Aashenfox

Drift Your Wasabi, Bro!

Just like the UK will be fine post brexit, but I'm going to be screwed along with hundreds of thousands of other expats in the EU; going to need a new type of visa to stay in the country I raised my family in and have all kinds of other hoops to jump through. Gonna be awesome.

Can I ask what equipment is required to perform this remap? I need to ask around tuners in Greece to see if they are able to do this.

I think at this point that kind of stuff is in slightly poor taste, just slightly, not much, but when I read it I just can't laugh. Call me a stick in the mud but this is the effective ruler of the planet and I'm a little worried about my future and my children's future. If trump does something to make the situation worse in Greece we are truly ducked. Slightly selfish concern on a uk forum I confess. Let's see what he does.

Black money was never the problem (unless you mean the millions that the politicians took on the back of German contractors), as you correctly say, the government cheated a generation. How are we the people responsible for that? Show a little sympathy please mate, it's disrespectful to do otherwise, many who didn't deserve it have been ruined forever, as have any plans I personally had for the future, for the time being at least. It's real down here. Anyway back ot as you say. Check out that Michael Moore article, it's a ripper.

Coldel, I feel obligated to say that I think you are taking it lightly. While I hope that ultimately little will change, there is reason for concern. Trump is in possession of a super presidency. His party controls all the political mechanisms by majority and he will soon appoint a Supreme Court judge. This is some far out stuff for real. He has far fewer political barriers to doing precisely whatever he wants than many have had in history.

StevoD, well said. If anyone doubts it, see here. Michael Moore posted this a good old while ago... http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/

Wait, WHAT? This is all new to me, I've been away too long. I can think of 100 reasons why cowboys and indians is a little un-PC (not least of all because they were mistakenly called indians because the first ships thought they'd landed in east india, or because the cowboys wiped out the natives on a scale that made Hitler's persecution of jews look like a lover's tiff, and was only eclipsed by the decimation of the oldest cultures of Southern America by the Spanish) but cowboys and indians is what they are, it's what they are called in popular culture, as a definition, there is no connotation attached. Mercy me! As for a white women rapping, somebody said that was racist? WTF? How racist is it that a white woman can't rap because that's an exclusively black art-form? Don't tell me they are saying that rap is aproduct of persectution and that's why we can't possibly 'get it'..? if so, that's reeeeeally weak. Rastas and dreads I knew about from years back, the dreadlock does have a religious connotation for them, and in a way it's understandable (Seikhs might similarly get upset if white people started randomly wearing turbans), but the way the Rastas choose to live (ahem), means they don't give a huge toss anyway. lol.

And you;re right, I'll fix mine. Makes me facepalm when people quote entire 'how-tos with pictures in order to say just 'Thanks!'. The forum software should be able to detect and auto-ban for that, based on 'not enough IQ to operate a forum'. lol

Snipped previous posts Yeh, I got my threads mixed up there, my bad. Wrong topic. Sowwwwy.

I didn't say anything about gay?? I said big gay WING, and only because I got my threads mixed up. . That's a choice. Agree with everything else you said.

sorry to bang on but you got me started now... Do any of you realise that we are still under capital controls? I can only spend 1600 euro in cash per month, and only 1600 euro out to foreign economies (kind of problematic when you're fixing a car) per month. Let's put the Greek crisis into pictures with numbers... We are 9.5m people. (down half a mil the last 7 years as people who can afford to, the ones that can affect improvements, leave the sinking ship). We owe 400bn euro. Of those 9.5m, roughly 60% are ineligible to work (too young or too old), that leaves the 4m people who are of working age. 44% of those are currently unemployed with 0 prospects of finding work. So we're down to only 2m people sharing that 400bn burden. That's nearly a quarter of a million euros per head in 8 years! Tell me how the people can possibly be responsible for that! If we'd lived completely free of charge all of our lives, we still wouldn't have amounted that debt. Finally...one of the largest national debts in the world supported by a population smaller than that of greater london (less than 10m). And the Germans want to screw us, the PEOPLE, harder. My wife's family's net worth has gone from +20m euros, to almost nothing in 7 years. They are constructors. They own a large number of properties all over greece. Most of our current portfolio was constructed just prior to the Greek crisis (lest we forget, the ones who created it covered it up until it couldn't be covered up any more, the people had no warning whatsoever). Then the tax increases started and the lending stopped, so the housing market died overnight. Then they had the bright idea to charge taxes on all buildings, regardless whether they were occupied or not, so we are paying tax AS IF WE WERE TENANT OWNERS of every building we own. To say this is ridiculous doesn't even begin to say it. PwC posted an analysis recently of the Greek real estate market. Values have gone down 55% and taxes have increased SIXFOLD. Then look at the tax that the Greeks do pay. In order to own a 3.5l car, I have to pay 1100GBP a year to get the equivalent of a tax disc. Bceause of health problems caused by stress related disorders, increased smoking and all the rest that goes with depression, my health insurance has increased by a factor of 10 in the last 8 years. This is how we are forced to live and then people call us tax dodgers on top, talk about a kick in the nuts. Many Greeks are forced to tax dodge now, or they'd be utterly ruined overnight. It's completely unsustainable and only gets worse, not better. Everything in Greece, including the people, the natural resources, the cash, the ancient monuments, all of it together is no longer worth 400bn. Pain, pain and more pain. My wife's family are counting the days til the end, at which point, we will also be forced to leave the country, as we will be blacklisted for non payment of bank debts which we have paid many times over in interest alone. Makes me want to cry just sitting here and typing it. My wife and I, and her business, have paid our taxes in full, on time, always. Oh and by the way, the stuff we HAVE managed to rent? They charge 50% tax on.

I'm half Chinese and I have to admit (and sorry to sound like one of the "I'm offended" crowd) but...that word offends me. This is a really tricky one for me to explain rationally and it's a frustrating conversation I've had several times. There are so many little jokes that people make towards Chinese people that are seen as inoffensive or even positive that people simply can't accept that what they're saying may be construed as racist i.e. Chinese women are placid and subservient, all of them are good at maths, making 'Kung Fu' noises when mentioning Chinese names etc. etc. All of these things might not sound like they are particularly oppressive but they all combine to provide a very narrow and diminishing view of well over 1.3 billion individual human beings. The word 'chink' is just so often used towards people in a dismissive manner and while I'm 'lucky' that I've only ever had two minor incidents of racism leveled at me, the term just sits with all the other things to leave a sour taste. It's just so common-place that people can't accept that anyone could possibly be offended by it, same as off-hand comments about ginger people or large spoilers being referred to as Big Gay Wings. It's very easy to dismiss things as banter or people as too easily offended but those views are so often held by people who have never been in a position where they are a 'minority' in some form. Sure, but there's a difference between choosing a minority (you don't make fun of scientologists? If not, you should) and being born into one. BGW = choice, your nationality = random and not your responsibility. People are too easily offended though, hence me questioning if I should really care a lot about this stupid birthday thing to the point where I don't respect these people because of their ignorance. Why does the word offend you? Can you actually say why or are you just programmed to 'be offended'? Don't get me wrong, as you see, I think it's this Chinese Happy Birthday thing is madness, but it's part of my thought process that people don't even know why they get offended any more, it's like we are obliged to get pi**ed off with someone when we have the opportunity.

Is that why your economy is knackered as well? Freedom goes a bit far when it becomes socially acceptable not to pay income tax, for instance. ​Anyway, had another take on this last night, I couldnt figure out how everyone outside of the US was so negative about Trump when obviously that wasnt the case in the states. Then I cracked it - we are applying our European beliefs and culture to American minds and they just dont think like us. They are much happier just to accept things like "The American Dream" and economic recovery without analysing how it is going to happen, for them the ideal and the positivity it creates is more important than the implementation. Which is actually a pretty fair argument. Americans are a lot more likely to accept heroes than we are, and Trump is a working class hero - hes saying what they want to hear and promising what they want to see. They dont care about the rest of the world, they just want their country to be great again and if a famous billionaire says he can do it they are going to give him a chance Our view of racist andf ridiculous comments are not the same as theirs - why cant they build a wall, why cant they stop Muslims from coming into the country, it is theirs after all? Why should they even care what we think? If you think the Greek crisis has anything to do with income tax-dodging, you're no better than the tabloids. We work more hours than the equivalent empoyees in the UK and get paid half as much, please don't believe everything you read in the Daily Mail. If the Vritish people really knew what was going on in Greece, you'd be sticking your hands in your pockets for us, it's the people who are suffering and have NO responsibility for what caused all this. You cannot appreciate how frustrating it is to hear people say stuff like that. The man on the street pays his taxes, there's no way he can't. It's the capitalist elite that caused this and the people that are paying. The Germans who are crying about our public spending, weren't crying when they were making deals with corrupt Greek politicians to replace military infrastructure that didn't need replacing so the crooks can put a few million euros in their pocket, nor did they complain when German contractors built us a spanky new airport, metro system, highway network, yes all those things are needed of course, but no auditing or accounting was performed, it's exactly like giving a child a ton of chocolate and saying don't eat too much. So YES, it's exactly what I said that has caused the problems here. Imagine what lack of trust exists that in one fell swoop, the Greeks rejected the equivalent of labour and conservative and voted what was basically a newly formed lib dem party with leftist tendencies. As for the Americans doing what they want, yeh, that's fine as long as it's happening to someone else? What if they decided to kick out Brits for arbitrary reasons, would you still think it's ok for them to do what they wanted? What if your family had moved there 30 years ago, established a successful business, then were told to get lost? Patriotism will destroy the human race. It is absolutely NOT fine for every country to 'do whatever they want'. I live for the day we pull as a planet, one leader, one money repository, no privacy, everything transparent, only then can we trust one another and only with trust can there be peace.

Naahh he's only six so his Nunchaku are made of foam, ....I've got real wooden 8" speed Nunchakus so would knock him clean out. Note to all: Obviously I would never really hurt a child ~ thought I'd better ad that just in case the "Mumsnet" users somehow read it. They're crazier then ISIS don't you know. *Dramatization ~ may not be true* Careful, you'll be lined up next to Trump.

I doubt it, I'm 40, how old are you? My mother also said the same thing, but she didn't mean it, and nether did yours, it's just something they say because its the right thing to teach a child, it won't change the fact that you will judge silently or overtly, everything that passes in front of you. But let me explain why I personally believe this is worthy of ridicule, it's just my opinion, and always remember, you do not put a 10 ft wing on a car if you don't want to be judged one way or another, or if you cared what anyone else thought...it's an aesthetic choice, the downforce is not needed. In the car modding scene, you can put what you want on your car, it's your car after all, but you have to bear in mind convention, if you don't want to be judged by your peers in a negative way. Convention may be fickle and changeable, but aesthetics is actually a pretty mathematic science (in as much as psychology can be mathematic, there are certain things, like symmetry, which the human mind finds beautiful for unknown reasons, this is why we as a species largely share a view on aesthetics, Charlize Theron is beautiful, Shrek is ugly). Let me give a more specific example... A dude walks down the street in front of you wearing hot pink jeans, a leprechaun green pullover and a red baseball cap. He's also wearing white socks which are visible and the most impressive pair of blue suede shoes you've ever seen. You turn to your partner/walking companion/imaginary friend and say 'fk me, is he on his way to a clown audition?', don't deny it. What's the difference when someone does the same thing on their car? To wear a ten foot tall wing and not look ridiculous (to the afficionado), the ensemble needs to be balanced. Either go full extreme, in which case that wing is ideal (in fact, it's epic as its completely above the roof line, a basic necessity to get full effect of this type of wing), or go oem plus and ditch the wing. To mix the two is to invite comments such as mine, and to me it looks crazy, very far from aesthetically pleasing, and you will not find I'm in a minority, it's a balance thing. Agree with the comment previously made that with only a few extra touches to 'theme' the car better, it would look hawt. There you go, that's almost constructive criticism. But like I say, nobody puts that on their car if they care about negative attention, so I do hope the owner is not offended, and happy with his car.

Mate when it happens I hide in the corner so no-one can see me and ask me why I look like I just saw Elvis.

Well, I've said it before, and I'll say it again no doubt... Come to Greece. At my kids birthday parties (and their friends), they will sing the Greek version of Happy Birthday when the cake comes out, naturally. Then, because we support learning about English-speaking culture very strongly, we invariably sing the English version too, and re-light the candles. Wait, there's more..... At OVER 50% of the kids parties (once at one of ours, then of course I made sure it never happened again), they then sing the 'Chinese' Happy Birthday song. The Chinese Happy Birthday song goes like this... *to the tune of UK Happy Birthday Ching chi ching chang, ching-chong, *repeat, etc, you get the idea. The first time I heard it, I stood there open mouthed, my wife kicked me not to embarrass us by saying something to 'random other kid's parents along the lines of "did you really just allow that? Have you no clue how racist it is?". Sometimes now at their own parties, my kids suggest it "can we do the kineziko??", I always make an excuse why we can't sing the 'kineziko' (greek for something of chinese decent). But wait...it doesn't end there, oh no... I've taken the opportunity on the sly to ask other parents their opinions about this. NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM SEES ANY PROBLEM WHATSOEVER. One of them even said to me 'what's wrong with that, that's how they speak?'...obviously, I was mortified and pointed out that that is NOT how they speak, it's how you , with no experience of how they speak, mock the way they speak at children's parties. I Asked them if they realised the psychological effect of Greek children growing up thinking the Chinese culture (one of few more ancient than their own, something they are constantly referring to) is a joke! No Greek grows up respecting the Chinese. How did this happen? Greece is still 90% Greeks, they are not used to other cultures yet. AND STILL THEY COMPLAIN they are being overrun by immigrants (pakistanis, albanians, now syrians, but no chinese, hence the total ignorance of the culture) So you might think...this is terrible! But how can I be one person in millions, and be right? Maybe I'm wrong? Maybe it's perfectly fine to say a spade is a spade (no pun intended)? These are 5 year old kids, they're singing a song cos they think it's funny. None of them is really making fun of the Chinese, at worst you could say it's insensitive. Am I overreacting to this? Does it really matter to do what is right, more than just not doing what is obviously wrong? Anyway, we still have those freedoms to call a Mexican a bean eater, to say pakistani food smells funny, to say abanians are thieves, nobody in Greece except the most worldly would have any issue with these statements. But.... still the anarchistic vote is growing, our Neo Nazi party (Golden Dawn) is stronger than ever. At least in Greece, it's not a knee jerk reaction to being told what to say, what to eat and what to do (we can still smoke in indoor restaurants for example, they tried banning it, didn't work, then they said screw it, with this crisis let's not add to people's problems and the rule evaporated as quickly as it came in). It's caused by the total failure of trust in the upper tier of capitalism and government. As the population divide only grows between rich and poor, it should not surprise the rich, that suddenly they are not getting what they want anymore, as they are being roundly outvoted by the malcontents, who have every right to be so. I could go on all day about too much choice, too much diversity, and at the end of the day too much FREEDOM. Anyone remember the saying 'give a man enough rope...'

Whatever, I said in the OP not to expect perfection for that price, again I don't disagree with what you're saying. I just figured I'd share a great price on what seems on the face of it, a decent product, I'm not here to defend it, I haven't even seen it in person yet, but I will call 'ripoff' on the top brands. SNJur, I had an Akrapovic on my 335, previous owner paid 3 grand for it, that was the single most rip off pipe in history. The straight 6 N54 isn't the best sounding engine in the world, but the Akrapovic didn't help much either. I don't understand at all how akrapovic can justify their prices, unless they admit they are simply hiking them so that the typical people who buy them can **** in the pub about how much they spent on their midlife crisis 911s and BMWs and how 3 grand ain't @*!# to them. Catering to a demographic, that is called, and it's what the fashion industry is all about.

Invidia not the best example, made in China by the same factories making the knock offs (no I can't prove it, they keep where they're manufactured very close to their chests, probably for this reason!), hence the 30% lower than premium pricing of their stuff, it makes sense. Sure, they're 'slightly' better built with 'slightly' better quality control, but I just paid less than 1/5th the price of a gemini. Invidia quality is definitely not 5 times better. Plus, there are plenty of tradesmen that will repair your 200 quid exhaust for 50-100 quid if a weld cracks. Let's say you do this every 2 years, after 10 years, you have still paid a LOT less than the 'premium' parts. You just have to question whether you believe that the R&D that went into a product justifies the insane price differences, now that you know how much the Arc Dual costs to manufacture (about 200 quid tops), how do you feel about paying eight to nine times that for one over the counter? The 'premium' brands are ripping you off 7 ways from sunday, car parts that sell in volume such as exhausts on popular cars like ours, should be much, much cheaper, and more people should vote with their wallets. Yes, I'm going to have less problems because I'm in Greece (just like the southern US states who have never had any issues with D-Spec stuff, because their cars simply don't rust), but that doesn't change the fact that you are getting ripped off hard by the premium brands. Do I buy premium brands where it counts? Of course I do. An exhaust is not really a 'where it counts' item, imo, it's a metal tube. Don't get me wrong, I don't fundamentally disagree with you, if the Gemini was about half the price (still more than double the one I bought), I would probably have bought it, but when this tried and tested product is available for that price, there is no reason to line the pockets of these greedy 'JDM' corporations for their fancy metal tubes. Edit: Guess I should also mention for the record, I'm not a serial cheapskate...I tried 'the best', paid 1600 quid for a J's Racing full titanium single on my s2000. Sure I didn't need the weight benefits and therefore never realised them, but still, that is one EXPENSIVE metal tube....Since then, I've said; never again paying a grand for a glorified drinking straw.

I guess I should qualify that I have no proof that this is the same exhaust as the Japspeed K4. After all this is made by D-Spec (well known 'cheap chinese parts' brand, in the US (like Japspeed in the UK I guess). But let's face it, it probably is the exact same thing, and if it isn't it's from the same templates, no doubt, so really, what's the difference... About welding there's a certain school of thought that says welding in China is often better than in other more 'respected' countries. Why? Because they make so damn many of everything they make, they have had more practice. Food for thought. I will certainly be posting detailed installation, short term and long term reviews in due course.

I guess they look at the top performers, nismo and magnaflow and figure why reinvent the wheel. They say the hks reps are no better performance wise than stock, I bought mine for the look and sound.

I just bought the classic HKS rep exhaust from the US of A from K2 motor for the princely sum of 189 quid. Delivery was steep naturally, and of course there will be import duty. For me this is going to work out that I paid about 350GBP for the exhaust all told. You UK folks should clean up for even less. Of course it's not going to be perfect for that price, but the reviews on the product are universally good. In rust-free Greece I doubt I'll have a problem with it. Ever. Just thought I'd share... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301952892888

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....<breathe>.....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I would point and laugh if that went down the road in front of me. Call me a hater.

Is that not the same as saying, "you know all those things I promised and you liked about me and you voted for? Well, I'm not doing them" Sure, but is that not pretty much the same thing every leader does, every time?