rich1068

Looked for a popcorn smilie but I couldn't find one. And anyway, I think it's safe to comment again So I saw Ian's 430 in the flesh on Friday. If he wants to share the ins and outs of what's getting done then that's up to him. Suffice to say, I don't thing the old girl is getting scrapped just yet However, I may slip Dave a few quid and get him to tell Ian it's beyond repair.

So some proper jobs this weekend. Picked up a box full of genuine service items from Lexus Sheffield a couple of weeks ago. Air and pollen filters went in straight away because they're easy but just hadn't got around to anything else. Brake fluid and coolant are both OK, I'm not entirely convinced of the fashion of gearbox oil changes/flushes so today was oil, oil filter and plugs. I also put the @gdh300winter 16s on which I have to say don't look too bad and fitted some custom black mats because I'm sick of cleaning the beige/cream ones. The fronts fit perfectly but the rears definitely do not so I'll try and get that resolved this week. The car continues to run like one half its age and mileage. I would love love love to get some snow this winter and be able to get around in this. First sign and I'll nip up to see Ron. See if he needs anything from the shop Something that has jumped a few positions up the list of jobs is quite why the music system sounds so bad. I thought the cheapy Pioneers had improved things but I think I was kidding myself.

Exactly my logic when I need the top arm for my GS. Lexus was £450+ but ECP was 70 quid. Even if I'm paying someone to fit it you can't argue with that price.

When I had my BMW F30 that's exactly how the blue/red combo was described. And I have to say it did look splendid. Not a choice many would make on paper but in the flesh quite striking. And honest offer but if you post a pic with your pants on top of your trousers at car handover I'll donate £50 to a children's charity of your choice. No pressure

Agreed.

Just spoke to him and he's well. Happy that the car is getting looked after

Certainly has. Criminal that these cars are effectively forced off the road.

As far as I could tell the seller had it lying around and didn't know whether it worked or not. If he was just round the corner I'd certainly do just that. We have kept in touch but haven't heard from him in the last week or two. I think I'll give him a call.

Another progress report. And further evidence of my sheer jamminess. I think I mentioned early on that I'd got the satnav working. Ron had mentioned it was temperamental but I thought I'd solved it just by cleaning the disc. Unfortunately it continued to play up and an up to date disc was no better. This led me to believe it could be the boot mounted unit itself. On to eBay! But a working unit was £165 and I wasn't paying that. Then I spotted one listed Spares or Repair for £22.50 Worth a punt I thought. So I fitted it this afternoon, put in the new disc in, it did some sort of firmware update and Bob's your uncle! Working satnav!

Shame it's already gone. Recent experience with my GS300 means I'd heartily recommend Tony Banks in Leeds for a custom solution. Cost is obviously an issue but for stainless steel I found him to be the cheapest too.

Where would we be without man maths?

Good man. I'll pop over and make sure he's looking after it.

Agreed. The surface corrosion can look quite scary but the components are usually fine. The front suspension on my GS looks shocking but start to strip it down and it's all good. Lovely looking car if it is. If it's solid I'd say (from a dealer) it's worth that all day long.

I'd agree the Collinite boat wax is excellent. Been a long time since I've had time to spend doing this sort of work though. I like the Fusso too and like the Collinite, less is more.

A great choice I think. We don't need any more Polos. I think you're ever so slightly missing the point

Certainly takes me over my self imposed spend limit with this car but the end result is so good.

Excellent! Good choice. The 2JZ-GE in the IS is a peach

I do like that. And I also have an IS300

I could write a book.

OP probably prefers the OEM look. I know I do. But if I do have to fall back on Google Maps data is so cheap now. I get 30gb per month for £20 on an EE SIM only.

There was a discussion on Twitter a week or two ago about the daftest mistakes you've made while doing something to a car. There were some absolute pearlers*, mainly stuff people had never admitted to before. Some serious, some not so much. So I did one this morning that I'm still thinking "**** idiot" every time I'm reminded. Took the front number plate plinth off to clean it and attach the sticky pads for the plate. Then I thought "Got to get this plate perfectly positioned" and I did. Went to attach the plinth and of course I've covered the mounting bolt holes with the plate. Speechless with my own numptiness I had to pull the plate off, ruining the sticky pads, put the plate in the window and drive to Halfords for some new pads. Idiot. *Mine was not tightening the wheel bolts after adjusting the drums on my '65 Beetle. Obviously the ns rear wheel fell off 200 yards up the road. Or forgetting I'd chocked the rear wheels on one of the Saabs when I'd got it up on ramps. Couldn't understand why the car wouldn't reverse off, gave it some beans and the ramps literally flew across the garage

You pay more for noise Plate on today too. Much better.

Originally the job was to fit two large silencers to the rear. The ones that were on were very small and while the car sounded nice and fruity around town it was just too loud on the motorway. This was due to be £250 and was carried out within two hours. Excellent I thought. When I picked it up the difference when I started the car was immediately noticeable. However, once I got back on the motorway the drone was still there and after turning round and returning for Tony to take it on an extremely rapid test drive the decision was made to replace everything from the cat back including fitting a large centre silencer. This was a further £350. So £600 was certainly more than I wanted to spend but I have got a full stainless steel exhaust that sounds lovely (mainly because it doesn't sound of anything!) and will probably outlast all of us.

Ah, CD not DVD. OK. The DVD has the whole of Europe on.