Allanw

"Mark Community Read" is here: V (roughly) At the bottom of the page .

But not as much as buying a replacement to "save" the cost of repairs. I find it hilarious when people sell a $3000 car, because it needs $1000 spent on it, then buy an $8000 car, that still needs $1000 spent on it 6 months later... Good economics! Only cost $5000 to save... nothing Hehe. That's pretty much why I brought the E39 instead of something newer (we just needed more space). BMW have always been very good with recalls - I remember taking Dads E30 in, well out of warranty for the cooling system recall. Similar service. It's quite funny really, considering how old the cars are at the time of the recall - You really just ecpect the bare minimum to be done.

Plus he's owned (or still does) pretty much every E21 north of the bridge anyway In fact, he probably still owns the majority of them... 3??? (well 1+1+.25+.25+.25+.25 = 3) and thats not counting anything kept in storage units that his Mrs doesn't know about... yet.

Posts that have been "liked" have the names of those who "liked" it listed now - I had never seen them before, until a couple of days ago.

It's only money... You can keep anything going forever with enough of it. And it's cheaper to keep and old car going, than buying a brand new one I get tempted to buy something with mega miles, just to show people who think 100K is too much. Mrs old Impreza was really well looked after, and had 325K on when we sold it. It wasn't immaculate, but certainly looked tidy enough. I'd have driven that thing anywhere without notice - If I'd had to drive the length of the country, we'd have just jumped in and gone. I'd have kept it if the kids could have been gotten in and out easilyer! There's an E39 528i with 475K on it, on tardme currently.

And it's not *that* hard to convert it to a 540i..... ...manual....

You mean like the guy who rocks up in a manual V8 VT commodore and thinks he'll blitz everyone on the back straight, pulls into someone elses path to do so, and THEN realises the standard ratios are all wrong and gets passed by a guy caning around in an 1800 Pulsar hatch??? Man, that was funny ALL day! Last time I was there was when a VT Commodore was under warranty though...

Oooohhh. the stuff I want could fill an entire container! I need to find a decent people mover I like, then import all the manual conversion parts from the UK. Not any time soon though

Not actually today... but got this book: ... on Fishpond for 5 bucks. Freighted.

Ooof... they don't like air. The Subaru in my VW Van sounds supercharged after I let too much air through the system... the lines go from the rear right up to the front and since I left a clamp loose by accident, after I emptied the first 5L in, I had to run up and turn it off! Whines all the time now though, from running dry-ish for too long . At least you didn't do that! On a postive note... the dirt floor in my barn is far less dusty now .

Total guess here, based on what I've seen in other cars: I'd think this would be an issue caused at the top of the steering column - example: my VW van; if you put a Porsche steering wheel on, the back of the wheel doesn't hold the top bush in tight enough, and the column can go up and down, then the bush moves up too far, and the wheel gets a bit floppy. My Porsche steering wheel has a spacer added on the rear to keep the bush in place, and it's all tight. The rubber donut (as you show) doesn't do anything to position the column on my Van... though I'd repalce yours too - may have had a lot of unusual flexing from the movement. Maybe there is a worn bush, or a similar "design" to the VW at the top end???

If the inspector is too dim to adjust the dash dial, he should NOT be inspecting cars - he's clearly not clever enough to work out what should be considered a failure or pass on such a wide range of vehicles they are likely to inspect. Ours were set low once, and my WOF guy just asked "does this have headlight adjustment?" I said yes, dialled it back to 0, and all was fine. The "focus" can be out, if the bulb isn't seated correctly, or is a really nasty/cheap bulb - the filament ends up in the wrong place, and can upset the cutoff etc.

Haha! It's not the worst that's happened. At least you're not dead set on proving yourself to be a wanaker - that has. And you didn't accidently show off where you find your "outdoor porn" - that has too...

Ripco have a kit too.

375 days might be a bit excessive though Welcome though We sometimes bite, but we're not infected with anything.

Guess what I did while it was on... ... actually the Mrs did most of it (8 months pregnant , while I weeded trimemd and planted) - best thing I ever did was buy an electric lawnmower - no starting issues, easy to stop and start anytime and so smelly petrol... and much easier than manouvering the rideon around the kids toys. I think she does the lawn 5 times to my once now

M54 Vanos is piss easy - timing doesn't change - just te piiston mechanism is taken off. Follow the Beisan giude (although he says it takes 4-6 hours, it takes a couple for someone with some vague clue what they're doing). I think I did ours in a couple of hours I think, and I had to go and hunt out the right torx socket. I don't know if the difference is as noticable in an auto, but it made a massive difference in our manual. The only real difference between fitting the seals, and a rebuilt unit is the seals themselves. Fitting the rebuilt unit still involves screwing in the left hand thread screws. If yours isn't rattling, may as well just do the seals - it probably only adds 10 to 30 mins MAX to the procedure ANYONE (who can read) can do it on an M54, IF you follow the Beisan guide - buy new bolt the bolt the pistons to the cams (the left hand thread ones), a new lower gasket, copper washers for the vanos hose etc.

Faster steering, not faster car That's what ///M badges and arse-looking taillights are for

In practice, buying a ticket doesn't really increase your chances of winning enough to make a difference.

Oooof! Don't mention cambelts - Dads E30 one is 4 years old, and due a change, but I haven't got around to it yet (getting the Model A redy for a tour - gearbox rebuild and new brakes etc). I had a 16V Holden Astra for work once, broke the belt and bent all 16 valves under warranty at just over 60K. Then needed a set of tensioners and a new belt (it had worn down to half it's width!) under warranty at a touch over 90K. Man that thing was sh*t - 3 oil changes... and 15 "other" dealer visits of varying complexity: failed main relays, failed brakes (pedal on the floor - bumped the back of a lawyer in a 7 series ), power steering, cambelt, starting failures... Engineered by Germans!... built by mongs?

DON'T sell old lego though - sell a kidney or something. It's an awesome kit for under $400 I can't buy it though... back on one income very soon... sproglet 3 due mid/late November

Definitely! It's good for the mind ah... Kra gl e Haha! Cool. It's pretty rare, but can be found on eBay... not cheap though. I remeber the first timme building it took FOREVER! I had the day off school, and had it have an MRI. I started building it at my Aunty's place before hand, and was still building it while I sat in the nasty robe with the split up the back, waiting for the scan. Finished sometime very late that night Haha! Such a convenient excuse. Also, the old TV show DVDs - We don't have TV at home, but have a lot of DVDs etc. Solomon is heavily into Transformers... but the real/1980s version . Also stuff like Thunderbirds (plus I have almost every Gerry Anderson box set), 1966 Batman, and plenty of 80's and 90's stuff like Inspector Gadget, chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, Animaniacs. I only got it for the boys though! Awesome! I had the "Model Team" truck too - got it in the US in 1989 . Sold it in 1994 with ALL my other Lego to fund the car above I had the Lego "test car" too: It's nice to know I'm not the only Lego Nerd ... ...and not the only father trying to relive my childhood vicariously through my kids

Haha - yeah - I haven't grown up much at all - Kids are a GREAT excuse for toys!

It's also made almost entirely of "composites"... and I was 15 when I got it...

I'm probably starting a bit early, but the boys and I started on our first car "rebuild" together. Solomon is 4, Van is 2 They "helped"... but sometimes their help slowed down the progress. I'm wondering if there are any anoraks out there who can guess what the car is, before scrolling down too far I brought it new in 1994. It's 4wd V8... ...in the rear manual 4 wheel steering double wishbones all 'round Left hand drive (though easy to convert if required) 2 seater It has that icon of 90's sylishness... pop-up headlights (who didn't wish their Dads car had them when you were a kid???) It's not seen the light of day for many years! Probably 10 years in storage at various properties around Northland. I just received the last few parts required last week, from Germany, although it was actually made in Denmark... To be continued ...