Barry

Nissan sunny in for diagnosis on parasitic battery drain. Currently under observation.

Peugeot 207 in for an oil leak. Found 7 separate leaks in the engine. All repaired and also changed a worn water pump actuator and pulley.

Porsche Cayenne in to have a set of rim protectors fitted. These are a great job. Protect the rims from damage if you rub against a kerb etc.

Volvo C30 R Design in for shock absorbers. Had the same car in last week for a burst cv joint boot.

Pajero not starting properly. Have it down to worn brushes in the starter motor. Just waiting for parts to arrive.

This is what me and my team are up to in the workshop today. 5.0 Range Rover in for head gaskets. Another mechanic elsewhere fitted a water pump and stuck everything with horrible black silicon. This silicon went round the engine, blocked everything and overheated the engine. I removed the engine, cleaned all the silicon out of it, skimmed the heads, levelled out the block and fitted new gaskets. Have the engine back in the vehicle now and hope to have it out of the workshop tomorrow night.

Maybe now they'll be called uber taxis? Uber and Volvo join forces to produce autonomous taxis. https://www.theengineer.co.uk/volvo-and-uber-join-forces-on-driverless-taxi-plan/

Every year I volunteer at an arts festival in my home country but this year I couldn't as I'm in Dubai. One of my friends went and sent me a few pics and this was one of them. Car completely covered in knitting. They even made little gloves for the wipers! I'm not 100% sure what car it is but from the shape of the headlight and rear quarter window, I think it's a facelift model Renault Clio Mk 1.

@Saleem putting the steering wheel on the right adds 10 horsepower

The car cost me 1,000. Engine was 1,200. Brakes were 400. Body parts were 300 plus 80 for paint. Wheels were 300. Suspension was 500. Front seats were 250. Sound system etc I had lying in the garage and I can't remember what I paid for all the parts. So that totals at 3030 I think, I'm not good at math. Prices in GBP so it works out around 15,000 dirhams.

Ford has said it will mass produce a fully autonomous car without a steering wheel by 2021 Ford's self-driving car 'coming in 2021' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37103159

I like rare/odd/obscure stuff. I'll dig out some of my old memory sticks sometime and see what else I can find. Would be nice to see some pics of other members cars.

This car originally started out as a cheap car to travel to work in but I made the mistake of falling in love with it. It began life with a 2.0 boxer engine which was eventually changed to a twin turbo 2.5. I fitted a front bumper and spoiler from a Subaru Impreza. 2 completely different cars so it took a bit of work to make it fit. The new bumper came with indicators in it so I wired them up and turned the original indicators beside the headlight into sidelights. With the extra power of the bigger engine, I needed bigger brakes so I fitted ones from an Impreza WRX and they made a huge difference to the stopping power. I also fitted some alloys and a set of gas shocks and some lowering springs to help with the handling. Interior wise, I didn't do much apart from fitting a set of Recaro front seats. I fitted a decent head unit, a couple of amplifiers and subwoofers in the boot. I also had a 240v invertor in the boot, handy when you need to plug in a household appliance when on the move. Again sorry for the picture quality, I used a potato.

I picked this up a while back. It belonged to an old guy who was full of good intentions to restore it but became ill and went into hospital so his son decided to scrap it. I decided to save it because it's something you rarely see. Paid the heavy sum of 60 GBP for it, around 300 Dirhams. I cleaned the carburetor out, put some fresh petrol in, set the points and got it running but never got around to doing much else with it. I thought about doing something crazy like fitting a SR20DET engine but the footwell is so small that there's no room to add a clutch pedal. It's a 1976 Volvo 66. Basically the same car as the DAF 66 with a Volvo badge and a few minor trim differences here and there. It has a 1289cc Renault C series engine. 56 horsepower when new. It only has 20k miles on the odometer, hence why I didn't want to scrap it. It has a DAF Variomatic transmission, an early belt driven form of CVT. Crazy thing, capable of travelling in reverse at the same speed it goes forward. 40 MPH in reverse in a biscuit tin isn't as much fun as it sounds. It's damn scary. Anyway, here she is in all her primer covered glory. Sorry about the quality of the picture, I took it with my calculator.

No problem 😊 I should also add, that although the waterless coolant costs more and you have to buy the flushing fluid, the flushing fluid can be filtered and reused many times. I use paint filters that you can buy from any parts shop that sells car paint. If you need to repair any part of the cooling system in the future, you can drain the coolant into a bucket, filter it and reuse it.

Parc Ferme workshop in DIP or Mazeed oil products in Garhoud. It's not cheap stuff but it lasts a long time and it works. You'll also need to buy the Evans flushing fluid. It's very important that all traces of water and old coolant are removed from the cooling system.

Taxi drivers are supposed to be professional drivers. If they don't act professionally, they deserve all they get.

I would love to see a for sale section on the forum. There isn't a proper platform for selling or trading second hand car parts in UAE. I would be more inclined to trust someone off here who was a regular poster than some randomer from dubizzle.

How do Pajeros take to Evans Waterless Coolant? I've used it many times in old classic cars that were prone to overheating and always had positive results. http://www.evanscoolants.co.uk/Coolants/Performance/power_cool_180

Where does the souq comparison come from?

Probably one of the worst vehicles you could buy. AJ engine is made from chocolate, BMW transfer box is made from chocolate, suspension failure in the sand is an issue as mentioned above. If the suspension fails, the vehicle will sit on the ground like it's straight out of the fast and the furious. Random electrical sensors fail so the vehicle thinks the bonnet or doors are open so you can't lock the vehicle with the remote. Electric handbrake fails and is an expensive repair. They do have one good point, you get to play warning light bingo every day. Im my opinion, if you want reliability, buy a land cruiser.

@treks much love for the 3 litre Capri here. I restored a 280 Brooklands for a guy last year with the Cologne V6. I remember sitting in it when it was finished and just thinking, wow. Must have been something pretty special to own when it was new.

I thought drugs were illegal in UAE?

Dubai has plenty of sun. It's good to see someone using their head and starting to use it. Now they need to get rid of their oil burning power plants and fill the desert with solar panels.

It's a system designed to reward safe drivers. If you get enough points, you get entered into a raffle to win prizes. This article explains more about it, http://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/transport/dubais-white-point-system-to-honour-1800-drivers