Kranz

Hmm, they're multiplying.... Its definately the parents to blame, no social responsibility or parenting skills. Most can't even stand their own kids (mind you, neither can I). These are my local chavs: http://www.southwick-soldiers.piczo.com/ Yes, they call themselves the soldiers & think theyre hard. Made one of them cry the other day. BTW know what CHAV stands for? Council Housing And Violence Anyay, back on topic.......

Sorry to hear the bad news Yankee. Best thing to do in this sitution is to immediately get the car indoors in a secure area. A lockup or garage will do, just as long as joe public doesn't have access to it. This will ensure continuity of evidence, which is something that the CPS want to see or it'll never get to court. Its likely that the crim (if caught) will say he was just passing the car & touched the roof anyhow, which wouldn't really be enough to get to court on its own. If there's a description of clothing that can be seized & examined for glass fragments when he's nicked, but if its waiting on prints then this will be a couple of weeks. Remember to take a sample of the broken glass and bag it up so it can be handed over to soco, just in case it's all hoovered out b4 they arrive. Best place to find prints is on the inside of the car, as long as the car was immediately secured in a garage etc. If the car can't be secured indoors then parked on a drive will do, just anywhee the public don't have access. Covering the prints on the roof with a cardboard box, then taping a bin bag over so rain can't get to it is second best. The bin bag alone might destroy the prints. Whatever you do, make sure a SOCO comes out & checks the car. Its the only way to get good evidence that'll lead to a conviction that'll lead to you getting compensation. And remenber to keep all receipts! Good luck Steve

I used to own a Shaguar. Was always parking it in the middle of nowhere at the far end of carparks so scumbags didn't dent it. Time and again some sh1t would park right next to it, ignoring the hundreds of spaces closer to whatever, and it was almost guaranteed to have a dent when I came back. But mindlessley keying it through jealousy? I'd be plenty mad... I mean revenge mad! Sup rarely gets parked in carparks for this reason. They deserve stringing up by the b*ll*cks, if they have any that is. Its called restorative justice & the government is well up for it... Thats my interpetation anyhow:innocent:

As an alternative to the tracker, take a look here: http://www.verilocation.com/default.aspx Its a web based mobile phone tracker. All you need to do is stick a mobile in your car somewhere on constant charge, and sign up to the service, which costs £5+vat a month. Your £5 pays for credits, which you then use to locate a mobile that's on your list of up to 5 consenting mobiles. Useful for tracking kids too!! No installation fees, no annual rental & you can put up to 5 cars (mobiles) on it. You can access it through your mobile phone too, so its handy if you forget where you parked the car The acuracy does depend on the number of cells in the location, but I've tried it at work & its gets within 200m.

Guru, I dunno. Suppose whatever it is its mounted on the back of the speedo?

Even better, as its raining I kept mine in the garage: Must be a miracle or something, its so quiet and fuel consumption is zero! B11GYS, sorry to be so cynical, but I am! There are so many cons out there trying to get joe public to part with his/her hard earned dosh that I personally can't believe anything until its proven to me & I've run the tests myself. Now if it had been tested properly and the results published in the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) journal as a research paper with proven evidence, then I may change my mind. Slick 50 were fined $Millions in the States for falsely claiming their product did this and that, X MPG more & could run the engine on no oil after using it etc. Following the fine, their reputation was s**t. They then did their research properly & published the results in an SAE paper for the world to see. The result was: No claimed increase in MPG No claimed increase in power No claimed protection from running out of oil No claimed smoother & quieter running Only a claim that the camshaft would wear a bit less!

Too true! Especially these days. All manufacturers are looking at all technologies for improvements. There's a move to rationalise everything and make all systems less consuming. Look at the trend towards EPAS (like the Fiat Punto with the girly button). It only draws power when required, not like a recirculating fluid PAS. Cost over the regular PAS system a couple of $ but they're all going for it for those few g of CO2 less on the emissions cycle. A little capsule or liquid that doses the fuel and catalyses the combustion in the cylinder, and turns things red??? I don't think so.... However, if you want to reduce heat transfer from the combustion flame to the piston crown & combustion chamber get the chamber coated in a hgh temp enamel coating that insulats the parts from the heat. More energy going to power the vehicle = more MPG. Perhaps that's what this product is doing by insulating the chamber from the flamefront... building up a layer of carbon? WHo knows?

With the accuracy of sender units, I'd be happy to see +/- 50 miles on a rolling road dyno with the car absolutely steady running the same loads in a back to back test. An engine dyno is the only way of testing it empirically using a baselined engine on a reference (undosed) fuel initially and using an accurate gravimertic fuel meter while running load range curves & measuring the BSFC. Eiter that or on an emissions rollingroad running the NEDC and calculating SFC from the bagged CO2. In a former job I calibrated the rundry protection on the Ford Focus diesel, which was designed to protect the fuel injection pump from running dry. The sender was so innacurate that at a certain level we had to switch from reading the tank level from the sender to counting fuel pulses. Ah, the good old days of driving around Basildon waiting for it to trigger the programmed misfire. Anyone own a Focus Diesel BTW? Tried my system out? Back on topic, I'm sceptical. Show me empirical data, and not just some Taxi smokemeter reading from an old MOT test where it was dirty one time & clean the next, heck can do that on my Bedford truck by not warming it up properly!

Tax online started at the same time as the new computer print out MOTs. This figures as they need to check their MOT database to see you have a valid MOT before sending your tax disc. Insurance has been on a database (MID - Motor Insurance Database) for years, with most insurance companies signing up to it. This means that finding all your documents, trapesing down to the Post Orifice at lunchtime and waiting in line with old folk collecting their pensions (that smell faintly of wee) is a thing of the past, unless you like the smell of wee? One thing though.... If you pay your insurance monthly it may not show on the database as being insured, so you may not be able to do it online. I think this is because the policy has not been fully paid for, and if you miss a payment the insurance stops, so they can't say there's a 12 month policy when there isn't?!? I know it doesn't show up on police computers as insured!!! Steve Project Stealth - '93 J spec in gorgeous black (now with two black wheels!)

JohnA Thanks for the appreciation The paper counterpart is the bit that the points go on & you want to keep that, however the credit card sized part has a pic of you on it, your full name, date of birth, address & proves you have a licence. That's all a cop needs to be happy the person is a valid driver & is who they say they are. Most stops are not for speeding alone, but allow cops to check for a DIC (drink driver) by having a good sniff (same for cannabis), to check the driver is actually licensed & more & more these days actually insured. Its the way to catch crims in action as most use cars to do their 'work'. As long as you're above board & check out 100% genuine then they'll soon get bored & want to move on to the next potential prey who'se driving is a bit sus. Cheers Steve

JohnA Have you thought about spectroscopic oil analysis instead of throwing your fully synth lube out every 1500 miles? Its half the price of an oil change or less, it shows you exactly how the engine is wearing, how the oil is doing, its suitability for the job, when it needs changing & even how effective the air filter is! Also it can be a good record of service & maintenance. What better way to prove the integrity of the engine to a prospective buyer than tens of thousands of miles of data showing how the engine is wearing. I've done it on my 93 spec TT for the last 2 services & all's well in the engine. If something starts to go off, say a stuck or broken piston ring I'll see it in the wear metals & contaminants. Useful & cost effective! I once wrote an article about oil analysis on LPG powered cars that shows how in depth it can be: http://www.lubetrak.com/newsletter/May14HTML.html If anyone's interested mail me direct. Steve

Hi, Just logged onto this forum, its top bananna Have one small problem with the '93 TT. When the speedo goes over 95 it drops back to 40ish and sits there quivering until the speed drops below 95 again. I don't do this often (yeah, right ) but its annoying more than anything else, and I have to gusee my speed by RPM. I can just see it, I get pulled for speeding and the cop asks "do you know how fast you were going?" "Yeah, about 4800 rpm officer!" Kia Sup

Believe it or not Police do not like doing traffic files... even the donut eating traffic cops All Police are monitored on detections (i.e. bringing someone to justice by way of a prosecution) but these are only for crimes, not offences (such as speeding & all other traffic matters). Drink drivers don't count on the targets that are set, neither are traffic tickets or summonses. Only the really anal amongst them *LOVE* doing traffic summons files, tickets NIPs (Notice of Intended prosecution - the words said prior to a summons arriving in the post) etc. So, here's my top 10 tips to avoiding a ticket/NIP: 1) Avoid your Sup loking like a real Chavmobile with cheap LED screen washers & neons badly fitted, & don't use them on the road - Police only pull motors they "fancy"; in essence look like they're being used by crims & nare-do-well's that'd rather spend their dosh on tacky bling than insurance etc. 2) If stopped by regular cops (there needs to be 2 of them as one will not be sufficient to evidence your speed beyond reasonable doubt) then there's a test that is used in the initial couple of seconds called the 'attitude test'. If you're polite & geneuinely remorseful in the first few seconds of the encounter then the cop is much more likely to give a verbal warning rather than start issuing tickets/summonses 3) Have your driving licence plastic card on you, not having this or any other documents or proof of ID gets the level of suspicion right up & will entail a lengthy PNC check process that means the pen will have to come out. Once the pen is out its a small step to the ticket being written. Offer up information & explain yourself in a polite fashion & you'll most likely walk away with words of advice. 4) Traffic police are called 'Black Rats' for one reason - They'll eat their own offspring , so if you get stopped by traffic the game's usually up. If you have one behind you & you know you've been seen doing something wrong, slow it down & pull over in a safe location. If they pull in behind you get out, go to the kerbside & wait for the traffic cop to join you. Put your best smile on and greet them with a friendly hello. Then explain that you thought they were going to pull you as you're always getting pulled, so you thought you'd make their job easier. Don't say anything about being sorry at this stage! If they say you were speeding or whatever then you're as good as caught. They have video in all the cars that records everything. Being polite at this stage may help if the video gets played in court. If you're the type that always denies everything then deny away, but all the evidence is there so this will most likely give the magistrates the wrong impression if the tape is played in court. 5) The longer the process leading up to being booked up takes, the more likely the cops are going to get a call to a more important job, resulting in a quick telling off & them leaving. 6) If you spot them before they're right on your tail, & they haven't been following you for miles, then back off & let them cruise past. Most times they won't bother even having a word if they saw you at a distance and weren't able to clock your speed. 7) Your speed has to be measured accurately enough to enable a ticket to be written or a NIP. Be wary of cars accelerating up behind then matching your speed, especially at night. 8) Keep the pedal off the metal 9) Use the cruise control 10) Obey the law!!