SteveW

loving this thread however I wasn't looking for tips on how to inseminate a cow or large animal. How I missed that sealey one on eBay I've no idea I must have looked through hundreds of syringes!!!! Thanks folks, by the way checking out the vets may well be a good shout Obviously for inseminating the diff and not the local wildlife!!!

Hi folks, Quickie, anyone know where I can get a massive syringe for changing the diff fluid? Obviously don't wanna spend loads. Biggest I can find on eBay in cheap plastic and in the chemist is 100ml. Even 250ml would be better, ideally 500 would be best I reckon. I have seen some glass 'rectal thermometers' but at £50 no chance, lol. Cheers Steve

Weather strip from BandQ fixed my rattles was about £5 for 5 metres. Bargain!

Well X Ray is complete but the radiographer wasn't allowed to tell me anything when I asked if she could see anything on the X Ray so I have to make an appointment back at my doctors in a week to find out the results.

Aghh whoops I'm rather forgetful, I forgot to post back up in here! Well I'm off for an X Ray tomorrow on it so we'll see if that yields any findings . . . Will keep you posted....promise I will remember this time...

Thanks for the information folks especially Ricey, you really seem to know what you are talking about. Who would have thought a car forum that has an answer for everything I have booked a doctors appointment for Friday this week. I did tear my PCL in the same knee whilst snowdoarding in Canada back in 2007. It was only a partial tear but still took 12 months for the pain to go. Taught me a lesson, haven't been off any 70 foot jumps since I kind of blame myself for this as I was doing fairly heavy squats in the gym for the 4 weeks before this happened and after the 4th week my knee had started to feel odd so I stopped doing them, then a fgew days later I knelt down and 'pop'. Funny thing is I also need an operation on my elbow which has bone spurrs growing on the Ulna none and pushing the joint out, which hurths like hell when doing any tricep work. I was hoping to put off the Op until after the Basketball season but maybe I can get them both done in a few weeks of one another or at the same time to save some time \notice how pointey the spurred elbow is Normal Elbow Spurred Elbow

Hi Folks, A random for Q for a car forum but I've trawled the net and can't find anything so before booking an appointment at the docs I thought I'd ask on here. Basically last week at work I knelt down to take a photo mid kneel my right knee made a popping sound and suddenly I got a sharp pain in my knee. This subsided after about ten seconds but for the rest of the day my knee was aching. Well the ache persisted for a couple of days and then went away. However, now when I bend my leg unloaded or loaded,or try to kneel down etc my knee pops and sometimes the sharp pain returns. Additionally I can feel something moving around inside the joint when I bend my leg this thing 'pops' at about 90 degrees. Also when walking the inside of my leg at the knee joint aches. If I'm sat for a while with my legs bent at 90 degrees ish my knee also aches. Any ideas? I'm normally really active, football, basketball, gym, running, cycling and now I'm just buggared, I can't do anything... Thanks Steve

Neil do you mind if I answer that with a Fair point......point taken

Thanks but unfortunately the akermann angle on the zed isn't adjustable and running an incorrect offset or a set of spacers does affect the handling. By moving the wheels further outboard of the kingpin axis you introduce tyre scrub on both sides of the car because when you steer the wheel is no longer pivoting about its true centre. Additionally it can affect grip under braking as well as the self centreing characteristics. Taken from a website discussing vehicle handling-"The Kingpin Angle, along with the Castor, dictates the self-centring action of the steering and the affect the steering will have under braking. Fitting larger wheels can alter the Scrub Radius if the correct offset is not chosen which in turn can affect the handling." when I designed the 5 link suspension system on our Formula Student car at uni a few years back this was one of the key design criteria, to ensure the was 0 scrub radius and the kingpin axis was directly through the wheel centre to generate the best handling characteristics. Hi Ian, I probably am over thinking things, I am renowned for this amongst my mates lol. I've not decided on any particular wheels yet was just doing some out load thinking. Cheers Steve

Thanks for the replies folks, I'm only lowered 15 and 17mm on Tein a tech so scrubbing hopefully won't be a worry. Interesting you had some scrubbing issues with less offset than I calculated would be ok. But then again I was basing that on narrow tyres, I.e 225 and 245 I was thinking of running 265/275 on the back and 245/255 on the front. I hadn't really given profiles much thought at this stage as was trying to work out which offsets were needed. Thanks

The kingpin axis is basically the point which the wheel pivots around when steering. There are other things to consider, like inclination, offset and angle. Ideally you want the kingpin axis through the centre of the wheel (thus a offset of 0) or you can get odd handling. However to get the kingpin 0 offset you need a virtual kingpin axis. This is the point of the joint that lives just above the tyre on the front suspension. It enables the car to have a virtual kingpin axis thus the tyre pivots arounds its centre resulting in no scrub and the best 'feel'. Most new cars try and have a virtual kingpin axis and offset of 0, its a fairly recent development in production cars as in the past a 5 link set up was needed which I beleive Audi had a first bash at in the 80's.

From doing some research I have found that the OE Rays wheel size is : Front - 18 x 8.0" - ET30 Rear - 18 x 8.5" - ET33 I've been thinking about getting some 19's that fill the arches better and don't sit inboard of the body but want to preserve the virtual wheel centre on the front due to the virtual kingpin axis set up of the suspension. So I want to move the front wheels out 20mm but keep the centre of the wheel in its current position give or take a mm or two to maintain the virtual kingpin through the wheel centre. Therefore, in theory, if I maintained the same wheel width and went to an ET10 wheel this would move the wheel out by the 20mm needed. However, this would then move the wheel centre 20mm outboard of the virtual kingpin, likely to lead to dodgy handling. So to maintain the wheel centre position I'd need to add 40mm to the inboard edge or as close as you can get. In wheel sizes the front wheel would need to increase to a 9.5" wheel. The changed offset of ET10 moves the wheel outboard by 20mm and the wheel centre. By then adding 38.1mm (1.5") to the inboard edge moves the wheel centre back inboard by 19.05mm. This would then result in the virtual kingpin being maintained, more or less. However whether a 19 x 9.5 would fit on the front without rubbing I don't know, I would have to do some measurements. There is also an additional issue potentially. The wheel studs are only a certain length and by changing the offset I'm not sure if you would need longer wheel studs putting in your hubs - proper ball ache! The bolt hole recesses may be more recessed on the bigger offset wheels allowing the OE studs to fit. If OE studs don't fit then the same can be achieved by running an ET30 wheel with a 20mm hub-centric spacer and a 9.5" wide wheel. On the rear I think the normal spacer width is 25mm...so in this case an ET8 wheel would be needed to move the wheel out by 25mm. This isn't as big an issue on the back because you don't have a virtual kingpin axis to worry about so the wheel centre can be outboard. The only problem is the track width front and back is different, whether you would notice though I doubt. The ET8 wheel has moved the wheel edge out by 25mm you can simply increase the width by 25mm on the inboard edge to maintain a similar set up. Again an ET33 wheel could be used with a 25mm spacer to avoid the potential issue with stud length. Again I'm not sure if this would come into it because the bolt holes could well be machined deeper so the OE studs fit. Other options , provided there was clearance on the inboard edge, again I would need to measure, would be ET8 and 10 inch wide or 10.5 inch wide ET 33 with a 25mm spacer. So In summary Front A 9.5 inch wide wheel at ET10 would move the front wheel out by 20mm and maintain the virtual kingpin in the right position relative to the wheel OR a 9.5inch ET30 wheel wheel with a 20mm spacer. Rear Not quite as important so an ET8 wheel could be used with a 9.5" wheel to maintain a similar set up. Hope this all makes sense and if anyone disagrees or I've counted wrong I'm more than happy to take a kicking and change it lol.

Good shouts on the door seal and electric flex minus the cores. I'd not thought of those lol, Definitely agree with your comment about stripping the dash, I'd definitely make it worse. I'm a bit heavy handed and good at over tightening, breaking things, stripping threads etc. Trip to B&Q at the weekend I think!

Well my dash board has been doing my head in for a while and this morning it wound me up so much I decided my sanity could take the creak anymore. So in full heath robinson mode I have fixed it with a wooly hat, not the greatest aesthetically speaking.... I can't work out how to strip the dash down to actually find what is creaking so does anyone have any suggestions of a more subtle permanent solution? I was thinking a couple of black erasers. Probably wouldnt look too stupid as would be pushed a fair way down where the dash meets the screen and may not be able to be seen.

I've got 2 squeaks and the dashboard rattles. I've isolated which bit of the dash rattles but can't work out how to dismantle the thing to tighten it up!!! No guides anywhere and can't locate any screws bolts or similar.

Especially black with black leather. Nightmare to find. I had to travel to London to find mine back in 2008.

I have recently just expired a set off Yellowstuffs and I think that for the money they really are a cracking pad. However, they do create a fair old amount of dust. I just replaced them with Feredo DS2500's on Alex's advice and they are even better but about £50 more. Well impressed by them though. On the split pin If I remember correctly from when I did my wheel bearing these is a gap between the castleated nut and split pin. The pin is only a last save. The torque the nut is done up to (215Nm IIRC) should keep the nut in place, unless your wheel bearing goes then the pin stops the nut coming off and your wheel going wayward.

I would never pay more than £1000 for insurance. Except the one year Directline screwed me over by telling me I was OK to buy A JDM GT-Four (Celica variety) at 23 then when I bought it telling me they wouldn't insure me on a JDM under 25 . . . .. In the end I had to pay £1200. I wish you all the best in getting a reasonible quote now though, the insurance cancellation will push it up even higher! I was very lucky this year and managed to get a good quote through Adrian Flux in the end.

My thoughts exactly!!!! I'll take a more side on picture with a better camera when I get home today. Currently on the phone at GF's. If I can't get it sorted with some type of polish, detailing product etc I might have a go at painting the roof trim bit before tackling the boot then if it all goes pear shaped I can take it to the body shop. have some confidence in painting after my recent interior projects. I wish we could electrocute our car panels! Or have fire coming out from underneath! Lol to the koi pond electric fence

Not impressed some little scrote has decided it would be fun to key my car If i could get hold of him I'd show him how fun keying can be Little f8j6!!!! Anyone any advice on how I can fix it myself or is it a body shop job? The scratch is through the paint to at least the primer, you can catch your nail in it so it has some depth to it.

Big thanks to CS Quick delivery, excellent service and top notch pricing. Very happy with my DS2500's Thanks again

Thanks folks, will aim to get some better pics up this weekend that don't look like they were taken by a child. Yes Chris its bloody filthy!!! It really does need a wash. It was on last weekends to do list but then the rain arrived and it never happened. Planning for Saturday if the weather is kind to me.

Well after my successful painting of the dash I embarked upon making the strut cover look a bit better. I never really liked the flat silver colour it was before. I always thought it looked cheap. So here is my new one: Please ignore my flashers mack in the first picture Apologies for the gashness of the pictures will get some better ones when I am at home and can find my digi cam . . .

No not yet but I had a quick look through Alex's sub forum and managed to locate the DS2500's. Regarding the EBC disks why do you say they are terrible? I've never had any issues with them, I know some people have in the past saying they warped but I wonder if this was actually DVT and not warping or people not bedding them in correctly and then warping. I've had two sets and never had any issues relating to warpage etc even after some heavy braking on track days. The only issue I experienced was excessive run out due to the disk carrier running out. It ideally needs replacing which I will do when the wheel bearing gives up the ghost next time around. It seems the Performance Friction pads are getting the biggest thumbs up of the two will see how deep my pockets will go, the PF disks do look Uber cool to be fair.