Out of interest, what's the range on electric power alone?

35-40 miles for the new generation cars.

I see! Is that worth the additional cost and complexity?

I was following a Nissan Leaf yesterday on a dual carriageway. One good thing was it's constant speed rather than randomly changing speed like the Note on which it was based.
However like most Nissans, it struggled to notice when the LH lane had more than enough space to pull into.

puntofan01 said:

I see! Is that worth the additional cost and complexity?

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Not really my problem. The M Sport is under the £40k ‘luxury car’ road tax and they are viewed very favourably for company car tax... list price isn’t too far off the 320d and cheaper than the 330d which is of more equivalent performance.

As a company car, a PHEV with 40-50 miles range saves you a good £200 per month in tax.

40 to 50 miles range in electric mode is ideal for town driving and probably all most folks need. For longer journeys the engine does the work. Sounds great.

Little Man is 1 today..

Was putting some of his stuff in the loft, sad times cos he's had this stuff since day 1 and he's growing up so fast.

Cannot believe last night a year ago I was exploring just how quickly I could get from my house to the Hospital at 2am. To quote my wife.."Steve, theres a car...Steve we're catching it...Steve!!" Will say I saw the car at half a mile and made a mental calculation that at the time I'd catch it he'd be entering a dual carriageway..and I'd have a free lane..as a result the closing speed was slightly more on the epic side than usual. But then she went back to screaming and I went back to halving my previous best time. You don't need a fast car..you just need motivation and commitment Feels like yesterday.

Can't believe the years gone so fast! Loads of stuff you think you may never do...lots of things you'll think aren't important that are..and lots of other things you don't a give stuff about any more.

More a mixture of some smiles and a bit of "grump"

Thursday was an absolutely sweltering day up here in Edinburgh, as it was for us all of course. My older boy, who had a day off work (shifts) rang up inviting us across for a tea time barbecue - lovely, thanks very much son! Oh, and can you just have a wee look at the lawn mower, it's broken.

The "smiley bit" is that we had a lovely afternoon, with my grandson trying to soak us all by jumping in and out of their blow up paddling pool. Tasty barbecue fare and some nice iced orange juice (no beer for me with my dodgy tum). When It was time to go home we put the mower in the boot.

In fact the mower - Bosch Rotax - was pretty much still working but the height adjusting lever had snapped off. Pretty much the whole thing is made of plastic so I was concerned that it was not going to be possible to dismantle it if it was all bonded joints. But no, it's all held together with screws! Finding the screws was quite another task but eventually it all came apart (one of the screws is now "hiding" under my tool box stack - may need the "magnet on a pole" to get it back, if I can see it). The broken part is a one piece connecting link between the front and rear axles - made from plastic - with a lever sticking up at right angles in the middle which sticks out the top of the chassis so allowing you to adjust mowing height. It's this lever which he's snapped off. I didn't take any pics before I started but here's one of the repaired part.



The vertical "knob" had snapped off where it joins the main beam of the piece. Simple thought I. Get on the internet and order up a new one. I had to go and sit down when I saw the prices though (£30+) so repair's got to be worth a try. I surprised myself by managing to drill a hole right up through the beam and shaft of the handle into which I JB welded a piece of 5/8" (8mm?) steel tube (I think it came off the old Ambassador I used to own?) then I Araldited and pop riveted a small plate to further reinforce the repair (Used the Araldite because I ran out of JB Weld)





So now it's got to cure for 24 hours before I can reassemble it all and find out if it's going to work. Hopefully, if my preparation has been good so the adhesive gets a good key, I think this will be at least as strong as the original - if rather lacking in aesthetic appeal?

StevenRB45 said:

Little Man is 1 today..

Was putting some of his stuff in the loft, sad times cos he's had this stuff since day 1 and he's growing up so fast.

Cannot believe last night a year ago I was exploring just how quickly I could get from my house to the Hospital at 2am. To quote my wife.."Steve, theres a car...Steve we're catching it...Steve!!" Will say I saw the car at half a mile and made a mental calculation that at the time I'd catch it he'd be entering a dual carriageway..and I'd have a free lane..as a result the closing speed was slightly more on the epic side than usual. But then she went back to screaming and I went back to halving my previous best time. You don't need a fast car..you just need motivation and commitment Feels like yesterday.

Can't believe the years gone so fast! Loads of stuff you think you may never do...lots of things you'll think aren't important that are..and lots of other things you don't a give stuff about any more.

Click to expand...

My third daughter was born in 2010 seems like yesterday but then so does #1 who was born in 1990. Son was born in 2013. I was taxi driver and hand holder on all events. The last two needed more input from dad because midwives are more hands off these days. Mum was reminded and encouraged to hold her tummy muscles between contractions so the obstetrican would not need her forceps.

StevenRB45 said:

Little Man is 1 today..

Was putting some of his stuff in the loft, sad times cos he's had this stuff since day 1 and he's growing up so fast.

Can't believe the years gone so fast! Loads of stuff you think you may never do...lots of things you'll think aren't important that are..and lots of other things you don't a give stuff about any more.

Click to expand...

We did the trip to the hospital 3 times ( If i were you I'd stop at 2 given the option - once they outnumber you all is lost!).

Yup, those years (no apostrophe - years in the plural for us) absolutely rush by. Having children, and, arguably even more, Grandchildren sorts out a lot of the really important things in life and orders priorities.

We have 4 grandchildren. The youngest is now 6 so Mrs Jock did a big toys sort out and then got me to put all the really "baby" stuff up in the loft together with our old, but still very serviceable, pram and pushchair. That was in the early spring of this year. Guess what? there's another one (grandchild) arriving in September! should never have put the pram up in the loft. My daughter in law is convinced that's what caused it!

StevenRB45 said:

Little Man is 1 today..

Was putting some of his stuff in the loft, sad times cos he's had this stuff since day 1 and he's growing up so fast.

Cannot believe last night a year ago I was exploring just how quickly I could get from my house to the Hospital at 2am. To quote my wife.."Steve, theres a car...Steve we're catching it...Steve!!" Will say I saw the car at half a mile and made a mental calculation that at the time I'd catch it he'd be entering a dual carriageway..and I'd have a free lane..as a result the closing speed was slightly more on the epic side than usual. But then she went back to screaming and I went back to halving my previous best time. You don't need a fast car..you just need motivation and commitment Feels like yesterday.

Can't believe the years gone so fast! Loads of stuff you think you may never do...lots of things you'll think aren't important that are..and lots of other things you don't a give stuff about any more.

Click to expand...

My third daughter was born in 2010 seems like yesterday but then so does #1 who was born in 1990. Son was born in 2013. I was taxi driver, hand holder and spare part on all events. The last two needed more input from dad because midwives are more hands off these days. Mum was reminded and encouraged to hold her tummy muscles between contractions. Lots of hollering and baby was out. The obstetrician seemed disappointed at not needing her forceps.

Given he still doesn't sleep through and he's one and has various allergies, which preclude leaving him with people (they are very convenient, milk and tomato ffs..so basically most foods!) we're sticking at 1.

While this causes consternation from my wife's parents, and we wouldn't swap him for anything the thought of doing it again seems mental. We just about survived the first one.

Sure in about 4 years we'll be like they wasn't he cute as a baby? But at this very second **** no, you could not pay me enough to start this show from the start again.

Checking underbonnet fluids and susepnsion tops, found left strut mount gone soft. Dragged the struts out, really need to replace the lot, struts, springs, top mounts and ARB links. Also due a service and cambelt change, so that's the life savings spent.

A friend with a 2005 Renault Clio has rear wiper and bootlock issues. Looks like tailgate wiring issues are not specific to the 500 then. Looking forward to re-wiring that then.

This starts with a bit of background..

At work I'm not one of those who just sits and does the job as presented, I'm very much a pull things apart see how they work, can I make it work better? If not can I find out how?

Not because I'm company man or anything like that but because I like to save myself time. If I can automate a boring task, I can be doing something else. I also find it interesting, we work very complex pieces of specialised software and also regular office stuff as well.

My pet projects have actually got a pretty good record of becoming 'things' but usually I do them just to see if I can and if I can't the process of problem solving is part of the fun. Certainly better than just doing the same thing day in day out but no formal training in most of it just figure it out as I go.

What's the point of this? Well recently a conference call took place where my bosses boss and his boss (about 2 levels down from CEO) were having a chat. In which the senior of the 2 suggested we should have something..and the other then answered "we already have it".

"It" is one of my pet projects..and needs to be in decent shape by next Wednesday having previously been a proof of concept piece.

portland_bill said:

Checking underbonnet fluids and susepnsion tops, found left strut mount gone soft. Dragged the struts out, really need to replace the lot, struts, springs, top mounts and ARB links. Also due a service and cambelt change, so that's the life savings spent.

A friend with a 2005 Renault Clio has rear wiper and bootlock issues. Looks like tailgate wiring issues are not specific to the 500 then. Looking forward to re-wiring that then.

Click to expand...

Corsa D boot latch also keen to fail. I assumed it was a shared part with the Punto tbg

A day in awaiting parcels. Sadly only three of four. Struts still between France and UK.
When the rain stops, will get on with the service instead of suspension. I'm thinking cambelt will be easier with no strut in the way. A bit of overkill for normal cambelt work though.

portland_bill said:

When the rain stops, will get on with the service instead of suspension. I'm thinking cambelt will be easier with no strut in the way. A bit of overkill for normal cambelt work though.

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I've had the (aircon type) aux belt off Mrs Dave's 1.2 Dynamic. TBH the strut was not a problem. It is annoying the whole inner wheel arch liner has to be removed to shift the vertical cover up against the engine.

The belt tensioner needed two ring spanners locked together to get enough leverage against the spring.

DaveMcT said:

I've had the (aircon type) aux belt off Mrs Dave's 1.2 Dynamic. TBH the strut was not a problem. It is annoying the whole inner wheel arch liner has to be removed to shift the vertical cover up against the engine.

The belt tensioner needed two ring spanners locked together to get enough leverage against the spring.

Click to expand...

A very windy weekend, didn't fancy having the cam cover off and bonnet open in the wind, so lazily did nothing. It can sit there until next weekend.
Did have a silly thought. "cambelt in the wind". Is there a hit song in there perhaps? Now that thought won't go away.

When I first did the cambelt a few years ago, I was not strong enough to move the adjuster with my standard 13mm spanner. No room for a breaker bar and socket. Tried two spanners together, but did not like the feel, with my hands going to be in there, so bought a set of extra long combination spanners. They have proved very useful on several jobs since.
As you get older, get longer spanners. I have a 3foot long 1/2 drive breaker bar, perfect for the hub nuts, and anything else refusing to move.

portland_bill said:

When I first did the cambelt a few years ago, I was not strong enough to move the adjuster with my standard 13mm spanner. No room for a breaker bar and socket. Tried two spanners together, but did not like the feel, with my hands going to be in there, so bought a set of extra long combination spanners. They have proved very useful on several jobs since.
As you get older, get longer spanners.

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In my search for a reasonably economic solution to purchasing vibro sockets I've come across Welzh Werkzeuk tools. I'm quite impressed with what I see and have been looking at their other offerings, which are quite extensive - wonder how I've never heard of them before? They have a spanner extension handle that looks rather interesting:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universa...5mm-long-7451-WW-Welzh-Werkzeug-/223513615426

I linked two combination spanners together in the well known manner, linking the open end of the "working" spanner with the ring of the "helper". I've done this for years but there's always quite a chance of it slipping and especially where you're working on a spring loaded component, like a tensioner, it only makes you more nervous!

I'm also tempted by their Lok Typ deep impact sockets:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Welzh-We...954675?hash=item28816ad773:g:eMwAAOSwLhFdMclb

I've never had a decent set of deep impact sockets. When I was in at Pirtek the other day buying connectors for my new water wash gun and to upgrade my old "wimpy" rattle gun from it's PCL type connector, I was served by the chap who's keen on motor cycles. He mention that a friend of his had recently bought this very set and couldn't stop raving on about how good they are.

I'd never heard of them either.
They appear to be a UK company, but have chosen a name that looks 'foreign', perhaps to create some credibility, or allow us to assume that they might have been around a while in other countries.
Their product lines look good, but their website needs work.

I've seen spanner extenders before, but am always cautious of them. Any spanner has a design limit to its strength, which shoule exceed the potential torque required for that size. Adding length might allow the user to exceed the spanner limit, leading to failure, especially on cheaper tools.

There's always a danger with anything tight enough to need that much force, that it might let go suddenly. Whenever pulling hard we should be mindful of how far and where we are going when it releases. I have some small scars on my left hand as an early learning point. There was some hopping about and squeaking at the time.