JeffTT

25 November at 14:14 · Wakefield, United Kingdom · Edited Watch out for these as they are on M1 smart motorways now on poles as shown and on variable speed limit gantries.These are already on M1 between M18 M1 intersection and Leeds where ever new smart motorways,they will catch you if over 70MPH even when variable speed limit not in force. See article below DRIVERS WARNED TO STICK TO 70MPH AS MOTORWAY SPEED CAMERAS ARRIVE BY STEALTH WITHIN the past 10 weeks more than 500 motorists in Britain have received an unwelcome letter notifying them that they have been caught by a speed camera. What was unusual about the letters was that the recipients had not been caught zooming through a quiet village or suburb. Instead, they had been snapped breaking the limit of 70mph on a motorway, an offence that — until now — most speed cameras ignored. Quietly — critics would say by stealth — the busiest sections of Britain’s motorway network are being converted into so-called smart motorways that will bristle with speed cameras under new plans to clamp down on drivers who exceed the speed limit at any time. Already, 211 miles of road have been designated as “smart” because they have electronic message signs to vary the speed limit — and speed cameras to enforce them — as part of an effort to make traffic flow more efficiently without having to build additional lanes. This represents about a tenth of the motorway network by length, which may seem a small proportion. Now however, the Highways Agency has released new figures revealing that a fifth of motorway miles travelled are on stretches policed by cameras — and many more stretches are being converted to smart motorways. Drivers, including those on the M25 and parts of the M1, M6 and M60, will risk being caught if they exceed 70mph. Within the next two years a third of motorway miles could be on “smart” sections, with more to come. In the past, the relatively small number of speed cameras on motorway gantries were used to enforce so-called variable limits on stretches where traffic was warned to slow down to, say, 50mph to allow for congestion, an incident or roadworks. The cameras were switched off at other times, except in unusual circumstances. Indeed, acknowledging that many drivers routinely travelled faster on motorways, the government announced plans in 2012 to raise the motorway limit to 80mph. At the time, the transport secretary, Philip Hammond, declared that the faster speeds would benefit the economy and, taking the side of motorway drivers, declared an end to a war that, he said, the previous Labour government had waged on motorists. Now the government has gone into reverse gear. Motorway drivers will have to comply with the same restrictions that apply on non-motorway roads. This, say critics, fails to take into account that motorways were designed with speed in mind. Opposing carriageways are separated by central reservations and crash barriers; traffic joins from slip roads — there are no junctions, roundabouts or traffic lights; the roads are free from learner drivers, cyclists and other slow-moving road users. As a result, motorways are mile for mile the safest roads. What has particularly angered opponents, though, is the way the new policy has been introduced. Smart sections are slowly creeping across the network without the knowledge of many motorists. “I do not understand the concept,” says Paul Watters, head of public affairs for the AA. “Cameras have been used on the motorway to ensure safety and reduce congestion by closely enforcing lower speed limits. But if everything is safe, the road is clear and the national speed limit is set, then there isn’t the same justification to enforce the limit.” “Cameras have been used on the motorway to ensure safety and reduce congestion by closely enforcing lower speed limits. But if everything is safe, the road is clear and the national speed limit is set, then there isn’t the same justification to enforce the limit” Another point of contention is that the speed limit will be enforced not by yellow Gatsos with road markings that give warning to approaching drivers — but by new, bi-directional “stealth cameras”. Hadecs3 cameras are already appearing on smart motorway sections. The front and rear-facing cameras, painted grey, are mounted discreetly on roadside poles and use two radars to verify a vehicle’s speed, which means that no white lines are needed. The first were fully activated near the Clacket Lane services, between junctions 5 and 6 of the M25 on October 22 last year. Since then, 668 speeding motorists have been caught, according to Kent police. Of those, 520 received tickets when the speed limit was set at 70mph. “Drivers will not have been expecting this,” says Pete Williams, from the RAC. “Many drivers don’t realise that motorway speed cameras are now being used to enforce the national speed limit. We want consistency and clarity for drivers to ensure that cameras are used as an effective and fair speeding deterrent. This would avoid any accusation that forces are using cameras as a cash cow.” Kent police claim that not all drivers caught speeding by the cameras will be penalised, saying that they take into account the road conditions, time of day and speed of the vehicle before deciding whether to send out a ticket. But they refuse to reveal the minimum speed at which they will take action, meaning that many motorists are likely to stick to a rigid 70mph. Others will limit their speed to just under 80mph in line with guidelines — that police forces can ignore — from the Association of Chief Police Officers that drivers should be allowed a margin of 10% plus 2mph above the speed limit before they are prosecuted. “The force uses proportional discretion in assessing the circumstances to decide whether there is a public interest in prosecuting a driver,” says Keith Fairbank, a spokesman for Kent police. “But to avoid any confusion, if you do not speed, you are not going to get caught.” More Hadecs3 cameras have been installed on the M25 between junctions 23 and 27, and they will also be used for smart sections on the M1, M3, M6 and M60 due to open in the next two years. Work has begun on replaceing existing gantry-mounted cameras with Hadecs3 versions. Some forces have decided not to wait and have begun enforcing the 70mph limit using the older cameras. Avon and Somerset police switched on their gantry-mounted cameras on smart sections of the M4 and M5 in June and have caught more than 5,500 drivers exceeding the speed limit since then, according to the RAC. It says that Surrey and Warwickshire police are also using cameras to catch drivers breaking the 70mph limit. Other forces have declined to reveal their plans. Hertfordshire police refused to tell The Sunday Times whether they intended to enforce the 70mph speed limit, claiming that it was not in the public interest to do so. The Highways Agency, which is responsible for creating smart motorways, is working with Mouchel, a French technical consultancy, to develop the cameras further. They have the potential to operate as average-speed cameras, enforcing the 70mph limit over long stretches of motorway. The agency defended its plans for extending speed restrictions. “Smart motorways are cheaper, faster to deliver and more environmentally friendly than building additional lanes,” it said. “Research on the M42 has found that by managing the speed vehicles are travelling, you smooth the traffic flow. Using safety cameras ensures a high level of compliance with the variable speed limits.” Jeff

Yes but as you know, it rarely stops there, once the journey starts with big turbo install the road to more spending starts, fuelled in part by the " what you got ? I got bigger syndrome! and what`s you BHP ?? over the years I must of driven literally thousands of different zeds not one or two like most and some huge power zeds and rarely was they nice to drive on the road, small well thought out improvement that keep the driving experience as Nissan designed it is way more cool. Jeff

Or you could do yourself a massive favour and have some standard built turbo`s with better seals/ bearing with the money you save replace the wiring loom as well as all the pipework, pull the plenum and do a manic delete, whilst the plenum is off grind away the area where the injector fixings are so later injector swaps are a lunch time job. Full 60k miles engine service cam belt rollers adjuster oil. fuel filters spark plugs the works and if your fuel pump is noisy change it for a good standard one. Now when you have a great engine, reliable and ready to use, every day if you want and decent fuel economy, you can do all of this with the money you will save from going mad on turbo`s and high end mapping etc. Yes get a mild upgrade map, raise boost, be silly not to really, for around the £225 mark you can have proven improvements without any stress or massive cost. Of course you will be missing what sadly has become increasing vital thing these days...... a pub talk BHP output or even the customary rolling road read out to " prove it" now ask yourself what YOU really want.....Good Luck. Jeff

No probs. Jeff

Anyone planning on some Driftworks upgrades, heads up there is a price reduction on the way, see copy of E-mail I received today below. Jeff Dear Driftworks Traders, We're pleased to announce that we have reduced the price of almost every Driftworks alignment arm in our range. The RRP on some arms has been reduced by up to 27%! These price changes will go live on our website at 9am on Friday 20th November but we thought we’d give you some advance warning so you can adjust your storefronts. At considerable cost to ourselves, we have also upgraded all Driftworks alignment arms that use regular sized rod ends* to now include our highest quality XM-Series rod ends, sourced in the UK. All rod ends will now be covered by a two year warranty, alongside our lifetime warranty on the structural part of Driftworks alignment arms. We’ve decided to make these changes as a result of valued customer feedback which suggested that more affordable alignment arms with higher quality rod ends were highly sought after. We’ve experienced fantastic reliability with our XM-Series rod ends in the past, having used them on all of our custom builds (including the DW86). Please find attached a CSV file documenting the products affected by the price changes. Detailed within is the existing RRP, the new RRP (as of Friday 20th November) and your trade prices for all of the products listed. Kind Regards Driftworks

This could of been so dangerous if not caught soon after the owner changed his pads! really worry about some guys ??? Jeff

The problem is simple, the temp sensor cable at the front has been disturbed when you did the plug change, this now is been seen and a fault by the ecu and hence fuelling for a cold engine flooding the plugs and triggering the electric fan, so check the connection, clean and reseat. Oh and do not put those iridium back in, they do not suit the V6 engine well as they tend to not self clean enough, the original platinum NGK PFR6B-11C are the ones to stay with. Jeff

Without any doubt we have to remember the guys from wars past and wars present that choose to protect us all, some at the ultimate price, never really touched me until my best friend had to do a return and final tour in Afghanistan while he was away everyday I felt the dread many mums and dads of soldiers everywhere must feel, thankfully he returned safe and my worries subsided but for some not so good, immensely proud of my friend and PROUD TO BE BRITISH ! Jeff

Arghhh nasty Chinese copy Momo steering wheel that will bend when you put pressure on getting in and out of the car, saw way too many of those in the workshop, potentially an MOT failure they are so flimsy, would most likely stab you in the chest with hidden sharp edges in a crash. normally cost around a fifth of a genuine MOMO one....wonder why? Jeff

That`s cheating my friend lol !! Ah ha, em seguida, você tem a ajuda, o Português é mais fácil eu me sinto, mas ainda eu luto. Jeff

Trueful et acurate, contrairement au reste lol Jeff

Mmm..... been told by locals last time this happened was decades ago, anyhow scorchio again this morning which helps the clean up teams I guess. Jeff

Portimao did suffer too but not anything like as much as Albufeira, but typical Algarve weather is forecast for sunny times again before the end of the week. Jeff

No we live 15 km west of there but the storm was huge but no lasting damage at our villa but the pool almost over flowed (lol) but that is not really any consequence compared to these poor souls.. I just cannot see how logistically this can all be fixed for the Christmas and New year celebrations, imagine the amount of work just to relay all the blocks let alone all the exposed cables, pipes, telecommunications etc. remember Portugal is not well placed to pay for all of this either?? then all of the buildings and business people, a real life disaster for Albufeira. The level of rainfall was epic, something like 90 cm in the first few hours, that`s nearly a meter everywhere! the top end of Albufeira has a huge culvert the size of a small river that runs down to the sea, but it just could not cope with the huge surge and burst open alongside a road, wiped the road out and then a few million gallons of water travelled down the hill in to a narrow gap between building which cause a huge increase in the water speed that burst out though old town at huge speed. All the time thunder and lightning and raining, it was like it for 8 hours!! started around 4 am which why I guess so many cars got washed away. Jeff

What a Sunday we had here..........nightmare in the daytime! Jeff http://portugalresident.com/terror-in-albufeira-as-10-hours-of-torrential-rain-turns-roads-into-rivers http://news.sky.com/story/1580273/one-dead-as-severe-flooding-hits-portugal

There is a possibility the gauge is faulty of course, however it could be correct or close to it and all of your cars are lower compression than you thought they would be, provided they are equal or close to it then they will often run just fine, had a customer years ago with 90/ 110 psi spread across his cylinders on a twin turbo and engine ran fine and did not smoke or use oil, it was a genuinely worn engine nothing more, nothing broken unlike your red one, given that no 6 is reading 0 really negates any gauge inaccuracy to be honest, a leak down test would help narrow it down to rings / cylinder or valves though, either way its a strip down job. Jeff

Yes will both shift to top gear sooner, but will stay in that gear longer for any given accelerator pedal action, this can be useful on motorway if your say doing a steady 70 mph and want to just pass someone going slightly slower, normally when pressing on a slight bit will cause the box to shift down when it might not really need to if its a slow pass, in Hold it will just power past without dropping down a gear, hence less fuel use but not as responsive. Jeff

No probs, its a feature only available on the imports, and another things the autobox ecu is always learning and trying to make the best change so by the very nature of this becomes driver interactive, drive like Miss Daisy for a week and the box will change accordingly, a good idea now and then to have lets say a "spirited drive" every now and then or it can become less dynamic. Jeff

Window trim damage is not cause by attempted theft but the dome head on the glass that goes passed the rubber strip, ok when the strip was new but once it goes hard the dome head tears it. Jeff

Full auto normal ( middle position ) is the most commonly used as everyday, it gives normal changes with a 10 second hard kick down were the engine will rev to 6k before gear change. Power is mental mode for full power 6k rpm in every gear before change. Hold is essentially an economy mode which changes up to the highest gear sooner, and pulls away in second gear to help prevent wheel spin in snow conditions, also on motorways will hold top gear for longer so saves on fuel use but gives slower response. Jeff

Is it your getting a consistently high figure where ever you set the tps to? if so the issue, it is a very common one, you have a faulty cable line from the ecu to the tps. Again assuming I have understood what your getting at and the tps seems to not get down from a high figure then its a targa drain issue that has corroded a connector inside of the car that the tps cable goes through and is causing a fault on the line as such. I did a tech thread about this and in particular those with automatic gearboxes are more effected by harsh or non gear changes. ( LINK BELOW ) Jeff http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?175920-Pesky-targa-drains-and-electrical-issues&highlight=tps

With Funki on this one, the cast ones are heavy and seize more often, unsprung weight slightly lower as a bonus, and also never seen warped calipers of either type, one of those 300zx myths like the one in all "buying a 300zx guide " that say the alternator is a week point and WILL fail at around 75k miles ?? simply they do not. Jeff

Ok there is a real easy way to check out your speed sensor / speedo cluster in the car without leaving your driveway. Speed sensor fail check : http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?126425-Tech-tip-Speed-sensor&highlight=speed+sensor Cluster removal : http://www.pexcom.com.au/z32cms/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.321 1) Firstly jack up the rear of the car so both back wheels are about 1 inch off the floor and secure with a combination of axle stands and your trolley jack. also clock the front wheels remember safety first. 2) Remove the dash to reveal the cluster, and turn the cluster around leaving the main three connector in. ( see removal link above ) 3) Identify the yellow and green signal wire from the speed sensor there are two yellow and green cables, one is speed input signal one is speed output signal the input closest to the middle of the connector 4) Set your multi tester to the a voltage within the range of 12 volts, and set it to AC this is very important as the signal is in AC not DC 5) Connect one of the test meter leads to the earth of the car and touch the probe on the signal cable (yellow / green on loom) from the speed sensor 6) Start the engine and select first or drive and allow the wheels to turn slowly, and observe the meter reading 7) If a signal is present you will be seeing 1-3 volts, if you rev it a little you will get 3-5 volts 8) If the signal is present the speedo should be working, if not the speedo is suspect 9) If no signal is present, then it could the speed sensor or could be the cable, The signal cable also is wired to the Consult plug, you could do the same test as above but use the probe in the Consult plug, if it does not work there its most likely a broken wire cable under the car, the speed sensor is unlikely to fail other than mechanically as set out in the above link and this can be seem physically. If you have access to get under the car you can disconnect the speed sensor and check the cables out, if there is a break it is much faster to just rewire. Most faults are in the cluster, if it is a jap spec car with a kph to mph converter fitted then that can be taken out of the circuit to confirm that is not the issue, as said most of the time the speedo cluster is at fault . Jeff

Ha ha it hurts I know, but wait till tomorrow!! and karting is all about matched power karts so a lighter driver will always have an advantage, when me and 10 other guys went on a kart day in Scotland we all got thrashed by a local who later was revealed as a 13 year old girl!! man pride well and truly deflated Jeff