What have you done to your car today?

mjt

mjt

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Had a new windscreen fitted on Tuesday - OMFG what a difference.
Can't believe I waited this long! The half-metre crack wasn't an issue, it was 7 years of stone chips and carwashes.

Amazing :eek:
But then I couldn't actually see anything through the old screen if I was driving into the sun :p
 
Soldato
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17 Sep 2007
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11,095
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West Yorkshire / Market Bosworth
Had a new windscreen fitted on Tuesday - OMFG what a difference.
Can't believe I waited this long! The half-metre crack wasn't an issue, it was 7 years of stone chips and carwashes.

Amazing :eek:
But then I couldn't actually see anything through the old screen if I was driving into the sun :p

Yeah it does look lovely when you have a fresh windscreen. You'll be swearing when you get the first chip though. :p

I think its also because the inside of windscreen is also freshly cleaned, where as most people never bother cleaning the inside of the glass.
 

mjt

mjt

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Yeah it does look lovely when you have a fresh windscreen. You'll be swearing when you get the first chip though. :p

I think its also because the inside of windscreen is also freshly cleaned, where as most people never bother cleaning the inside of the glass.
Yeah that's also true, inside grime plays a big part.
The bugger smeared it though and he left some fingerprints :p

Auto lights and wipers work fine though, so that's a relief. Also didn't leak through the car wash this morning!
 
Thug
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4 Jan 2013
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Bought spark plugs, air filter, oil, oil filter, new battery (current one is from new!), cabin filter and gearbox oil.

Gearbox oil comes in 1 litre bottles annoying as the car takes 2.15litres, so will take a bit of old and add it.

First time really doing anything to a car so this will be fun.

took cover off engine removed leads etc spark plugs are really far down. I can undo but no way of getting them out.... hmm

gearbox oil will be challenging but first time for everything..


I do extremely stresful miles on my car (short journeys with high acceleration) and long long journeys maxed out so it has used most of the oil up. Im sure the car will like this...


Normally id throw into a garage and let them do it but I got the halfords professional set with stands so figure if i do it twice myself ive paid for the set...
 
Soldato
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7 Dec 2011
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10,410
Buy an actual spark plug socket / tool - it has an insert that grips the end of the plug so you can just pull them out.

Also good luck refilling gearbox oil on your drive if you've never done it before! Adding used fluid is a bit silly, but the likelihood is you won't be able to drain everything that is in there anyway.
 
Soldato
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14 Jul 2005
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17,615
Location
Bristol
Buy an actual spark plug socket / tool - it has an insert that grips the end of the plug so you can just pull them out.

Also good luck refilling gearbox oil on your drive if you've never done it before! Adding used fluid is a bit silly, but the likelihood is you won't be able to drain everything that is in there anyway.

Halfords Pro set should have two spark plug sockets included if he has the 120 piece or higher.

Gearbox oil on the drive will be messy, smelly, awkward and horrible the first time you try that one. Once you've done it a few times on different cars it gets easier but first time will probably put you off. The smell doesn't get off your skin for days after either. :(


E: Oh and today I reconnected my steering column after dropping the subframe yesterday to replace the ARB and being unable to reattach the column.
 
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Thug
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4 Jan 2013
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3,783
Halfords Pro set should have two spark plug sockets included if he has the 120 piece or higher.

Gearbox oil on the drive will be messy, smelly, awkward and horrible the first time you try that one. Once you've done it a few times on different cars it gets easier but first time will probably put you off. The smell doesn't get off your skin for days after eithe

E: Oh and today I reconnected my steering column after dropping the subframe yesterday to replace the ARB and being unable to reattach the column.

Ive got a lot of space ill do it off gate---> house path.

Ive got the top 250(Piece) kit so ill have another look. It takes size 16
 

mrk

mrk

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
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100,998
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South Coast
Upgraded the RAM capacity on the head unit to 2GB and customised the homescreen. The Asteroid Smart comes with 512MB of RAM which is fine if you are just playing music and/or navigating. To do more and use a larger footprint launcher you need more ideally. Android is wonderful :cool:

1: £7.99 for a Lexar class 10 16GB SDHC + £7 for RAMEXPANDER app.
parrot_RAM-Expand_2.jpg


And the homescreen:
parrot_ADW.jpg


Now just need to find a decent icon pack and I'm all sorted.
 
Man of Honour
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21 Nov 2004
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45,284
Just took the 55 for a 'spirited' drive after dropping off my other half at the train station. Quite a bit of smoke coming out following my exhaust clean, but I seem to have burnt it all away :D
 
Soldato
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27 Jul 2007
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6,123
Finally found a tyre place I can trust, and the best part is that it's within walking distance of my office.

Had the tyres rotated on my Audi S1 today, as well as Hunter 4 wheel alignment. They didn't charge for rotating the tyres, and only charged £45 for adjusting the camber at the rear and toe at the front :)
 
Associate
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27 Oct 2008
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1,903
Location
Gloucester
Gave my new rear diffuser another couple of coats of paint.
Now need to decide if I'm brave enough to try to lacquer it or just put it on as is.
I've put 2 layers of primer and 5 layers of paint on it so far. I'm fine at the painting but always make a pigs ear of lacquer :(

Not the best photo

 
Caporegime
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22 Oct 2002
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Location
Boston, Lincolnshire
Halfords Pro set should have two spark plug sockets included if he has the 120 piece or higher.

Gearbox oil on the drive will be messy, smelly, awkward and horrible the first time you try that one. Once you've done it a few times on different cars it gets easier but first time will probably put you off. The smell doesn't get off your skin for days after either. :(

How is it messy? A big tray and some clear hose is all you need. Did mine on the Saab today as the previous owner had the box overfilled which meant getting reverse was a little notchy. Undo level plug, stick hose in, undo drain plug, drain oil then fill with fresh. A little spray of APC on the gearbox and sub frame to clean up residue from the drainage.

The only hard part of any gearbox oil change is getting the plugs out!
 
Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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18,299
Done the box and diff in the Silvia the other day, trust me both of them are awkward. The fill plug on the box is really only useful as a level indicator, everybody just takes the shifter out and fills it through the top because it's so much easier, even though the shifter circlip is a total bear to get out.
 
Soldato
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12 Jul 2007
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16,316
Location
South East
Doing the gearbox oil was a bit of a sod on the ST220 mainly because the drain plug sat about 10mm from the subframe. I had to buy a sacrificial allen key, chop the end off, and then put the end in the plug and use a small spanner to undo it. Filling it was OK because the filler cap was higher up and had clearance, so I fed some hosepipe through the engine bay and filled it with a funnel until it started dribbling out.

I did it on both that and the MX5, and they were not the worst jobs I've done, not by a long shot.
 
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