that right squeeze together perpendicular to the chain line then push the two 'half links pins' towards each other, towards the bigger holes in the powerlink plates.

Edit, God that sounds like nonsense….

Hmm I wonder who hasn't cleaned their chain for a little while?

Clean all the muck and dirt out of the holes and around the pins *wire brush?* Then try, might be a little easier

American History X

Bit shocking in places but very good film.

Nobody has mentioned Man on Fire, that is an awesome film!! Denzel at his best, can also recommend Amercian Gangster and The Hurricane while I'm talking about him.

Both the latest Batman films, really enjoyed them and actually like Ironman, bit mainstream but enjoyable and easy to watch.

My 2p worth..

Yes you can, cast iron is surprisingly soft, you'll be surprised at how easy it is. Will obviously also hold a thread very well.

I've got a funny feeling that you use paraffin as a cutting compund when working with cast but I wouldn't quote me on it.

However if you've got to weld cast iron that's a different story.

HTH

If you think the car may have sucked up all the possible crud from the bottom of the fuel tank perhaps you could change the filter. If you think the filter may be blocked change it.

If fuel consumption has dropped loads recently I would suggest there is a problem somewhere else. You may have picked up an air leak on the induction system after the air flow/air mass sensor thus leaning the air/fuel mixture off substantially. This will be noticed by the lambda sensor in the exhaust system and will compensate by richening the mixture therfore meaning poorer fuel economy.

That's just one potential cause, there could be many others.

This will probably be because they are lazy and wont/can't be bothered to look for the chassis number on the car so will just use the one on the V5 for typing the info into the PC.

Take the old MOT certificate with you (if you have one, may be coming up to first MOT?) all the info they need is on there.

As allthepies ^^^^ says they can date the new MOT from the expiry of the old one. You can get your new MOT done up to 1 month in advance.

Try:

http://www.trogmtb.com

check out the forum, think they're trailbuilding this weekend but there might be someone about that'll show you round. They're based out of Tunstall, just the other side of Woodbridge and have hosted a couple of rounds of Thetford summer and winter series.

HTH

Think the shockdoctor ones have a pretty good reputation, personally though would always use a dentsits one, found I could breath much easier, more comfortable and fitted properly.

May cost a few more quid but well worth the extra in my opinion.

FWIW I used mine for kickboxing and boxing and was surpisingly good at using my head as a punchbag…

Richer sounds

http://www.richersounds.com/

Usually very competetively priced

I'm lucky and have never had serious knee trouble *touches wood* but used to use asterisk cell braces when I was riding motocross, went for the whole prevention is better than cure theory. Never knew I was wearing them when riding and were surprisngly comfortable off the motorbike but must admit only ever used them when I was riding the bike and don't know what they'd be like walking serious distance?? Sizing is easy to work out too.

http://www.asteriskkneebraces.com/asterisk-cell-knee-brace.html

I got mine from a company called BTO sports in the USA and never got stung for any duty and bought them when exchange rate was pretty good. They also were delivered very quickly considering the distance they came.
There is plenty of mx shops in the uk which stock them though so would be worth trawling round and trying out a few different manufacturers out before parting with any cash, a good set is going to make a serious dent in your wallet

Just to contradict myself though I know a chippy who wears a CTI brace almost all of the time due to quadracep and knee surgery after years of muay thai abuse and he swears by it, was rather expensive though…

Re reading that post it doesn't really offer much but gives you another option I guess…

DickBarton, I'm not questioning your ability but as I said in my previous post you're going to be playing with a vital safety system of the car which will be transporting your wife and kids… If you were changing wiper blades or something equally as trivial then I'd definitely say go for it but there could be some potential serious consequences if you get this job wrong.

Get your friend to do it or ask to do it round his house/workshop with his assistance that way you'll gain some confidence and you'll know the job has been done properly as he'll check what your doing, and you may be happy doing the job yourself next time? Obviously depends on your relationship with that person though.

Your friend the mechanic will also get the parts at trade prices which is usually where some money can be saved, as well as the fact if he's doing it 'on the side' you'll save some more cash on labour charges, I often wonder where main dealers make up their labour charges from?? And I work in the industry…

Both brake systems do work on the same principles, its the ABS systems that make them more complicated.

some other things that may be worth considering if you are going to do them yourself, its not just the pads you are going to have to buy, you're going to need a jack to raise the vehicle, axle stands to make sure the vehicle your potentially lying underneath is safe, there is no way on gods earth I'd use the jack that's supplied with the vehicle for anthing other than emergency wheel change. Have you got all the tools you need to complete the job? Bit out of touch nowadays but you used to need a 7mm allen key for older Ford brake calipers. You may need a brake bind back tool to 'wind' the pistons back into the calipers.

Not trying to put you off but definitely things which need considering and at the end of the day your playing with the brakes on the car which your wife and kids will be travelling in, how confident are you if this is your first time doing this kind of thing? Not trying to put doubts in your mind but food for thought…

If there is 30% left they should easily last till next month and probably longer, just one question how do you know there is 30% left? Don't mean to sound rude but if you don't know where to buy pads or how to change them I'm curious as to how you've arrived at the 30% figure?

If you're worried about quality just buy them from your local Ford dealer, you'll pay retail price but you'd pay that anyway if you took it to the dealer for repair.

Front pads are usually a fairly simple task in the grand scheme of things.

Personally I like fitting genuine brake pads, or better depending on vehicle and application, they do make a difference in feel, peformance and longevity.

What Goan ^^^^^ said.

Keep it smooth as possible, carry as much speed through the bend as you can.

Remember the adage 1mph faster through the bend means 5mph faster at the end of the straight.

You can drive without braking but its usually slower, depends on the course layout though.

At most public places kart choice does make a huge difference…

and if it is wet drive like on a sunday afternoon, really smooth and really gentle (but fast) on all controls, you want to maintain as much traction as possible and jerky movements don't work.

Bananaman or Dangermouse, both costumes easily available

Change at 40K, make sure you also change the pulleys, tensioner and water pump too, Vauxhall do a kit to replace belt, rollers and tensioner, water pump will be extra but make sure you do the lot. May cost a little more short term but will save an absolute fortune if things go wrong long term. When they first came out they were check and change at 80K but there were so many problems this got halved by Vauxhall.

Do the right thing…

Liver, when being cooked it smells like it should be divine but IMO ends up tasting like your nanna's pants

I would say coincidence personally, the thermostat should open pretty much whenever it is used, normally by the time the temperature gauge starts showing the temp going up the thermostat wont be far away from opening and if there was a problem the vehicle would overheat pretty quickly.
Sounds like water pump gone to me. Sometimes when you leave a car for a length of time the water pump shaft gets stuck on the seals and then rips the seal out when the vehicle starts.

Just a PITA and something lke that always happens when you want to sell something….

Why not

mickyrobbo78 AT Hotmail dot com

What Michael Bowden says ^^^^^^^ If there is no ABS warning light it wont have ABS.

Or if you know what your looking for follow the brake pipes from the brake master cylinder and see where they go. If ABS is fitted they should all go into the ABS unit before going to each wheel.

Carbs are IMO definitely the main suspect, popping in the exhaust on overrun sounds like excess fuel (mixture too rich) burning after the combustion stroke and therefore burning in the exhaust.

If you're going to get a garage to check the timing and dwell angles ask them to put the 'sniffer' up the exhaust and see what reading your getting, depending on what readings you get will depend on course of action to a certain degree. Exhaust gas analysers can be wonderful pieces of kit in the right hands.

Must admit I haven't looked at the legislation for a little while and just going by memory but think the MOT will only be looking for CO and HC readings and they are a lot more relaxed and reasonably easy to get within specification, usually a play with the mixture will get her through.

SU carbs are wonderful things and in the world of carburettors they are pretty simple, try setting up and jetting a pair of Webber twin 40's!

Very interested!

Firstly I don't know about the specifics of VW transporter rear brakes but judging by your description I would suggest it is just a case of stripping, cleaning and rebuilding.

It would also definitely be worth looking at the handbrake mechanism on the rear brakes it may well be this 'hanging up' rather than the footbrake side. Could be a handbrake cable seized up for instance.

Hope that helps

It's an MOT failure because an inherent vehicle safety system has been disabled, not because the braking effciency of the car has been compromised.

If it was 'dangerous' to drive a vehicle without ABS surely the vehicle would shut down when a fault occured? The light is there to warn you there is something wrong which should be investigated by the appropriate authorised repairer not to stop driving the car. When a fault is detected the ABS system, in effect, shuts itself down and the valves/solenoids etc allow full flow and pressure of brake fluid to all four wheels.

Remember ABS only works when the wheelspeed sensors detect differences between the wheel speeds and then reduces brake pressure to the correspoding wheels. If you drive your car correctly/safely you should actually only ever have to test/use the ABS system in emergencies.

One that still amuses me

Type 'find Chuck Norris' then hit 'I'm feeling lucky'

As coffeeking says it is an MOT failure and should be if the light doesn't come on and then extinguish when the ignition is switched on/vehicle started (each manufacturer works differently, there is usually a large wall chart which tells the tester what 'should' happen) but this is part of the MOT and the car should fail if the ABS light doesn't work, however 'some' test centres do not pay huge amounts of attention to this…

Also as coffeeking stated your brakes will function perfectly and will be exactly the same but without the electronic/hydraulic assistance of the the ABS system.

And unfortunately he is also right due to the fact they can be a huge PITA to remove, sometimes due to the disimilar metals of the sensor and the wheel hub corroding together very well!

I like him, he's not bothered about saying whether cars/drivers haven't performed up to expected standard and gets a suprising amount of people to appear in front of the camera, lets be realistic there is no way Schumacher would have appeared in front of anyone else at Valencia whilst BBC were in front of Ferrari pits.

I think he is good fun and even enjoyed his section playing golf with Barrichello today.

Just a personal opinion obviously

Saphirre, Crazy Horse 2, Cheetahs, to name a few places worth visiting! :wink: sure you'll find some other venues as exciting

Maybe the switch has failed? This may have caused the flash and tripped the mcb. The switch now wont work and therefore the lights will not switch on.

Another possibility at least but no way to easily check unless you replace the switch, or get your multimeter out, not really something you should do if you have no idea what you're doing.

Just call the landlord, you pay rent and its his responsibility.