Royal

Haha brilliant. I forgot about that picture Si! That was after you came to Bath wasn't it?

I've bought mine for the summer, so give me a call later in the year and it may be for sale :)

The first one you mention would be because it doesn't have a seperate cooler. The auto box is stronger than the manual box, its just that with a manual you pay £500 to get a clutch fitted at 60k ish,whereas the auto you pay £1200 when it dies at a similar or bit higher milage. I just dislike autos for the driving experience (or lack of it). I don't believe many people go faster in a manual, as its not easy to do a proper 0-60 launch and the majority of people would either bog down, miss a gear etc etc. My rex will do 0-60 in 3.5secs (recorded), but the chances of me getting that are 1-10 at the very best as its so hard to do smoothly. I wasted a new corvette recently off the lights with a really nice launch, he then completely annihilated me several times in a row because I bogged down or missed gears, and he was on his mobile phone at the time!

Ah, sorry didn't realise it was you mate! I liked the sound of your Zed when you came over. My new one sounds very similar so I'm happy with that. I wont be doing any track days in this Zed, the yellow fella is for that :) Thanks for the offer though. Give us a call if you are ever up my way (I've moved about two miles down from that last place (again!)), kettle is always on. Hopefully meet at a meet soon again.

:) I've only made one poll since joining so thought I'd do a new one. Maybe this should be in the 'spam thread' section? Sorry I'm bored!

Noticed lately that Si has possibly a perfect and most apt/funny/silly picture answer to every question! Where do they all come from?

Those are the ones I have mate. They do a good job on the road, now that they are bedded in a bit they are more than adequate. Luke is a top bloke as well. He got mine out to me within a day or two.

Here's some ballpark figures, not to put you off just to be realistic. As said above you COULD go a year without doing anything (I did with my last Zed almost) but this is unlikely. I've just bought another standard zed with full service history and generally a nice good car and its cost me £500 for a clutch, £100 for brake pads, and soon a little more to get the door locks sorted. I've had it for one week! Running costs : Set of good tyres a year (if you rag it or have a powerful one then 2 rear sets isn't unusual): front roughly £250 pair rear roughly £300 pair Insurance: subjective, get a quote before hand. 5k for 30yr old with some points maybe £6-800 third party fire and theft! so £60 a month Other potential maintaince costs to keep in mind when buying: All these things tend to need replacing around 80k ish. Many last a lot longer but keep it in mind if it hasn't been done. Clutch replacement: £350 + £150 labour Turbos:around £1200 (try to get already reconned ones as this is the biggest cost problem) Auto gearbox: £1200 (as above, manuals are more desirable and much easier to sell) I personally think £1k is a realistic figure to have aside for maintainance per year and another 1k for problems. Most cars that have not had anything spent over the last year have probably had a grand spent the year before at this age!

We don't need comments about you and Mr Hammonds 'hands down....'

Happy birthday mate, see you weekend after next :)

The old drag starts 0-60 are a damn site harder than they look!

I need to investigate! I'll get the Rac to come out and take a look, if anyone can open it they can. Then hopefully I can see what the issue is.

Sorry this is getting confusing. The 1st after the Dyno day looks the best day for most people? I've had a couple of PMs from confused peeps who need to book hotels. Has anyone got any problems with the 1st?

o2 sensor?

We nearly bought a Hilux for the missus to tow the horses with, and for me to tow the rex to track days. In the end we got the BMW tourer as realistically we wouldn't tow that often and its only one horse (or one car). Plus the BMW tourers are excellent sports cars anyway. The running costs seem about the same or more expensive than a zed for a 4*4? may be off the mark there though.

You don't need to buy a new turbo, you just need to take this one to someone who will recondition it with new seals, or they will do an exchange. Buying a second hand one is risky unless its already been reconned (sp?), or is new/low milage. You'll deffo want to subscribe if you are pulling the engine, worth its weight in gold for the extra advice you'll get.

That would awesome if you have Dave. I'll hold my breath....:)

Thanks for that Mick. Could you just confirm if you have two keys now?! maybe a silly question but I'm never sure. I did decide not to do any more work myself on the car, and the labour isn't a huge amount compared to the price of the bits I suppose? Does anyone else having any alternatives fixes?

Sounds like a good trip. I'd like to get out there one year, I was reading the free guide they gave away with Evo mag this month.

It looks to me like your gauge just needs calibrating mate. Its almost impossible that every cylinder would be down by the same amount. I've used different compression testers and had huge differences like that on the same engine. I'd either get a known good tester, or try the tester on a different engine to check it. Sounds more likely to be your turbo as you suggested to me. Check the return hoses on the bottom of the turbo as if they are kinked they can also back oil up and out the exhaust (not sure if this happens much on Zeds though). The nearside can be removed with the engine in-situ if you've got hands and arms like ET but its probably quicker to remove the engine, and definately advisable to replace ALL the hoses around the back of the engine (turbo coolant ones in particular as this one is a b*gger to get to and is probe to going).

I've got normal Mintex on mine at the moment, they do the job . The last owner had EBC race something or other and they didn't feel anything special either IMO. It doesn't bother me all that much as this car doesn't get ragged (got another one for that :) ) but definately the most useful mod on a zed is bigger brakes if you can find the cash. Those extreme ones must be better than the normal ones for faster driving so you're probably be fine, but its worth getting the best ones you can afford as the brakes are the weak point and the Zed is a lot of car to stop.

My door lock on the drivers side has the usual problem of the barrel being knackered so I have to use the clifford remote to unlock the door. The passenger side has the opposite problem in that it doesn't lock/unlock with the remote and will only do it manually! The drivers door lock is stuck shut today and I can't use the door :headvswal Hopefully it will 'unjam' later. If it doesn't un-jam is there anyway of getting into the door without breaking the door card as I can't reach the screws because the door is stuck shut. Also any ideas what the problem could be? I'm thinking central locking solenoid on the passenger side,but the drivers side (I think) is mechanical so perhaps the actual locking unit is jammed? Not sure if the clifford introduces any bells and whistles? Any ideas appreciated. Also does anyone know how much the new locking units, solenoids and key barrels are as I don't want any annoyances on this car (if thats possible on a zed).

Shame you didn't record him admitting to it? Surely there's some case for taking it further though? your statutory rights and all that. Especially as he's knowingly sold something that was knackered and potentially dangerous.

Great work, you've pipped me at the fly wheel (I got 543) there but my rex got 465 at the wheels :) I'd imagine you'd get the power down to the road a lot easier than me though with 4wheel drive so maybe you win after all?! Looks like you'll easily pass that when you get back in there. Welcome to the '500bhp club' haha.

Are you going on the Dyno day though?