doctor austin

Do the brake pads yourself, You cant get an easier job and whilst doing it you can clean up the suspension etc..and the wheels. Such an easy job to do yourself...15 mins a side including jacking up.

Just to confirm whats been said. This seems to be a common issue, and easy to rectify with a replacement cam cover. I wonder if re seating the original one MIGHT help too, but as oil is not a conductor you wont have any issues either way. Personally I would be a bit careful about letting oil get into the cylinder..hydraulic lock and or damage to the cat. Good luck but dont worry about it I bet plenty of zeds are like it!

Copper slip was designed for aero engines developed in the mid 30's when Aluminium was used for cylinder heads etc aids heat transfer and stops galling. Pencil lead (not graphite) was a old trick with weak magnetos to help encourage the spark to jump the gap ..it was rubbed on the electrodes...not the threads. Thats what i think anyways...most of my experience is with Merlin engines and cirus engines from the 20's 30's and 40's plus of course old cars too.

Easy, but as already said allow plenty of time, I agree about 2 hours is plenty. I would also recommend smearing the new plug threads with copperslip!

bet if you open your window whilst going real slow ie parking etc you will hear the creaking sound...no big deal its the drop links, I took mine off and lubricated them whilst moving the ball joints.. noise gone cost 0

My JDM has folding mirrors leather seats but not heated, no cruise control, but Brembos, plus Visc LSD, and 80 Litre petrol tank capacity and the switch for heated front screen but the screen isn't a heat one (maybe changed for a std one). I have two Jap handbooks but they are not so useful unless you can read Japanese...

Keep the Zed and except it'll be worth little but then a car is for enjoyment and how much is that worth...at least you know what you have got with your Zed ..another purchase and who knows! Cars are for fun

So from what you are saying the seals on the cam cover that seal it to the spark plug tubes have failed on one or more plugs. Yes a common problem. The fix is a replacement cam cover as the seals are not available separately. Not totally convinced that it causes a problem as engine oil is non conductive but still not nice knowing that there is a bit of oil around the plugs. I would ensure they didnt take the plugs out without first sucking the oil out otherwise it will get into the combustion chamber and either hydraulic lock that cylinder or get burnt and potentially damage the cat. My advice is to change it or try reseating it..its a easy job just a bit fiddley.....

Get one whilst you can... how long before we will be taxed off the road? The Zed is a reliable car and easy to service. I think the type R is much more of a revy engine and thrives on being thrashed where as you dont have to thrash the Zed to get it going! They are a great buy and so much fun. Best

1. BulletMagnet 2. Zugara 3. DoogyRev 4. Doctor Austin 5.

sacrilege maybe but for sure my car is always the cleanest in the work car park and often get comments to that effect, you see I clean it most days when its salty on the roads... Oh and I simply cant affort so much time polishing a car...I would rather drive the thing and all that!

I spend 5 minutes and use a bucket of warm water and a sponge

I have 7 cars but each one has its place none are very practical as I firmly believe that the motor car is for fun and transport. The Zed is my daily drive cos its fun and makes work that much better as I enjoy getting there and back. I wonder if you do the calculations on how much you would actually save by owning a boring cheap car just to get to work wether it would save any money at all..... Zed say 28mpg, boring car say 40 mpg +tax+mot+insurance+maintenance+hastle. I wonder!!

If it was easy to fix surely the vendor would fix it before selling it... So I would leave well alone .

Just needs the commutator cleaning....maybe!

Thats absolutely gorgous. Great choice ...I would love one..maybe next!

I think wheel balance too. I very much doubt that tracking and/or alignment can cause steering shake...alignment issues usually manifest as strange handling, heavy steering,scrubbing of the tyres and poor straight line stability etc etc so get the wheels balanced. My advice would be to first remove the wheels at home and thorougly clean them so that you can present a clean wheel to stick the new weights on. personally I would remove all the exhisting weights too.

Not if you lay across the corners

Yes I know it doesn't proove anything but I was soooo surprised. I thought no oil well maybe it would get into top gear or maybe drive for a minute or two but no it drove sounding okay for 10mins then did another 10 mins rattling and sounding rather diesel like then 7 mins smelling well hot and sounding like a bag of nails before it finally stopped so 27 minutes. This was a old MoT failure that had no pretreatment just literally drain oild and water then drive......I thinks it would not last so long if driving at motorway speeds though. I thought it was interesting I hope you did!

I once whitnesed a competition to guess how long a Ford Fiesta would run after having its water and oil drained. The Fiesta once drained was driven around a short track at about 30-35 MPH in top gear. So how many minutes do you think it kept going for?

I would imagine its the rear drop links too. Maybe the creak goes away after its been out on wet roads. I fixed mine by removing them and working in some copper grease........I guess if its under warrenty then best leave to the garage..they may just spray them with WD40 rather than replace!

Never. Anyways the Zed is not so bad at fuel consumption..my other cars are much slower and use much more fuel too. The Zed is used to get to work so I have no choice and public trasport well thats even more of a joke.

I just ordered off ebay similar looking carbon brushes and filed them to fit, cost me 2 pounds plus 50 pence postage. I think they may of been for a Dyson hover or something anyways solved the motor probem...... I always keep a look out for cheap carbon brushes for dynamos etc Good luck and it is satifsying to save buying a new motor for several hundred pounds.

Yes I agree...I think maybe the later UK ones have a clock or something..but I know when I first fitted the pods I dug around and concluded tyre pressure readings.

Thank you...see I am not so mad