steve700

Good evening one and all, I used to be a regular on here back in 2003 onwards when I bought my new Blobeye WRX Turbo. Alas, the constant sickness produced by my dog whenever we went out in it forced me to rethink, and 6 years after buying it I part-ex'd it for an Outback!! Having seen in Evo Magazine that the WRX STi is returning to the UK, I'm just pondering how best to acquire myself one so, here I am, to get excited about all things Subaru again :-) Steve

I took my '03 WRX in to what I generally consider to be a 'decent' tyre/exhaust place today, for a new battery. There was a delay as they had to go and get a replacement fuse which one guy said may have already been blown, and another guy said that the car will not start without (so must have been blown by the mechanic as I drov the car in there). They replaced that anyhow but now my radio has no power. The cigarette lighter works which one fitter said is normally on the same circuit as the radio. Any idea how easy it would be for me to resolve this issue, without having to take it back to the garage? Cheers Steve

I didn't see the car, but did see Jackie and Ed walking (swimming) Jess...... Nice to see you again - Hope you used those towels thoroughly before Jess was allowed back in the car

It's that time of the week again......

Yeah, I noticed the amber light on the dash as they were chasing after someone. I meant to check whch light it was but I figured it wasn't good

Thank god they didn't............. I'm a qualified first aider and all I've had to do in the last 18 months is put a plaster on someone's thumb!!!

I've just been following a classic Impreza driven by a young lad with his mate in the car. When he saw me, he obviously thought that I was up for a race around the streets of Swindon. As we were approaching a right hand turn ahead, near a row of shops where some teenagers were sat, the 4x4 two places in front of him started indicating right and pulling in to the filter lane. Laddo in front of me decides to hammer it up the road, on the right of the car that was about to turn in to him, on the wrong side of the bollards. The VW Golf that was behind the 4x4 must have seen this and decided to also hammer (on his side of the road at least) along to try and beat him. I sat back watching with visions of the two colliding............ fortunately they didn't!!!

Hi Caz, Hope things are going well. I never attended any of the Santa Cruises, I'm ashamed to say, so no pictures but just thought I'd say Hello Steve

I used to be on here loads back in 2003, when I bought my Blobeye. Backthen I started off as Steve77 but changed forum name when I got my personal reg...... Now and again I'll come on here but the days of posting on here all night are long gone Steve P.S. Still got the same car

Police Interceptors The latest documentary series about catching bad people in fast cars From the promo photo, they have at least 4 Imprezas and 2 EVOs. Should be good. Steve

Good morning, I'm on the verge of arranging my insurance through Keith Michaels due to a very competitive quote. Before I do, has anyone on here had to make a claim with them? If so, was the 'after sales' good? I'm currently with L&V who are excellent in my view, but I don't wish to pay the additional £190 that they want. Thanks Steve

Thanks lads. I was definitely going to give the car an oilchange before the two trackdays, but perhaps I will go for the full service now. Then get an oil change again after them both. Steve

Any other opinions on this, lads and lasses? Cheers Steve

Perhaps I should go for the GSX-R750 then..............

Nice bike! I'm 6'2" - I've still to try a CBR600RR for size so would it be comfortable enough? I've had a CBR600FL and FW, but bikes do get smaller all the time......... P.S. I'll be in the SLOW Group at Castle Combe

Castle Combe, Wiltshire is my local track and they have some days throughout the year at £125 per day. I've been thinking about getting a CBR600RR or GSX-R750 in the near future but I'd rather have an 'incident' on my old '9R for now if it's going to happen. Cheers for all of the advice, lads

I'm about to book my first Bike track day. I have a '99 ZX9-R that I currently use day-to-day and get serviced once a year. What preparations should I make to the bike to have it in a fit state for a track day? Thanks Steve

I've just got a couple of quotes as my insueance is up for renewal. 37 year old, '03 WRX with PPP kept in garage, no claims, one conviction over 4 years ago LV Renewal - £740 (incl £50 discount for goodwill after phonecall trying to get quote down) Bell - £1108 Keith Michaels - £550 EXCELLENT

Thanks David, I'm at Brands on 22nd Feb and Donington on 14th March. I had new brake pads (Godspeed Jag Pads on the 335mm upgrade discs) in the summer and have only done about 3000 road miles on them so far so they should be fine. Steve

With two track days coming up, and a service due in April, would you either: Give the car an oil and filter change, do the track days and then have the car serviced afterwards or Service the car before the two track days It's a 5 year service if that makes a difference. Cheers

Cheers Aston. I bought a brand new battery last Wednesday, got a new choke cable and had the bike serviced by a reputable place that I take my bike. Looking on a VFR forum, they do appear quite temperamental............... Can you advise about my battery charging questions? Cheers Steve

My girlfriend has recently purchased an old VFR400. When trying to start it up, it seems full of life initially but it seems to cut out unless you are spot on with either the choke or throttle. After a couple more tries to start it, the bike 'clicks' as if the battery is dead. Leave it an hour and it sounds quite healthy again. My question is this: Is it safe (something in my head says definitely not) to charge a battery that is still connected (positive and negative) to the bike itself? If not, is it safe to use jump leads between a spare charged up battery and the dead, or fairly flat, battery connected to the bike? I wish to know so we don't feel the need to wait an hour each time while we try and suss out exactly what is required to get the bike starting properly first time, every time. Cheers Steve P.S. If anyone can advise on the cause of the bike problem itself, that would be great too.

I always used Shell Optimax (as was) until Tesco Super Unleaded came along with 99RON. My car seemed to be fine on that but since the Tesco petrol fiasco where it was causing cars to pack up, I've reverted back to Shell VPower.

Thanks, but 38 degrees is the default and it has gone higher than that up until a couple of days ago. I've tried cleaning the shower head and taking the temperature control apart in case it was 'gunked up' but still no joy. The water tank temperature was set to 55 degrees, which I have switched up to 65 to see if that will help but that will probably need to overnight to get up to temperature before I can test it in the morning.

Hi lads and lasses, Plumbing advice today, if you please.......... My Power Shower temperature will decrease if I turn the temperature down but DOES NOT increase if I turn the temperature up past the 'default' temp. of 38 degrees. Should I just call the plumber back or is there anything that I can check before that? Thanks as always Steve