snapper

As fun as it was, false callouts for the fire brigade is a real waste of resources. 

training as a waste of resources?

it's amazing what one can dig out of the memory banks, I remember it happened to mine.  made it difficult to fill the tank; it woud come shooting back out of the filler as the air tried to escape as the fuel went in.  Also used to flow out when cornering, and fumed up the boot.  must be nearly 30 years ago!

let us know how you get on, this is clearly only one option...

thanks team, I very much appreciate your responses.  my friend and spannering mentor/partner in crime with 850 is considering a move from 17 to 16 after rim damage on his 17" alloys. 

Yeah, I know, you're thinking "yeah right, he's got this friend..."

hey guys, I know you all have some cool tricks up your sleeves for uber-cool black steel rims.  what is readily around/available for a volvo 850 16 or 17 5x108 35-42 offset, and approx how much per rim?

thanks in advance

thanks for that mate!  brilliant.  awesomeness in fact.  "I'm not drivin'"

He must be real stupid lol

hey come on, credit the man with some talent?!

BTW - who's that on your avatar, Mr Brick?  I thought I recognised you on another forum and found instead you some bloke from the US of Eh.

regardless of contractor (contract terminated) or permanent (terminated for gross misconduct) status, a sacking is in order.  unless the core business is drag racing, it would be very hard to justify a burnout in the under-building carpark on its own (safety, damage to reputation), let alone when the management types bring in the financial impacts (loss of viewers=impact on ratings=lowering saleability/desireability of their core product (advertising space)) in to the equation.

whilst the operator of the vehicle may have displayed great skill in losing - and maintaining loss of - traction, he certainly failed to engage even first gear with 'judgement'.  This will likely make it difficult for him to find work in that particular field for some time.  the lack of judgement evident in that act will tend to overshadow his resume/reputation.

typical NZ media.  no details of what type of car it was. rolleyes.gif.

I dont have too many pics.  haven't owned that many cars really.

'71 HC Viva

used ti daily an HC viva as my first car, my sister gave it to me to get to and from school in.  1159cc of wonderfullness, crossply tyres, and great balance soon taught the necessary skills to make around wet wellington suburbs.  put my recently learned panel (bogging) skills and truckloads of enthusiasm to work and made it look a little worse, until painted for sale after about 18 months.

'75 Mazda 929

purchased from my best mate with it's head off and about $2k5, rebuilt engine with my other best mate ("my first engine build"), found other parts (like the dizzy) missing - learned never buy a disassembled car again unless love of puzzles/part-searching/financial risk eventuates.  prepped (bog, low pressure primer, blocked back, masked) and then painted in enamel with 93 plus hardener for paint plus $100.  died a death after a madwoman in a marina almost knocked me through a fence and 45m into a ravine.  sold to a  wrecker for $400.

'77 1850

my then GF's car.  bogan-spec with 7" hotwires IIRC.  lots of spannering. burnt valves from shell's petrol with "the spark-aider". eliminated wide-ovals (yechh).

'81 B310 wagon

one of the best cars I've ever owned.  Ever!  took me all over the country, moved flats many times, slept in it, collected firewood in it, drifted unsealed roads in it.  used to be able to do an oil and filter change, check and adjust points and plugs in just 15 minutes before hooning up the mountain.  rusted faster than anything from zero to sixty, and provided interesting ventilation points.  A12 + 4 speed goodness, learned to weld, replaced clutch, heater hoses, tyres... over-steered left, under-steered right.  champion for honing driving skills and reading the car.  four years of utilitarian fun.

'88 GTi 16v

now we're talking.  euro build quality, fuel injection, power, stiffness, and access to tons of go-faster bits from the USA.  Eurosport exhaust, K&N panel, shocks, and plenty of genuine VW parts.  3 years of taking the pay roads and fun on the backroads. learned (with my mate leading on the spannering) that german cars are not engineered for easy maintenance like toyotas and nissans are. 

'81 Sigma Wagon

yeah, back to where my heart is at - wagon goodness.  carried a hammer to tap the starter for a few weeks before buying a new replacement (parts in NZ had gotten cheaper while I was away).  installed a decent head unit, fishoiled it, new batty, drove it all over for 21 months.  Had some rust patching and paint matching done to keep it 'respectible'.  used it to take shit to the tip and buy shit for house from placemakers.  same guy who acted as agent when we bought it, arranged sale when we left, $300 less than we paid for it.  "free motoring".

'89 Cavalier 2.0i hatch

insurance for a saab 900 turbo would cost too much, so as a fresh-off-the-plane expat needed something economical.  bought from a good friend, added a set of gas shocks, serviced it, drove it all over uk and france for more than 2 years.   memories of M1 at -cough- speed cranking rhythm and stealth.  very economical, yet surprisingly aerodynamic on the french autoroutes.  superb wet-road braking and grip running eagle GS-D+, greater safety margins on heinous british motorways for commuting.  Like the kwik-fit man said "are you sure you want to spend that much on this old nail"? "youbetcha".  traded it at more than I paid for it on the e30.  a great versatile car.

'96 daewoo cielo 16v

honorable mention to the old nail we rented cheap for a month and tore all over niu zild in, before heading back to blighty.  not refined, not visceral like the VW, but with vibratey raw power, 4 wheel disks, and lurid colour, it handled auckland, coromandel, desert road, welly, and central otago and said "give me more".

'89 e30 325i Touring

super.  diagnosed and resolved unusual faults, spent 800 quid with a BMW specialist on pagid slotted rotors, pads, and a huge service.  fitted the head unit out of the cavalier, spent time fixing things that had been neglected.  toured around a bit, M25, wiltshire, castle combe, home counties.  I loved it.  it was a really sweet ride that I had to sell when we left the country seven months later.  got the purchase price back.  the buyer lucked out with all the maintenance and parts I'd put on it.

'89 Sentra

what can I say?  paid $1950 with 77k on clock, drove for seven years (?) and sold for $1900.  1400cc 5sp manual, a great little economical car.  probably spent $2500 on maintenace (stereo from sigma, exhaust, clutch, brake lines, tyres, many oil and filters).  It just went.  and went.

'96 Maxima

bought from friends, maximum family car value.  bought for 5k, drove for seven years, sold for 2k9 last year.  just brilliant.  did all my oil and filter changes, did the knock sensor (hooray for 1/4" socket sets).  Paid for gas shocks, CV boots etc. 'my first slushbox'.

'97 855-T5

bought rather illogically.  I am attached to it, its a member of the family like the well-worn armchair it is.  with a good mate alongside me, I've replaced control arms and front shocks, end links, timing belt, water pump, leads, plugs, coil, cap, rotor, most of the cooling system, and am now starting on more mounts, rad, and PCV system.  a great sleeper car, it swallows loads to take to the dump.  have rarely used its7seater capacity.  had this nearly seven years and counting.  far too young to carry an oldschool sticker, despite being conceived in the 80's and born in the early 90's. 

'02 e46 touring

trouble.  japanese deferred maintenance victim.  lovely to drive, like my e30 but better (more refined) in almost every respect - except immediacy.  far too respectable to be a wagoneer.

PS:  all images hosted on flickr.

claims of DL;DR are not applicable - hell, I gave you pictures!

have a look into the fuel tank breather system.  there's a complex bunch of pipes in your boot, they can get blocked when some of the rubber connector hoses fail.  replace the connectors, blow the pipes out, job's a good un.

I may even make this one. 

Pete, you gonna be in wellington?  I just paid the ransom to customs to release my parts, they'll be here next week.  So you may have bolts of caliper persuasion.  Are you sure you're not just breathing hard?

It'll be good to meet ya'll.

great to see movement on this one.  pics or it didn't happen!

Apparantly Puppies has cheap $4 beers every night - I will be there tomorrow night and report back next week if it is true.

so do the barmaids get their puppies out?

rat rods are undoubtedly cool, but hey, when you notice the bandwagon it's too late really to jump on.  build something original, let the mind soar!

god knows where broke-ass students can afford to drink in wellington!

UJ's suggested venue concentrates on quality; never mind quantity!

Nope - that's independent - mine is a live rear axle.

d'oh!  yes have been reading/re-acquainting myself with this oz-iron.  sorry for bone-head suggestion.

I guess this is no help?

can't you just go corned-beef and add a VN diff?

I seem to recall mention that the VN diff in VH/VK gives you just a little more track, but fits?  you'd need to verify, but...

 I spent the arvo on more painting prep work, and then spent the end of the arvo sharing a rigger of Bookbinder with my neighbour, along with lengthy discussions of guitar music. 

I had been intending to drop by to see you and shoot some carefully composed documentary photographs while you worked, preserving this for posterity. 

Great to see the progress!

excellent to be able to get the frost plug you need on a weekend.  For all you can say to knock REPCO etc, I always remember to thank the staff for working on their weekends!  If they didn't us weekend mecchers would be shit outa luck.

were you tempted to replace the rest of the frost plugs while they motor was out and you had easy access?

keep up the great work, looking forward to hearing this with bike carbs on it!

I just use the stuff I recommended in the DIY house thread - Breakthrough.  helluva lot cheaper than all those wheel cleaners i've tried (Turtle Wax somthing, Meguiars Hot Rims etc)... and as effective.

I'll sort out a few fotys shortly, and post em here.

the commonwealth games symbol is not best served by substituting black for the original blue, nor repurposing for airlines.

I reckon you could do something interesting with the old P&T logo (like on that Thames Trader) though - take the basic shape, stylise it, make your own substitution, and then add an appropriate period font to match the logo, for the business of your invention.

Gallows and son, commedians

comb and razor, gentlemens barbers

Nobend and P'Farty, art dealers (a filthy rich and catflap reference)

etc...

re insurance companies, if there's no police visit at the scene, no witnesses, and no clarity of 'at fault' - they do 'knock for knock' and pay their own claims.... which in your case would be nil.  Hopefully you had a police visit to the accident, and when drawing the diagrams and statement of what happened, there's no room for interpretation of who's at fault.  In that case your insurer should be chasing her insurer for the pay-out.

yes, ditto bummer to see - glad, though, to hear no damage to either of you.

yes, I found that cats would be gathered around my sigma wherever I parked it, while the fishoilene was drying out

kept the rodents away