you pikey dcuk whackers -

some theiving git has nicked my drivers side rear window vent and for what? A trophy? for fun or just out of plain badness??

Well I hope you are happy cause if I ever catch you I will take your fingers as my trophy. Then we'll see how smug you look.

Respect other peoples property, its only nice.

yours well and truely hacked off

mmm driving a mk1

indeed yes I was driving a mk1 mr2 last week at the club meet and very interesting it was too.

Power steering was sadly missed at sub 5mph speeds but above that its really not needed. The gearbox utterly fantastic in a snick snick kinda way that is just wonderful. Power? well against my rev3 turbo it has no power but hey that's life. Was a lovely car to drive although this example needs a wee bit of work done to it.

Turbo torque really is something else.

On another note, I very nearly bought a new (to me anyway) set of 17" wheels for the turbo. This would have given me a far greater choice of tyres to fit. Alas the price of these alloys was out of my range. Ho hum

freezing cold weather -

and yet still the sun shines. Makes the scenery look absolutely stunning out there.

Anyhow, was out to a car meet today. Took it easy because some of the roads were still in the shade so you know to careful round them as they are well slippy.

Turns out one of our members had another smash in his mk1. Poor guy, bought this new mk1 from Norwich yesterday, drove 450 miles without incident. Got up early today and washed it, polish it and realised what a stunning car he had bought.

2 miles down the road from his a pickup pops out of a farm track without looking and he brakes, locks up, releases the brakes manages to steer somehow round the pick up and miss the oncoming bus but then loses the back and spins off into the fence and nearly ends up in a field. Luckily the muppet who pulled out on him put his hands up and admitted all his fault then offered to get the car pulled out of the field. A good result to a p1sh incident.

My drive was pretty uninteresting mainly because I was driving soo slow. Not worth it these days to go hooning though I did have a wee chuckle.

Coming along the M80 heading into Glasgow at the Gaswork towers there is a rather nice curve in the road which then joins up with the M8. I had a Golf, mk4/5 sitting on my bumper so at the first chance I moved over to the inside lane as it happened just before the aforementioned righthander. So golfman pulls alongside me as we tip into the corner. Normally this time of year I'd let him go no bother but this corner has shellgrip on it so there is plenty of grip on it. So I hang on the throttle nice and steady and drive round the corner. As I get halfway round I notice Mr Golf is level with my B pillar and as we straighten up he is just infront of my rear bumper. Fair play to the boy he had the tigher line whereas I could mosey on round the long way but I still had further to go .

On another note the sunset on the way home was amazing. Reminds me why I still live in this country.

merry xmas -

yes I know its a little late but with all the eating and drinking I have been doing lately I've only just fully recovered enough to use a keyboard.

There has been some



loads of


and of course


but sadly no women. Yes indeed I was looking and though I met some lovely ladies ( at different times mind ) it turned out they were up from london just for christmas staying with some friends. Darn it! But I still got some xmas kisses and dancing from it so still a good time was had by all.

Also got a text from a drunken one dater but thats another story for sure

Car news? Well the roads are well dangerous out there so be careful folks.

fog lights

people, fog lights are for foggy times when visibility is below 50 metres. They are not for making your car look good ffs!!

On another note, straight line + 2nd gear = huge wheelspin + silly grin on drivers face.

Childish but it did amuse me. I did drive very slow and careful the rest of the time though being fair I wasn't actually speeding in 2nd gear. The rear wheels were going faster than the speed limit but the rest of the car was still only doing about 20mph.

Is it spring yet?

it's that time of year

when the christmas madness is apon us. People rushing around like mad zombies trying to buy their loved ones that special gift. Pah humbug!

Now don't get me wrong, I love the festive season as the party atmosphere in Glasgow is awesome = loads of which is brilliant but the whole commercial side of it just annoys me.

I'm not religious in any way but I do know that Christmas shouldn't be about just giving pressies. Maybe for kids yes, adults well I'm kinda over that stage by a long distance.

Of course maybe its because my car insurance renewal date is the 21st of december, that tends to knock the wind out of my sails. Still its done and can't be helped so life goes on.

Anyhow I'm off to prepare myself for the weekly 5-aside footy.

Take care out there in shopping land.

belts tightened and odd idling problem -

indeed this morning I got up bright and early to get the alternator belt and as it turned out the air con belts re-tightened. Turned out both had slackened off after being replaced last month. Has it done the job, find out on the next cold start but I reckon it will be fine.

To save time this morning I went out last night and got petrol and the car had this really bad cold idle, it was trying to idle at about 500rpm. It managed it after a minute or two but it never really felt like it could sustain it. One the way back from getting petrol it was idling around 400rpm. Now I was impressed that it was even holding an idle at that speed, hardly any sound from the engine just a light purring.

So this morning I was all ready to adjust the idle and yet it was just fine. Idled at a steady 1200rpm when cold and when warm an easy 750. Just like it should. Weird but I reckon more to do with the cold spell we've been having and sitting for week in that weather doing hee haw.

Must also get brake fluid to top it up. Time for new discs and pads for the front/ More money, sigh

alternator belt - still screams like a beeetch

yup going to get it looked at again. Now this belt has always sqeaked since the new one was put on so I'm not expecting to pay for this but no doubt there will be some complication.

Grrrrr

de-cat complete -

indeed the cat has been removed as I do not need this for the MOT. Mega thanks to Calum for doing this esp considering how cold it was and he was doing this in the eve after his work.

Does the car feel any different? Dunno, tried booting it in 2nd gear = huge wheelspin so tried again in 3rd = huge wheelspin so guess I'll wait til spring time to try that lol.

Calum also commented on how sh1t the brakes were and driving back to back with another tubby, yup my brakes are sh1t of the highest order. They work yes but the pedal travel is farily huge and the feel is soft. On checking the pads / discs we know the pads are low ( the fluid level warning light comes on under hard acceleration ) but the discs have a fair size wear ridge on them :-(

Now I've always thought the brakes had too much travel on them and on 2nd application they do seem a good bit harder but not altogether brilliant. So some new discs and pads will be ordered in the new year which will be accompanied by new tyres.

Another fecking clifford alarm problem. The turbo timer was been de-activated when the wiring for the alarm ( and the correct number of sensors wired in grrr) was fixed. Now I don't use the turbo timer but the fecking thing is there so it SHOULD bl00dy work. However, its not worth the hassle getting it fixed especially after the time since the wiring was fixed and me noticing the darned thing don't work.

Ho hum

bye bye CAT -

indeed the CAT is going but not without a HUGE fight. Darned thing was soo loose in the exhaust that everytime it got hit with a cold chisel, it flew up the exhaust lol.

So the whole downpipe is getting removed and then the CAT will literally just fall out. Which it just has done. Now its just putting everything back together again ho ho.

Many thanks to Calum for doing this, I guess more profiteroles on order eh? Might need something else lol


cheers bud

no Goodyear F1 tyres -

yup the crappy rear tyre size of 225x50x15 has mucked things up again. I'm going to have to take the plunge and for a new tyre type. Dont like this but if the prefered choice is no longer made then changes are afoot.

My current thinking is the Dunlop SP9000 which when changing the fronts too is going to be 400GBpounds. Ouch, but thats still cheaper than new wings or a written off car.

Buy them in the new year I reckon

MOT -

its a pass. Straight through with only missings fins from the radiators ( no leaks though ) and a bit of bending required to some support. Advisory but no fails. Very happy. Going to have some beers to celebrate though not too many since playing footy tomorrow as usual

MOT booked -

sadly not at my usual garage so I'm hoping not to have a fight over the emission CAT / NON CAT arguement. The turbo being an import on an M plate and not matching the DVLC MOT testers book ie SW20 chassis and 3S-GTE engine means its a NON CAT test but most garages just put it through as the UK model which of course does not exist.

I am however hoping that's the only issue. The tyres all look legal with the wear indicators still below the tread blocks indicating life left but to be honest with the weather closing in on us the tyres are beyond the safety margin of not binning it. The small matter of £350 a set however does stop it being an instant decision.

All the lights work as far as I know so I'll maybe give it a jet wash on Friday eve to make it look cleaner. Esp after the sunday drive to pitlochry, its looking a bit dirty now.

nice drive in the scottish highlands -

went out for a club run up near Pitlochry today, Weather was not so good, mostly wet and loads of wet leaves on the road. Just perfect for a mid engined turbo charged rear wheel drive motor.

I drove up through milngavie, aberfoyle, callender, Killin then onto Aberfeldy then Pitlochry itself.

I drove sensibly but still had some moments. Front end slides and a couple of rear end movements. Slowing right down for the corners and just balancing the car through the throttle helped greatly but some corners had leaves and some didn't. Some of the road surfaces were just rubbish and offered about as much grip as a greasy block of ice. I was really careful just to be smooth and really quite slow round the corners and then slowly accelerate back up to sensible speed. Although the speeds were slower than I'd normally drive at I still had some fun as I was thinking more about what I was doing rather than just hooning from one corner to the next. Turning onto the main road on the last 4 miles of the journey I got wheelspin in a straight line in 2nd gear. Damn it just lit up the rears.

Unfortunately we lost a mk1 on route due to engine failure so one down already.

After meeting up at Pitlochry we then drove around the route and we were real easy and slow, only one guy knew the road and he lead us off down the winding road. Again we were fairly slow not doing anything daft but the roads being so slippy I still had a couple of moments.

Then it happened.

Driving into a very slow left hander the lead car hit some diesel and round he went. It being such a slow corner we had all bunched up and some how we all stopped without incident / running into anybody. Me having ABS stopped no fuss but the mk1 behind me locked up and had to straight line the corner and then re apply the brakes. Colin managed fine and missed me ok. Luckyily the escort that was following Colin managed to miss him also.

The damage to Peter's car is bumper damaged, needing replaced, fog lights needing replaced, rear right alloy rim busted so needing replacement too. Nobody got hurt so we called a halt to everything and just headed off home.

The weather was now constant rain and really unpleasant to be out it. Pulling onto the A9 from Pitlochry and coming off the Broxburn runabout again I got wheelspin in 2nd gear in a straight line which certainly keeps you honest.

I've checked the tyres and they have more than the legal tread but really they could do with being replaced as they aint so good in the wet.

MR2's are completely different animals in the wet in comparison to the sure foot nature of the dry. Just have to respect the layout and not over drive it.

Take it easy out there

t-bar guides -

seem to have cured the leaks. Result. Its been raining here for a couple of days now and having checked the car it all seems nice and dry. I have now put the covers back on the mechanism as further adjustment of the guides does not seem to be required.

Other news - my prefered garage for MOT's has closed so I've moved to another that's even closer to home. They seem to know about imports so hopefully no emission hassles during the test but time will tell.

Also been bike looking and some nice bikes out there. Will wait and see what develops since its a buyers market and I have time on my side, like about 4 months lol.

Bit of a drive planned for tomorrow through some stunning scenery in the highlands so hopefully the weather will stay dry so we can have fun out there.

t bar eccentric guides fitted -

indeed and oddly enough it hasn't rained for me to check whether or not it all works. That's just fine with me.

Did not take too long to do either but I did have the help of a tidy guide from this guys website

I recommend anyone with a t-bar mr2 to do this if you find the roof is leaking. Of course if you park your t-bar in a garage then remove the t-roofs as soon as you get home. This will prevent the seals from being squashed and thus they won't leak with age. I however do not have this option so my t-roofs are in situ 364 days a year lol

Be safe out there

no more squeaking alt belt -

indeed the alternator and air con belts have been replaced and my how quiet the car is now. Turns out the alternator belt was actually in three pieces and from the sound of the squealing on start up none of them were running the same speed lol.

Car feels likes it driving better too but I suspect thats just a trick of the mind, don't take much to trick mine these days sadly.

Always nice when a repair goes according to plan

new belts please -

indeed I am getting a new alternator and aircon belt fitted in time for the winter, well sale also.

The air con is getting changed since it has to come off to get to the alternator belt. Knowing my luck the alternator will be duffed also :-((

Also noticed last nice that when lifting off during hard acceleration has the brake fluid light coming on. That would be worn brake pads then. More ££ more hassle. Darned cars~!

not a good car day -

was supposed to be getting the air con fixed on the car BUT life got in the way. Both seals on the condensor are leaking which isn't that bad a deal BUT the second seal is in such a cramped place that getting the nut undone is a job in itself.

The actual pipe that the deal sits in does not have the space to be removed from the condensor as the cooling radiator sits directly behind the condensor.

That means the nose cone for the car has to be removed and that aint a pretty job. Just to make things better the actual condensor is sagging a little which indicates the darned thing is on its own last legs. Now if the bumper / nosecone has to be removed to get the condensor seals replaced and the condensor itself is kaput what would you do?? Yup change the condensor. This could be an expensive fix and all I want to do is sell the car to finance a bike. Nothing is simple :(

the car aint happy -

went for drive last night while out at my parents and the car feels horrible. The brakes are rubbish the whole feel of the car is just yeuch!

So either the car gets used more often or it goes. A waste of a perfectly good car just to sit there days on end, plus is darned expensive to insure for doing nothing.

As a last resort I'll check how much I save knocking the mileage down but I have me doubts it'll make a noticable difference.

Time to move on methinks