CurtisRider

Perhaps some suspension too?

If you are only doing 11 miles each way then could you not invest in a road bike and ride to work? Cheap not total shite cars are about if you are able to do some basic to intermediate jobs. I bought a 55 plate Astra 1.9 SRI (£650), replaced the clutch, DMF and slave (genuine Sachs £350), serviced it (£50 all in), replaced the glow plugs (£25), changed the cam belt and water pump (£120), replacement back box (£10), replacement NS front calliper (£50 new) and a few other bits and bobs such as replacing piping and cleaning parts. For £1300 I now have a car that should be reliable and is worth far more than what I have spent on it, of course I haven't included a price for labour as I did it myself. If you need to do a fair amount of welding then why not attack it yourself? MIG welding isn't too hard to pick up and it's a great skill to learn! Apart from doing a few basic repairs to agricultural stuff and making a bike frame, I took on a complete mini restoration and it made my welding improve straight away! I'm still not amazingly neat (sometimes I am, but I'm pretty inconsistent as I rarely get to weld these days) but my welds are strong and it's another thing I can do on any cars I own I know this one looks a bit gash but I'm wondering about making a vent in one of my spare pop up lights ready for extra air when I go 1.8T I want to make it as subtle as possible, I was thinking a widthways slit about 15mm deep, creating a 15mm groove wouldn't look too bad?

Unless you are prepared to really get stuck in and just go for it then avoid a project for now. They always sap time and money, it can be rewarding but it can be equally a total freakin' nightmare as you may be discovering. Ideally you want a reliable daily that you don't need to touch apart from general maintenance, then you can focus on sorting out your caddy. A cheap to run little car would mean you have more money potentially to play with on the caddy, but you will look majorly uncool whilst driving it. Surely if you have a 1.9D in there, it should be a fairly straightforward swap getting a better 1.9TDI in there or a 1.8T? Just the loom to whack in and a bit of extra pipework

I finally got round to trying that rain repellent stuff you guys recommended. I did all the application stuff as per instructions but I can't see how it is any better than Rain X...It doesn't repel until 60, but that was the case with Rain X too! It's still good for motorway stuff, just massively overpriced compared to the £3 a bottle for Rain X that has enough for many applications. I'll see if it lasts any longer before being too bitter

I'm after a new lid and I'm totally lost as to what to get. My current one is a Giro Xen and it's great but VERY old now and had a few light impacts so should probably be replaced now that I'm getting a bit faster and riding regularly. I am doing trail centres mainly if that makes any difference to the type of helmet I should choose. My budget is £50, Ideally I'd pay less but of course I would pay more if necessary, just means saving up a bit longer I guess! My main thing I need is ventilation as my head seems to get ridiculously hot, that's why I chose the Xen as at the time it was the best ventilated lid I could find.

Done it I now can't see what I was so worried about, it's a very easy job! The locking kit was pretty pointless, I only used 1 part from it. I was supplied the wrong pump so had to nip back to ECP and swap it, their system was down so that wasted loads of time! Took me about 3 hours to swap it all in total, I could halve that now as I was being over cautious about everything. New waterpump, tensioner and guide pulley. The old ones felt rather rough so i'm very glad they have been replaced! Old belt was noticeably worn and not original meaning it has had at least 1 belt change in its life which suggests it's had some care in the past. Typical aux belt cracking from a few too many miles All fitted Very happy now, I was getting quite nervous about the age of the belt and pump so it's nice to know that they should be ok now (assuming they don't have a manufacturing defect ).

1.9CDTI 16V. Got the locking kit even though it is not essential, also got the aux belt and a new water pump for whilst i'm there. The car is on 136k and I have no history of whether the Cambelt has even been done so it's important I get it sorted! It runs brilliantly now since I cleaned sensors and stuff, so it seems a shame not to keep it in good working order

That axle is TTTEEEENNNY! Collecting the cambelt tomorrow, hopefully I can get that done fairly quickly! Also got the last few exhaust mounts to chuck on, hopefully the Astra will be happy then and need no more attention. Also got to do an oil service on the Porsche, hopefully that'll be good for a bit too

Please don't feel you have to fit in to my silly holidays, although that would be great if it does work out! Unfortunately it is pretty frowned upon to takes days off when you are a teacher

Of course And I may even be able to lend you a car depending on the condition of both of them (probably falling apart) The next weekday time frame I can be free is 3rd-15th April

I've got Feb 14th-22nd off, please be within those dates!

Went to ECP to collect a service kit for the 924 and exhaust rubbers for the Astra (but they only had 3 in stock of the 6 I needed ). I got the rubbers fitted to the Astra anyway and it has made a big difference! I have ordered 3 more so hopefully that'll solve another issue. I keep putting off ordering the timing belt, I should probably get that done next weekend as I haven't a clue when it was last done, it's a potential ticking financial time bomb...

Some people are just incredibly generous! But yeah he may want some bum fun too. My astra was making a loud rattle yesterday when steering and in lower revs, had it up on my ramps and a few subframe bolts weren't totally awesomely tight but then weren't super loose either, I also noticed my exhaust rubbers are a bit loose looking so the exhaust may be moving excessively. Nothing else seems to be an issue, so hopefully it was just those. I've also been painting black the non contact surfaces of the front discs and the brake callipers to tidy it up a bit, certainly looks a ton better than rust! Now to clean up the back callipers/discs and collect some exhaust rubbers

Is that the E46? If so, bloody hell that's in poor condition...

Ed if you like you can bring your car over 1 weekend and we can go through it? I've got most of the essential tools so most jobs are within reach

Like I said, about 10 years ago they made great stuff but every Makita product I've had since has had issues; NIMH cordless drill-2xgearboxes,a dead battery, 1 switch and a dead motor Cordless circular saw-2x motors Corded SDS drill-selector shaft wore through within a year of hardly any use Table saw-armature broke, angle grinder-on second replacement after gear failures Lithium cordless-1 battery died within 6 months, forward reverse switch faulty. My 9" grinder is still going beautifully though and some parts were replaced with no quibbles under warranty so credit where it is due...

Hopefully a before and after photo that has a slightly noticeable difference... I have sprayed my previously very tired looking OEM exhaust as it was corroded in places and looked pretty untidy, I left the tip as I like it being silver. The tip was always a bit grim looking though so I spent some time this morning on the bench polisher and got it looking nearly as shiny as my Dansk exhaust Not looking forward to refitting it, the car won't be the same without its growl

My Makita was a smidge over £200 with 2 batteries a few years back and even that is substandard unless used for purely hobby use (their quality has diminished substantially in the last 10 years). Not all cheap power tools are bad though, my Sealey 24V impact gun always impresses me and the Aldi range of corded power tools have always been superb especially when you consider they basically give them away along with a 5 year warranty... all of mine are still going after lots of abuse

Cheap drills are a massive no no unless they are corded, you need to spend £100 minimum to get anything remotely close to acceptable

I resent paying for something I can do just as well, I would also not be able to afford any of my cars if a garage did do the jobs... The Porsche has had 2k of parts fitted now in the space of a year, the costs of fitting many of those parts would be astronomical, such as the clutch replacement would have easily been close to 1K with how many issues it revealed that had to be sorted as well as little things like painying parts before they are refitted would really add up. I also really enjoy (usually) solving problems and the achievement factor of fixing cars.

If you haven't already then get some degreaser and give the engine a good scrub, it'll make detecting potential future leaks easier+looks better than an oily bay!

DrEvil your photos are always freakin' awesome, I'm not excited by weddings and yet your photos make me interested. I have bought myself a cheap SLR (D3200) after my Pen got stolen and have already bought some remote slave thingies and i'm about to order a few flashes. I need a bag to store this stuff in as my rucksack isn't sufficient! I used to have a rather nice Lowepro bag which was about £70 but i'm not looking to spend that much on something I won't use very regularly. I've seen these 2 on eBay that look to be sufficient for my needs: This one lacks a tripod strap but I could easily sew something on http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Camera-Backpack-Rucksack-Sling-Pack-Bag-for-DSLR-Black-with-free-Raincover-/321249071187?pt=UK_Camera_Cases_Bags_Covers&hash=item4acbefd053 This one has a tripod strap for a few quid more and appears to have slightly better build quality judging by the photos too? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BlackTravel-Camera-Backpack-Oxford-Case-Bag-For-Canon-Nikon-Sony-DSLR-Rain-Cover-/251736970844?pt=UK_Camera_Cases_Bags_Covers&hash=item3a9cb1565c EDIT: This appears to be a copy of the Lowepro I had... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7dayshop-Photographers-Backpack-Rucksack-Camera-and-Laptop-Version-Black-/361145052205?pt=UK_Camera_Cases_Bags_Covers&hash=item5415ec2c2d Any recommendations would be appreciated!

And because those standard brakes are a bit lacking, they do the job but aren't confidence inspiring when driving hard

You need to know the oil amounts and viscosity for the fork legs and damping ideally, I didn't find them after a quick browse but i'm sure there must be info online they are a common fork. To do a basic service you should empty the air chambers, then undo the bolts at the bottom of each fork leg, you may need to leave the bolts screwed in a few threads and then give them a gentle tap with a soft faced hammer so the pistons release from the lowers, expect some oil to dribble out of each leg. Once you have done that you need to slide the lowers off the uppers and then clean the seals, get a rag on a stick and clean out the lower legs, you need to make sure there is no poop or grit in there. Slide the uppers back into the uppers but not all the way as you will need to fill each lower leg with the suitable amount of oil, then you can slide them fully in and fit the lower leg bolts. Pump them back up and away you go