Commander

Er, not quite... It's only 160 mile round trip and he's doing three trips a week. He can probably do two trips per tank if he's lucky, so assuming there are four weeks in a month, that's 12 trips a month, so six tanks of fuel a month. Let's say £100 / tank, so that's £600 / month on fuel, plus a bit more because really there's 30/31 days in a month, plus tyres, servicing, wear and tare, depreciation, car parking costs, etc... call it £800 / month MAX. But also, when I was at Uni we were only really there for 8 months of the year, so £800 x8 = £6,400 / year on costs?.. Probably about right with that kind of mileage... I still say sod the car and live there, even if living is more expensive - you'll have a great time and make some brilliant friends.

Sod the commute, live on campus and enjoy the lifestyle - you won't regret it and the memories will stay with you forever.

Why not wait until the new electric Zed comes out?

My Mrs got me in to it about 18months ago, 'something we can do together', and I must admit I quite enjoy it these days. Might only be 1BHP, and you cant even mod them, but when they really get going I think it may be even more fun than driving through the alps... I can understand what motorbikers(?) mean when they talk about te freedom of it. Aaanyway, got my first cross-country competition tomorrow (pairs) so if you don't hear from me again, I cocked it up and I'm in hospital! lol Anyway, just though I'd share, what does everybody else do when they're not looking at, driving, fixing or dreaming about their Zed?

So it seems the guy that makes the Bridgestones that are de-laminating in F1 also works on the RE050s as well? Nice!

Yeah, why not... if you're spending all that money on a zorst, you might as well get some HFCs so you can get a decent noise out of it. Believe they'll even pass an MOT if you let it warm up a bit first. for the Berks..

Yes, more power with other breathing mods (ie, filters, rest of exhaust system, etc), and a remap Yes, "better" sound, but it's subjective of course.

Great looking car and priced to sell - GLWTS!

Indeed, but if I'm applying that much force I'll upgrade to the 3-foot 1/2" breaker bar and use the 6-sided sockets from my compressed air gun. I'm a big fan of using the right tool for the job, working smarter not harder, etc...

The knackered 1/4" ratchet is a halfords professional yes, probably had it 6-7 years, but halfrauds were being wan**rs when I tried to replace it last time, so I gave up

I was bought some 1/4" and 1/2" Teng Tools socket sets for my birthday and now I've had time to use them, I thought I'd share my findings so far. To give you some perspective, I'd consider myself a fairly competent home mechanic and I'm quite happy servicing all my own cars, changing brakes, bearings, clutches, electrics, etc. I've previously used (and have still got) a halfords professional 1/4", 3/8" & 1/2" socket set that does for most things and I'm fairly happy with it, although the release button on the 1/4" ratchet is knackered now. The very first impression of the tools is from the box they come in - the 1/4" box feels really cheap and I'm not convinced it will last to be honest, but the 1/2" box feels much more solid and durable - better than the halfords box too. Inside, both boxes are equipped with a variety of sockets, extensions, a UJ and a ratchet. The 1/4" box also contains a screwdriver, a variety of bits and a nice little empty hole that you can put your the things in that you've removed, which is handy. Both ratchets are built from a metal / plastic / rubbery assembly that feels solid, the ratchet mechanism feels and sounds solid, but if I was going to criticise it, perhaps more ratchet teeth would be nice for when working in those small areas, but it's not any better / worse than the halfords professional set. The handle on the 1/2 ratchet is particularly comfortable and being rubberised, isn't half as cold to the touch, which will be very nice in winter. So far, I can't really fault them. I'm sure there will be plenty of people on here later advocating all sorts of other brands, but I can't comment on them, I'm just here to say I'm happy with my new Tengs and hopefully this will help you make your mind up when buying your own tools in the future. Jobs so far using the Tengs; Oil and oil filter change on 350z Oil, oil filter and air filter change on a Fiesta Mk4 Changed both front wheel hub assemblies on 350z Pics:

Cheers chaps, Sarnie is about to get PM

I'm looking at doing mine at the moment, but the best rate I can find for 75% LTV is Yorkshire Building Society's 2 year Fixed or 2 year tracker deals at just over 2%. Anybody know of anything better around at the moment? Ideally short-term as I'm looking to upgrade houses in the next 12 months or so... Also, has anybody got any experience with a 'portable' mortgage and moving to a more expensive house? Obviously I'm going to talk to the Banks and Building societies about this, but if I re-mortgage now and get a 2yr deal that's for "up to" 75% LTV, but then I move to a more expensive house in 12 months, add the GF to the mortgage and slash my LTV back to about 80%, will they just say "no, it's not that portable" and charge me the cancellation fee if I want to leave?

If it's speed related, it could really be anything after the gearbox output, but don't forget static components like too brakes, suspension, etc.. Does the noise change under hard acceleration, braking or cornering? Can you feel it through your feet, seat, steering, etc?

There's a wanted post somewhere for somebody after a set of these I think? Very helpful post I know! ;-p

Thanks chaps, glad you like it. We'll probably do another one next year - might see if we can drag along a few more Zeds and M3s though - keep your eyes peeled!

Welcome to the forum! Unfortunately though,

I think he means the individual wires have been pulled from the plug? In which case, just need a pinout diagram, or use that photo you've got - looks decent enough.

lol, it was a bit of a shock to the wallet, especially after only owning the car for a month or so, spending a grand driving around europe, a service, two new front wheel bearings and an MOT - I'll be living off porridge for the rest of the month at this rate! Like I said though, worth every penny!

If it wasn't such a great car, this would be very painful!!

Welcome along.. Plenty of Buyer Guides in the Forum to be reading, and a few members selling their own cars too so don't forget to checkout the for sale area...

It looks like he hasn't even worn the sticker off that rear tyre yet? As for the look? I'm afraid I'm not a fan

Definitely a big fan of bouldering - you spend less time faffing around with ropes and more time working on your technique

Thanks chaps, after a bit more WD40, brute force, and some mole grips, the last bolt came out successfully and the new hub / bearing assembly went in and back together perfectly. As I'd knackered the bolt I bought new ones from the stealership when re-assembling, and I bought more than I needed, expecting to have the same problems on the other side. After taking almost 5 hours to do the first side though (OSF), the second (NSF) was done in just over an hour and the bolt came straight out using a normal socket with no faff at all. Not sure why one side was harder than the other though - a few people in the US suggesting that steering angle can affect it, but to be honest I didn't check and it's all done now Thanks for the help / banter / inspiration to paint my sub frame crazy colours next time I happen to drop my engine out! Rich