Mark W

I've only had one experience with overheating, and I reckon I hadn't replaced the rad cap properly after a top-up. Sounded similar to your first example- coolant everywhere around the cap. Took me a surprisingly long time to realise I was overheating too :headvswal Did you definitely fill the coolant tip-top and put the rad cap back on properly when you refilled? The stock caps have a reputation for not fitting well... I'm trying to think of non-expensive things that could have caused it all! Hope you get it sorted out matey, and there'll be plenty of people with the know-how on here to help :) Mark

Yummy! Also good on a toasted cheese sarny.

Aye, that would appear to be the case! Cheers chaps, Mark

Chunk- that's ok I didn't see it what you put first anyway! Billy- Too late! I'd asked the girlfriend to do just that, but she's decided that "they sound legitimate" and handed over her (i.e. our!) credit card details. Splatt- Actually it does appear that it's actually the RAC themselves. Either that or they've got enough inside info to pass themselves off as RAC anyway. Guess we'll find out in due course... Mark

I've been contacted by someone "on behalf of the RAC" offering an additional insurance policy so that if I'm hit by an uninsured driver :wack: I don't lose my no-claims bonus, etc. I'm not insured with anything RAC related, I just have the recovery. They reckon 1 in 4 drivers are uninsured (good ol' scare tactics!) yet the premium is only £15 per year. I'd have thought that for such a "big problem" you'd be paying a lot more. :confused: Does anyone know if these policies actually are actually worth anything? :bow: Or am I just being sceptical?! :D Mark

Few links for info: (mostly related to my experiences :D ) Resistors- 190mph http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=35682 Resistors- 160mph http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=44892 Calibration http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=36601 Mark

Sounds like your after a sporty practical car rather than a practical sports car. (Does that make sense?! :confused: ) For the former... Golf R32 Audi S3 Mini Cooper S Works For the latter, how about... Porky 944 Tubby or 968. Ferrari Mondial :rofl: ... maybe not!

Anyone out there play the violin? Coz I'm crying reading this thread!!! :cry: The worst kind of day to be zedless...

Well BP made a big deal of their high performance petrol didn't they? Mind you, theirs is a bit overpriced...

I'm no good really!... I know that if I started down anything half, no, quarter-tricky then I'd end up with a car that can't be moved anywhere stuck out in my allocated parking space, in the rain, with me ringing around begging for help!!!

With my daily-drive Zed off the road for a weeks or 2, I'm cycling everywhere. And it's becoming... fun. :eek: The one-off times I've cycled to and from work before it was always a pain in the Yaris, but having to do it each day you get into it more. Better for the enviroment ;) better for my wallet and probably better for my poor Zed, as it's only about 3-4 miles each way! Mark

I wanted to demonstrate a powerslide to my girlfriend :slap: The bit of road I chose was a nice sweeping bend, so I was expecting the car to do what it did before which was step out a bit then come back in line. Noooooooooooo we went completely sideways then fishtailed up the road, luckily on my side all the way. There was arm-waving and screaming- didn't feel to chuffed about the whole incident. I consider myself warned. And that's just the car! It's not a topic of discussion with my better half...

Been together 3 years, she moved in to my place 2 years ago. We're gonna need a bigger house! No kids. The comments of "you've been together 2 years now, isn't it time you got married" are growing thin. She's divorced anyway. Which is good- she's got a nice big deposit for our next (joint! :slap: ) place, and she's got the big white wedding thing out of her system- fine by me! :D Mark

cbr- what exactly do you mean by "the speedo is going up and down all the time"? Does it sometimes read correctly then cut in and out, or is it doing something else? Personally I think it sounds like a problem with the speedo signal. If it still happens without the converter then maybe there's a poor connection somewhere? Mark

Cheers Vijay! Mark

Only failed on 2 things- windscreen wiper (can't believe I didn't check them) and steering rack :x: . The wiper I can handle, the rack is going to be a bit more interesting. It seems it's the mounting, rather than the rack mechanism. Mr. MOT Tester just kind of waggled his hands, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders when trying to describe it! Is this a common problem? I see there are 2 mounting brackets which hold the rack in place- my guess is that one (not both!) has failed, either the bracket itself or the bush ("rack mounting insulator") in the bracket. I'll get under the car this weekend to have a proper look; if anyone local is twiddling their thumbs and feels like popping over, any advice will be warmly received! :) And if anyone has a spare pair of rack mounting brackets please can you put them to one side?! :D Mark

Agree 100%- I found it to be probably the most enjoyable 4 weeks of my life! Would be interested to see your pics. You've had a similar itinerary to me, but I didn't go to Yukay. What's there? Mark

In Lima eh? Is it still plagued by old American jobbies with half (or more) of the bodywork missing?! :rofl: If you haven't already, have fun at Macchupicchu, and get out to the Amazon basin- it's interesting in the jungle. :) (somewhere near Ollantaytambo was where I went, I think). (Apologies to everyone else for the "I've-been-to-Peru-too" moment :D )

Tweed at the mo, but I'll be ditching it for leather as soon as I have the money spare after I've done everything else that need doing! Personally I'll be sorting my car out in order: performance, exterior looks, interior looks.

Yesterday (20th) about 18:00. You were heading towards the M3 J4a, I was filling up with Optimax. I didn't see you till you tooted as you went past :D Didn't get a good look tho. Made me smile- I'd been having a sh!t day up till then! Mark

Yesterday (20th), about 17:40. Didn't get a good look, but no obvious body mods! I flashed- couldn't see if you waved or not due to reflections on your windas. Mark

Awww bugger! Can't make this one :(- got a stag do to get drunk at :D Mark

Ooo I forgot to say- the 10 Ohm resistor has to dissipate 14W, so make sure you get an appropriate component. Now in general you'll probably be ok with something rated lower (say 5W) but I'm a cautious person who doesn't want to risk burning anything out, so I'd recommend using something which can handle the worst case (i.e. 15W continuous). Also be aware that often the power rating of resistors is dependent on them being attached to a heat-sink. So if you use heat-sink gunk attached to metal bodywork, a 15W resistor would be ok. Otherwise you'll have to use something rated at about 30W.

Sure thing Andy. :cool: Mark

Here are the wiring diagrams for my arrangement. Firstly, this is what you start with: The "Stop and Tail Lamp sensor" is the little black box mounted on the side of the tail lamps (driver's side). The rear lamp mounting bracket, which passes vertically between the 2 brake lights, is very handy for mounting the relay. I screwed the dummy-load resistors into the body, but watch out if you do this as I almost chose to mount them above the bumper-line, so the screws would have gone all the way through! :slap: I ran new earth wires to the earthing point screwed into the body right in the middle at the back. Note I've only shown one side- obviously you repeat it on the other side if having 2 fog lamps. I power the 2 relays in parallel from the fog switch, but feed power to the 2nd fog lamp from the other side-light feed to the lamp sensor (does that make sense?!). The 6.8 Ohm resistor has to dissipate 21W, so make sure you get an appropriate component. I'm a cautious person who doesn't want to risk burning anything out, so I'd recommend using something which can handle the worst case (i.e. 21W continuous). As 6.8 ohm resistors are hard to come by at 25W (the nearest power rating), you can either go for: the right resistance at a higher rating (100W, expensive!) a combination of resistors in parallel (10 ohm 15W + 22 ohm 7W) or closest resistance at the right rating (8.2 ohm 25W) I'll leave that decision up to you! (NB I got my sums wrong to start with and put in a 10 ohm only- this seems to work in warm weather but not cold! So the 8.2 ohm *might* just be ok. I'll update this text as and when I find things out!) Also be aware that the power rating of some resistors is dependent on them being attached to a heat-sink- you may have to double the power rating if they won't be attached to a metal body. Mark