Barry

Just read this article about a series of spooky accidents that happened to people who worked with the car James Dean died in. http://jalopnik.com/5113390/the-curse-of-james-deans-little-bastard

I had this problem in the UK. Unless you have headlights with self levellers and washer jets, they used to fail you for having HID bulbs. It's easy to get around though, just remove the bulbs and ballasts come test time and fit your old bulbs. Once you get your test, you can fit the HIDs and ballasts back in. Doesn't take long as most of the kits are plug and play If you're going for LED sidelight bulbs, I'd recommend staying away from the cheap Chinese ones and spend a bit extra on decent ones. The Chinese ones will start to flicker and die after a while and flickering lights tend to draw attention from the police. I saw one Mitsubishi Lancer driving through Al Quoz a couple of days ago. All the lights on the front changed colour from green to blue to red as he drove along. Money doesn't buy taste!

In the garage in Sharjah I was in previously, they used to buy scrap compressors in bulk for the most popular cars and keep them in stock. Maybe it's a similar setup?

I'll work on anything. Earliest car I've worked on was 1935, latest was 2016.

It's something to do with something called BPA I think. Apparently it's cancerous. There was a lot of discussion about it in a firm I used to work at and most of the people then switched from plastic to filling glass bottles from the cooler.

Angry dad destroys daughters car with a bobcat after catching her with a boy. http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/704344/car-destroyed-dad-video?ref=yfp

@DiamondDallas it's good that you posted the price but what actual work was carried out for that price, what parts were changed etc. so people can gauge actual value for money. Obviously it was more than just a simple system regas.

When you first start the car, chances are that the dashboard and all the pipes inside are hot from sitting in the sun. No cooling will occur until the ac system has cooled the air pipes. That's why you don't get immediate cooling effect when you start the car.

I saw this on another forum a couple of weeks ago. Surely it defeats the purpose of a Maybach which is to have a big back seat and loads of legroom? One simply does not drive ones own Maybach. One has a chauffeur.

I've done Hummer transfer box before. This one seems ok. Honestly, oil isn't my forte. I'm only really into the mechanical and electrical side of things but I have been told that the profi car stuff is good. We stock that alongside gulf oils. 9 times out of 10, people just ask for the cheapest oil possible and that is the gulf products. Most people driving cars don't have the same passion as we do on here, they just see a car as an appliance like a washing machine or a toaster and the main aim is to keep it running for as long as possible as cheaply as possible.

We also had a new friend join us.

Hummer H2 in. Transmission is slipping when hot and the oil is pretty stinky. Everything pointing to clutches in the transmission so gearbox will have to be removed and rebuilt. CLS 350 has broken flaps in manifold.

I like this one. Fiat X19 with a 1000cc GSXR engine.

It's good when someone actually comes back and tells how they fixed the problem. There's too many threads on all forums where people ask for advice, get suggestions, then never come back to say what actually worked or how/if they fixed it. This is totally useless for anyone searching for answers in the future I don't mind giving free advice. When I started out I knew very little and plenty of people helped me. As said above, pay it forward 😊

Google 'bike engined car' and see what results you get. Bike engine conversions are popular in cars generally weighing 600-700 kg or less, mini, caterham, imp etc. Fitting a bike engine means you can have the same power as a car engine in a lighter unit, you can rev higher, and 9 times out of 10, you have a sequential gearbox to go along with your conversion. That is my 190E in my profile pic. The 190E was the predecessor to the C Class so you're not far off.

Some top quality work there

@teajay I used to drive a 40 foot articulated lorry in the UK, sometimes 16 hours a day including driving through heavy city traffic and I managed not to hit anything and that's a pretty big vehicle. Some of these guys can't even drive a Camry without wrecking it. Mrs Barry was involved in a bad accident last year, a taxi driver slammed into the back of another car at high speed because he was too busy checking his Facebook to look what was in front of him. If someone who is supposedly a professional driver is crashing into things, even one time, they should be heavily penalised to make sure they don't do it again otherwise they'll just continue with their crappy driving and having accidents. If you had a company and had a company driver, would you be happy if he hit the car even one time? And it's not even the matter of the price of a car or the parts, it's people's lives and health that are being played with. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

Citroen ZX16v - Very rare car and pretty quick. Fantastic chassis for a FWD, same as Puegeot 306. 60mm lowering springs in the front and rear torsion bars adjusted to match. Alloys came from Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9. Around 170 BHP with adjustable tuning. Sold it and last time I heard, it's now running ITBs and making big horsepower. Citroen Saxo - I can't remember if this was a 1.0 or a 1.1, I've had a few of them but I remember this one was very flashy as it had electric windows. Really fun little car to drive and chuck around corners. Ford Escort Mk1 1300GT - All kinds of cool. Spotlights as the original headlights were like candles. RS alloys. Weber 38 DCOEs, 4 branch manifold, straight through exhaust with cherry bomb tailpipe. Very loud car. Problem was that it was full of isopon. Sold for a lot more than was paid for it. It went to a guy who was going to do a full restoration on it. Probably worth somewhere in the region of 150k dhs now.

Here is some more cars I've had through my hands. Ford Escort Mk5b - This started out as an ordinary Ford Escort Mk5b. I fitted the full bodykit from a Mk5 RS2000, bumpers, skirts, spoiler, bulged bonnet. Also had full Recaro interior from the RS2000. Fitted a 130bhp 1.8 Zetec from a later model escort. Wheels came from Mondeo Si. Also added a decent sound system. Vauxhall Chevette - 2 door saloon. I have no pictures of this complete but it ended up as a stock car with a 1250cc engine. Also ended up getting trashed in the first race. Mercedes 190E - This was a nice car to cruise around in. Never gave me any trouble either. Completely standard apart from a line lock which meant I could use the footbrake to lock only the front wheels and do huge burnouts. Volkswagen Polo Mk2 - I love these little Polos. I've had 7 of them in total. This was a nice example with less than 20k on the clock. I was (trying to) racing a guy in a V6 Vectra one night and smashed it into a traffic island. Peugeot 205 - Still have this one at home. Originally started as a 1.7 NA diesel, dangerously slow. Fitted a 1.9 turbo diesel, larger fuel pump and injectors, and a turbo from a 3.0 V6 Renault Espace. Currently around 200 BHP. Really fun car to drive because it looks completely standard and nobody knows what's under the bonnet. A few guys in new cars have been embarassed at the traffic lights. Has a nasty habit of breaking driveshafts though, they just weren't designed to cope with the torque. Plans for it are eventually fit a 2.1 turbo diesel from the Peugeot 406 and add a nitrous injection kit. Daihatsu Hijet - I don't know what was in my head the day I bought this but it was cheap. I sold it to a guy who eventually fitted a Hayabusa engine in it.

Because it's easier to position the rear of the car then swing the front in using the steering wheels at the front. If you drive in straight, it's just not possible to swing the rear in because the wheels don't turn. Think about a forklift, the steering is done by the rear wheels. This enables the driver to position the front of the vehicle then swing the rear around to point the toes in the intended direction. The steering wheels are not at the back of a car because it would make it extremely unstable. Have you ever reversed really fast and noticed how the car changes with the smallest steering input?

Putting a dartboard in so you'll have something to do when you're waiting for your car. Also ordered a tv for the waiting room then we'll get the Xbox hooked up so you can play forza, halo or whatever else you feel like.

3 accidents a year is too many. That is an accident every 4 months. One accident a year is too many.

Late night last night finishing off the Range Rover. Just doing some last minute work resetting fault codes and recalibration the air suspension. Using the Launch X431 Pro. This really is a fantastic piece of equipment. Features all the same scan functions and programming capability as dealer software so there's nothing I can't do with it. Everything from reading and resetting fault codes to programming new keys.

Retail on rim protectors is 700 dhs but I can offer them to Carnity members for 600 dhs fitted. They take either a morning or an evening to fit. My guy has done quite a few sets of them now so is a real pro at it.

Saturday is just another day for me. Ill text you about the rim protectors.