digital boost gauge no worky -

well it actually does work but the backlight has gone. This means at night or in bright sunlight I can't see the boost level. So do I fix this at a cost of 49USD plus postage to the states or do I just go straight to an EBC setup with the obv built in controller. mm decisions. I just dont know.

Fixing the gauge is cheap enough but then there is still the mbc in there that needs looking into everytime the weather changes. That and the boost loss at higher rpms. Arrgggggghhhhhh

rear lights modded -

indeed, standard setup is the inner of the rear cluster being the fog lights and the outer pair are the side / brake lights combined. I decided to change this to the univeral look of 4 brake and tail lights with the inner pair still working as the fogs. It looks the dogs. Well, i think they do.

The How To can be found on the MR2oc website following this link and my own ramblings on doing this mod can be found here.

Anyway, with the brake lights on the car now looks like


Bright eh? More pics on the links above.

4 tail lights and 4 brake lights -

yup I feel a wee mod coming on. I have decided that I'm going to change the rear light cluster sequence. At present the outside pair of lights are the tail and brake lights with the inner pair acting as foglights only.

My intention is to change this to

all four lights being both tail and brake lights
the inner pair of lights acting as fog lights when required. The MOT basically

Hopefully I can get the above done fairly quickly but knowing how lazy I am and how this is not actually needed I have me doubts.

air con totally dead -

i guess after 2 years of no gas and not working (sic) it was inevitable that something else would be wrong with the system. I think in this case the compresser seals have gone as the front condenser seals are all new. Whatever the air con no working and I'm not spending any more money on it. With luck I'll get some money back for the front condenser and then seal up the pipes that are remaining.

On another note the replacement coolant radiator has developed a leak. Anybody see a pattern emerging yet? The good news is I discovered today that the bleed valve had another 1/2 to 3/4 turn left on it til it started tightening up. I wonder who left it like that? Ah that would be me....

This might explain the somewhat odd behaviour of the leak. It only seemed to leak when the engine was turned off. Was fine while idling but not after the engine was shut down. A loose bleed valve might allow the coolant to escape as the pressure built up after shut down. That's my hope anyway so I'll monitor the levels and leaks over the coming days. More hassle more expense. Pah!

another applecross run -

the last run of the year methinks. Had a sublime journey up the side of Loch Lomond and along to Tyndrum and then onwards through Glen Coe. Stunning scenery and the weather was just fabby. Continued north until Spean Bridge then headed along the Newtonmore road past Loch Laggan.

Some simply stunning sweeping bends that you could just power on through and really feel like you were driving the car. Again the scenery was awesome. The usual happened though, once onto the single track road, yup stuck behind 2 cars and a coach. Ho hum.

Meet up with a few folks in Aviemore and then onwards to Elgin via the B9007. Another sublime bit of tarmac, single track but hugely open so you could see half a mile ahead most times. Lovely job and the sun setting in the back ground just made it perfect.Few beers in Elgin and then some sleep.

Sunday morning and the run to applecross begins. Of course to get there requires some driving but hey, that's the point of these things. Eventually we arrive at the base of the climb and look up. Cloud cover is somewhat lower than hoped for but hey we're here lets do it. Half way up the climb and straight into the clouds. A 1 in 5 climb on a single track road with mostly no barriers just a sheer drop. Not funny at all. At the top however the view was worth it.


Yup, visibility was around 10 metres. Ho hum. Time for lunch. The descent down was a slow affair but halfway down we left the clouds behind to be greeted with this


Never ones to admit defeat we had lunch in the fine Applecross Inn and then headed round the coast all the way back to the original starting point of the Applecross. There we met a nice couple who had just driven down the pass. They confirmed yes it's clear so game on.

A wee bit of powersliding round the hairpins and at the top we were greeted with the view we had waited so long for.


A quick blatt back down the hill and hey presto we all needed petrol. A quick run to Kirkton before the gas station shut and then onwards back home.

The run down the side of the Caledonian Canal in the wet was interesting but good clean fun. The run down through Glen Coe in the dark was more focusing. A very long day but a fun one nevertheless. It's weekend's like this that remind me why I have the car I do.

new boost hose clamp fitted -

yeah baby. Fitted it earlier this evening and it's a job done. Also discovered an easier way for getting the boost pipes back on. Only taken about 3 years to figure that out.

air con recharged -

yeah man cool baby. Indeedy the air con is working but for how long? The new condenser seems leak proof but only time will tell. Was nice having COLD air within the car.

On another note my loose clamp on the intercooler pipe is giving up the ghost. Nearly blew the pipe clean off tonight while chasing a clio. I still would have caught him if I hadn't have had a slow scooby in front of me. Pah, legacy's