124,000 miles -

honestly I didn't plan this lol. Was heading to parents tonight and turned on the lights and noticed the clocks. Can't get a better line up than that :) Here's to more miles motoring

merry christmas -

been a while since I posted here. Nothing much to report except low profile summer tyres are not so good in ice / snow which isn't really a surprise lol. Have had some intersting moments in the recent cold snap but luckily I've been sensible. Boost controller turned off so low boost enabled and i'm almost getting the hang of heel and toe which is just fab for slowing the car down in this weather.

Stay safe out there, control the right hoof :)

PS - 124k miles and still counting

MOT passed 1st time -

woow hooo advisory on the handbrake but the car was getting a service so that was on the list of things to do anyway. Another 12 months motoring ahead :)

must be MOT time -

bought some new wiper blades... and discovered a puddle in the boot :( Cleaned out the puddle and hopefully sorted the leak source but I'll wait til the next rainy day. Should be along soon enough, it is Scotland after all lol

new radio aerial bought -

yep the original is struggling a bit and needs a good oiling however I've never liked the way it ruins the lines of the car, makes it look like an RC! So new internal windscreen aerial has been purchased with a view to fitting it inside the boot panel next to the OEM version. Pic's to follow :)

sunrise over Loch Lomond -

yep, got up at 630am this morning and drove down to Loch Lomond to watch the sun rise over the hills. I did take some (forgettable) pictures but until the hosting company sorts out the upload issue you'll just have to imagine being there. Very tired now lol

pics added below

MOT and service / wheel alignment -

sadly that time of year again and I'm actually more nervous than normal this year. Worried about the sills esp the passenger side but if it fails not much i can do about other than fix it. Be intersting to see how the brake test comes out..... Need to check the back sides of the discs and make sure they match the outer. Oh and give the car a good run to clear out the carbon...

T bars oot cause the sun is er oot :)

indeedy, took the tbars out and went for a drive. Was fun and even managed to get some spirited driving. Up to Aberfoyle and Calendar over the Duke's Pass and mellow back down through Drymen. Was a grand day out

it's finally happened -

after 7 years and 60k+ miles of motoring, some easy and some a little bit spirited I have to report the demise of the temperature monitor battery. It showed me the way to not spending money when it wasn't required to be spent. How on the road intake temperatures on the std turbo were not high enough to warrant spending money on a fancy intercooler setup (we'll ignore the brief flirtation with charge cooling thank you) so spend it on petrol instead. It has served me well and the car faithfully through all this time but it has been dealt a death blow by my own hand. Indeed, I left the bloody thing on after last Sunday's little drive out and by the Wednesday night when I got back in the car the battery symbol was showing. Time to purchase a new 9V battery and in a fitting tribute I have shown below a picture of how the gauge looked in it's prime.

evening sunshine + time to kill =

tbars oot drive because I could. Roads were pretty quiet though naturally some traffic was encountered where I couldn't do anything about it. No matter it was still a fabby run.

Car needs a clean, a real good clean as the trees have been dropping sap all over it.

weather is pants -

I mean really pants. Chucking down with rain, can't be bothered even going out in the car however it did get badly jet washed at the weekend just there. Will give it a proper clean and polish soon.

Batch Watermarking protecting your pictures online -

I've had it a couple of times where folks have linked to my website to get a picture or in fact lift text and not give credit where they found it. In fact one guy posted a picture of my chargecooler core and said it was the one he had just bought! Even had my fireplace in the background.

Now the way I used to add copyright marks in was to edit each picture individually which you can imagine isn't quick or even interesting to do! So I searched the net and as you do you find something that does the job. Easy Sector does a Batch Watermarker program that fits the bill nicely. It does a pile of things but I just use it for the easy marking of pictures I post online. Batch WaterMarker - watermarking your online pictures and much more I've added to the menu bar -> but figured a post about it would be nice too. You can get a trial version from their website and see if it fits the bill, if not just remove it. It does for me what I need so I think I'll be keeping it.

wheel and tyre size changes -

we all know what it's like. You want to change wheel's get some bigger flasher or just plain old better wheels on the car and then of course the problems begin. What brand of tyres to get, what wheel size what aspect ratio and of course what width of tyre / wheels combo works with the speedo.

Having been down this road a few times I created a page that gave combinations of tyre widths that suited a criteria as entered. Since I own an MR2 the default was for that but in essence changing the starting values gave you whatever suited and changing the max size you wanted gave you every result in between. No more re-entering details when you realise that perfect speedo match isn't available in your fav tyre brand or just plain old doesn't exist.

The first version worked well but didn't account for having different sized wheels front and rear. So v1.1 was decided on and it took about 2 years to get finished, mainly because I'm crap at programming and also I just had other things to do. However, it's finished now and works nicely, clearly it's not perfect but as a guide it's close enough to not worry about.

Travel now to Tyre size calculator and marvel at how it allows you to get all those tyre and wheel combo's between stock and well whatever you choose. It also gives you the minimum width of alloy that suits the tyre width and aspect ratio, the max is approx 1-1.5" more than minimum but clearly checking the manufacturers website for accurate details is a must.

As an odd twist of fate the page now works in FireFox, Opera and of course IE-whatever whereas before it only worked in IE. Not by planned design this improvement more a forced path of progression due to actually having to write to a (better) coding standard.

Amazing weekend away -

indeedy left Glasgow Friday 4th and headed up to Luss to meet the rest of the gang and then a wee convoy to Inverness via Fort William and on to Inverness then onwards to Ullapool. Weather on the Friday was stunningly nice to start with so car washed, bit of a polish then some breaky and onwards to the meet. Tbars out, cap on to stop repeat of last years burnt scalp, sun lotion on and off we go.

Wee shot of Rannoch Moor while waiting at the lights


with the guys getting into the way of the weekend quite early.


feet up on the dash, gotta love being a passenger!


Sunshine greets us in Ullapool putting up our tents. Was a bit rainy just outside Ullapool but then the sun came back out and it was fab.




Couple of the guys getting started on the refreshments..


taking a picture of Scott taking a picture


the line up (rogues line up?)


sunset over the campsite


sunny and bright (no idea where this taken far less why!)


Saturday was the drive from Ullapool over to Skye via Loch Carron, no Applecross this year didn't feel the need after last years stunning trip up there. Set up at a new campsite as Torvaig doesn't cater for groups, which then buggered us completely til we found a replacement campsite at Sligachan which we later foundout was locally known as Midge Basin!

Calum checking we are not in Midge Basin hell ( at least if he had we would have packed up there and then!)


Great views but didn't prepare us ( me especially ) for what was going to happen later that night and morning time. I got utterly chewed on and now I'm on Steroid tablets for 5 days to try and clear the hundreds of bites I have



Sunday and a wee run round Skye to the graveyard at Quiraing



Shots from the Quiraing overlooking the graveyard, stunning cliffs you have to see except I er forgot to take pics, Google it!



A shot of Graham taking a pic of his car


Ready for the off back to the mainland


All in all a fantastic trip away and bites aside it was pretty near perfect as you can get in our hallowed country. Great roads, great weather and fantastic company made the trip up to be a very memorable trip, thanks to all that were there.

Feedback: The new brakes were just amazing, utterly utterly breathtaking in their power and consistency and feel. I did some real hard braking efforts and not once did I feel like the brakes were not up to the job. So confidence inspiring knowing I could pass people and then brake to pop in behind someone. The harder I pressed the middle pedal the closer my face got to the windscreen. Great mod, worth the money and effort / pain so far

sun's up -

Spark plugs changed - once you accept you have to take half the throttle body apart it's really a quick job!

Car put back together checked then off for a quick wash. Visit the parents, cage some lunch then tbars out and off we go! Woo hoo. Stunning wee run today, nothing quick about it as the roads were a bit busy but dang I had fun. Brakes are fab, car feels great and the exhaust note sounds mean! No idea why it's changed but a mate commented on it too, a certain attitude to it, not loud or anything it just sounds right. I like it a lot. Today's run reminds me why i have the car. Even stuck at 40mph, tbars out the sun is shining and do you know what? Life's not all bad if you grab the opportunities when they are gifted to you.

Take it easy out there

Car (partly) serviced / brakes checked -

indeedy neither Diizy cap nor spark plugs turned up but the oil was changed and the brakes inspected. No movement in any of the bolts so we're good to go. Rest of parts have arrived today so will hopefully get fitted this weekend coming.

Calum road tested the brakes and he's impressed lol. I guess they work then

oh my giddy aunt -

went out this evening for a wee run when the roads were a little quieter. Not for speed like but for pushing the brakes harder and harder and harder and harder and er harder. Now I've noticed the rear brakes have had a blotching to them almost like fluid marks and the handbrake isn't the best either. I was concerned the rear brakes weren't doing much but I knew we hadn't adjusted the handbrake after doing the rears so mmm.

Jet washed the car as it was filthy then went for a run.. Started pushing the brakes a little harder and the pedal a little further. The rate with which the speed is being scrubbed off feels amazing! As I pushed harder and harder I could feel the front of the car planting itself into the tarmac and it feels stable too although broad front tyres do tend to tramline, mind you skinny fronts would just melt! I got the brakes really working and yeah pedal travel does seem a fair bit but certainly no further than before and I actually do have working brakes now. I could feel the car really slowing down on each brake application so I decided to pull over and inspect the discs. Fronts looked same old and so did the rears. The blotchy look wasn't altered BUT all four discs were cooking hot so they are definitely being worked and from touch test evenly worked too. A few of my brake tests really worked the tyres and I could feel the fronts begining to skip over the surface undulations so they are controllable up to the ABS coming in. I may have to up the tyre width on the fronts hehe.

Strip down and check of the brakes to be done this coming weekend

big brake kit fitted -

I'll update later but my goodness they look huge behind the wheels, in fact the wheels now look small lol. I'm running the risk of not being cool enough for the car however it's still in testing phase so a few things to do before it's pronounced working.

Kumho KU31's -

I was impressed with these on my wee jaunt North. I was leaving bite marks on the drivers seat but the tyres gripped in the wet no problem even with steering corrections mid corner they gripped well. I still have the F1's up front and the car is fairly well balanced.

Run oop north -

had some time off and decided to head away for a couple of days to get some fresh air in me lungs. So headed up to Fort William and then across to Aviemore via the Newtonmore road. Was kinda damp with patches of sun and ended up having a play with a de-badged 5 series. Was good fun and very safe (not much other traffic on that road anyway) but er the brakes are giving some grief now hehe. After that a wee run up the A9, very boring but dear god do some folks try and do daft things to spice it up!

After a fuel stop in Inverness it was onwards to Ullapool and yet another BMW, 3 series this time decided to have a go. At this point the roads were just a little on damp side so i was pretty cautious however Toyota 2 BMW 0 hehe. Booked into the Arch Inn and kicked back with a shower and a rest. A few beers in the bar then off for a chippy (an in joke but funny nonetheless) then some more beers and some sleep. A couple of pics of Rannoch Moor covered in snow






Up early the following day and onto the Gairloch road and that bloody front drivers caliper decided it wasn't going to let go of the disc grrrrrr. However I had a cunning plan. A picnic on Little Gruinard beach, on me own ( all together now.. aaaawwwwwww ) but sod it what a beach! Just kick back and think happy thoughts








Off down the road and another stop to allow the smoking brakes to cool down, just past Achnasheen roundabout heading towards Loch Carron



back home the day after but not before lunch at a picnic area just outside Fort William heading south towards Glasgow

sun's up!

indeed was out yesterday looking for new brake pipes and on the way back via the parents I had the tbars out. Wasn't exactly warm but the sun was shinning and that's all that mattered. I must get a video with decent sound of the induction kit / turbo spooling through the Clyde Tunnel. It did sound very nice :-)

new dash bulbs ordered -

got some red ones coming, was kinda hoping they'd be here in time for this weekend but alas not. It's a bit cold to be working outside on the car so actually I'm not that bothered but I will need to get it down soon. If I don't it won't be dark enough to test they all work!

dashboard light - pah

LED under the temperature gauge has gone. Well, when I say gone I mean it blinks a lot and occassionally stays on but then trips out. Think I'll replace with std bulbs, might get red or maybe blue but defo bulbs and not LED's

not a lot

happening. Weather has been pants, work has been pretty heavy but now getting back to normal. Front brakes are er stuffed but hey ho another set of plans are happening

120k miles and counting -

indeed the car has pulled over to 120,000 miles and how did I celebrate this milestone. 17psi 3rd gear pull from 30mph to the top of 4th. Pulled pretty quick.

Other news - brake upgrade scrapped and new direction sought. Needs to be quick as the brakes are on last er legs :-)