kerbside*motors

Thanks for all the 'Best wishes' emails! I hate to come on here just to drum up business but the genuine brand new, boxed Nismo GT gearknob is only at £1.70 with 2 days to go!

THANKS EVERYONE! I would not say kerbsidemotors was a one man operation, as well as me & Mrs. Kerbside there was CNC guy, oil cooler/intercooler guy, carbon fibre guy and website/auction design guy. The problem arose because ebay guy (Thats me!) couldn't do his job. Happily everyone is still in a job. CNC guy continues to make CNC stuff for many tuning companies, bikers and racing teams. He has recently become a Dad so he has that to take up any spare time! Oil cooler/intercooler guy returns to his usual role of making and fixing radiators, intercoolers and oil coolers at his Dads radiator company. Carbon fibre guy is grateful for the reduction in his workload because the Stock car racing season has started and he needs to be on standby for Hot rod repair panels! Website/auction design guy works for a call centre anyway so he will be using his spare time to build a 3.5 BMW E30 for Knockhill And as for kerbsidemotors (& the Mrs.) We hope to have a Holiday, get the Galant ready for Knockhill (Has to be faster than webguys Beemer!) Slob about for a few months then start again on ebay! (With the cash we sue their asses for! Ha ha!)

Sarnie. She has a broken leg and loads of bruising and cuts now. The hospital had to operate last week to reduce the pressure in her head because of the swelling. She only regained consiousness on Friday. We got our hands on an Evo 360 for a really good price then the Mrs. Smashed it. These cars are great with all their high tech wizardry until you take them past the limit! With normal cars you get a bit of a warning but in these when you cross the line you are going so fast you don't realise. I've seen the car and I think we are both very lucky she only has the injuries she does. She lost it on a corner that tightens (The road towards Broxburn, out of Kirkliston near Edinburgh) Hit the kerb, shot across the road through the armco into a bridge support then downwards into the Union canal! She landed on a sort of sandbank that held the car out of the water enough not to drown her. The car is mince, nothing is salvagable! Anyway, I'm hoping to make enough on ebay to take us away for a few days. I have discussed the ebay situation with a lawyer and he reckons they have breached their own conditions but I'll give it a few weeks before taking any action because I am just so pi**ed off about it all!

The Mrs. had a car accident so i could not give ebay my fullest attention. After a few days pacing about a hospital I returned to find my ebay accounts had all been suspended. After frantic emailing and searching I discovered that because I had submitted my new credit card details to several accounts in quick succession on ebay they thought I was trying to pull a fast one! I managed to have a few accounts reinstated but several (including the main kerbsidemotors! one) remain suspended for 12 months. I have tried to sort this out but ebay are not for turning. I had begun to sell off stuff on my Boris*the*spider I.D. but as I intend using this in the future I have registered a new account to sell off the items intended for the kerbsidemotors account. Everyone still with me? My intention is to sell off what I have, take legal action against ebay and nurse the Mrs. back to her usual battleaxe self. Once that is sorted I may return to selling on the internet. I realise things look a bit dodgy but I cannot help that. Kerbsidemotors and boris*the*spider retain 100% positive feedback and we have a list of happy customers. Unlike many of our rivals we actually gave a @*!# about our customers but as ebay are an American company we have fallen foul of their 'always right, stubborn , too quick to react, bloodymindedness'! I am sad to have to leave the reputation we have built behind but I have to put the Mrs. before all that as ebay can't cook and is probably rubbish in bed! Hope everyone will at least have a look at the items listed as its our way of saying thanks to all our previous customers (and a way to clear out the garage and pay for something nice for when the Mrs. gets out of hospital.) Thanks everyone!

Right, now that our problems have been sorted! (Well, Neils will be as soon as we get some Aeroquip ends for him!) I would like to announce our last ever sale. Highlights include a genuine Nismo gearknob, a full oil cooler and relocation kit and a Subaru SSQV all for 99p each. All funds go to buy the Mrs. something nice after her crash. This is a shameless plug to buy my stuff but I think its for a good cause! The items are listed at... http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQf ... theweekend Everything is here ready to be sent and will be sent 1st class recorded delivery (dearer stuff will be sent special delivery) Thank you and goodbye!

While I am not for one minute defending the dealer here, from my time working with big dealerships, servicing is usually carried out by apprentices. The copper sump plug should have been replaced but it is possible to tighten the sump plug tight enough to squash the washer but for the plug to be slack enough to fall out. While the service manager may have appeared to suggest it was your fault to you he was only trying to cover himself. For every customer who is genuinely let down by their dealer there is a customer who has tried it on and tried for freebies. By suggesting this could have been something to do with you he can eliminate you from being a chancer! His job becomes a whole lot harder in these situations because as well as deal with you, he has to find out why the sump plug was left slack and discipline as necessary. Everyone makes mistakes and because customers want to pay as little as possible it is difficult to pay decent mechanics enough to stay in the trade.(I myself quit being a mechanic because I could earn more raking about down the backs of my mates couches! ) The garage have made an arse of it, mistakenly. The service manager has tackled his response wrongly. And your Zeds engine will have taken a bit more of a pounding than it should have. Why not go back to the dealer and ask them if they will agree to contribute towards repairs resulting from damage that may have been caused in return for your repeat business? You are in a good position because if he knows you will come back you can bet your ass your car will be 100% every time you pick it up from now on and if you can get it in writing he will contribute to future engine repairs you are laughing. You have to remember you have a Nissan which tend to need engine rebuilds every Millenium or so! From my own experiences with Nissan, unless you had to drive back from Cape town with no oil your engine should be alright.

Thats just it though, despite sharing its outline with the Vauxhall Cavalier when you sit in the drivers seat and press the noisy pedal you forget its a four door saloon! Anyone who has had a go in a Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 will surely testify Mitsubishi are good at making scary cars. Most Galant VR-4s are estate automatics yet strangely when you are thundering along listening to the gorgeous V6 twin turbo engine you forget all that!

Someone had the brilliant idea of listing our Nismo gearknobs at 99p to generate a bit of interest but now there are only a few days left to go and together they are at £14! If they aren't bid on soon it won't be gerarknobs I'm selling, it will be my house!

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon." In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part): 1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash........ Twice a day. 2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car. 3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this. 4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine. 5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads. 6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light. I love the next one!!! 7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying. 8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna. 9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car. 10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

I have to warn against using racing brake fluids. If you get genuine racing brake fluid you have to remember it is usually more hydroscopic than normal brake fluid. Basically it absorbs more water faster therefore it needs changed more frequently. You can get special silicone brake fluid (like that Automec stuff) that has all the characteristics of performance brake fluid but lasts longer and doesn't absorb moisture. However, the pedal feels slightly different, a bit more spongy when you use it. Personally, I would use a good quality DOT 4 fluid, any decent brand name stuff. The only difference you will notice on a road car with racing brake fluid is less money in your pocket! And, as the Minel pointed out, don't use synthetic oil in your box until it has all settled down. 5000 miles being the absolute minimum mileage. There are loads of fluids and oils that promise improved characteristics but on a road car the difference they make isn't noticable. In some cases things can be worse. Better off using brand name stuff to the Spec. Nissan recommend and using the cash to have stuff done to the car you will notice. Fitting performance brake pads for example will improve your braking far more than using different brake fluid yet doesn't cost much more.

I feel a bit guilty for looking at the new Evo X as I had promised myself a Zed when I get my licence back but I couldn't help thinking 'what a stunning looking car' when I saw the pics in Auto express last week! Had an Evo 7 and to this day I admit it is the only car I have ever owned that I failed to find its limits. No matter how fast I drove, no matter how reckless I was on the back roads I was the thing still laughed at me! If it could have spoken it would have spoken like the Pepperami sausage! "Come back and finish me off you woose!"

What about visiting your local bearing supplier? We had to replace rear wheel bearings on a Ferrari Testarossa once (Yes! Really!) Anyway, not surprisinly the local motor factors didn't list them. The nearest Ferrari dealer wanted the keys to my house as payment so we took the rear stub axles to BRT bearings who supply wheel bearings, industrial bearings etc. They supplied us with 2 complete bearings for £28. We took the lot off to the local machine shop (JEM engines in Laurieston, near Falkirk) and they fitted them for £40 all in. If you can keep the car off the road for a few days why not do this? A bit of running about but much cheaper than Nissan!

I would go for an independant garage too. Why not have a look in the traders section for someone near you? Specialists service standards tend to be superior to dealers because they know what the car needs and can fit the best parts rather than following a fixed service routine and being tied to using genuine parts.

Two priests decided to go to Hawaii on vacation. They were determined to make this a real vacation escape by not wearing anything that would identify them as clergy. As soon as the plane landed they headed for a store and bought some outrageous shorts, shirts and sandals. The next morning they went to the beach dressed in their tourist garb. They were sitting on beach chairs, enjoying a drink, the sunshine and the scenery when a drop dead gorgeous blonde wearing a string bikini came walking straight towards them. They couldn't help but stare. As the blonde passed them she smiled and said, "Good Morning, Father. Good Morning, Father," nodding and addressing each of them individually; then she passed on by. They were both stunned. How in the world did she know they were priests? So the next day, they went back to the store and bought even more outrageous outfits. These were so loud you could hear them before you saw them. Once again, in their new attire, they settled on the beach in their chairs to enjoy the sunshine. After a while, the same gorgeous blonde, this time topless with just a thong bikini, taking her sweet time, came walking toward them. Again she nodded at each of them, she said, "Good morning, Father. Good morning, Father," and started to walk away. One of the Priests couldn't stand it any longer and said, "Just a minute young lady." "Yes, Father?", she said. "We are priests and proud of it, but I have to know, how in the world did you know we are priests dressed as we are?" "Father, it's me…, Sister Margaret" !!

Its just as well I am the ebay guy here! Carbon pillar trims are not 'Glued' or 'Stuck'! I think you will find they are 'Chemically adhered' or 'Securely bonded'! Everyone please note how I individualised my response by chemically adhering a few big words!