sepp

Anyone know how you change backlight bulbs in Greddy white gauges (with memory/warning functions)? Also, what are the wires to the seat belt sockets for?

You should NEVER idle a car from cold, it does more harm than good, it is one of the worst things you can do to an engine! You are supposed to drive straight off as soon as you start her up. It is really bad for an engine (any engine) to idle before you start driving when starting from cold, because it is much better for the engine to be under load as soon as it starts up from cold. As everyone else says tho, don't boot it over 3000 rpm until the 'oil', not the water, is at normal operating temp!

ABS is worth it's weight in gold, NO motor should be without it EVER. It has saved my skin on many occasions, doesn't matter if it's an old or new system, your car is better and safer WITH it there! ABS wasn't just invented for idiots, it is like airbags, an essential safety feature on modern cars. People who think they are the worlds greatest drivers have put down every new piece of technology on cars, even the gearboxes now used on EVERY F1 car!! They said that they would hinder performance etc etc, again they have been proved totally wrong. They even said that four wheel drive was rubbish and would hinder performance when Audi put it into their UR Quattro, and some people still argue it is no good for road cars!!! Despite Audi being banned from the TRACK because they were winning everything. In my opinion, ABS is brilliant, not perfect, nothing ever is, but brilliant, and I consider myself a competent driver and good braker even without ABS.

Cheers cybernet I will do that.

If you are on losse gravel, then the car ain't gonna stop quickly whatever brake setup you have (ABS OR NOT). You can still use manual control over your brakes even with ABS, coz ABS only works when the car is skidding or going to. You obviously do not want the car to skid when you brake, even on the track, the idea is to brake without skidding and losing steering etc, so you can still do that with ABS on. The ABS will only kick in when the wheels lose grip, so it is only doing what you would be doing anyway if you are a skilled driver, you would lift off the brakes or pump, the ABS does that IF the wheels are skidding! You still have a great deal of leeway for manually stopping the car from skidding by skilful use of the brakes. Except maybe on VERY poor surfaces like gravel/ice etc, but then as I said, I don't think you can really control skidding on these surfaces by skill either! Nothing is going to stop your car from skidding under braking on ice or oil for example!

Ok, cheers for that, appreciate it.

Hi again, not being funny, but have you dug out the details of the place in Kenley yet as I really need to get things moving tomorrow if poss!

My stereo has just started making a thumping kind of noise, it does it whatever you are playing, cd or radio. It is a fairly old Panasonic Tape/Radio setup (not RDS), with a graphic EQ/CD player in the other DIN place, all the same system. Anyone know what could be causing this thumping sound through the speakers, could it be that the suppressor has gone? I am going to get an up to date modern system when funds allow, but would like at least to be able to listen to this until then. It was probably a state of the art sytem when it was new (many moons ago)!!!

Yes I am very interested, I am only down the road from Kenley. Please let me have his details when you dig them up!

Does anyone know of any really good body shops in Surrey/South-East area, or at least fairly near. Got to get an estimate and get my car repaired on the insurance, rather have a zed specialist if poss coz want a top job.

What do you mean hh???

Yeh, that is a good way to do it, but the problem with this is, the car is then a cat 'C' (I think it is) right off, and I think that affects the resale value massively, and maybe your future insurance premiums, though not sure about that.

Here, here! Jeff is a great bloke who is always willing to give free advice. I have asked him many things and he has ALWAYS known what the problems are and helped me out. My car is going to Zedworld for a 60k service in a few weeks, even though I live in London, his prices are brilliant!

Who is Mike Feeney, does he supply NEW parts then, and are they original Nissan parts at a much lower price?

No, that is defo all it needs, the A-pillar is not damaged at all. There is NO serious damage. What he has estimated is obviously using NEW Nissan parts, not second hand parts, although he said he would do seperate estimates for using both new & s/h parts when he did the original estimate!!

They are trying to right my Zed off!!! I took her for an estimate, was told to take car in today and collect courtesy car. Got courtesy car, left mine, when I got home, they rang & told me I would have to give their car back (I am returning it tomorrow & collecting mine again) as an engineer had decided my car was a roadgoing right off, as it was too expensive to repair!!!!! I asked what the estimate had been, and was told £2,500 (where the hell does he get THAT price from)!! The guy who did the estimate had said that he would use second hand parts to keep the costs down!!!!! He obviously quoted for brand new parts. What can I now do to stop the car being written off???? Car needs front wing, front bumper, either door skin or repair to door.

Toyo Proxes TR-1's are the way to go, brilliant tyre, brilliant prices!! Easily as good as any of the BIG names, a bit harder to get hold of thats all!

Has anyone used an insurance approved repairer, and would anyone recommend using one? I have had big problems in the past with repairers that insurance companies have sent me to, so am very wary about them. I don't know whether to use one, or go to someone of my choice ie: a 300zx specialist?? Problem is, at the moment they have put me in the hands of their Legal Assistance people, they handle "no fault" claims directly through the 3rd parties insurance, so that I don't have to go through my own insurance. These people have approved repairers and provide a courtesy car etc, and say that ONLY "genuine" Nissan parts will be used, and repairs have a 3 year warranty! If I want to go to say "Zedworld" or some other specialist of my choice, then I can, but then it will go through my own insurance. Any advice will be very gratefully received, thanks in advance.

I don't actually know how to remove the Apexis, they were in when I bought it, and it doesn't look as if they just unplug.

No I didn't get hers coz she wouldn't give them to me, she locked her car and wouldn't talk to me even tho I tried to give her my details. I had to go to the police station and fill in an accident self report form, and she will have to as well apparently, as we didn't exchange details at the scene.

Yes I know it's difficult to prove, that is the problem. She was in the left hand lane at the lights tho and that's where she stayed, even tho I was in front of her, she was NEVER in front of me at any point, or in the proper lane where I had been all along. As you say tho, it is proving that!! Although having said that, it was very busy, there was a lot of traffic coming in the other direction and if I had overtaken her if she had been in the single lane as I and the rest of the traffic was, then I would have had to go right onto the other side of the road into the oncoming lane to have overtaken her! I would probably have hit the bollard thing at a completely different angle and probably damaged my rear wheel as well.

It doesn't really, coz she then scraped right past me and overtook me after initially hitting me. There is black tyre rubber from her front tyre (where her wheels were turned into me) on my upper front wheel arch tho. So her wheels must have been turned quite a lot, otherwise that wouldn't be there. She zoomed up on the inside and then turned into my front wing, then continued past me after pushing me into the bollard kerb, she actually shunted the front of my car out of the way! She did this quite deliberately as well!!

Whatever way you look at it, as far as I'm concerned, she has NO right to undertake me, turn in from my left and RAM me out of the way, EVEN IF SHE DID HAVE RIGHT OF WAY, which she didn't!!!!!!! And I honestly don't see how ANYONE could think that she can do that and it be ok! It states in the highway code that "if it will avoid an accident, you should give way" It was too late for me to give way by the time she decided she would zoom up on the inside and go past me! I was IN THE RIGHT PLACE, SHE WAS NOT! I was already just going through the gap, I would have hit the bollard island even if I had been able to avoid her. Only I would have hit it head on and smashed the front of my car completely, I/C's, oil coolers, rad, possibly sump and god knows what else!

Oh yeh, forgot, I was going very slowly at that point as it was very busy.

I went down and had another look myself, is your zed red, coz I saw one go up and down a couple of times. I was walking around in a grey T-shirt and three quarter "Lonsdale" pants. I would say looking at it now, that there is NOT enough room for two cars, it is a single lane after the second set of lights. There is no way there is enough room for another car to be on the side where the parking bays are up to where the pavement buildup and bollards are! She was trying to sneek up that side, she was further back near my left rear wing, and then suddenly accelerated hard to undertake me and basically turned into me, shunted me out of her way and raced between them! How can that possibly be in any way my fault!?! I was exactly where I was supposed to be, and in the only lane there is at that point, the only place there is 2 lanes and room for 2 cars side by side, is actually at the traffic lights! There are NO signs regarding traffic flow, whatsoever, anywhere there. I had already had to move over a bit so that she didn't hit my arse end, because she was trying to squeeze up on the left side where there clearly is not room.