skate2create

This is something else, following with interest! Great stuff so far

It was the videos they did on the 350Z that kinda swung me into getting one for myself

In case anyone was on the fence with these cats.. Car went through the MOT a few days ago first time with no issue. As others have (probably) already said, just ensure the tester gets them nice and hot before putting them through the test. Happy is an understatement, now my exhaust is all bedded in (Cobra resonated Y-pipe back with these cats) it's such an addictive noise. Under 3ish-K rpm it's maybe a touch louder (moreso on cold start) than before putting the cats on, but nothing that will p*ss off most understanding neighbours.. Over 3.5K though is a different story

No worries, I'll be buying them regardless, but thought it was worth a go Purchasing them imminently Cheers, Dan

@Adrian@TORQEN cheeky to ask (but always worth a go haha).. any deals to be had now/black Friday? I'm hovering over purchasing a set for my DE

FWIW I work on a university campus (but not for the university) and despite these people being 'alledgedly' highly educated, from all over the world, doing masters/PHD's and the like, they may as well be thick as pig ****. Parties on campus broken up by the police only to be moved somewhere else on campus, no sense of personal space, how to queue or even how to wear masks properly... it's like they just don't care and I have to proverbially bite my lip to the point of bleeding sometimes. I shall be glad when my contract ends in the coming days and I don't have to deal with such morons anymore!

I echo others when I say, your posts are keeping me (semi) sane through these testing times. I got laid off just as this (The C word) was all kicking off and have struggled a bit mentally ever since, so it's nice to have a constant (your posts) to come back to You may end up with a sideline in making home gym equipment, the way people/companies are hoarding and overcharging punters for second hand equipment... though your latest contraption may be a bit much for a regular persons spare room gym

Give this link a try, plenty of pictures: Centre Console Removal It's relatively easy to take apart, but be wary of the white ribbon cable. It's quite delicate so take care if and when you remove it. From there you can see if it is indeed a loose cable/plug connection.

Glad I'm not the only one... winds me up every time it comes on (which seems as frequent as every other ad break these days apparently).. I'd be straight outside and squaring up the little sh*t at that time of the morning. Luckily I live in the countryside, so the worst I get is woken up v.early or late at night by the farmer opposite when he starts/returns in his noisy Defender during the peak harvest time. I can forgive him for that though

Assetto Corsa on PC.. nothing really comes close to mod-ability and despite being a fairly old game now in real terms, its community keeps it very fresh with its add-ons for dynamic weather, additional cars, tracks etc. Most recently spanking it along one of Tokyo's expressways in an S30 fairlady.. extremely cool Console wise, I did have a soft spot for Project Gotham Racing on Xbox. Arcade wise, had to be Sega Rally!

I made the most of it and picked up one of your replacement W braces, as it was an advisory last year

It would depend on whether you wanted something nice to look at or just the functionality of being able to play old school arcade games? If it's the latter I'd suggest looking into investing in a Raspberry Pi and RetroPie over a dedicated arcade machine such as the one you linked, and then just stick it in a spare HDMI port on your TV and enjoy the nostalgia. Retropie

I don't think there was much in it weight wise and all that power through the front wheels... but the noise. yum! Much nicer than the VAG 5 Cyl engines that's for sure

I had a Broom Yellow 20VT, Gtech chip, manual bleed valve and a forge BOV.. Those were the days! Checking the MOT history it sadly met it's end due to rusty seat belt anchorage points in 2016 on 128k

The boring person in me says something comfortable and practical, as the roads where I live are absolutely dire and the wife hates the Z because it's too low and too noisy (it really isn't)... ...but the kid in me lusts for another Fiat Coupe 20V turbo, the noise from the 5 Cylinder and the wooosh coming off the the throttle is something else. Although it's comfortably less powerful than my current Z, the power just seemed more raw and somehow faster?! Meh!

Are you sure there's no outside tap somewhere? My first place was a flat and they had an outside tap hidden in a landscaped area for the maintenance/"gardeners" to water the plants etc. Have a poke around the undergrowth, won't look dodgy at all I made up a system using a 12v leisure pump and big metal jerry can for washing my mountain bikes before I stuck them on my roof after I'd been out on them. Granted it's not as elegant as a Worx portable pressure washer, but it does the job. Couple of jerry cans so you're not doing loads of trips and you're sorted. 12V pump and sprayer

I have had an old dear jump out in the road in front of me to tell me to slow down as i was speeding (I wasnt, I was doing 15mph), which I calmly offered to show to said old dear on my dashcam if she didn't believe me. Which then caused her daughter to stick her head through my window and shout at me to not be aggressive towards her mum, whilst covering me in spit in the process. Lovely people in Peterborough... I get a mix of appreciative nods and thumbs up and shakes of the head round my village, but that's probably down the t**ts that speed along the roads most of the time. Guilty by association I guess!

Hey @Sim, Cheers for the reply. It's the 2 bolt gasket from the back of the OEM Cat to the driver side branch of the Cobra Y pipe that keeps blowing out of the bottom, even with clean/flat mating faces and 2 gaskets used. I think I've found RAM on ebay (and in turn their website) and have found Remflex too. Do you remember a ball park figure on cost for those gaskets at all before I go enquiring, just so I know what sort of quotes to expect before I take the plunge. TIA

I agree that the advancement in tech has made the modern day cars too capable and maybe that's part of the problem. I can't remember if it was Martin Brundle who said it, but it shouldn't be such an easy transition from another race series to F1 that a very young driver can jump into a F1 car and instantly be at the same pace as the "big boys". Was the dominance of the Schumacher era down to him being in the best car for the best team, maybe. But was it down to him also being one of the best drivers on the grid who knew how to get the most out of the cars of the time.. maybe so too. I suppose Lewis is in the same boat now, but the difference between the Merc compared to almost all other teams in the pit lane seems massive. Looking at it from a different perspective, there was a video shown on SkyF1 of Jenson Button driving his Brawn GP car in 2009 (I think) at catalunya vs Valtteri Bottas lap in the modern day car, JB was constantly battling the car to get the best out of it whereas VB was smooth and if anything uneventful/boring to watch despite being a lot (in F1 terms) faster. So what do they do to bring back the excitement? I don't know!

Not a great deal, it's only the shell of the road going cars that seem to have any resemblance to the cars in BTCC. Agree, F1 is meant to be the pinnacle but it plainly isn't or at least doesn't feel that way. It feels stale if anything. The cars themselves are tech'd up to the max but it just doesn't excite you as much as a stonking great V10/12 engined car that's difficult to control and involves a great deal of skill. To me, the modern cars just seem too "calm".

BTCC is closer because of the way the regulations are set up with regards to engines and ancillaries, with all pretty much coming from the same set of suppliers. All teams have the choice of running an unbranded 350hp 2L turbo engine along with all ancillaries or developing their own powerplant to match the regs. It does make for closer racing and puts it more down to the actual driver ability than about being in the best performing car on the day. Other race series with loose connections to F1 have tried single powerplant manufacturer type series to not much avail (See Superleague Formula... mmmm V12 goodness), but with so many different manufacturers involved, I just can't see such regulations or forced one make powerplants being used in F1.

End of month bump..

I mentioned it to @MITZ@CougarStore when it went it blew out the last time and he kindly got in touch with Cobra who sent me 2 replacement gaskets. They didn't look particularly special and my garage said the same, so I went with a couple of the ones above as they had the fire ring on the inside.. not that it made much difference clearly! I'll seek out some OEM spec gaskets, I think Torqen sell them, and see how I get on. If this blows again I'll have to get a different Y pipe I guess!

I tell a lie, I still have the cobra supplied gaskets from last time as they didn't look like anything special/ were the same as the first ones that blew out. These are the sort I fitted last time with ultimately the same issue: 350Z gaskets

Afternoon all. I've got an issue whereby my cobra Y pipe seems to eat through gaskets on the driver side branch. This will be the third time I've replaced gasket(s) now in only a few thousand miles. I thought it may be due to unflat mating flange on the factory CAT section, however it was cleaned up the last time it was changed and a flat edge placed against it to check if it was warped (it wasn't). Initially I ran with one cobra supplied gasket on that side when the Y pipe was first install, which blew out from the bottom pretty quickly. I then switched to a sandwich of 2 cobra supplied gaskets after cleaning up the mating flanges to see if that would hold a good seal and it's gone yet again in the same place. I'm stumped. My local garage who deals with classic cars has suggested there may be manufacturing intollerance somewhere along the line and also in their experience it's not uncommon for exhausts on classic cars (is a Z deemed a classic now?!) to be so out of wack that you end up having to use upteen gaskets to make it hold a seal. I don't doubt his knowledge on the subject, but that doesn't answer help me! Has anyone else had this issue and have anything to suggest/ try before I waste more time changing these sodding gaskets again?! TIA.