spent on a newer diesel estate, however with my mini still a long way from completion, I'm getting an itch for something I can have a little fun in. I don't need an estate as such, they're just handy things to have, but I can make do with a 3 door hatch if it means some more fun. The Scirocco's got some sentimental value, as it's the first car I really kept for any length of time, and I've done a lot of road-trips and things in it, as well as modifying it to my personal taste. It's practical enough, cheap enough to run and quirky enough that I really enjoy driving it, the only real downside being that it's broken, I'd have to borrow the money to fix it before selling the Passat, but that's not a huge deal.

Or there's that 3rd option, buying something else... but what? Do I stay with dailying a boring estate, or do I get something that's a bit of fun. It'd needs to be happy as a motorway cruiser/fast a-road car, I do very little city driving, so something that's a laugh to chuck around at 20mph, but shite at 70's no use really. (That said if it's fun to chuck around at 20 then that's still a big bonus as long as it's decent on the motorway)

So yeah, should I man up and fix the Scirocco, stop being silly and keep the Passat, or any suggestions for cars I can get for sub ~£1200 that are fun, practical(ish), and wont cost me an arm and a leg to run? (Being old/interesting and preferably appreciating in value would be nice too ;))

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Yeah it is a bit shite. I just saw the first two cars and thought it was appropriate :)

Vids from the weekend... If you haven't got much time, the 2nd half of race 2 is the best stuff I think. I'll work out a 'highlights' list later...

Race 1: Cut short cos of a little dink...

Race 2: If there's not a lot happening out front, look at the rear view mirror instead!

I was there watching and you seemed to do a pretty good job :) Any idea what happened to the bloke in the MK3 that caused the yellow flags at the esses in the first race? I saw his wheel flew across the track! Luckily he seemed fine.

Also great overtake at 4 minutes after the yellow flag! Very sneaky!

Does anyone know how to test a potentiometer using a multimeter?

Completely new to this and presume mine is going as when I blip the throttle it doesn't react like the connection is dirty slash faulty.

Is it a case of using the multimeter on the ohms setting and should the value of resistance gradually decreases or increase as the accelerator is pressed? If so then that should be simple to see if it'd working right or not.

It's on a ford focus tdci too if anyone can confirm if ma theory is right. Cheers!! :)

Yeah basically a rotary potentiometer is just a variable resistor but called a fancy name!

Edited by ireson75
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Oooh i'm impressed! Thought it would be like half, obviously like you say lots to take into consideration. Going to ring around now, really want a Seat Ibiza pd130 and it's only an extra £150 on my policy for an arguably better car.

Good choice ;)

Buy mine haha

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