baby ice dog

Oops, misread your reply in my panic... you reckon no need for professional mitigation? Hmm, I'll google for a freebie one then, see what they look like. Anyone else got any experience of this?

Heh, the tailgating business is a separate issue - I've managed to get off that before via the "attitude test", but it's something that really gripes me, especially when I see one trying it on again. I can't tell it's a copper til they've pulled me or got bored and turned off - the lights are too blinding. The one that stopped me said he was deliberately holding back and then charging up behind me "hoping you'd check your mirrors and see we were police" - erm, I could bally well SEE you ffs! How am I supposed to tell you're police when you're driving like that? Anyway... Nah, the incident in question was a fair cop - I thought the road was a 40 (it's wide enough, jeez), the piggy van was facing me with no obvious markings, I was trying to get away from some lights quickly to avoid being squished by an artic. I kept my foot on the happy pedal too long, I guess... when I saw the van, I slowed down, went to check my speed, and DOH - I'd had my O2 sensors replaced a few days before (hence the happy pedal reacting more favourably than I'd expected), and didn't realise the digital speedo needed setting up again after the battery had been disconnected. So all I had was the kph stock gauge. I kinda panicked and didn't slow down enough. As I said, I thought it was a 40 zone, turned out to be a 30. And it turned out what I thought was just under 50mph was 57 by their equipment. So yeah, I messed up, fair cop. I've got a clean license til now, I'm not a dangerous driver, and the road really doesn't feel like a 30 - it has residences on the roads *off* it, but not on that actual road. And it's pretty much two lanes wide each side (Abbey Bridge, for anyone who knows Nottingham). So what I'm after is avoiding a disqualification and minimising points. I know 57 in a 30 sounds terrible - it's not big, and it's not clever, and I'm not the kind who goes charging round estates endangering lovely kiddies' lives. I'd been stuck in traffic til then and judged the speed completely wrong. Heh, the photo evidence made me smirk - twin 3.5" SS Apexi backboxes sticking out like sore thumbs... no way are they gonna look at that and think I'm a responsible member of the community :(

Bah, I got a summons for speeding back in Feb (why do they always wait *right* until the 6months is nearly up, eh? Cruel!), so I'm after a decent solicitor for advice/mitigation letter - the offence was down in Nottingham, and I live in Warrington now, so it seems better to let them sort this out in my absence than waste fuel and time going down there to mess it up in person. Also, I'm wary about driving down there now, since Derby traffic cops seem to have a habit of aggressive tailgating at night - several times I've had something glued to my backside, lights blinding me, seemingly trying to encourage me to speed the hell up, only to find it was a police car pushing me along until I got to the next 40 limit :( Anyway, does anyone know any decent (but not too pricey :P) solicitors dealing with this kind of thing? Most helpful/promising place I've seen so far is http://www.motorlawyers.co.uk/ , who will do a letter for £95. God knows what they put in these letters, but it's supposed to be worth the money, and it's better than fumbling my own way through it. Anyone have any experience of these guys, or have anyone better in mind? I can't find any local solicitors that deal with traffic offences, and chances are they'd say they know nothing about how it works down in Nottingham anyway :/ Thanks for any help :)

Juiced defo has paint options - in Arcade mode, you can choose between *alot* of set colours, including metallics and some flips. You don't even need to unlock the car to do this (if you want to, I think the password PINT does this). In Career mode, you can choose base colour, add a metallic sheen, then add a flip colour to this as well - Driving Emotion Type S is the only other game I've seen with this level of paint customising (only in that, it looked completely different once you got it out in the "natural" light of the track. Oh, and it allowed what seemed like impossibly bright colours :S). Problem with Career mode is that I don't know any way to unlock the cars - someone's said that just skipping through 3 months of game time may do it, but I'm really not sure. Auto Modellista (very cheap 2nd hand) would let you paint a Z32 any combination of colours you like, straight out the box. But it's cel shaded gfx (NOT realistic), and has no metallics or flips AFAIK. HTH

Hmm, thanks guys :) Yes, there's an odd smell (was the first thing I noticed, actually, but assumed it musta been my mate... :S), so I guess it's heater matrix related. Well, not as bad as I was dreading, anyway. I'm too drunk to do anything about it now, but I'll search tomorrow on what to do with this. Will get it fixed properly in the near future, but I really need to get the car in a state where it will make the journey across the peaks this weekend without dying :'( greg, I will be subscribing some time soon - was about to get round to it a couple of years ago, but then I lost my job and it's taken me this long to get another decent one. I'm impressed to get this much help so quickly this late on a Fri night tho ;) Thanks again! :D

Hmm, in full-on panic mode at the moment, as I'm moving up north tomorrow for a new job, and the car seems to have a problem :'( My mate noticed it first as I was filling up with petrol - there was a sizzling sound in the cabin, and steam started pouring out of the air vents. We popped the bonnet but there was no sign of any steam in the engine bay. Something was leaking above the passenger footwell, soaking the mat in water, possibly slightly oily. I limped home watching the temp gauge - sure enough, it started to rise to max, but a couple of times it just suddenly dropped back to normal, only to rise again. Just before we got home, the cat overheat light came on. I popped the bonnet again, still no steam, though the rad cap was sizzling a bit, and the fan wasn't running. It's dark now, so there's not much I can do. Tomorrow I was going to check the coolant level, top up, and also check the oil looks ok. I'm a complete car nonce, so sorry if this seems dumb. What could be up? Could it just be that the coolant got low (or poss leaking), and all it needs is topping up? Or is it likely to be something more sinister? I'm worried about the possible oil in the water dripping into the footwell, and confused by the lack of steam in the engine bay. Any help is appreciated. The car is in pretty good nick, so I'm hoping it's nothing serious :'( Oh, and it's an NA manual, if that's important :) Thanks!

Thanks for the info there, Pete - sounds like an excellent deal for a custom build :) Skelmersdale is perfect for me, as I'm moving up to Warrington next week :P I'm waiting for Dave to get back to me with info on what he has, then I can make a decision and start saving some pennies.... ;)

Pete, how much are the front pipes and decat costing you? I have a SWB NA that really wants decatting, but I've had trouble getting a decent quote off someone who seems reliable :(

Pete... http://www.pcservicecall.co.uk/layout.aspx?ID={2fe0ffb6-764b-4900-b582-e3fb8ec18cec}&CatID={49c59471-283a-475b-9737-21c953eaf94c} That's the write-up for your motherboard, all sorts of other info about the Emac 410 there too, just click the links at the top :) I know you already have the info on RAM, thought this may be useful if you're modding other bits :P

Real Car Simulator: Nissan Edition? It was quite a stripped-down game - felt nice and sim-like, but not many tracks and the environments looked a bit bland. Had a Z32 and an S30 in though, IIRC, as well as Skylines, Silvias, 200s, a Sileighty... Worth a play, but felt more like a demo than a full game. The Juiced that's alrdy out is a ripped early build, and apparently not much cop. THQ bought it out and are s'posed to be working on tweaking it. For non-XB games, there's loads of em - all the Tokyo Extreme Racers on DC and PS2, and all the Choro Q ("Penny Racers") games, for example... one of the more recent Choro Qs, Road Trip Adventure (a "Car-pg"), even has 280 and Z31 body shells :)

Sega GT 2002 is a *must*!! It has a few S30s in too, a G nose, a racing 240.. :D I think it's missing the 280 and Z31 though :'( It has loads of other classic JP cars too, and its a great-feeling game :) Also, Group S challenge has a Z32, along with a couple of kitted ones to unlock. Driving Emotion Type S (some people complain about the handling in this one, cos it's quite squidgy) has a Z32 and the most insane painting system I've seen - this allows you to paint your Z any flip combination you can think of (including impossibly bright colours). The EU version of Auto Modellista isn't out yet on XB, but when it is, it will have the Z32 with fulling modding. Juiced will have a Z32 when it comes out too (all sorts of mods in this too, I imagine). NFSU has a Z33 in, IIRC, dunno about NFSU2 though....

We get this at work alot (tech support call centre), and as the chaps here are saying, chkdsk /r should sort it, followed by getting windows updates to stop it happening again (HDD firmware might sort too, it's something to do with disk write speeds, I think). Not likely to be a hardware problem though :)

The squeak isn't just a badly fitted front panel is it? Check the bonnet edge isn't rubbing against the top of the panel between the headlights :) paulbrem is spot on with the fuel advice - go for Optimax wherever possible! As for setting the car up for UK fuel, I assume that would be done via a new ECU, in which case you might as well get a performance ECU (that and induction kit are the easiest way to go for performance increase in an NA, AFAIK)

I use dBpowerAmp, though admittedly only cos one of my friends gave it me when I asked for the same thing :S But it's nice and simple :) http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ On a related note, anybody know any free sw for recording and cleaning up LPs? I've got a load of vinyl to convert (when I can get the turntable working), and it would be nice to have something that makes it easy (for eg, chopping up in to seperate tracks, cleaning up crackle, naming & tagging).

Yeah, Ivan, I was the red NA SWB :P I was very slow and got told off for revving too loudly :P I noticed the "80s car" comment too - think it was more likely a mistake by the writers. They called me a week or so later to ask if it was fair to describe the 260 as a "70s car" (which struck me as a bit desparate, because I'm *no* kind of authority on 260s :S), so I guess they were just as confused by the Z32. There was no 280 there, which was a disappointment... but in one of the garages on the road out of the airfield, there was an unhappy-looking 280 sitting out front :/ We got the impression that Jezza was holding back in the 350 - the TT would've still nuked him, but I think he backed off enough to give the lead 260 a chance.

SkylineDave is right about the NA - the red one is the SWB NA, silver is Gio's TT (apparently with a boost leak at the time :P). We only had two runs, which is probably why the start is a bit embarrassing (there was no big green light to watch, just a man waving his arms from the 240/260 end of the start line). I completely fluffed that second start, was too busy watching the man and forgot to set my revs - oops :S It was a fun morning though, lots of nice people (and cars... mmm) :)

I can't send PMs either, and can't find any contact info on THQ's site :'( I'd love to be involved! Have a SWB NA, with two 3.5" SS Apexi backboxes, and it sounds awesome :) Doesn't have an induction kit tho... only mod so far is the zorst :( I'm in Nottm, so fairly local.. would take less than an hour to get to Warwickshire (not checked out Mira yet, so that's an approx), and I'm free 4th Jan ALL DAY! :o Also free on the 5th til late afternoon :P Mail me if ya see this :) baby_ice_dog.at.hotmail.com

Bah! Rust and small zorsts =/= me :'(

Er... I would have been passing through there on Tuesday, on my way to Jeff's and back, but I'm guessing you mean today? Red SWB Z32, G*** Y**, big zorsts... ;)

Another one here! :P Red SWB NA manual with big big SS exhausts, in Stockhill (out on the A610 by the junction with Broxtowe lane). Only other Zs I've seen around are Nico, Cos, and some chap who used to cruise out of town on Alfreton Rd, through Bobbers Mill, down the A610 in a *gooorgeous* sounding red beast. Oh, and Luke once.. ;) Shout me up if you see me around, its always good to meet more Zs :)

nicoooo! :D Good to see you back :) If you don't remember me, I'm the red SWB NA you looked over in Sainsbo's car park ages ago. Not seen you on the streets for a while, though... Well, keep an eye out for me - I've been couriering the last year but I'm starting a "proper" job next week, so I'll be back in the Z (rather than a van 14hrs a day :S) :) I gathered you had an FD but didn't know what colour or anything so didn't know what to look out for... it's not the black one that used to hang out at Parkers Cafe is it? Bah, that one seems to have disappeared anyway, so I guess not :/ ramble ramble... good to have you back :)

lol no, I can't :rofl:

hmm, all very useful... OK, so I phone them up rather than try to fill in the formy thing, that's a start :) I was worrying earlier that if I ask for a photo they will pull some kind of "nah, if you want that you'll have to take this to court" routine to scare me into just accepting the fine. SUFFOLKZX: I was wondering what constituted proof for this purpose - I mean, worst he can have is my first name down in his diary for that day, but no surname, no signatures, no official record of me working for him on specific days. daves_new_zx/takemetothepub: yeah, good plan - honest and to the point, plus if no-one gets the fine, no-one gets annoyed :). Roughly how long do they kick these things around for before giving up, do you know? Anyone got an answer to why there isn't an offer of a speeding awareness course, btw? OK, thanks for the advice, guys :) I'll phone em up on Monday and see what they say. [Trevz - good plan mate, will see if I can work out how to edit...]

OK, here's a long-winded one: I got an NIP today, dated 5/5, for an offence on 30/1 in Cumbria - 89 on the M6, caught by a crappy camera van [side rant: they're supposedly "hi-vis" liveried but b0ll0x to that! They're dark blue with a yellow stripe along the bottom, and they park on bridges so the yellow stripe is obscured]. Now, I was in the works van, which is why they can get away with sending the NIP 3months after the offence. After some thinking I realised that it's also a lease-hire van, which is presumably why the boss didn't mention receiving anything within 14days to me (because it would have got sent to the hiring company, arrived at him months later, by which time I was no longer working for him). Next, I was working for cash in hand, so there was no official contract between us to say I was driving the van. *Although* since leaving him a couple of months ago, I've been self-employed, and to pay me for the last few hours I had owing, he sent me a semi-official looking "invoice" (yes, I know its not an invoice really, but that's how he labelled it). No dates of work are mentioned on this, and it was sent 5/4 (i.e. long after the offence). Hmm, I *might* have been driving the van - I've done a couple of runs up that way for him, and I do get frisky on the M6 coming home. But other people drive for him sometimes too, and I've got *no* record of what I was doing on that date, so I really can't be sure it was me (he might have records, of course, but I don't know how they hold up if I'm cash in hand, yknow?). He's kind of dodgy, his previous company (which these runs were supposed to be for) had gone into liquidation just before this, so he was unofficial partner in this new business, and I remember him saying something about how he couldn't invoice the guys I was carrying for until something was set up (god, hear my business knowledge). The van was leased to the old, liquidated, company, he wasn't paying for it any more, and really the hire company should have taken it back by then. Crap, I'm waffling but I dunno how much of this is relevant... The guy owes me a packet from when he went into liquidation (yes, I carried on working at the new place - should've learned, right?), and I'm kinda p1ssed that he's laying this fine on me. What's my best response to Cumbria Constabulary? It's a long time ago, I can't remember who was driving, but I'm not the registered keeper so there's no onus on me to take the fine if I can't provide driver details, right? Which section do I fill in on the NIP? The closest I can find is Part5, but that specifically states I *wasn't* the driver, which *might* not be the case (and I gather photos could prove otherwise, getting me in more trouble). So many complicated issues, sorry :'( An aside: how come I haven't been offered a course on speeding awareness in exchange for the points? I've got a clean license otherwise :/

hehe that place is a mess at the moment - roadworks and construction traffic all over the show :S I'm round there same time every day, so I'll have to keep an eye out for ya - you're a distinctive enough colour, after all ;)