lil Stevie

I was actualy up near you at my mates the other week. the lexus wasn't on the drive so i assumed you were out. I will swing by at one point though. maybe sometime after i've been to zedworld. i'll let you take it for a blast up the parkway again.

Well he wasn't wrong. its phenomenal what a new set of plugs can do. it actually scares me again.

Thought it was about time to give the old girl a service, so got new fuel filter, oil filter, oil change and a new set of platinum plugs. gave my mate £80 and turns out he got some change, so with it he thought he'd treat me to a fuel treatment. after fitting everything started pouring the treatment in the tank, halfway through realised they'd sent him an engine flush, so unfortunately i got 200ml in the tank, to make up for it the parts supplier sent him 2 fuel treatments (even though they still charged him for the engine flush). Haven't driven her yet, but my mate said the new plugs have made all the difference. gunna take for a blast now and see how she feels. Rev's are still hunting for something though, but thats for Jeff to sort next week.

well bought the car tonight. hopefully picking it up at the weekend. managed to get them to chuck in 6 months tax and a full tank. Happy days.

I think the warranty would be about £500, but i'm pretty sure theres online ones for cheaper than that.

The warranty is only 30 days, and i think it covers everything (obviously not`tires. not too sure about clutch though) it is still a 6 year old car. its coming with a fresh years test, and a new set of pads so I'd assume it should be pretty cool. although there is the odd chance that it isn't. they do sell a warranty but I'm pretty sure that'll be a rip off too. What are the online warranty's like?

Ah, I do apologise. in that case you will definitely know more than me. As a car salesman then, is it likely that i could blag a full tank of diesel out of them or am i clutching at straws here? my understanding would be that a main dealership (which it is) would claim fuel as an expense, therefore not actually eating into there profit. is that true or false? And it is only a 50 litre tank, and seen as though i'm not getting the gap, then i'm basically excepting the first offer that they gave (asking price, and £500 px) so was thinking of asking them to put a years tax on it, and a full tank of fuel. but at the same time don't want to sound like a tool...

nope, gap insurance. it covers the value of the car for x amount of years against depreciation if you happen to write it off. for example your car insurance would only pay out what they think the cars worth. so for my example if i write it off in 2 and a bit years, theres no way the insurance company would give me my 5k back, especially after i've put 30,000 miles on it and put fag burns and seamen stains on every seat. so the gap insurance would cover the difference. its probably all a big scam, but at less than £70 its better than regretting it a couple of years down the line.

thats cool, then. just as long as i don't end up buying the car then getting turned down for cover. thanks again Jim.

its going to get done. do i need to sort it before buying the car or just as and when?

You absolute hero Jim, I would of never of thought of buying it online, thats class! at a £5000 value, got it for £69. for less than £70 i'm really not going to whinge at that.

Buying a new daily in the next few days, looking at a new shape civic 06 plate, 2.2 diesel. managed to get £500 for my old civic. so including 12 month tax and gap insurance and a new set of pads and £50 in the tank managed to get it for £5415.00 But i could save £300 by not getting the gap. The bloke told me that they normally sell it at £400, so he's saving me 25%. but I'm pretty sure that they only buy it in at around £90. stuck on what to do. Its the first one I've actually been to see, but jugging by auto trader it does look a good deal. its got 80,00 miles on the clock nearly, and a full service history. only thing i don't like about it is that it doesn't have cruse control, or a usb port. but not sure if the c.d. player plays mp3 cd's.

I'm in the redcar, so once again more than welcome to come have a look. think its about time we had a meet i think, definitely organise something for in the new year.

I've got access to a hydraulic press at work, so if i could get the cast housing off then getting it out should be ok, but to be honest it sounds like more of a chew on than it would be to just grind it off. My mate did say he was going to take it into his garage and do it one Saturday morning, i suppose he'd have all the tools and the benefit of a lift there. where as my workshop at work isn't as well equipped for automotive work.

cheers jeff, on it now.

I allready tried the phone a few times, i'm assuming i missed them for today after all it is Christmas... As for the subscription I know its about time i did, and I do have full intention of, i was just waiting till i got the car up to a standard i can be proud of before i start boasting about it in the my rides section. shouldn't be too far into the new year before i get it sorted.

As the Title suggests, just wondering if they're open next week, and hopefully if Jeff can fit me in on either the Wednesday, Thursday or Friday (28th, 29th, 30th) Cheers.

Yeah I see what you mean now, doesn't look too bad, its on the to do list now. cheers for the help guys.

Is there no way of just taking it off and putting it in a vice to pop it out? Don't really like the idea of taking a grinder to it. If I still can't get it out i wouldn't be able to put it back together and drive it home. After reading Jeffs walk through i thought the outside ones would be just as easy, but boy i was wrong.

Finally got round to fitting my Inner HICAS ball joints last night. (Jeff's Guide in the How too section was definitely worth the read) But when trying to change the outer ball joints afterwards the old one wouldn't budge. Is there an easy way of getting them out or is it just a case of removing the strut and hub and smashing it with a hammer? I tried using heat and a make shift press but it only moved a matter of millimetres, and then even after getting a pry bar behind the bottom lip could still then only get it to move another mill. ended up just boshing it back together and going home. Turns out the plays disappeared altogether now so hey ho.

I've got a switch in my ciggi lighter, it didn't work so i've put one there for my footwell L.E.D's. switch fit perfect seen as though its 20mm.

mite have to have a go of them then, wouldn't mind red, it is the theme i'm going with. The centre panel was a right **** of a job though. it's the type with the tinted film on it, so had to paint it to black it out and silly me bought spray paint. so the film didn't like that and started to separate from the plastic. so i had to rub most of it off and then just spray the hole thing. took a canny while.

It just turns out that both numberplate bulbs are on, they're white L.E.D I think after i fitted the illuminated panel they dimmed, must be because i wired them in parallel. I've got plans to add a switch at some point so I'll change them to series then.I suppose they could do with a good wash like too. I thought it was illegal to have different color lamps for the numberplate? as for the spot the difference the bottom right number is different, I thought it was a manufacture number meaning the new one is 111 units younger than my old one.

Finally, on my second attempt finished my illuminated centre panel and got it fitted. may not be the best specimen but its on and it works. Got round to doing the fuel pump ecu modulator, wasn't as bad a job as i was expecting, here's what i found on the old one. Top right pin a little black and burned, and the connector in the plug didn't look to healthy either, it still gives a good connection after a clean up though. tested the resistance to one of the other pins so convinced the cable is ok. Took the old ecu apart to see what it looked like inside and to be honest it didn't look that bad, i was expecting a nasty smell and loads of black shit but it basically looks like its just that one pin that's gone tits up. nothing else seems to be at fault. and also a spot the difference.

Yeah I remember i just couldn't find it for some reason in my previous threads. found it now though thanks again.