Gersen

Make the decision with your head and you'll end up with the beemer and lets face it for the next few years cutting back isn't the worst plan. I'll still wave hello (from the window of my Z as I'm sleeping in it outside the dole office) even when the small children and animals shun you and noone has let you out of a junction for a week. You will, of course, still be dead on the inside. Advantages and disadvantages My honest opinion? For me three years is a long haul in a car I don't love and the car I drive is a huge part of what makes me happy. I'd rather be happy than right - sadly I'm usually neither.

Oooooh Alfa 4C......I'd crawl over Kylie to get to the keys for that (besides she'd be in the passenger seat a second later)

1984 Renault 5 (Transverse Engine) 1988 VW Polo (1.04l) 1988 MG Metro Turbo 1986 VW Golf GTi (Grey) 1987 Saab 9000 Turbo 1989 Ford Sierra 1.8l (A personal low point in my history) 1991 VW Golf GTi Mk2 (Red) 1986 VW Golf GTi Mk2 (Green) 2000 Yamaha Fazer 600 1993 Toyota MR2 Mk2 Rev2 Turbo 1988 Toyota MR2 Mk1b 1995 Toyota MR2 Mk2 Rev3 Turbo 1987 Toyota MR2 Mk1b 1991 VW Golf GTi Mk2 (Blue) You gotta learn the Jap or German thing when you own bangers

*SOLD*

A pair of OEM Nissan UK spec Xenon Head Lamps These are Part Number 26010-CD71B (1x left and 1x right) Both in perfect working order I've mostly used them to see in the dark (but I admit to also using them as the business end of a 300bhp insect killer) Nissan would ask £1076 for these new I would request a more modest £400 I have these pics in far greater details so feel free to ask for close ups etc Contact me with postcode for delivery costs Collection/Inspection in Southampton area

Interesting - not sure how that translates to the Xenon full beam ones but it's a useful guide none the less! Given the bi-xenons are more desirable that the full beam xenons then less than £600 is about where I'm at so far I'm think £3-400 ish - any other thoughts?

Is that single or double Xenon (I can't tell the year of your Roadster) - brand new boxed or 2nd hand? Brand new dual xenon I'm assuming

Yup - I'm much in the same boat on the knowledge of price front - they go infrequently and seemingly for vastly different prices. I guess if you want a set you have just pranged your car and mostly people aren't doing that on a frequent basis (note I qualified that with 'most'!) I shall take some piccies today and dip my toe in the water! If anyone else wants to chip in feel free. Like they say knowledge is power (I've never seen a toaster being powered by an encyclopedia though!)

/cries a little bit I'm after a guide price for them - I have a spare set and didn't know to keep them or get shot - hence I was asking for the wisdom of forums (aka the proletariat's 2 cents) Starting a topic called "Guide price for HID Xenon Head Lights" in the Wanted section seems to of been my downfall. I foolishly assumed it would indicate I wanted a guide price for HID Xenon lights. n1 on the Ebay auction

A left and a right of Nissan Part Number 26010-CD71B - the complete assembled unit included indicators, reflectors, ballasts, ignitors, etc HID (Xenon) main beams and halogen dip beams. Or to put it another way - two of these!

Anyone know what a pair of genuine Nissan UK HID headlights in good condition should be? They are an insane £538 each new.

When we've done the same as Italy................

Doing this for the love so I shall shout out if anyone wants to add one to the batch but I won't be making anything on it. Splendid, I may be in touch but I'm hoping to get it done as a favour. I'm hoping (having done this many times before) that it should end up being £15 quid ish assuming it's made of anodised ally.

Damnit....my 9" spike for the steering wheel design just bit the dust Useful info though - it is the sort of things that cars going for SVA generally fall foul of. I had some 2nd hand experience of this with a friend who built a rather nice component car a few years back

It was indeed an Autodesk Inventor... and a not to scale sketch for illustrative purposes only well spotted....PS nerd! I was thinking ally as I was initially planning on having two nicely hidden grub screws to secure it without trashing the interior but I could well use depleted uranium if the safety Nazis are out....just kidding....I'm really going to use plutonium In all seriousness there isn't much of a reason to not use ABS/Nylon etc other than the overall stiffness if it's going to be mounted using screws, but tbh I can't be accused of having overthought the securing method as yet I sadly I and others have gorilla arms and generally use the rear strut brace as an elbow rest

I am now making a button that stops my thread being hijacked by pedants It will divert them to a thread for arguing over :- DVD meaning Digitally Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc and Duct Tape or Duck Tape. Should keep them busy for a while. For those with no visual imagination this sketch should give you an idea........ If you can get your elbows in those holes then more power to you! CAD/CAM?? I'm now at GOD/DAMN

I shall post when I've made a prototype CNC - computer numerical control.... just means that I make an electronic design that a computer controlled milling machine then makes. These days it's generally called CAD/CAM (Computer aided design/Computer aided machining). Out of interest do you even have heated seats?

I've been toying with having some CNC'ed polished ally inserts made to fit into the heated seat switch space to make elbow activation less of an issue. The idea is that the switch would still be accessible with the insert in. If I make a batch up is anyone else interested in that?

It was an awesome trip – I strongly recommend doing something similar at least once in your life. Italy has amazing roads, food and people. The Swiss have great roads too (no sense of humour about driving quickly however!) A fair bit! See below Yes! J/K - once you get used to the idea that people will drive straight at you, cut you up, undertake and squeeze into any gap possible and………are expecting you to do the same it all becomes really easy. If you are a pedestrian the rule seems to be never even look at the cars as you cross the road. I love the way the mopeds and bikes ride around the people crossing on the pedestrian crossings at a green light though! Genius. Food was fantastic, people were great, Some stats Total distance 1884 miles, Total fuel consumption 80.5 gallons (365 litres) Average MPG 23.4 Cost in Tolls €142 Shortest distance travelled in 1 hour 22 miles (thank you Milan traffic!) In Nice, after over 1000 miles, our mpg was above 29 mpg – then we made it back in one day to get the Chunnel back and it dropped to 23.4! A quick bit of maths means we used more fuel on the return leg from Nice to Calais (760 miles, 42.5 gallons, 17.9 MPG) as we did on the entire outbound trip….. (1124 miles, 38 gallons, 29.0 MPG) Made it back in under 8 hours including fuel and bio breaks.

It began..... Boss "Go to Italy and help customers or I will destroy you!" Me "I don't wanna, they break things that weren't broken and then I have to fix them. Why do we keep giving them things to break?" Boss "Go to Italy and sort out customers or I will eat your brain, minion!" Me "Fine, fine, you win. But only as long as I can fly so I can miss as little work as possible, eat the poorest of food and stay in the cheapest hovels" Boss "Fool, you dare to defy me? You shall know my wrath!" My Boss After much reluctance on my part I was made to take several extra days off and made to drive my Z across Europe. I was further punished for my insolence with instructions that under no circumstances was I to pass on any rich cream based sauces or nice hotels. The final insult was I was forced to work at every minute to stress test the company credit card Well that's how I remember it anyway I set off, only pausing to pack my lead shoes and pick up a friend whos interests were similarly petrol related. A quick hop through the Chunnel had us in France As I had done the stint to Dover my compatriot selflessly volunteered to look after my pride and joy with a steady 70mph cruise on the Rue Anglais while I grabbed a much needed nap. I drifted off and awoke having my neck snapped back against the head rest and then my head hitting the roof. Confused and somewhat dazed this unusually rough ride was explained by my friend. Turns out that it was just a particularly harsh speed bump (he reassures me they are common on French autoroutes) and absolutely nothing to do with crossing the slight ramp upto a road bridge at a speed normally only encountered by those reentering the Earth's atmosphere. I suggested to me co-driver that a more sedate pace might be the order of the day. In hindsight it would appear my powers of persuasion are sadly lacking. Still this gave me good laugh.....or rather it did until it turns out that a large on the spot fine is the order of the day and I'm the only one with cash Still the slight hiatus afforded us an unexpected morsel of amusement. The foreign chaps dispensing the justice turned out to be quite nice.....but there is nothing funnier than seeing an unpleasant and aggressive German telling Frenchmen with large guns that they are incompetent and can't impound his care. Turns out he was wrong. Then an uneventful stop at a hotel in Strasbourg. Unremarkable, that is, other than a terrible meal and the two worst bottles of wine I have ever had. They were unique in being the only beverages I have quaffed whos flavour that the entire contents of a mini bar failed to remove and had me debating whether or not to go for the complimentary shampoo and conditioner too. Unconsciousness mercifully followed. Next morning there was a quick nip over the Rhine and things got going nicely. A stretch of de-restricted Autobahn and the TomTom allowed me to prove that the speed limiter doesn't kick in a 155mph....but it does a bit after. Obviously this made Deutschland pass us by unusually quickly. Then there was Cookoo clocks, Nazi gold and chocolate covered Heidi's everywhere. Well there wasn't really but it was Switzerland. The roads were straight, clean and uninteresting and the scenery was .......quite vertical. Hard to tell where the road goes....I'm going to guess between the two mountains? So.......going up then? Genius idea this - Davos to Stelvio pass, 13,000 ish feet and still sunny. Last car park before the summit - why were the construction guys down the road laughing at us though? Bugger Back down then.....ah this really is the weather closing in then? Bugger, bugger, bugger! Arrive Italy - some boring non car stuff - and work related stuff and amazing food. Time to leave - what's on the way home? Some funky little town down there. They were turning it into a race track at the time. Had a drive and walk round it. Seems vaguely familiar for some reason. Nice tunnel under a hotel too 760 miles to Calais? It ended.

Spotted this one myself - saw it on two consecutive days and then not again.

I waved but was spending more time looking at the car in front on a wet roundabout as I'm sure you were too. Think your passenger spotted it.

I'm in Chandlers Ford so I'll come along if there's a local meet. cheers Tom

Count me in for a Southampton meet! - I live about half a mile for the Chandlers Ford ASDA and I'm much in need of hearing some AM exhausts so I can make up my mind cheers Tom