Martin Keene

Give that man a cigar... I think you might have it. I did some test early, pulling away *really* slowly, with the door open (totally different noise outside) and it is a hollow metallic rattle. That'll be the centre exhaust mount then... Not had chance to get under and have a look yet. But I'm 99% certain that what it is. Cheap fix if so, boys in the service garage at work should be able to weld it for a few quid.

It really only seems to be when pulling away, it deson't seem to be connected to bumps/pot holes/etc at all. But it is definately from the passenger side. Looks like a stop of investigation is on at the weekend...

In the last week or so my vRS has developed a strange noise, which I can only really describe as a knocking noise when pulling away. Not all the time, just occansionaly. I don't think it makes it when cornering, etc. But I haven't really pushed it in any corners yet to test this theory. At first I started thinking CV joint, but it doesn't make a noise on lock, and I'm now starting to think daft things like clutch, dual mass flywheel, gearbox, etc. But surely if it was one of those it would be doing it all the time? I've done a search and there seems to be lot's of suggestion that most front end knocking noise are suspesion arm bush and ARB link related. Car is 2001 Y plate with 68k on it. I've had it for 3 years and it had done 35k when I bought it. I assume it is on it's orginal arms and links as I have not changed them? Sound fesiable? Anybody got any other suggestions? TIA

Cheers guys. I did some searching and it would appear as Haynes are telling porkies by suggesting it can be done with circlip pliers. I went out and got the proper tool and it was sorted in a matter of moments. Another shocking performance by Haynes... :(

Hi People Hoping you can help me rather urgently. I'm in the middle of chaning the rear discs and pads on an '01 Octavia vRS. I've got all the new discs and pads on, but I'll be damned if I can get the pistons back into the calipers. HELP!!! TIA Martin

I hope the claim is on the garage's insurance and not yours?

It's got naff all to do with Ferrari. See the Piston Heads thread, it is an Auto Express photoshop of a Cayman...

That's because it is a photoshop of a Cayman. See here Piston Heads Thread

I wonder how much you could pick one up for these days... *Wanders off to trawl Autotrader, PistonHeads, etc*

:wrthless:

Very Cool... So as I already have the CD Changer, I'll just need an MFD and the plug and play wiring kit from Ebay. Having look at Ebay, I'm guessing it's the MFD1 for the MK1 Octavia and the MFD2 is for the MK2 Octavia, correct? Note to self: Why the hell are you even thinking about this when you've just made an offer on a house...

Does this MFD unit control the standard fit CD changer?

Surely fitting one must be a real bitch of a job? Don't you have to run the co-ax all the way to the head unit, meaning head lining removal, or can it be done without removing the head lining?

It's is the 'Deutz' one... Buggered if I know why the screen saver is called 'Deutz' when it as got a Ford Duratec in it though! What's more worrying though is I got it from someone who worked at Perkins Engines and he said management were concerned that a lot of people had a competitor's screen saver. I was more concerned that they couldn't tell it was a petrol engine...

The ATR will cost ore to run. Honda's have always been expensive to service, even the base models. And ATR's have a fairly healthy appetite for tyres... Rears don't last that much longer than the fronts because they run 1.5 degrees negative camber on the back, so unless your giving it death through the bends all the time they just eat the inside edges. We got through

Accord Type R everytime... My old man had one for 3 years as a company car and it knocks seven shades out of the Octavia. The Octavia *might* be slightlt easier to live with though and in the real world there is very little difference in how quick they are. Of course the Accord is quicker, but you are *very* likely to be caught napping off the VTEC zone and then your in trouble against something like a vRS with a lot of torque low down. But, handling wise, the Octavia cannot hold a candle to the Type R. Most of the magic to the way a FWD car handles lots of power is the diff, and the Accord did it the correct way. A beautifully calibrated LSD. Put your foot down in an Accord on a roundabout and it won't power understeer it will tuck in as the LSD pulls it round by sending power where it needs it. Niggles to the Type R? It really does need a 6 speed box and it is not very practical because the solid bulkhead fitted behind the rear seats to improve the rigiditiy of the shell means the folding rear seats got binned... If you want any information about the Type R then PM me. As well as living with one, I know it was my Dad's but I drove it at least once a week, I also worked for a Honda supplier and we had some bits on it and other cars.

I've always found WD40 very good at removing tar spots. Doesn't seem to harm the paint either...

Spot On... Senna just wanted to be the fastest. Prost always seemed to be too wrapped up in the politics of the sport and Mansell just drove the wheels nuts off everything! Again spot on. Schumacher is the only champ I can think of who would follow someone for ~20 laps, wait until they pit, then blast in a few quick laps, pit and come out ahead. All the others would have had a go at the lead car during the ~20 laps as well. For me there is no simply answer. Senna was just unbelievable, some days he drove so fast even he didn't know how he did it. One year he was on pole at Monaco, 1988 I believe, by something like 2 seconds. When he realised he couldn't recall any of his laps, he'd been driving on a sub-consious level. When he realised that he stopped because he's scared himself! Also Senna did 65 poles in 161 races, where as Schumacher has taken 247 races to get to 68! Senna was definately the fastest over one lap, Mansell was the best racer for me. Senna had 41 wins in 161 races and Mansell had 31 in 187, so considering the vast difference in their qualifiying stats their race wins are a lot closer. The most complete driver probably has to be Schumacher, no other driver has won so much, over such a long period. Whilst he may technically be the best, he will never be the best in my book.

He will have quoted you plus VAT. Most of Demon Tweeks customers are small/medium racing teams who will be VAT registered and therefore not bother about the VAT. It is also one of the reason's Demon Tweeks are also know as Demon Thieves... There is very little that DT sell that can't be had cheaper else where...

That video has been around for a while and the concesus is the guy escaped from a local loony bin and built that before being recaptured... It's on my long term 'To-Do' list to re-create it but using a more modern power plant. Something like a recent Fireblade/R1 lump should do it, then you'd be looking at 150bhp in ~135kgs... :orb_love_ :orb_not_w

I've just order some new front tyres for the vRS, I stuck to the OE tyres to keep a matching set, in this case is 205/55R16 Pirelli P6000. I ordered them from mytyres.co.uk in a V rating, good to 149mph, the car has a manufacturer quoted top speed of 146mph. Something made me check what the tyres fitted to it were after ordering and found they are W rated, good to 168mph... I checked the un-used spare as well to confirm they were the orginals. :confused: Can't for the life of me work out why you'd need 168mph tyres on a 146mph car? I'm inclined to think V rated ones will be fine. Discuss...

Call me cynical but who the f##k is going to spend

Demand a second opinion from another Doctor. You pay for the NHS through taxes, you are entitled to make such requests.

But i think youll find there was a car between schuey and alonso, and all though alonson did brake quite quickly, that the car in between (i forget who it was) had no problems in staying behind him. As usual schuey makes a mistake, and instead of admiting as much, he tries to squirm his way out of it.... It was an amazing race tho!!! Agreed. I have seen the same footage now and Schumacher might have had a case if the BMW that was directly behind Alonso couldn't have stopped either... As it was it's just Schumacher failing to admit he screwed up... Again...

Nah, car in pieces... :(