stevie_b

An apology, with a side order of a veiled threat about coppers. It's worded in a way to get you worried, not as a friendly tip-off. He could argue to the contrary, so it's absolutely not worth pursuing. Just learn from the experience, and move on.

These things have always been the case though. It's possible (but improbable IMO) that the establishment, assuming they have a consistent view, can use these factors to rig things their way. That won't happen. That's the stuff that causes civil unrest. No-one's said that they will ignore the referendum result.

PM sent.

Hi Martin, Thanks for the offer. How much do you think it'll cost in parts to replace the 1st and 2nd gear synchros, and the bearings? I know almost nothing about gearboxes, and when I phoned Toyota for prices I got more questions than answers.

Migration is a hot topic in this debate, so this is relevent: http://openeurope.org.uk/today/blog/what-would-a-norway-style-relationship-with-the-eu-entail/ If we leave the EU, a Norway- or Swiss- style agreement with the EU would still mean free movement of people in and out of the UK. The UK could negotiate a new type of agreement of course (and maybe the net flow of trade will help us to bargain for that), but the precedents don't indicate that this is likely.

I haven't watched it, but it might be useful for some of you: http://www.iii.co.uk/tv/episode/how-brexit-proof-your-portfolio

If the liquid's cold, that also suggests it's aircon condensation.

These are valid concerns. I don't fully trust the public to make sensible choices in referendums, fearing that it would turn into a charisma contest for the proponents of each side. I saw an article this morning form the usually excellent Money Saving Expert website, and this one didn't disappoint either. I haven't digested it fully and I think it contains points that we've already batted around a lot in this thread, but here you go: http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2016/06/05/how-to-vote-in-the-eu-referendum/

That won't happen: https://fullfact.org/europe/explaining-eu-deal-uk-and-eurozone/ In particular: "The UK’s concern that non-euro states might be required to bail out euro countries is also addressed: the deal makes clear that the former don’t have any such budgetary responsibility." Non-euro states have more economic levers they can pull to address their domestic problems (interest rates, devaluation of currency, QE, etc), so I don't think they're a concern. Are you sure we do this? Our circa £120m per week (not £367m) isn't ring-fenced, so it's hard to say what it gets spent on. But AFAIK the UK's contribution hasn't increased as a result of the Greek crisis, so I assume there's only a small link between what we pay and helping out the Greeks etc. It's the eurozone countries that mainly carry the can for this. This is the nature of the beast though. It's like most clubs. You don't always have a say in how your subs are spent. You keep paying because you perceive to get more benefits of membership than it costs in subs.

I disagree. I think it'll be 25 years minimum if we leave, before re-joining is seriously considered. It really is a once in a lifetime choice for many people.

Thanks for the views, I appreciate it. My car will definitely be staying at stock NA power. £600-800 is the going rate for a used W58, depending on history of course. So that's the main cost of doing the swap. Then there's paying someone to swap it over for me, not a job I was intending on doing myself. I'm happy to do some spannering but I think that's beyond me, and I'd need a knowledgeable assistant to help me heave the box into place. I've been quoted £650 to take the old box off, and open it up to see what needs replacing. If I did that, I'd probably want to change the bearings as well. So with a few synchros and bearings, and labour to fit it all and bolt it back up, that'll probably come in around £1k. That's using a gearbox specialist, which seems the safest way to go given the complexity of these things.

It'll be cheaper to buy and fit the NA-T box, but only if it lasts. Refurb costs are a big unknown: most refurbs don't change everything inside, that's big money to do that. They only change what's worn or broken, and you only really know what needs changing when it gets opened up. Best case scenario is that refurbing will cost about the same as buying/fitting the other box. Worst case, could be £2k-£3k more to refurb than to swap.

If I do that, I'm probably better off just refurbing my current one. I'd save myself £1k (by the time you factor in the purchase, courier, and fitting labour for the NA-T box), and not have a spare gearbox in storage somewhere (which my wife might not appreciate in the long term). It swings on whether the NA-T box is likely to be a time bomb or not.

A concern is availability of parts for a refurb. At the moment they're widely available, but for how long? If I get mine refurbed, it'll cost more, but with new internals it should outlast the car (I'll keep it as a stock NA, and I drive sympathetically). If I buy and fit the NA-T box and something lets go say 5 years later, I'd be left with 2 ropey W58s, and possibly no parts available to repair either of them. Time that the car's off the road isn't a concern: it's only an occasional toy.

My W58 gearbox has had worn synchros for 1st and 2nd gear for several years now. It's not getting any worse, but I'd like to get it fixed. I also suspect the gearbox didn't have the easiest of lives before I owned the car (I remember Graham S on here giving it a service soon after I bought it, he changed the gearbox oil, and said it was better now because he can no longer hear the transmission whine!) I've been offered a W58 from an NA-T running 320bhp. It's claimed to be very low mileage (50,000 ish). I've got no way of verifying that. I believe the current owner drives the box relatively sympathetically. The box was used with a paddle clutch which is well worn. The box is said to have no faults, selects gears very well, no noises etc. I'm torn between getting my box refurbished, or taking a risk with the box from the NA-T. I don't know how much it'll cost to refurbish my box: 1st and 2nd synchros certainly need replacing, but there might be other parts too: bearings, etc. What's the chances of the NA-T box lasting well? Once the parts have survived the stresses of NA-T, do they tend to be reliable when it gets mated to a stock NA again? Or could there be stress fractures, that kind of thing, that are a time bomb?

The article talks about the "single market". That's not the same thing as we're voting on in the referendum, is it? The referendum is about "membership of the EU", not "membership of the EU single market". They're not the same thing. Am I correct? The article leaves the skim-reader thinking that the MPs are considering defying the referendum result. But I don't think that's what's being considered. Defying the referendum would be pure political suicide.

Occasionally the cigarette lighter units themsevles just give up. I've never bothered to diagnose the problem, it might be as simple as a dry solder on the contacts behind or something like that. This thread might help if you're able to try a different one. I would get a multimeter across the terminals on the back of it, and see if it's getting power. http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?140796-how-to-remove-the-cig-lighter

Who's JB?

Hi, Random question here: how do you find the stage 3 clutch? Not too harsh?

More conjecture than proof, but this came out today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36446023 The JPM guy was speaking with Osborne. How much credibility this news story has, perhaps depends on whether Dimon invited Osborne there for purely political reasons (I think that's highly unlikely), or whether he did it because he's worried about Brexit.

Just because it's still broken, it doesn't follow that the best thing to do is to leave. These things can take decades to change/fix. The question for me is: can it realistically be fixed within a timeline we can stomach? My own view is "only via drastic reforms, moving away from a political union". Can this happen within a sensible timeframe? I dunno. Good point, and quite likely in my humble opinion. The remaining EU countries wouldn't want to give the leavers a soft landing. Being a net importer of EU goods does put us in a strong position at the negotiation table, but I don't think the EU would bend over to appease the UK.

He should also have mentioned the flow of money the other way, but I wonder if he did? We're still a net contributor (not a net receiver) to the EU, but it's much less than 367m. All the politicians have an axe to grind, and they'll spin the statistics to suit them.

Here it is. They've changed the title of the story, and the web link has the title embedded in it. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/juncker-vows-to-use-new-powers-to-block-the-far-right-nq5r5tnqq

Everything you've said is correct. The speedo will tend to over-read a bit, that's normal. I don't have any experience of this particular converter, but I'm 99% sure it'll do exactly what you want.