stevie_b

He seems to be a true conviction politician, a rare breed these days. The last previous one was arguably Thatcher. It'll be an interesting time for British politics. I would have said Liz Kendall would have been the best choice, but she came last in the contest. It might be that the public warms to his approach, and see it as a refreshing change from the "spin from a suit" that comes from most politicians.

Ergo, she thinks everyone who owns these cars drives them like a loony. She's probably been wronged by someone driving a fancy car. Nothing to see here.

UK spec front calipers have 4 pistons in an opposed arrangement. Standard JSpec ones have 2 pistons.

Thanks Chris. Reverse is easy to get into, as are all the other gears. I don't do enthusiastic driving or gear changes: street, dragstrip or circuit. I get a nosebleed if I take my car above 4000rpm. I kid you not, buses out-accelerate me in my Supra. Can anyone recommend a gearbox rebuilder? These guys are close but I have no recommendations: http://www.tadleytransmissions.co.uk/gearbox-repairers/default.asp

No visible leaks from either master or slave cylinder, and the fluid level in the master's reservoir is constant. I'll try changing the clutch fluid this weekend to see if that helps, although the fluid's colour looks OK. Some more info about my symptoms: Only when I change gear from 1st to 2nd, when the lever is moving from neutral to 2nd, there's a grind/rumble/vibration. You can hear it (I doubt it's loud enough to record on a phone though), and feel it through the gear lever. It doesn't happen if I let the revs die right down between 1st and 2nd gear. It doesn't happen for any other gear change, only 1st to 2nd. Does anyone recognise those symptoms? I'll let you know if the clutch fluid change improves it. If not, I don't know whether to get the clutch changed, or get the gearbox refurbed.

+1, I think he (Stonkin) is based in W Sussex.

I'll get some of that flush, thank you for the advice. I was thinking of getting an OBD2 reader to try and diagnose the engine cough. With the EML light not coming on, do you think it could help?

Timely advice about the oil: I've discovered mine has a thirst for it. I think I'll clean the PCV valve, do a compression test, leakdown test, then a kerosene flush (!) in that order. Oil control rings (same as piston rings?) seem to be commonly blamed for it, and the kerosene allegedly shifts some carbon deposits that may be causing them to stick. Has potential for causing more damage though. Do some fault codes get logged without the EML coming on? I don't have the EML light, but the hesitation suggests something's not right.

You're correct I think, but the problem with the cheaper adaptors is that they have a habit of dropping the connection. This isn't from personal experience, but just from what I've read on the net.

I'm in Basingstoke and work in London. I've heard that with code readers, you generally get what you pay for. Cheap ones don't read a lot of the manufacturer-specific codes. Thank you for the offer. Unfortunately I'm not going to JAE. I might get the Torque app for my phone, and buy a decent bluetooth connector (the PLX Kiwi 2 seems to be recommended). Any other recommendations?

Congratulations to her, she's done a fantastic job.

That's what I would do.

IIRC a butterfly valve on the intake plenum opens at higher RPMs (I thought it was about 4k but might be wrong) to give it a bit more poke at higher revs.

Glad you got it sorted. How did you deduce there were no error codes though? For the speed converter to prevent the odo from counting up, it usually means the speed signal isn't being passed to the odo, and that means the ECU won't see a speed signal, and that condition will generate a code 42. I'm saying this because it sounds like there's something not working with your error/warning lights. Code 42 is trivial and can be ignored, but other codes might cause serious trouble if you're not aware of them.

Does anyone near me have an OBDII code reader I could borrow for a couple of days sometime please? I want to check if there are any fault codes on my Ford Cmax 2006. Thanks.

Well worth a read: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-solar-panels

My thing is macro photography: taking photos of small things, actual size or bigger. Here's a photo of a fly's head. In macro photography, you're often battling against extremely shallow DOF. Notice how the fly's head is in focus, but its body isn't. The crisp focus has disappared in a matter of a few millimetres. This is an extreme example though, and you'll have much more DOF to play with if you're taking non-macro shots. [ATTACH=CONFIG]204743[/ATTACH]

The Tamron lens is OK. Quite heavy but nowhere near as heavy as carrying multiple lenses. It would (probably) be better if it had VR (vibration reduction, to eliminate a bit of camera shake when hand-held). Tamron, Sigma, Nikon etc make plenty of lenses these days with VR, so that's just a function of my lens being older. I think you'll have better quality photos with a combination of your 18-55mm and 55mm-200mm lenses, than you'll get with a 18-200mm lens. Lens creep can be an issue with some zoom lenses: something to consider if you'll hold/mount the camera pointing significantly up or down. Lenses with large focal ranges (e.g. 18-200mm) are sometimes known as walkabout lenses: you can attach it in the morning, and not have to swap it out no matter what you want to take, as long as it's not specialist. If you find carrying lots of kit and changing lenses bothersome (I know I do from time to time, depending on what I'm doing), they're pretty good. The easiest way of controlling the DOF (depth of field) is by putting the camera into aperture-priority mode. Like this, you choose how big the aperture hole is that lets light into the camera. The camera calculates the shutter speed for you, based on your choice of aperture. The size of the aperture uses the f-stop scale. The f-stop scale is a bit weird if you're not used to it: it uses strange steps, not something easy like f1, f2, f3, f4... All you need to know is that small f-numbers (e.g. f1.8) mean a large hole, and that gives a small DOF (the plane of sharp focus falls off quickly). Large f-numbers (e.g. f16) mean a small hole, and that gives a large DOF (objects that are a long way in front or behind your focus point are still in pretty good focus).

I think the FIT is going down because it's costing ther govt too much money. I'm not sure if that decrease has already happened, but it'll be an important consideration if figuring out whether to get a fresh install.

Subscribed for interest I suppose what you should start playing with, depends on what you want from your photos. Is there a particular style you're after? Are you after a documentary-style where you just try to capture crisp, well-lit photos with no specific style e.g. no moodiness from underexposure? (I'm guessing not). In terms of kit, it's more to do with the quality and capabilities of your lenses (or "glass" as the photographers call it) than the camera body. I have a Nikon D5000, with the same 18-55mm kit lens as you. I've also got a 18-200mm Tamron lens without VR, which I view as a jack of all trades and master of none. I also have a 35mm prime lens which is optically very good whilst being fast, cheap and small. In your position, I'd play around with reducing the depth of field (DOF) - this throws the background into a soft blur to make it less distracting. In Auto mode, cameras tends to try and make everything in focus. Reduce the DOF by using a smaller f-number (opening the aperture). I'd also look at getting an off-camera flash to use as a fill-flash. I'm not sure how useful it would be for taking car photos outside - the light from the flash might get lost, and you wouldn't want flash glare off the car's paintwork.

I think Benjy has posted up a flowchart from the VOSA MOT tester's handbook about import emissions testing. I couldn't find it from a quick search though. The key point is that your model of car (a UK supra isn't the same as an RZ-S supra, although they both have the 2JZ-GTE engine, not sure if that changes things?) was never sold directly on the UK market, it's a grey import, therefore doesn't have VOSA-approved emissions tolerances.

The map looks south-west specific. Cornwall/Devon are covered in yellow dots, with very few elsewhere. Could be due to feedback from holidaymakers during the holiday season I suppose.

Fair enough, thanks for the advice chaps!

It's a 1.8 duratec petrol. I'm not that bothered by it, I just like to know the health of the engine, and generally interested. I used to have a spreadsheet of my supra's mpg over several years. Some would say OCD, others would say it's a useful indicator of problems before you'd otherwise notice them. You decide!

I changed the spark plugs on my Cmax at the weekend. Photo of the old ones is attached. Numbered left to right as 1 to 4, what's your opinions about the mixture? Is cylinder 2 about right, and the others too rich? I've looked up guides on the internet, e.g. here: http://ngksparkplugs.com/tech_support/spark_plugs/faqs/faqread.asp. In the good old days this info used to be at the back of a Haynes manual. The plugs are exactly how they came out of the engine: not wiped down, not rolled around on the ground picking up dirt either. The reason for asking is that the car had a cough at a particular point in the rev range, and it also has trouble warm-starting occasionally. The cough might have been fixed by the change of plugs (I've already changed the air filter), but all this has prompted me to take a close look at how the engine's running. My next question if some are too rich/lean, is how to correct it, but I'll see what you think of the plugs first.