Allanw

Yo

Come on, at least he used the search!

I remember very early on, someone suggested selling the cars at auction, to get $ back. It was shutdown as an option because the car would be back on the road and available to do the same things... INSTEAD, the car is impounded, the wrecker/crusher removes anything the can sell, the car is crushed and all the parts are available on the market to be installed on another shell. How different is it, really?

Just sent the 550i Touring link to my sister. She won't want black, but would be a bid step up from her Prado (not sure how she coped with a Prado after the E39!)

You can get awesome leather paint to touch them up - way less work.

Best trick for making crap bacon good: open the pack, lay the rashers on a rack or tray, and leave in the fridge for a few days and turn them every now and them. The water they pump it full of evaporates, and when you cook it, it sizzles instead of stewing! I'd like to make some bacon! I'm tempted to get pigs just to do it!

New are probably quite cheap too. E30 ones are.

HAha! Was it around the same time as toyotas sticking throttles and failed brakes episodes - she could have blamed it on that! Some people are genuine retards.

Dual is different. Milland

(Why are they interviewing the Swedish Chef?) That's awesome looking for what it is. I don't think it would get around the corners to Britomart though....

Spraying some kerosene on might soften it a bit too, before you start.

I remember when Dad got his E30, he looked at a 190E, 2.3. I felt like it was a much bigger car than the E30, with how solid it was, but it didn't seem as "sporty". They are still awesome cars, just different to an E30. I really liked the awesome chunkyness of it!

Yeah... there's a few makers with them... I'm not sure why though - I guess it's supposed to make it feel like an auto. I'm still a manual fan though. It just feels right, and makes you think about driving. I've always said that if you can't drive a manual (excluding physical disabilities), you shouldn't be driving. If you aren't co-ordinated enough to operate a clutch, how can you be coordinated enough to brake, turn, look, indicate, accelerate, judge, adjust and avoid at the required times

The oil filter housing gasket is a common leak point, and you'd be amazed where that oil gets to! - it's probably worth doing - only takes a couple of hours at home. As Brent says, the rocker cover gasket is probably the most common leak, and it will go nearly everywhere too! Because these things run such thin oil, it can run nearly anywhere!

Dads E30 started to creep (if you held the pedal in, it would slowly start to engage and drive off!) I got the parts from partmaster (they were in stock, and I get trade there) for under $100 (I think) for both master and slave. They're both pretty easy to change, so worth doing anyway. It would also have a rubber pressure line fault - the inside can break down and block small orifices - effecting making one way valves You may find a good bleed would fix it anyway, but the parts are cheap enough - just flush the hard lines while the slave is off, to clear any crud out.

BEFORE the works starts I once had a similar situation (although it wasn't the guys fault he wasn't insured - it was a license issue, he wasn't told about by the Police), except the entire rear 1/4 on my accord wagon needed replacing. It was $4500 +gst! I informed my insurance company, but told them he wanted to sort it privately. That way, if it went pear shaped, they knew what was going on, and couldn't accuse me of doing a dodgy of any kind. The guy did pay up in cash, when I collected the vehicle from the repair shop Probably best they have a note on record at least.

It's funny how the euros are mostly doing dsg type setups, and the japs are more into CVTs

Yeah, but it's a Holden. 'nuff said As the revs climb, it clearly become less efficient

I think 7 manual gears would confuse a lot of people... have you not seen how many already can't drive? It'd be better with a 2 speed transfer box or diff! Racing and Cruising! Taller gearing doesn't necesarily equate to better fuel consumption. Most consumption gains from gearing are because you have a better choice of gear, instead of labouring in one, or revving it's nuts off in another You can select a suitable gear and use part throttle. The efficiency of the engine for a given HP requirement is what determines the fuel consumption and the revs that equilibrium is reached is different for different engines. A particular design of engine with a 60 HP load at 4000 rpm may be just as efficient as another engine design with a 60 HP load requirement doing 2000 rpm.However, the first engine with the same load may use 25% MORE fuel at 2000 RPM - this is often true of smaller engines which struggle to maintain the required HP output at low RPMs. Most road tuned cars have roughly the same efficiency from about 2000 to 4000 at a FIXED hp requirement (such as the power required to move a particular car through the air at a fixed speed), then above and below the efficiency drops. Using 5th in town can actually increase consumption over 4th gear. I have seen graphs for a NA Subaru engine on an engine dyno, where the load is constant, the fuel consumption is roughly the same from 2000 to 4000, then climbs either side. That was the 2.2 SOHC motor, which was the benchmark for midrange torque in it's day (it was a 1996 engine I believe). Subaru even stated it in the owner manual of the time - 2000 to 4000 was the best range for efficiency for that car. As engine revs climb, each combustion cycle can produce less power and still keep the same HP level, so less fuel is required each cycle and each cycle can be run leaner as a result. At low rpms, timing is retarded more, and fuel richness is increased, to prevent pre-ignition and detonation. so if a more HP is required at low RPM, the engine is struggling more and is running less efficiently. Conversely, as revs climb, a lean burn results in more heat, and running rich helps to overcome the problems associated with this, so most manufacturers insure themselves by upping the mixture a bit and lose some economy. I'd imagine crunchy does that (could be wrong though): generally tune for ultimate power, then richen up the top end for safety and lose a bit of power (for street cars anyway - not those with big wallets and a speed fetish!) The gearing has to be matched to the particular car, but even the 1M mentioned above may not have sacrificed any fuel consumption in the gearing (not having a go or anything - just an example). It could actually be better because of it.

You live in Auckland. Do you need them? Just move into the city Even better, get a taxi or a bus license.

I think the same - the dual zone thing is stupid - I always want to set both sides to the same temp, you'd think there'd be a mode for that. Instead, I have to change both sides. (Somone will tell me there IS a mode for that now...)

Not as interessting (or cheap!) as you might think E39 Manual Twice the milage, non facelift (but possibly tidier), for a grand more than mine No options though - even has manual AC! Would be a good daily for someone. At half the price! 2.0 manual probably goes OK-ish

Has anyone else noticed... Telstras $75 deal is for one year, then standard pricing applies... whatever that is. I have a wireless radio conection, and pay $50 a month for 5 gigs, and have a cellular vodafone home phone for $25, Not the cheapest, but my house isn't even connected to the outside world (not with wires anyway!). I only pay for the slowest connection speed, which is 3mbps, but I get just over that on download, 3.11 and upload is 2.79. Geez - I've had the interwebnetz for about 15 years now! I can remember downloading "the Matrix" on dial up! Took about 3 weeks of leaving it on overnight with "getright" 'specially since it was pay by the hour back then - I was Ihug customer 62, when they brought out unlimited dialup for $59.99 if I recall correctly I find its easier to buy a bunch of DVDs at once from Amazon.co.uk nowadays, rather than downloading movies with crap sound or nasty compression.

The extra power has to help - ours is seriously average! Some of the passing lanes going north take all of it's power just to keep at 100ish, flag passing anything! I had heard the injector issues weren't so bad on newer ones. 3 replacements under warranty is pretty ridiculous and common around our year (Hiluxes too) and the injectors were about $800 each for the part! Historically, there was the 2CT and 3CT, the 2LT and the 3L (to a lesser extent) which tended to eat heads. Their track record is pretty average. I don't know how long the Transits last for (I do wonder to be honest!), but it had so much torque, I could pass trucks in 6th on a short straight, where I would never consider it in the Hiace. It used the same amount of gas too. Strangely though, super easy to stall - usually diesels are harder. Traction is terrible in them too - the inside rear wheel will spin at random times, and it's super easy to get stuck! I dunno what we're getting next time, yet - prolly a VW, which I imagine isn't to flash on the reliability front either, but man do they haul! Maybe a Hyundai (the dealer we use for other vehicles is VW, Hyundai), but we're thinking high roof this time, so our stuff can stand up if we want, so the Hyundai would be out. Anyway, we're getting off topic (I do it a LOT ). It's often cheaper to maintain an old car, than the capital cost difference in upgrading. If reliability is way on your list of concerns, newer is generally better, but if you can get by for a day or two, older can be cheaper long term.