geoffvalenti

I'm dreaming of a stoned Christmas http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=49087&d=1167045012

I had 2 Fleeces in the latest club clothing round. As usual the quality was great and they look really good. I'm with JB on the fact that it looks great at meets with everyone wearing club gear, but I've got to say that I wear mine everywhere else, even to TVR meets which always winds them up

Not the case this time Paul. TVR's, being handbuilt, are always going to have "niggles" If you buy one its all part of the "fun" of it;) It's when they put an engine like the SpeedSix in their cars, which is destined for destruction, that the big problems started. Minor faults we live with. Regularly replacing the engine, at the cost of £1000s we don't Hell, anybody who knows anything about cars has told NS to junk the SpeedSix boat anchor and stick a decent (US sourced) V8 in the cars. There are even some owners who've done just that. Obviously pigheadedness or stupidity prevented him, and this is the result. From a personal point of view, it doesn't really affect me, because if I was looking to change my Griff for anything else, Hell would have to have been long frozen over, before I even considered buying anything with that SpeedSix POS in it, no matter how sexy it looked I do however feel sorry for those who've recently bought a new(ish) TVR. When the factory was up and running, getting things done was a nightmare, now its gone the residual values are going to be in freefall, and getting spares virtually impossible

Welcome Colin, and Happy Christmas while I'm at it Where on the west coast of Ireland are you, you lucky so and so I'd love to be in Ireland for Christmas, the craic has got to be amazing

Although not entirely unsurprising, the way that NS has been carrying on over the last few months. I'll be interested to see what his staunch defenders on PH have got to say about this latest escapade

So what CR do the pistons you're intending to fit claim to give? Just because a piston is .020" oversize, it's not going to be the deciding factor in determining the CR. Its the shape of the crown you want to be looking at. Skimming the head will raise the CR, fitting a thicker head gasket will lower it. Are we talking N/A, TT, Single. It all makes a difference in the final choice of CR

Happy Christmas to you and all your menagerie, Chris

Cringeworthy stuff, but I suppose that'll teach her to go sucking up to her boss

Mine's a lot slower. It just sits on the spot spinning it's wheels TBH, as Gaz says, its a bit more slippery than you'd like, to be giving the car a lot of stick, unless you want to smack it into a lamp post

Dave, stroking it to 5.2l makes little difference to the performance on its own, but Omega forged pistons (10:1 CR), Arrow rods, a nitrided crossdrilled crankshaft, performance cam and stage 3 big valve heads, 45 mm intake trumpets etc. do As a package it puts out a reliable (for TVR ) 305 bhp compared with the 260 or so from the stock TVR built engine. Hopefully with the peace of mind that it's going to stay in one piece when I give it some stick. Of course, getting that power down on to the ground is completely a different matter. Personally I doubt whether I'd have ever got around to spending the money having it done, but having the chance to buy a car that had had loads of money spent on it (in the same way I'd have done myself) was an opportunity too good to refuse

Most people (who can read my sig ) know I've got a Griff. I use it whenever I can. I won't bore everyone else on here about it. If you want an honest appraisal of it PM me.

Depends what you class as "tuned" It could mean anything from a BOV to a full big single installation For the purposes of the exercise, I'll say mine's standard (It's just got exhaust, FCD, Walbro) TBH the best way to make your mind up is to go and drive a few, rather than follow the crowd. Without looking at the poll, I'm sure most will turn out to be auto, mainly because that's how the majority of the cars came from the factory. Virtually none will be factory standard, as most will have some level of tuning, it just depends whether the owner considers it significant enough to be included in the "tuned" category. Drive a few and make your own mind up. Don't dismiss the auto, it's a bloody good 'box and far more enjoyable for in town driving. Conversely the manual is better for the twisties and track days. The manuals feel quicker, but get them side by side at the strip and there's not a lot in it (with the auto usually winning )

Well lets hope that they hadn't been "tuned" to over 12 ft lbs power (for a rifle) otherwise it's classed as a firearm, and needs the appropriate certificate

Received today Thanks for all the hard work Rosie

Arrived safely yesterday Thanks again Rosie

Well bloody thanks a lot, John I clicked on the site, it worked fine, but then spent the rest of the afternoon I could ill afford, totally engrossed Well done on a very informative site

Jake, I'm pretty sure that Garmin haven't released their sat nav software to run on any other devices apart from their own. AIUI its built into the device (probably runs from ROM) As an aside, I suppose you don't happen to have a version of TomTom 6 that runs on Win Mobile 5 (phone edition)

What disease did it have before it was cured?

Sorry Gaz, but I'd have to vote for speed limits

Take it to another MoT station! In all my years of getting cars tested I've NEVER known the tester check the operation of the ABS light. I'm pretty sure that its not even part of the test. It would be if it came on when the brakes were being tested, but to stay off, that's pretty normal As long as it doesn't come on when he's testing the brakes, I can't see any other tester else even worrying about it.

I'm sure that "oilman" will be along soon to wax lyrically about, and extol the virtues of, the expensive oils that he sells. Undoubtedly if you've got a new car that you intend to keep for a long time, or one that has been modified to produce a lot more power than standard, using the best oil available, and changing it regularly is to be recommended. However if your car is of unknown origin, fairly stock power levels (no more than BPU) and/or high(er) mileage, then starting a regime of using eye wateringly priced, designer oil, is literally throwing your money away down the drain (at the oil recycling centre ) Personally I'd recommend using a brand name fully (hydracracked) or semi synthetic and changing it, and the filter every 3000 miles Obviously if you're doing trackdays, or live and die at the Pod etc. then you should use the more expensive stuff, but for normal use to and from Tescos and the like, oil meant for Formula 1 cars isn't really required As for viscosity, Toyota in their wisdom recommend a 10w30 weight oil, so something around that is what you should be aiming at (10w40, 5w40 etc) Personally I wouldn't advise the piss thin 0w grade variants, but each to their own

Yeah, but its a lot warmer this year

From what I understand, she doesn't seem to be sending you the emails maliciously. She's probably just made a genuine mistake with your email address. Either email her directly, thank her for her correspondence but tell her she must have made a mistake because you don't recognise her, or just add her to your junk mail filter. Regardless how you feel about her looks, there really is no reason to be nasty to her!

The TVR is absolutely lethal in the wet with anything more than just cracking the throttle open. To put it into perspective, this is a car that will spin the wheels in 3rd gear, under hard acceleration IN THE DRY! It's drivable, but not necessarily a particularly pleasant experience I use it in the winter, but I certainly pick my moments