PiGFoetus

Parked up for the night outside the house, leaving the usual "half mile gap" from the neighbours drive to allow my elderly neighbour the reversing room she generally needs to reverse out ... reversing room for an oil tanker. Safe, or so I think.

This places my car near the end of my drive.

My wife goes out to take my daughter's friend home and 5 seconds later comes in ranting at me that I've left my car too close to the end of the drive and that she (my wife that is) has reversed the Rav4 into my car.

Can't bloody win, can I? Pointing out to her that it was a driver's responsibility to avoid stationary objects didn't help my case. Stupid to argue really. I never learn.

Anyway, nothing structural I could see in the dark. Just a few scuffs and missing paint on the rear bumper. And a grumpy wife. I thought it should be the other way round, but apparently not.

Just to add another voice of confirmation. Mine's doing exactly the same thing. I tried it a couple of months ago to "exercise the mechanism" and it struggles and sticks in the final phase of opening.

Why thank you, one and all.

I spent the day not working with a rib of beef, prosecco and beer, and Fallout New Vegas.

Not a bad day all in all.

Remind me not to post from my phone. Ever.

[quote name='WhackyWill' timestamp='1392241092'

and get a bit of help, NOT leave it there, or get a tow rope and get a tow from an SUV.

Don't just abandon you Zed, bit like leaving the wife to drown..!!

I should probably have also posted the pics of it "saved" from the flood too. My Old mate is into extreme offroading (landys with snorkels and the like). He event through fine, unsurprisingly, and otets decided to follow. So he spent the next half an hour dragging them out.

Don't know the state of the engine, but it wasn't abandoned.

Hope this wasn't anyone here ...

Today at Bransford, Worcestershire.

FTL is great and damned hard. I'll have to check out the Rogue Legacy game too. Different from the Rogue style games of old, which I still play now. Got nethack on my rasberry pi, Angband and Larn on my pc. ASCII gaming FTW.

At the moment though I'm playing through XCOM: Enemy Within, the expansion to Enemy Unknown on the 360. What a great game. Captures the essential spirit of the originals too.

Best turn-based tactics game out there at the moment, IMHO.

Mine are squealing on startup, and even mid-drive with the demister blasting.

The belts are both new less than 6 months ago (squealed from the outset), and I've since retensioned the belt myself (didn't work), then got it looked at by a mechanic who said the tensioning was fine. Ironically, they didn't squeal at all prior to replacing them, but they were looking a little cracked, so I did.

Anything else to check? Would a new heavier duty battery help? As there are no other indications that the battery is on its way out, I'm loath to go that route just yet.

UNKLE - Lawless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cKAR_1m7I0

Batman: Arkham Origins. Very much more of the same as we got in Arkham City so far. But to my mind that's no bad thing.

I've not tried Norton in years as it managed to wreck the os on two different machines I installed it on. This was 10 years ago though. Even so, I wouldn't choose it over the free alternatives.

Avast too.

saw the film on friday, thought it was excellent as was the first, i did however think they could have spent longer on the forest scene and the bit with bjorn and less time with the barrels, i also thought the bit with smaug was unnecessarily different from the book, seemed a bit american action film esque and a little odd for me, still thought it was ace and will be going again tomorrow

I was initially of the same opinion, then I looked at the book again and there's no way the section with the dragon could have been very exciting in film, nor padded out without the chase scenes etc. Lets face it, Smaug is the core of the book and has to be a centrepiece of the films, so they had to make the most of it. Even then, I found myself a bit bored by the whole extended dragon chase. I preferred the Dol Guldur sections.

Enjoyed it, but wished they'd only made two films of it. The Battle of the Five armies is going to have to fill a lot of the next one.

Oh, all of mine got beeped all right. And their parentage was questioned and they were likened to parts of both the male and female anatomy too.

And no, not black. Silver ... with lights on too.

Yeah I can see ... now my frikken phone makes me look a prize tit too.

Four times ... four times today has someone pulled out in front of me at the last minute without looking. Each and every one has sat there for a good 10 seconds ... waited until I was almost on top of them before they decided to pull out.

Thankfully each and every time the Spider Sense has kicked in before they've pulled out. There must be something about the way they sit there that sets it off, but every time something drew my attention to them a while before they tried to ambush me.

I've been driving a bit more steadily in this weather too, which has been lucky ... thinking about my new winter tyres, which I was going to get last Wednesday ... then this Wednesday ... now not thanks to the incompetence of Black Circles ... but that's a rant for another time.

Be careful out there people.

Four times ... four times today has someone pulled out in front of me at the last minute without looking. Each and every one has sat there for a good 10 seconds ... waited until I was almost on top of them before they decided to pull out.

Thankfully each and every time the Spider Sense has kicked in before they've pulled out. There must be something about the way they sit there that sets it off, but every time something drew my attention to them a while before they tried to ambush me.

I've been driving a bit more steadily in this weather too, which has been lucky ... thinking about my new winter tyres, which I was going to get last Wednesday ... then this Wednesday ... now not thanks to the incompetence of Black Circles ... but that's a rant for another time.

Be careful out there people.

Thanks guys,

Just "found" a 350 wiki that confirms that:

My stock wheels are 18-inch Touring wheels V1 (at least so called in the US)

Front and Rear Size: 18x8.0 Offset: +30mm

The Rays are 18-inch Track wheels V1

Front

Size: 18x8.0

Offset: +30mm

Rear

Size: 18x8.5

Offset: +33mm

Funny how we measure the rim size and width in inches, but the offset in mm.

Its printed on the inner hub face mate. This will cause tcs issues if fitted with those sizes.

I take it you mean tcs issues with what's currently on (225s all round) rather than what I intend to put on?

cheers, I'll take a look in the light tomorrow.

Hi all,

I am currently sorting out my wheels and have a few of questions / need confirmation of my understanding.

I have a 2005 350z Roadster which I bought back in July with stock 18" alloys. I have also just purchased a set of 350Z 18" forged Rays. I intend to get some winter tyres put on the standard alloys, and some summer tyres on the Rays (after a refurb) to herald in the end of spring next year.

I want standard tyre sizes: 245/45 R18 on the rear and 225/45 R18 on the front.

When I came to check the current tyres, however, the previous owner has fitted 225/45 R18 all round (front and rear).

As I understand it (having just searched the forum for a while), the rear wheels should be 8.5J and the front should be 8j. Is there a way to check (without physically measuring the width) whether the wheels are currently on the right way around (or indeed are the right size ... I could be running with four front wheels for all I know )?

Secondly, I believe that come the spring the Rays should replace the current standard wheels without any further modification in the way of spacers. Take one set off, put the other on. Am I correct in my assumption?

Apologies for the daft questions,

Cheers

Pete

Just another thumbs up for Carl at City Motors in Worcester. Took mine in today for a full service, diff and transmission fluid change today. I was heartened to see another Zed already in place in his small workshop ... a lady on here, I think. I gave him all the bits for the service as I'd got them all from Ewen with the foolish intention of doing it myself knowing I have no time for such things for the foreseeable future. Nice chap, knowledgeable, and honest ... I got the coolant and brake fluid back as he'd tested them both and said they were fine for a year or so. And above all he has a great beard, which counts for a lot in my book.

Second time I've ordered and again good service and prompt delivery.

Thanks, Ewen.

If you find a good place, let me know. I'm in Ledbury.

I've seen recommendations for a place in Worcester, which I'm going to try out in the next few weeks. I'll let you know.

I have 6 false widows on my back window alone. Garage is crawling with them and has been for years. Never bothered me in the slightest.

I always wave at fellow Z owners. Trouble is that a lot of the time I'm driving another car and leave puzzled looks on stranger's faces. So if you see someone around Herefordshire either in a silver 350 roadster (or not) waving like a tit, it could be me.