Former

Mike Brewer is only a minor niche celebrity he would be unknown to more 99.9999999% of people. Like you, I and absolutely everyone in the whole world he is a mere mortal. I have never understood any type of hero worship or celebrity, if you want to celebrate anyone then it should be doctors, nurses, firefighters, police, care workers and essential workers as they are the people you really need in life, Entertainers are good but not of much use in real crisis. It was Ed China and Ant Anstead (now still 'Elvis'?) that done the mechanics and one of the reason's Ed China left was because the mechanical side was getting less and less for more entertainment. Give how long the show is it cannot show you much, just doing one job on a vehicle might take hours without the requirements of filming. Lots of work is done off camera it would always have to be that way. Ed China although very tall is very down to earth, when not performing at a show he just walks about like a mere mortal, unlike some others, than Richard Hammond really fancies himself and thinks he is a lot more than he really is and as for Jeremy Clarkson when you see him you realise they can stack **** that high, he really is loathsome full of self-importance and feels very self-entitled, good entertainer but like us all with flaws as a person just that he seems to really embrace some of his flaws, he is one of these celebrities/ "heroes" that asks for some sort of (generous) payment to do 'free' work for charity, but then many do.

That might prove how strong our local accents are, local-yokels. 😄 No way. Having a car on TV involves hours of waiting around doing nothing, some journalist have no proper respect for other people's property, unless it's a commercial move being featured is more about the owners ego. Which can be a laugh as they and or their vehicle might only be a very fleeting appearance, perhaps even in the very background or often not used in the show at all. My mate with the Westie was asked to arrange some "classic" cars from the club at a sprint circuit a reasonable drive away, I told him I would not waste my time and suggested he did not bother either as he wanted to promote the club. I told him he would be lucky if they got the club's name right and the club cars would only be as background for the show's featured car and that was if the any of the shooting in the show which it might not. The event was cancelled a few weeks before as the star was said to be ill and never took place later. There are plenty of companies that specialise in providing vehicles for films, TV and advertising. Mike Brewer is the Patron of the club I am in so I will not put about that show specifically but generally, certainly now at least, I would not say things are fake, in the past many shows had set up bits that could be called fake perhaps back then. Now and in the past much of the work actually done is not mentioned or shown giving a much over-simplified impression to the general public of what is needed and done . Costings are usually still 'optimistic' even now. I was not driving the Midget at all hard in the video and a standard 1275cc, or 1098cc, would look like it was going the same, I think the noisy exhaust makes it seem like it is going quicker perhaps than it actually is, the cars we were behind in the video were not going fast and I only overtook one lorry and the camera was off then. With some of the changes over the years the car was not as nippy as it was years before after first fully sorting it and even then most even modest modern family cars were quicker and faster, but without giving the same feelings. One thing to remember is whilst your Foreman is light by modern standards the Midget is lighter still so will pick up road speed quicker and the reasonably flat torque curve the Midget had.

Try cleaning the bulb, bulb holder and wires connection plugs with electrical contact cleaner and a brush and see how that goes.

I might as complete my ideas on getting and old car ("classic") that is new to you. Well before sorting the engine fully number one priority is brakes, then steering and suspension, all three include the tyres, then on to safety electrics, lights, wiper, blower, horn and glass, windows mirrors and reflective number plates, see and be seen. In between using or running the car I'd do a staged full 36k-mile service/check flushing and changing brake fluid, coolant, gear oils. Much of servicing ,maintenance and some repairs mainly boil down to clean and lubricate, including dissy and points if you keep the originals You'll get gradual improvements from the regular driving over reasonable distance journeys and the staggered servicing but the overall improvement will be probably very noticeable. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

The tyre size of 165/80r13 has a few possible reasonable alternatives but by far the best would be from a real enthusiast (and bit of a character) of Blockley tyres, plenty of good quality rubber, full 80 profile, period tread look and suitable for road or casual sport use and with a (genuine) 1,000-mile money back guarantee. "if these Blockley tyres are not the best that a customer has driven on, then drive 1,000 or so miles on them and we will refund. Every one of these tyres is inspected and checked for dynamic balance - the small painted yellow circle on the side wall can be aligned with the valve stem by the tyre fitter so they know the optimum place to put it. We perform this additional inspection process as part of supplying the best possible no-compromise product." You just drive them steady for the first thirty miles and then however you like the next 970 miles. I've no connection with the company and nothing to gain or lose whatever you buy. Blockley were going to be my next tyre purchase on my "classic" before its sudden departure. Modern tyres in these sort of sizes can be disappointing without out the grip or even reasonable wear of the same make and model of tyre only a few years previously. - https://www.blockleytyre.com/product/165hr13 There's a few ugly rim weights on the front wheel, do you know what the manufacture date is on the tyres (four digits, first two are the number week of the year, second two the year, three digits and a triangle on its side they're last century and IIRC pre-1990s three digits only). For wear of the bottom part of the dissy I was more thinking of plates, bob-weights, and perhaps vacuums units. I've no memory of what dissy is fitted to the Estelle and some might have been change to other dissys, but for old Lucas you can still get separate NOS vacuum units, springs, weights, plates, bodies, etc., rebuild of existing. I have heard other good reports about Lumenition electronic ignition units, there are two types, Magnettronic and Optronic, I've had neither of these but have had an Aldon (Pertronix) Ignitor and a NOS earlier BL version of the Lumenition Optronic and both worked well but are now expensive compared to (if available) a fully electronic dissy like CSI or 123-ignition. If you're going electronic then get rid of the points, otherwise IMO there's little point (pun intended) the more good quality electronics ignition you go to the better as far as I'm concerned, cheap and/or low-quality is a real gamble if you want reliability and not have to carry spares "just in case". The prevention of fit 'n' forget is better. Such a low mileage car needs a good service, of the whole car, then proper regular use, on reasonable length journeys, not just short test runs, and that will iron out any initial wrinkles and get the car running better. For the engine old cars particularly love clean engine air filter, engine oil & filter change, spark plugs and CB points setting. No point doing too much fiddling with the carb until the engine is reasonably well set as carb setting is end of the set up list and may need redoing if you adjust settings in the list before the carb. Mk2 Escort would have given you a very reasonable idea of RWD, if you can remember it. You shouldn't really experience the pendulum / fishtail / tankslapper of the rear engine unless you make a mistake, as I once did when not concentrating on what I was doing leaving a dual-carriageway on the exit slip road and suddenly saw a stationary car and over reacted with a sharp right then left turn of the steering wheel, lesson learnt.

Thanks for reporting back. Sorry nothing worked and thank you for educating me about the two presses. I did wonder if your remote might be at fault and wondered about suggesting you change the car setting so both remotes open all doors at first press. this does mean all the door locks get equal exercise and perhaps(?) less(?) chance of a less-used lock(s) not operating in the future and not knowing about the fault until you can't open the door (depends how much you use rear doors and boot). My wife tried the driver's door only setting with second press for all doors and didn't like so reset to all doors on first push. A neighbour's Picanto boot lock mechanism broke and what a disproportionately awkward job that was to get into, test and repair with my small chubby hands, a cable-tie permanent repair was made once I'd worked out what should have been where. I find not having a 'valet' setting so I my wife can open the boot without me having to remove the key from the ignition a bit of a pain but I expect there's a computer setting to get passed that, which I don't have access to. Being old I find all remote locking an unnecessary pain, I always used the keyblade on my wife's previous car but if you do that with the Fabia the alarm goes off unless you're quick to get the ignition on. 😀

@wesacosado bear in mind the electronic kits only deal with the top ignition part of the distributor the mechanical bottom part can still be worn but a good top kit can improve starting and running whereas a cheap crap kit can be unreliable and suddenly stop working. Also some cheap rotor arms and dissy caps can be a very false economy. If(?) you can get and can afford a good fully electronic dissy for the car that will be fit 'n' forget for tuning and much of the maintenance and give biggest improvements for reliable better starting and running performance. Good quality and condition HT leads, not necessarily expensive ones, can make a good improvement too, just because existing parts are working doesn't mean they're working at their best or are not way beyond their optimum. First thing for ignition (after the car's battery being in good state of charge and condition for starting) is the spark plugs, first ignition part I'd replace (after charging or if required changing the battery and checking battery and main leads and earths and their connections). If you are only used to front-wheel drive cars then take care to slowly build up driving faster in the 120L (needle dial speed doesn't matter, too fast can be at very low speeds as it depends on circumstances) and what you learn this spring and summer remember to appropriate for autumn and winter driving. They're a fun car to drive and don't need to be driven like an elderly aunt going to Sunday service, unless you want to. Get some decent (standard or near enough size) tyres on them and the handling can be very good indeed.

Yes the F40 was the only Fezza I'd be interested in a ride in, more my style of driver's car still a total waste of time on British roads or most roads anywhere I'd guess. I saw my mate with that car only yesterday and he reminded that the car was very untidy at the time with the duck tape at the nose cone edge and mess of wires under the dash, all sorted soon after the vid with new modern fuse boxes added too. A new aluminium topbox will be filled to the (extended) luggage rack soon as he prepares to take it over to the Historic Circuit of Laon, in France, again. The video was very hurried except for the driving, mostly I wasn't going above 40mph with an odd stretch of 50 or 60 and the engine does not really pick up until 4,000 revs and I doubt I ever got to that let alone above it. The car's sound had to be dubbed on from a video my mate made from inside the car, with the hood up, coincidentally on his way to Loan the previous year, as there was far too much wind noise on the actual recording. If yo look you will se the acceleration noises do not tie in with how the car is actually going. At one point you can see the brake lights on yet the sound is of the car still accelerating. The exhaust silencer has also been repacked since both videos as it previously blow out the original insulation. Not included was when my baseball cap got blown off, went about 4m straight up to drop back and land on the dual-carriageway road just as a motorbike approached it and steered round it, good repossesses by him. That is why I accelerated at the change of traffic lights as they changed to get to the nearby roundabout to get back to my cap before it became roadkill or another motorbike to swerve round it not knowing what it is. The video was made with a cheap second-hand Go-Pro copy and free or cheap editing software and was only the second after the Midget where my neighbour done the voice-over himself. I have no idea what the subtitles would make of his accent, Google is not yet clever enough to deal with English accents. Very few in England have the "Queen's English" you hear in international films, there are so many accents here and even people from only 30 miles away may not fully understand every word or phrase let alone regional accents. Yes that was mine for 15 years until last August. The condition was good but far from excellent, a mate who bought it had it highly polished in short order, replaced the failed (wrong rubber) seals in the concentric slave clutch with some special seals and sorted some other jobs that were on my list to do. He also found how poor the replacement hood was that I bought and had fitted by the manufacturer and how difficult it is to raised in all but the warm sun. I also sold him the hood I had bought and had arranged to have fitted by an upholsterer (which is now an expensive job). I expect he will bring the car round once he has fitted the new hood in the hotter weather. I have not seen the car since well before Xmas and if I remember correctly the engine was still out as the gearbox was away seeing what could be done with it to stop the leaking - it was supplied, modified and fitted by 'the conversion specialists' otherwise known by me as f...ing lying con-men but very highly regarded by many others including a famous car TV personality. I hope my mate has also had the stainless steel silencer repacked as that was far too noisy, the baffles inside go a bit but not fully and the noise goes up , another job I had lined up after my other mate's success with his on the Westie. HP values are ego figures, highest does not mean best for overall running, a flat high torque curve is better. Apart from after the second rolling road session when I was getting improved parts and all the servicing was paying off all subsequent sessions the figures reduced because of a change of rollers, changing in UK fuel and as the car was aged and wore. Last rolling road session, with real figures given by a proper Austin/BMC/BL A and B-series engine builder and tuner rather than some that extend the figures for egos, running on 95 octane E5 (could have higher if set for and using 99 octane E0 as I often did) - 80.62 hp at 5,442. Torque 86.28 lbft at 3,297 and reasonably level from 3,200-4,400. Book claim when new would have been 64hp and 72 lbft. Depends on your budget, the kit versions could be put together using second hand components and parts but the factory built ZEi 130 and SEiGHTs were at the time European compliant and with everything new build, they were quite expensive compared to an ordinary mass-market car. My mate's 130 in the video is I believe a 'clubman' version built for road and track use, it has 14" instead of the 15" wheels my 130 had. mine also had a heater his not, his a side exhaust mine under the car, his quick-release bonnet clips, mine four keylocks and his engine bay is a lot more congested than mine was, perhaps his as a slightly earlier car than mine Westfield were still finding out what they could fit where or perhaps more items were need for track compliance. That was true but the Westfield made parts were another matter, Westfield was very strict about getting those, the ducted nosecones of the factory cars were not allowed to be sold for kitcar use. If you made any part and offered it to others Westfield would threaten to sue (as Caterham did with them that caused the Westfield improvements). On my mate's car is an update roll-over bar with a inset wind-deflector which he made himself (Fezza fabric). He also made the extendable luggage rack, fitted a heated-windscreen and his brother made the micro-adjusting tracking parts. The Westfield "7s" sit high up compared with the Westfield 11s, copies of the Lotus 11, which started the Westfield company, the Wikki on Westfield, like so much on the internet generally about many subjects, is very short on information and has errors.

For fault codes, which are often only a pointer in the right direction rather than the full diagnostics solution, you could perhaps see if there is someone local to you with a VCDS or suitable machine to see what information it can give. It's also good to have a second independent reading you can see done in front of your eyes and see the readout and have recorded report. Here is a list of Briskoda members that may be able to help you. - Briskoda VCDS Owners Map (click me) The car could have something like a turbo actuator fault plus need a regen. The regen does take more than most people realise and a lot more if you are only used to driving the car steadily and over shorter journeys, and you don't want a low tank of fuel. It may or may not be a crap car, and being an older modern diesel it may or may not be suited to your driving and usage - it could be a good car just with common and easily resolved problems, or not, over the internet no one is going to be able to confirm (at least this early on). You'd probably not want to do as these guys did and certainly not until you know for sure what the actual problems are and this may not be necessary if other issues are resolved. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6nIjAglvLw Personally I'd try to find someone on that list above to at least do a full scan and report and then based on that information consider whether to go for a proper blowout run, or IF I could bounce the car back (despite consumer laws this might not be possible in the real world) or whether to get the repairs and keep the car or sell it on. I've had dealings with the English motor trade for decades so know how things are in real life as opposed to the ideals, theories and laws, if you are dealing with totally dishonest, or totally incompetent or lazy, people it's difficult to get anywhere useful with them. That doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't try though, you know your situation I don't.

Hi welcome. You would possibly be best to take it to somewhere that can do a full diagnostics and/or specialises in VWs. There are plenty of possibilities to causes and repairs, some might be easy. More information is needed as the codes are quite generalised, what is the mileage of the car, do you know any fairly recent history of the car, its previous usage, servicing and maintenance history.

There are other videos of the 220 and other cars but of course people use different titles for their own videos. I did once have a passenger ride in an F40, the dash looked like it was cover in a cheap carpet I rather liked that. Driver went at silly speeds and really you couldn't tell, it was silly to do so really, lower speeds and more interesting roads would have been better. Here. The car's sound had to be dubbed on and does not match the images but all was done on very cheap second hand equipment and free or very cheap editing programs as the returns from YouTube are tiny and although the shooting took very little time the editing takes ages. Not just high performance cars, if you wanted a quick take-off in something like a V8 Westie you would start in 2nd gear, none of these fancy launch controls, silly on a road car all about track use. Always funny to see a Fezza owner that does not really know his car and not able to move his car because he has messed up the launch settings and not know how to disable them to crawl the car away. 🙂

@tootyou won't like it but when I put Shell V-Power (wotever) diesel in my wife's GM product somewhere between 8 and 16 years ago there was a definite visible difference, from thick black sh1te cloud to thinner grey/silver cloud. I have no evidence other than that of my own eyes and I've no idea if the new 'improved' Shell V-Power diesel of current time is as good.

Bear in mind Esso labelled E5 might be E0. Now we have E10 the differences are in the amount of E and the difference in the octane so there could be more variation with a variety of cars and variety of states of tune. There is no way my wife can say if the Tesco E5 99 gives more to the gallon as whilst most of her (very short) journeys are the same her journeys overall aren't regimented and can happen in different circumstances, she won't drive up the M6 for a 100 miles at 50mph as I once did to test mpg about 10-14 years ago (would that still be possible now?). And there are far too much electronics and computer interference on her standard Fabia to tell if it feels any better, though she thinks it might be going better that's probably placebo, sounds as rough as always to me. Like a lot of things in the end it probably boils down to belief over any facts or figures presented from either directions or sources.

Did you have a look at the video I put into this link. - SBDR Don't get me wrong if you have the chance for a ride in a 220 take it. For other super and hypercars that just not much fun on UK roads at least. Even at totally illegal speeds you just don't know you are going as a passenger but that is the same for even mass market modern cars, 60 and 70 mph is nothing on many roads even with an average driver and even less so with a good driver ( I am not a good driver). The driver makes a big difference as a total generalisation in my experience many Fezza owners don't really know how to drive their cars because the same as many "classic" drivers they do not drive the vehicle to learn what it is capable of and what they as the are capable of driving the car. Lambo drivers tend to be a different sort, if you have the choice of going out as a passenger in a Fezza or Lambo I would suggest the Lambo. Of course some own and drive both Fezza and Lambos and other marques and types of car so it's not a solid rule. Don't bother going out with a test driver or track instructor on the public roads as they are so smooth at driving they make the speeds seem a lot lower than they actually are. I went out with a test driver, in a Noble M400, on the public roads and his driving style was so serene yet he was out driving the Fezza that was in front of us until we went passed, all within legal speed limits and safe driving, the M400 is a good car against a Fezza though, but so was my mate's Westie 4.3 V8 (well built engine). You are even more in touch with the environment in something like a Westfield than even something like a Midget, less windscreen no doors (unless you fit the granny sidescreens) lower to the ground (not as low as a Lotus Elise or Lotus/ Westfield 11) and those front cycle wing do not stop you getting slurry up your arm and nostrils (it stings). 😄 I think you saw the hurried video my neighbour made of the Midget, did you also see the hurried video my neighbour done of another mate's Westfield 130 (Ford Zetec 130 engine) with me trying to drive it with the seat too far back so I could not fully operate the accelerator (I am 1.6m the seat was adjusted for someone 1.9m) and with my (Covid) lock down locks (uncut hair) and baseball cap flying off (not in final edit). If not I can put up a link for you. I really like the ability to overtake a line of cars (but you are on the wrong side of the road for a long time and I did have to look out in case someone in the line might pull out in front of me having not looked in their mirror or not expecting my car to be with them so quickly) but I enjoy more overall having a small low powered car as it gives more entertainment and at lower speeds. Even a low powered car most of the time is only using a fraction of its power so a higher powered car is wasting more of it power much more often and for longer. All about how the car feels and makes you feel. Many like the standard VW Beetle or vans and they can hardly pull their own shadow.

Remember the petrol but not the adverts. I think I remember it was said to ruin the old loose new Vauxhall and the like engines. Did any good engines (you know, like the Japanese ones) have proven problems I can't remember. I discount Police cars as I'm surprised any Police car holds together especially the ones with the Traffic cops. The only drivers that make me a bit nervous as a passenger are Police motorbike riders driving a car, I've been out with two, the second I didn't even know he was Police but when I asked him if he was a Police motorbike rider by any chance he said yes and how did I know. 🤣 At least some of the ex-Police BMWs won't be going to market this year after they've finish service, too embarrassing for BMW, wouldn't want the impression of German engineering quality dented, private BMW owners have always usually keep quiet about problems out of marque loyalty and to keep up the resale value of their vehicle. Years ago a near neighbour was telling my about the engine problems on his 5-year old 5-Series and how glad he was that he was able to get shot of it and how he'd picked up a 10 year-old Lexus 400 as an interim vehicle but it was so good and absolutely everything worked on it so well that he was going to keep it. I remember the Lexus 400 first coming over and the Lexus UK Dealerships opening and setting new standard for dealing with their customers but that's another story and all changed now.

ETA: Thanks for reporting back. The VW computer systems want things they way they want best not to upset them, let your battery get too low for them and see how they react. If the second unused bulb from the other side carries on working OK then do, after a sufficient period of use to confirm this, throw away the bulb taken out so you don't forget and reuse it elsewhere and perhaps have the same happen again. Just had a thought, you could perhaps use the bulb the VW computer doesn't like in a vehicle that doesn't have all these computer overlords rather than waste a possibly functioning bulb. I had a new (brake light) bulb be faulty and a different unused spare (brake light) bulb not work from storage, particularly modern made bulbs, over here at least, are cheaply made you have to buy a "heavy duty" or good make to the the standard quality of the past. Someone in Tasmania told me he's just had to replace a bulb on his car for the first time in 17 years I don't think the replacement would necessarily last 17 years even if the car did.

Blimey, did you get out the wrong side of the bed and hit your head and stub your toe. 😄 Yes and the outside of the car might get washed and polished too. These TSI, FSI, TSFI, wotever engines need all the help you can give them, sound badger's-arse rough at the best of times, mind I remember the m-i-l's Golf Mk2 1.6 petrol sounded rough and I was used to BLs. 🤣 You lost me there, are you now favouring Shell V-Power over the the others for cleaning properties? And I agree with the OP I think calling 95 something like Regular makes more sense.

😄 Yeah, sorry, I meant to one-finger type check the connections under seats and anywhere you might have been working behind the dash or on the steering but it didn't make it from head to finger. If the garage have the right scan tool it should help track down the issue, and reset it, 😄 good luck.

@CameronD1997 your fuel flap has 95 min. not max. Depending where you are in the country, unless things have changed since I updated the list 13/9/21 (I've not checked since) Esso Synergy Supreme+ 99 although labelled E5 is ethanol free (except in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland). Esso 95 (E10) is up to 10% ethanol. One of the reasons to go for the higher octane petrols is that they contain more cleaning additive in their additive packages, than the standard 95 fuels, which may help combined with blow-out runs but it may take up to a couple of tankfulls to do well. My wife has just put a couple of tankfuls of Tesco Momentum99 in her Fabia and she's very careful about fuel prices but the VW engine is a noisy thing and the computers give so many different engine bay sounds at different times even she's willing to give the higher octane and greater cleaning packages a try, unfortunately I've been unable to give it the blowout runs at this time. More effective is to have the spark plugs in good condition which often boils down to changing them before they go off too much, and to have the engine air filter in good condition, you don't want muck in, muck through and muck out, eventually the car won't like it. I suggest using a couple of tankfulls of the higher octane fuels spread over before, during and after a service and/or MoT and when and if you feel like at other times. The 13/9/21 list, feel free to check with the fuel companies and update as required, be great if you'd let me know any changes. - petrol.pdf

Think you're gonna need a suitable reset tool for that. If you don't have access to such have a look at this map and see if there is anyone nearby that may be able to help you with it. - Briskoda VCDS Owners Map (click me)

That is just a reader and doesn't appear to be a very expensive one, doesn't mean it's bad as a generic reader Autel are generally thought of as doing good machines but that is just one of there code readers, and not specific to VW I'd guess. You'd be better to find a full diagnostics scan tool and more specific to VW or covering your car. Have a look at this map and see if there is anyone nearby that may be able to help you with a full report or reading using more specific tools. - Briskoda VCDS Owners Map (click me)

Put some anti-slip matting over it, tuck in at the ends and no one will know the difference.

Well cassette tape and the player are wearing to each other in use and a car's cabin isn't the best environment for cassettes especially if it's somewhere that gets very hot. The cassette was never a music medium I ever really like other than for making your own music compilations and then C60 or C90. I can not remember the last car we had with a cassette player in. Why there is a resurgence in pre-recorded cassette albums is beyond me, the original pre-recorded cassettes were generally poor sound quality from new.

I am so very sorry to hear this and wish you well as soon as possible. I am just back from not walking with my cat as it was too busy for him.

Same sort of warnings as the page 78 of the other Handbook, at least you don't have any message so if hopefully it is just the filter then a good enough outcome. As has been suggested if you can just change the filter then that seems the easiest and least expensive thing to try especially if you don't really lose any oil doing so as the garages you've been to seem not interested. Good luck.