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So you want bare knuckles, do you?

overtook a world record speedboat travelling down the M6 as we returned from a week in Scotland coming back down the M6 today from a week away up near Oban we spotted this beauty travelling down the M6 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-68489654

It's mot time again. Just a quick wash down and fingers crossed it passes.

Mint sauce, anyone?

TFTD Sunday: “Here’s something to think about: How come you never see a headline like ‘Psychic Wins Lottery’?” — Jay Leno

An awful lot of people are quite sensitive to criticism, so can be hesitant to respond to what they think might be a contentious issue. Doesn't mean they aren't listening. Do not feel bad towards the people who ignore you or disagree with you, your real enemies are the people who try and silence you.

Drums on the rears of RWD or AWD BEV,s is something simply clever. Servicing and Maintenance is required even if Consumables are not required. ICE Vehicles now on SERVICE PLANS might well get nothing done to the brakes in 3-5 years. Not even the wheels taken off, brakes serviced just a visual inspection, no brake fluid checks, H20 content or anything. At least the BEV thing which is common is the Brake Fluid change at 2 years. Well that is getting missed as well, but that is what the UK Motor Trade is like. More interested in telling owners the AC service is due at 2 years than the safety stuff.

The BEV / PHEV Garage / Workshop and conversion trade is developing. The Technical Colleges and Vehicle Colleges are running the coarse,s and getting on with what is needed into the future. Somehow people seem to think that Companies and Businesses, Manufacturers and others are all mumpties and mumping on about EV,s is going to halt the future from happening. Their business plans are set now and their financing etc. Some will fall by the way side, there will be new developments. Back 51 years ago in 1973 when Mobile Phones were a novelty or a joke who would have believed that there would be homes without Land Line phones.

Hmmm £0 spent on brakes? Maybe that's why they've had problems stopping them on motorways lol

im now a podcast editing pro had to do a re recording as the audio quality on the first one (last weekend) was ****e as the midmcrophone was terribly clippy. so, i trialled a different approach. Missus mac recorded the segments on on phone with BT handsfree, and emailed them to me. and tonight ive stitched the bits together, made the spacing sound natural, got the speed just right, editted out the rustling noises at the ends of recordings. and after i export this clean version ill add the royalty free background music i selected. career change in the offing???? p.s. dont worry, im not drinkin the screen wash

I used to pack Eccles cakes as 'anti-bonk' food I cycled up to Scotland with a friend who wanted to do something 'big' for his birthday. I said how about 100 miles on a bike and a few mountains to get over on the way (via the main road of course). I was flying, no problems at all, in fact, I flew up Carter Bar and left my friend 15 minutes behind... Until 10 miles from the end, I bonked! and not in a good way. Eccles to the rescue, 10 minutes later I was back up to speed. Superfood indeed

Not exactly Mantovani ...

The bank robbery one? Yeah 🥱 Pretty sure ads were way better in the 80s and 90s

It's the AA one that grinds my teeth. It's been running since before Christmas!! Some say that's its done it's job if we are talking about it but with me it has the opposite effect.

Tonight was Sea Bass poached in Prawn Wonton soup, garlic, ginger, fresh fennel, rice wine & Soy Sauce & served with some steamed rice. May not look the best presented dish but it was rather good for something I dreamt up on the fly from what was in the fridge & freezer.

Leftovers - one of my favourites!: Under the green salad, there's peppers, celery, cucumber, avocado salad with feta, potato wedges, then, in view, homemade coleslaw and slices of bacon wrapped chicken joint. Our butcher de-bones a whole chicken, then wraps it. It's really rather good, not to mention great the next day. I'd had pud earlier, in the form of a pot of tea and carrot cake, up on Ashdown Forest. Bloody lovely bit of cake : Gaz

I have one but to date have only refuelled my enemies cars from it!

I wanted a folding e-bike i could take in the MINI Electric if using a slow charger rather than staying with the car at Rapids for up to 40 minutes so tried a few recently but today tried one of these and it was just what i was after and ordered one.

@EnterNameWell you need to fire up coal occasionally because you might not have enough to make the tea. EDF has a nuclear power station in Scotland that can power 75% of the homes but does not as the electricity is not required often. England needs those small Modular Nuclear Reactors, and the Diesel Farms, & Coal and still pays more importing from overseas than it will to get Electricity from Scotland just incase that Scotland might split away. The Southern part of the UK and where the most live need to realize just how supported they are from others. Lovely having wealth to buy goods and imports, but as it is maybe time you have some of your own food, energy etc available. Energy and food security.

Since the UK is an Island Nation or 4 and the Poo & Pish needs processed to go back on the land or to the sea why is the technology already available not used for all off it to produce energy? Because the Oil & Gas and Nuclear & Coal want to take the p!ss is why. Just like the Water & Sewage companies. Take the profits, sh!t all done for the environment. PS Problem with Growing Crops for Fuel is that England can not feed it,s self. The waste from Crops can produce Gas, the rubbish tips can, that can produce electric. It does local to me. There are Farms now putting Gas into the Grid, and places with Battery Storage being built near these places and near the solar & wind farms. Once England stops thinking and blocking the technology already available then you might advance to net zero, but sadly the issue is the Government & Oil & Gas & overseas Wealth Funds. & some MP,s and Peers with their investments in the old technologies.

would you refer to a petrol station as "public refuelling" ?? probably not ;o) Whilst it is undoubtedly true that the cost per unit may be higher than on your home tariff at charging points away from home whats the difference ? Aren't these (most of the time) privately owned chargers selling a service/product at a profit?

Been there done that in my mums house a few years ago. House was empty (Mum in car home) & sister & I were visiting her & the house once a week. Unbeknown to me my sister had turned off the heating in the house to "save gas". Well that didn't turn out well because we had a cold snap & a pipe in the loft sprang a leak that went undetected for 5 days. Needless to say the damage was extensive. Battle with insurance company ensued who wriggled hard but caved in the end. Oscillating multi tools are great bits of kit. I have a corded & battery version. Not used every day but when you need one, you need one. Hope you find the source of the leak & get it fixed today.🤞

@J.R. look at SSE Energy Solutions. Look at other electric generation companies and renewables / wind farm and solar is Scotland that are in the business of selling electricity and now in partnerships with EV Charging providers. Scotland is not England and the real issue in Scotland is not enough storage for the electricity that can be produced or the customers taking it since not all is connected to the national grid. Electricity is not free but it can be damn cheap in some communities producing it with turbines they own and that the initial investments are paid back on.

Which research including Cost savings EV versus ice across different models based on efficiency and charging costs https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/new-and-used-cars/article/electric-car-charging-guide/how-much-does-it-cost-to-charge-an-electric-car-a8f4g1o7JzXj

It is done. Plugged in VCDS and gave the unit a scan. It was running 6270. One (albeit Russian) forum search later, and it working again on 6276 perfectly. £5 on some CD's + trial and error, all sorted, can't complain!

Back to Eccles cakes, they were a favourite of mine when out mountain biking - bit of fruit, some carbs, some sugar 👍

Last night, I did some dry runs of the suspension assembly. As I also received this: Although I have a pair of spring compressors which have served me well over the last decade, the workshop manual implies the rear springs could well require compressing to get free, and I suspect I won't have enough ground clearance off the driveway to get the lower arm down enough to free them without one. This particular compressor also has plastic covers which would help in reducing scratches, and also, only one tool is required to tighten or loosen the spring rather than going from one side to the other, and then finding out it fouls the strut or something. This thing was £86.44 from eBay, but given its a very generic spring compressor tool, I won't tally it up in the miscellaneous section, as it isn't really Skoda/VW group specific. Anyways, had to play around with the components just to keep in mind the right ordering, so the upperpart of the strut bearing has a slot that the bump stop plonks into: The dust cover also slots into the centre, with a bit of fettling: The lower part then slides on, the above shows a notch on the right side, which slots into a cut out in the lower part: The result can then slide over the strut: So it would be a case of the spring goes on, then the strut bearing with the attached bits, then the bolt on the top tightened up. So this morning, back to the original task of removing the seats. In every other car where I've removed the seats, its been a case of 4 bolts, slide forward for the rear, slide backwards from the front. The steps are the same, but with the notable difference of being electric. So slowly slide the seats forward: So the bolts are revealed, which are M10 spline bits, akin to the type attaching the steering wheel onto the column: So remove those: Then proceed to move the seat backwards, I did it just enough to get access to the front screws: So undo those: So the seat is now able to be freed: Repeat for the other side. Before I proceeded, I then disconnected the battery: I would suspect this car is modern enough to have airbags in the seat, so this is to remove power and to make sure any remaining current and what not is drained (I don't actually know if capacitors are involved in airbags, probably). So instead of waiting around, decided to assemble the front suspension, as it was quite a sunny day. So here's my makeshift workbench: Just a garden table (with some seasoning wood moved aside). I then assembled the spring compressor, took some deep breaths, and began the process of mounting the spring onto the compressor: The compressor has a 21mm socket on the end, so got my ratchet spanner onto it and began tightening. It goes without saying, please WEAR EYE PROTECTION, and also be absolutely sure that whatever is to the left and to the right of the spring is something you don't mind putting a potential hole in if things go awry. As per yesterday, I assembled the remaining bits ready for quick putting together: One thing I also did was to apply corrosion block grease on the shiny part of the lower strut bearing. The spring appears to sit on this part, but in general seems exposed to the elements, so a thing layer of the grease hopefully keeps it from rusting too badly. I also did the same for the spring, as the springs appear to have a tiny nick on the finish. The compressor needs to compress the spring it quite a bit, and it certainly gets tighter as you do so. The compressor is either then following the springs orientation, or its bending. To be honest, the compressor is a solid lump, a good 12kg of metal, so it was probably better than it looked. So once sufficiently compressed, I then try to dry fit it: Basically, once the thread of the strut goes through the strut bearing with what looks like enough thread for the nut, then you're nearly there. Basically, put the nut on and after a few turns, breath a sigh of relief. Just also make sure the spring is aligned appropriately to the bottom seat insulator and the strut seat: Here's the nut attached on, so the spring compressor is essentially ready to be removed: So undo the spring compressor, and eventually it'll loosen enough to free itself from the spring: So that's pretty much it. The workshop manual says to tighten the top bolt to 60nm. I don't really have a specialist tool to allow for torque tightening, maybe something I might invest in, but for now, just used a swan neck spanner and a hex bit. I believe it was a 22mm nut and a 7mm hex socket. I just did it until I couldn't really tighten it anymore. As I did a final inspection, I noticed a booboo: I guess as I was turning the strut around when aligning it to the spring and the seat and so on, I must have turned it and put weight on it in such a way that cracked the cover for the connector for the Damptronic/DCC bits. I'll remain optimistic that I can just use the ones on the existing struts, but if not, I'll either source a replacement, or just duct tape this back in shape. So I think the first strut took 45 minutes, and the other 30, primarily because I'm super scared of spring compressors when I'm using it, so I'm always checking and double checking every step of the way: So that's the front struts. I'll put a stop on this post and return back to the seats. Maintenance: £1344.91 Upgrades: £337.06 Miscellaneous: £584.95

Koni Street (orange) but also Bilstein (black) Sachs can do the task.

You don't have space to remove the bulb without removing the whole headlight. I allready tried everything and the only solution was to remove the whole headlight...

Did you include the 20p credit for the find under the seat?😆

It turns out that McDonalds create their own bio diesel from their used cooking oils. Do McDonald's use recycled cooking oil to fuel your own delivery vehicles? (mcdonalds.com)

It's impossible to gauge 'town' as everyone will encounter different conditions. Our Karoq was almost exlusively used for driving around town, a one-way trip of 4 miles. It was hardly ever done in heavy traffic, but the average speed would have been around 15mph. ( it wouldn't have taken me much longer on the bicycle ! ). I wasn't the main driver of that car but what I found was outside temp. had a big influence on the 1.5 ( ours was a DSG ). At this time of year, the mpg would be low 30's. During the height of summer it'd be around 40mpg. But as I say, that's just those short trips. On the odd occasion I drove the car which was always longer runs, I'd see low 40's in winter and over 50mpg in the height of summer. We changed the car last year as the main driver wanted something smaller. We bought a small Toyota hybrid. Economy has improved by around 10mpg over winter months but the overall running costs ( not including the cost to change ) is actually higher so in the long run, buying something that was more economical doesn't necessarily mean it's a cheaper car to run.

It doesn't sound unreasonable to me, given that a lot of the things needing doing are not DIY.

OPs mileage is not even half of yours so his engine is barely warming up, I'd expect it to be low from what he says.

Thanks for that, from the lack of response I was beginning to think maybe I had missed a massive elephant in the room and nobody was telling me.

Aberdeen wants to be a Hydrogen City and is spending many millions. Plenty Electricity produced nearby sand Hydrogen can be. & brought by Interconnectors from the Northern Islands. What a pity they can not heat the Public Swimming Pools, Leisure centers of freeze the Ice Rink. They back the Electric Bike loan, hire, lease schemes, last minute deliveries etc. What a pity about how often the weather is pretty crap.

@Paws4ThotThat would be ECW (Eastern Coach Works) that used to be Lowestoft before they closed. IMO on of the very finest around, making good strong and durable bodies without all the flashiness of other coachworks.

@TDIMachoMan Read again. @Carlstonis talking about 235/40 not 235/45. The superb wheels should fit just fine. They will stick out a bit more and actually be further from the suspension so no issues mechanically.

yeah, its okay once you get the feel for it. but it was a crash course last weekend 🙄

A colleague of mine, who has a Baker for a mum, told me it was the pastry difference that separated Eccles and Chorley cakes. I've had Eccles with both Sugar and no sugar, and I think I prefer without. But boy does that flaky pastry make a mess!. They are quite nice warmed up and with custard, but don't tell anyone I said that.

Eccles should be sprinkled with sugar ,chorley cakes are made with a sweet pastry so have no sugar on them ,plenty available here in yorkshire too ,as my belly will testify haha 👍

Still not gone yet, few bits and pieces on the for sale site but might close them down as most of them on ebay and that's where most have sold. But still helping people, even upto now. It's one of the best sites going. 👍

I love that my Daughter, 28 years old and Store Manager in a major supermarket chain, still draws me a card every year on a certain day. This year she's drawn a picture of her Granddad's (my Dad) Sunbeam S7 motorbike he had in the mid '70's: I also got a near plate sized eccles cake: We had a day out today, going to West Bay in Dorset. I love West Bay 😎 Two canny things happened. Sat in the bar of the West Bay Hotel, at 2:28pm, they played 'Fly me to the moon'. At 2:28pm last Thursday the same song was being played at my mate Leia's funeral. On the way back, we popped into Dorchester for fuel. As I got to the Eastern end of the Dorchester bypass, going the other way was the Sprint Yellow vRS I had before the GTI I've got now. It was sign written with red lettering, but I didn't get chance to read what it was, as I'd just said to Mrs Gaz 'Awww, look, there's a sprint yell....' when I clocked the registration number. That was about 140 miles away from home -what on earth are the chances!!! Was cool to see it Gaz

Wot a surprise. It would still have needed interpreting and cross-checking. Perhaps you might have someone near you that could give you a report for nothing or a beer token. - Briskoda VCDS Owners Map (click me)

Don't know if it still works, but do people use CarWow or DriveTheDeal these days? I used DriveTheDeal for our latest car. Any seller being some distance away can have it's downside but you have to factor that against the savings. Due to several delays in delivery ( not the dealer's fault ) I cancelled that order without issue and received a full refund of my deposit. Had been looking around relatively locally for an alternative, didn't see anything, one dealer said they had a car I'd wanted on it's way, the price was £3000 more than DTD, I mentioned DTD price and said I'd just re-order and put up with the wait. Next thing I know, he price matched them !!! An extra £3000 of his already discounted price, just like that. I hate dealers., much prefer Carwow or DTD not just because of potential savings, but because there's no negotiating.

Skoda do have an impressive results history, this however is for class wins not overall rally wins. For those that do not know how the class's are defined, they used to be: upto 1300cc 1301cc to 1600cc 1601cc to 2000cc above 2001cc 4WD are normally in a different class, also turbo charged cars have their actual cc multiplied by 1.7 (so, 1000cc x 1.7 = 1700cc, so it would be in the 1601cc to 2000cc class) The classes have changed in some events to cater for modern engine sizes so its now upto 1400cc 1401cc to 1700cc etc