Bladerider

I've been pulled three times in the last nine years for having a smaller than normal plate. I've always kept in the car, a printout of the regulation covering the size and spacing of characters on import vehicles. I had my plates made up to conform exactly with these regulations. The following is an extract of the document; “Size and spacing of characters: special cases 14A.—(1) This regulation applies in relation to any vehicle imported into the United Kingdom which— (a) does not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval; and ( is so constructed that the area available for the fixing of the registration plate precludes the display on the plate of a registration mark in conformity with the requirements of regulation 14. (2) In relation to a vehicle to which this regulation applies— (a) each character in the registration mark must be 64 millimetres high; ( the width of each character of the mark, other than the letter “I” and the figure “1”, must be 44 millimetres; © the width of every part of the stroke forming a character in a mark must be 10 millimetres; (d) the spacing between any two characters within a group must be 10 millimetres; (e) the vertical spacing between groups of characters must be 5 millimetres; (f) the width of a margin between the mark and the top and lateral sides of the registration plate must be not less than 5 millimetres; (g) the space between the bottom of the mark and the bottom of the registration plate must be not less than 13 millimetres; but, within that space, the space between the bottom of the mark and the top of the name and postcode of the person by whom the plate was supplied must be not less than 5 millimetres.”(a) Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport. David Jamieson Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, 24th October 2002 Department for Transport (a) As to European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval, see Council Directive 70/156/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers (O.J. L No. 42, 23.2.70, p. 1), as last amended by Council Directive 98/14/EC (O.J. L No. 91, 25.3.98, p. 1). See also regulation 11 of the Motor Vehicle (EC Type Approval) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 1998/2051). 2

I've had 64mm size letters on my plates for about seven years. I've never been pulled even once in all that time. I keep a printout of the regulations just in case. size and spacing of characters ___________________________________________ Size and spacing of characters: special cases 14A. — (1) This regulation applies in relation to any vehicle imported into the United Kingdom which— (a)does not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval; and (b)is so constructed that the area available for the fixing of the registration plate precludes the display on the plate of a registration mark in conformity with the requirements of regulation 14. (2) In relation to a vehicle to which this regulation applies— (a)each character in the registration mark must be 64 millimetres high; (b)the width of each character of the mark, other than the letter “I” and the figure “1”, must be 44 millimetres; ©the width of every part of the stroke forming a character in a mark must be 10 millimetres; (d)the spacing between any two characters within a group must be 10 millimetres; (e)the vertical spacing between groups of characters must be 5 millimetres; (f)the width of a margin between the mark and the top and lateral sides of the registration plate must be not less than 5 millimetres; (g)the space between the bottom of the mark and the bottom of the registration plate must be not less than 13 millimetres; but, within that space, the space between the bottom of the mark and the top of the name and postcode of the person by whom the plate was supplied must be not less than 5 millimetres."

I disagree. Each time he sent anything to me, he supplied me with the couriers trackable consignment number. It was the one time he didn't that the package was allegedly returned to him as undeliverable. My personal opinion is, he takes on too much work and can't deliver when promised. The courier issue is just an excuse.

I've had a less than favourable experience with Godspeed. I bought a pair of disks off him for £340 which didn't fit my mounting bells. (This bit was my fault as I didn't know which model of 4 pot AP calipers I had) To be fair though, the disks arrived in less than a week. So I thought I'd get a new pair of mounting bells and a a set of pads (another £255). Now this is where things started to go downhill. I sent him a mounting bell for him to copy the dimensions. He told me a delivery date, but they never arrived. Seven weeks later, the new bels eventually arrived, but they didn't fit the disks he made earlier. Next thing was, I had to send him down a caliper and mounting bracket, as well as the disks and bells, and he'd take it from there. I was given a delivery day of Tuesday or Wednesday the following week. Of course they didn't arrive. I gave it another couple of weeks, then I asked for my money back. A week later I got a message from him telling me they were sent out the previous week, but were returned to him as the courier was unable to deliver. There is someone in the house at all times, so I know the courier never tried to deliver. Total cost for disks, bells, and pads was £595 and the time taken was 4 months. Meantime my car was sitting in a friends garage unable to move. I had to buy an alternative set of front brakes in order to move my car. The quality of Ian's work does look good, I can't fault it. However his "customer relations" needs a lot of improving. He never answered any of my emails. The only way I found to communicate with him is by a private message on Scoobynet. If you want something which is a standard "off the shelf" replacement part then by all means buy from him. If you need something made to order, be prepared for no communication from him, and a long wait. I personally will not be dealing with him again. I have a set of AP 4 pots for sale, with brand new Godspeed disks, mounting bells, and DS2500 pads.

I too had done some months of research into what telly to get. (40 to 42 inch screen) I'd narrowed my choices down to either a Panasonic Veira ('cos I used to work in the factory that builds them in Plzen), Samsung's M87, or the Sony V, W or X series. The M87 was the cheapest (heavily discounted), and for the money I just couldn't find fault with it. Sony no longer produces plasma, and have concentrated on LCD technology. They have by far the best LCD's on the market. I was a little biased towards the Panasonic at first, as I knew what their quality control was like first hand. In the end, I opted for the Sony Bravia KDL40W3000 (LCD) for two reasons. It had by far the most realistic colour of any telly I've ever seen, and the other reason was, I'd just bought a Sony RDR-HXD970 upscaling (1080p) dvd recorder. Anybody that says the bigger LCD telly's are not as good as a plasma is obviously misinformed. That may have been the case a few years ago but now the LCD's are every bit as good as a plasma, and in many cases can be so much better. Oh, and one more thing, the LCD uses a fraction of the power of a plasma. During my research into which telly to go for, I was in a few shops having a look. It's so hard to get a shop to show you anything other than an HD input. Every shop I was in, couldn't (or wouldn't) show me a standard definition input. I kept thinking they were trying to hide something. I has a bit of fun in a "Currys" shop one day. I was having a look at the Samsung (M86) and I asked him what his best price was. I had already seen their website, and knew he could come down a bit. He said he was willing to match their "own" web price. £1500 in store price, £1200 Currys web price (prices today). Knowing that Currys is owned by Dixons Store Group, I asked him to go to the bottom of the web page where it says "DSG retail ltd". He totally refused to match the DSG retail price of £788. So if you ever fancy buying something from Currys, have a look at what you want in the shop, then go on the Dixons web site to buy it.

My engine had 43K when I got it. It now has 138K. I have no intention of replacing the car it in the forseable future. So what does it tell you if a car has a high mileage? Reliability that's what. Less time in the workshop and more time on the road. Hypothetical situation; Two identical 5 year old cars for sale. One car has less than 1000 miles on the clock, the other has 40,000 miles which one would you go for? Would it be the car that's only been used occasionally for a run down to the shops, without ever warming the engine up properly, and with all the corresponding wear and tear. Or would it be the car that's been used properly. I know which one I'd go for.

I saw the prototype of this ultimate boy's toy many years ago on "Tomorrows world". Looks like it's finally been perfected and is now in production. http://www.gen-corp.jp/Sozai/photo/Sun_n_fun01/Default.wmv I wish I had a bit of spare cash lying around. Only US$31,000.

Hitting fuel cut could be likened to hitting a brick wall but without the damaged front. What you're experiencing discribes exactly what used to happen to mine. I tried loads of things. It sort of went away after I started using NF octane booster, but it came back again. It disappeared completely after I changed my ECU to a Z4.

I don't remember where I got them from it was three years ago. It was an internet purchase.

So it must just be me then that had a bad experience with them. I'll never waste my money on them again. They were great at first. For two weeks anyway. Then the one on the drivers side broke. The metal on the tensioning arm was only about a millimetre thick. I emailed the seller and also contacted PIAA. Neither of them wanted to know. Four weeks later the other one broke as well. It may have been a manufacturing fault but I'll never know now. Now I use Bosch cheapo's and replace them every year. Just as good in my opinion.

My gauge shot up to the top in a matter of seconds when my radiator blew, does that count? Well at least I knew it was working properly.

Quote from Johnny50 << This was always mine. >> I had a Rover Vitesse in the early 90's. Same colour as well. The car as standard, is in a very low state of tune. Roverpart reworked my twin plenum motor. I can't remember what they did to it but I remember it was bored out to 3.9L, and had almost double the power of the standard Vitesse. I have very fond memories of that lovely sounding V8 motor (Until the bodywork fell apart with rust). My dream car when I was a kid (in the 60's) was my uncle's Jensen Interceptor FF. I even remember the reg number after all these years, EMA 46F. He called it Emma.

Yep, I agree. It does sound quite good in there, I go there most Saturday's if the weather isn't too great. Even better if you can find a nice long tunnel. The clyde Tunnel back home is fantastic. With these cars, it's the law that you have to select 2nd gear, and give it some, back off a bit and do it again and again till you reach the other side.

I'm coming (I think). I haven't been to a local meet since the last time it was at a weekend (March). I'll be travelling up the road straight from work (south of Manchester) so I'm not sure when I'll get there. I've been to a few of the local meets down this way, including the Blackpool big one.

How about becoming a lift operator.......but maybe that job has its ups and downs. Or maybe you could become a fortune teller......but I can't see any future in it. Oh, I know, you should become a professional bra fitter...the wages might not be that great, but think of the job satisfaction.