BlueMonster

I ended up heading for Buxton & bizarrely ended up on the A6 to Matlock Bath. After stopping in Matlock Bath for a bit and admiring all of the other bikes & retraced my steps & headed back the way I'd came. Couldn't have picked a nicer day for it but I was glad to get out of my leathers when I got home :-)

Hey all, We have recently moved from North Wales to just outside of Stockport due to work and although I have been out a few times I still have no idea where any good roads are in relation to me. I am planning to go out tomorrow morning with my mate and know for certain that I don't want to do the snake pass as I have done this before in the car and I am not a great fan of it. So, where are all the good roads? Cheers Martin

Hi Tony, thanks for the info. I've joined both groups. Cheers

Hi Tony, I have been looking at various homestay's but as yet have not found anything. If there is anything that you know if then please let me know. Cheers Martin

Don't mind camping but not at the TT as I've heard people having their gear nicked & all sorts. Really don't fancy leaving my leathers, boots & lid in the tent & really don't fancy spending all week in them either as some people do

Although this is not technically cleaning kit, it is without doubt one of the best things I have bought for the bike which allows you to both clean and service it In case you hadn't already guessed , it's the Abba Superbike stand - great piece of kit. Bought it when I had my previous bike and the great thing about it is that when you change your bike, new adaptors to fit your new bike come in at around £20 - £25

Evening all, My ferry is sorted but I now need somewhere to stay. Does any know of home stays / accommodation in the Douglas or Onchan area available for next year's TT? I need accommodation (single room) or happy to house share from 2nd - 9th June. Inbox me with any details / availability. Cheers

I treated myself last year to an AGV Corsa Guy Martin replica rather than the cheap £120 AGV S3 / K3 or whatever they are Got my lid direct for AGV in Italy and saved around £200 on the cost of them over here

Fair enough as I wasn't aware that they cost the same

I was thinking about getting a remap at some point soon so would it be worth putting, PD 150 head bolts in it whilst they are at it or would the standard bolts be fine? Obviously conscious of cost here too.

I've very recently had a new clutch & brand new turbo & it's always been serviced with the correct oil so at least I know what I've got. The only thing that concerns me is that I had a coolant leak a few months ago & put some k-seal in it to sort it & then topped it back up with a litre or so of blue coolant. It only dawned on me what I'd done when my coolant light came on this week & I noticed the colour of the coolant obviously brought on by mixing red & blue. I've done probably 10,000 miles with it like this which may have contributed towards the head failure? I've read that it does the engine no good with k-seal in it for any length of time plus the wrong mix of coolant. Will this have caused any damage to my engine as there's no point in repairing something that's likely to fail again due to my stupidity? Whatever route I go down I'm going to have to get a new radiator to fix this coolant leak.

So, the head gasket has gone on my Mk1 2005 Fabia VRS. It has been confirmed with a sniff test and the coolant bottle was pressurised when the car was cold. Anyway, the garage where my car is at seem to think that it's going to cost me over £600 to sort the head without giving me an exact quote until Monday morning. This has got me thinking about replacing the motor as I've managed to find 2 engines complete with injectors with less than 70k on both if them vs mine at 132k for around £500. I know that there's fitting & swapping all the bits & pieces off my old engine to the replacement but it may be worth it in the long run with me doing 500 miles per week commuting to work. What have other people done in this situation & how much has it cost you? I know that this will vary by garage but it will give me a better idea.

Going to get a new drive shaft & try that first

I know, I probably need to get a 2nd opinion. To be fair, the garage I use are normally very good and don't try to rip me off with work that doesn't need doing but do point out work that does which is why I'm slightly confused with what they have told me as I would prefer to drive a car with no clunking noises.

Hi all, I've got a clunking noise coming font the passenger side of the car when pulling away from standstill. It sounds drive-shaft like but it's not. The clunk type noise isn't excessive but it is noticeable if you have the stereo off. I've had the car in to a local VAG specialist and they cannot find anything wrong with it that warrants an immediate repair. They have advised that there is a small amount of play in the passenger side drive-shaft but apparently there is supposed to be. The garage are advising that they think the noise is coming from where the drive-shaft goes in to the gearbox - does this make sense and if so have I got anything to worry about for the moment? My car has 132k on it and I do around 500 miles per week motorway commuting. I know that this is something that will need fixing long term but what is the fix? Is it a recon gearbox or something else?

The car starts first turn of the key and starts very quickly - would it start so quick if there was a failed heater plug? Asking simply because I don't know :-) Defintely a knock that disppears within seconds so I am guesing that it is oil pressure related.

Apologies if this has been asked a hundred times already but as per the title I am getting a knock from the engine for a couple of seconds at the most when I start it from cold before it sounds normal. My engine has done 132k and has always had regular oil changes using the correct oil and drives spot on. I am guessing that it has been doing it for a while but given that my DMF has been sounding like a cement mixer and I have only just had it replaced I am now noticing this noise - is this anything to be concerned with or not? Thanks in advance for any responses.

Haha, with so may combo's to go for I wouldn't say it was wrong, it was just one of many that I could have had like this one my in S2000 - yes I could have tried for 55555.55 but I was in the middle of Austria at the time and totally in awe of the views and the roads so wasn't too concerned about the speedo reading :p

And this one taken around 1 week ago in my Fabia VRS Pd130

Had to get this one in:

The old shape like I have is a very good looking car IMO which is why I could not part with it when I was looking for a bit more grunt 3.5 years ago. I never seem to get bored of looking at it and am always looking for new locations to take pictures of it. Mine is not as much as a garage queen as your friend's but did only cover 3,000 miles this year with 850 miles of those being in one long weekend in Northern Ireland with the owners club. The old shape is fast becoming a classic and prices are on the up as lots of them have been written off due to lots of power through the rear wheels and a rear end that can be a bit twitchy in the wet as per fabiamk2SE's comment.

The F20C S2000 engine is an absolute peach and may well be the closest thing to a bike engine in a car that you will ever get from a large manufacturer such as Honda. I got a little power hungry with mine after 5 years of ownership and started to tweak things and the only way to get more significant power out of the engine is to go down the F/I route which is not cheap once you factor in a turbo or supercharger conversion along with all of the extra bits that need upgrading such as brakes, clutch, suspension, etc, etc. However, 3.5 years later and I still absolutely love it as with 450 bhp & 300 ft /lbs torque it is enough to see off plenty of high end sports cars and provides plenty of shocked faces when I am able to pull away from them with ease I think I would have to see the new one in the flesh and drive it before making any silly decisions.

Dropped the Fab off at the garage yesterday to get a new clutch - should have it back tomorrow after parting with £600

This is still unconfirmed at the moment but various sources including Autocar and the Independent are reporting on the new Honda S2000: http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/honda-s2000-sports-car-return-mazda-mx-5-rival http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/motoring-news/honda-re-enters-sports-car-market-with-new-s2000-a6776301.html The speculation at the moment suggests that it will be offered with a 1.5 engine as well as a detuned Type-R turbocharged motor. If Honda were to build this as it looks now with the Type-R engine then I may have to consider replacing this: The word is that if a new S2000 is produced it is likely to be at least 2017 before it hits the streets and there is no word as to how much it is likely to cost. Honda seem to have got it right with the new Civic Type-R and the pricing so lets hope that they can get it right again & re-enter the sports car market.

These are nice looking and I am sure will be great to drive but for the best part of £50k I can think of lots of other motors that you can pick up for that money such as the Nissan GTR, Audi RS4, Porsche 911, Porsche Cayman, Merc CL63 AMG - the list goes on. Not sure that this can be compared to the new Focus RS, Golf R, Civic Type-R or anything within that price range as this is £20k more expensive once it is kitted out. No doubt these will sell but BMW M cars to buy brand new are out of the reach of most normal people which is a shame.