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Barry

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Everything posted by Barry

  1. Barry
    They swap cars halfway through the race which makes it fun as everyone is going out on cold tyres again. I like to catch a formula e race here and there. Smaller, narrower circuits so it makes for good racing with a few people swapping paint.
  2. Barry
    The stiletto wasn’t bad compared to some of the crap BL were putting out at the same time. Infinintly more interesting too with it’s rear engine setup to make more passenger room. Check how the engine is almost tilted on it’s side to get it into the small space, Was also the first British production car with all aluminium head and block. Now that we’re on the subject, here’s a car built in Ireland on the same chassis, the Clan Crusader. Wouldn’t really be known to many outside the rally and hill climb world. Tiny little car but Lotus levels of handling on tight lanes. Here’s another I’m sure most of you won’t have heard of, again it primarily only runs on local level rallies but it’s running a Millington Diamond engine which any good car enthusiast will know about. The Darrian T90 GTR. Always reminded me of a baby RS200. If you have a good sense of humour the sun strip will make you laugh.
  3. Barry
    What about people coming into UAE? I counted 11 Saudis getting out of a car in Diera one day. Mostly children stuffed into the boot.
  4. Barry
    How about the Rootes Sunbeam Stiletto, coupe version of the rear engine Hillman Imp
  5. Barry
    Obviously carburetor fm would be the first choice but it's not always possible here with the modern cars. Radio Mirchi sneaks in a close second 😉 Im loving Radio 2 on 99.3, all classic hits. No Justin Bieber or Beyoncé or any of that stuff. If there's a connection I'll stick the iPod in and listen to some NWOTHM but that's not always possible for a connection. So what do you listen to when you're in the car? If anyone says the Kris Fade show please be aware it's a lifetime ban according to Carnity rules.
  6. Barry
    https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/supercar-catapulted-tree-after-transporter-2034241 "The driver suffered minor injuries. However, there was a large diesel spill from the vehicles, which is why the road has been closed for a long period of time." Damn those diesel supercars 😂
  7. Barry
    Let's show some love for the ladies in Motorsport. Heres Michelle Mouton racing group B in the SWB S1 Audi Quattro. Listen to that glorious noise! I think it's sad she retired when group B got banned. Fantastic pilot.
  8. Barry
    There's a little bit more to lotus than Corolla engines. The current Evora comes with a choice of 2 2GR-FE engines, that's the 3.5 V6, with a choice of NA or supercharged. Lotus were never about the engines but more about chassis and handling although they did build some nice engines like in the old Lotus Fords. They might not be the fastest in a straight line but they will corner like a race car. Lotus are a cool company with a lot of history. Check out the 7 2 seater. Started production in 1957, still being produced by Caterham today. Im excited to see more Lotus cars on the road. They have a new workshop opening in Al Quoz too. Im going in there in a few months to do a project. Can't say much about it at the minute but when it's finished I'll post about it. I don't think Lotus will affect other car manufacturers sales too much as it's a specialized market aimed at the gentleman hooligan. The only real competition here is aging S2000 imports.
  9. Barry
    I love Trabis. There used to be an old German guy who lived near me who had a few. Made from a mix of plastic and cardboard.
  10. Barry
    Public transport in my place is awful. There is one bus out in the morning and one in at night. If you don’t have a car you have to rely on overpriced taxis. Alcohol isn’t a good analogy either. A bottle of vodka is 20dhs (£4) from the bootleggers in al Quoz. You will be doing well if you can find a bottle for under £15 (75 dhs) in my place. Alcohol is way cheaper here.
  11. Barry
    Post some cars you think we haven't seen before. If some of us have seen it then no harm done, but it's always good to see oddballs. Number 1, the eagle talon awd ,
  12. Barry
    Taxis here are cheap. Try taking a taxi in Europe. I have seen me paying £15 (75 dhs) to get home from the pub a mile away (1.6 km).
  13. Barry
    It's not rapid accident response teams that's needed, it's more patrols to catch people on their phones and people switching lanes with no indicators. Kill the cause, not treat the symptom. Would also be nice to see anyone with an unbuckled child in the car banned from driving for 12 months.
  14. Barry
    The first job offer I had when I left school was designing cars for BMW. Sometimes I regret it, sometimes I don't. Doing the same thing every day would be boring as hell. There are some jobs a robot can do better than any human such as welding body shells and painting. There are also jobs humans are better at such as creating bespoke parts for high end cars like Bentley and rolls Royce. I believe the future lies in being able to build and repair the robots that build the cars. There still needs to be a supply of artisan labour but the need grows smaller every year. At the end of the day, robots are robots. They need designing and maintenance. They do what they are told to do. Only a human can do that. When the day comes that robots are designing robots, we are all in trouble.
  15. Barry
    Hopefully the rules will be better enforced on the new trains. Especially standing to one side and letting people off first, and no standing in the middle of the doorway when people are trying to get on. I'm not a violent person but sometimes the metro brings me close to losing my temper. They should take a leaf out of Japan's book where speaking is frowned upon. One thing I would like to see implemented is that if you smell bad then no admittance. The smell on the train is horrible sometimes, even in the morning. How can people not wash and wear the same clothes day after day? I am surprised that they moved away from Kinki Sharyo trains. The current fleet is fantastic, it's just the people riding it and the lack of rule enforcement.
  16. Barry
    I used to have Uber and Careem apps on my phone. Any time I've needed them I've been stuck way out in the middle of nowhere and they didn't show up. RTA taxi has always come first after waiting 30+ minutes for Uber/Careem. Maybe they're better organized in other countries but my experience has been unless you're in a central city location they're useless.
  17. Barry
    Here's a story about the 1.7 dti astra and corsas. There is an electronic controller on the pump that fails, way down the back of the engine. The car starts, runs for a few seconds and dies. I have seen many cars with that problem being scrapped because vauxhall/Opel wanted to fit a new computer so I used to buy them direct from the scrapyard. It's a simple fix. Re solder a couple of dry joints on the computer and the car is good as new, 30 minutes work. Made a lot of money doing that. Anyone got any love for the Peugeot/Citroen XUD series?
  18. Barry
    While Elon Musk may be a genius and made huge leaps forward with Space X, he certainly is a mouthpiece on social media which may be construed as a being a liability. He posts first and thinks later. His latest escapade where he built a "submarine" to rescue the kids trapped in a cave in Thailand for example. One of the rescuers said Musks device was useless and Musk straight out called him a paedophile asking why any white man would ever be in Thailand other than wanting to abuse children. He did retract his comment but soon put it straight back out there which currently involves a lawsuit with the rescuer suing him for defamation. I love what the guy is doing but he's a straight up liability and I don't blame the Saudis for looking for something else to invest in. I believe the lack of Saudi confidence is what made Elon change his plans.
  19. Barry
    I say what I see without fear. I am a white guy married to an Asian girl. I am in no way racist. I have no regrets in what I said. There are mechanics, painters, electricians from certain countries etc out there who do shitty work without recompense. The rest of these people get blamed for incompetent work. Even me. I’m Irish. All Irish people work on cars when drun... oh..... wait......
  20. Barry
    It was the same in uk. Diesel was half the price of petrol so everyone invested in Diesel engines. More torque, more miles per tank, what’s not to like? Now all this emissions stuff is happening, the people who invested in diesel are getting penalised hard with fuel tax, road tax. MPG still makes it worth it (kind of) but the introduction of euro specs with DPF and Adblue can make it expensive if something goes wrong. I don’t know how it is everywhere else but back home we have 2 grades of diesel. Normal road diesel and agricultural diesel. Agricultural diesel is the same as road diesel with a red or green diesel (depending which part of Ireland you live in). But the thing about agricultural diesel is that it’s a quarter of the price of road diesel so naturally many people put it in their cars. Sometimes you will come across a her majesty’s custom and excise checkpoint where they will dip random cars to check the fuel but the savings far outweigh the fine. Many people also run illegal diesel “laundering plants” where they pass the agricultural diesel through fullers earth aka kitty litter, which removes the dye and makes it “legal” again. Massive profit to be made at such operations. Diesel cars can be fun contrary to popular belief. I was looking for something reliable and cheap to drive to work, it was a 2 hour drive, so I bought a cheap Mk 1 Renault Clio for a couple of hundred pounds to go to work and back. To my surprise the engine from the scrap Volvo 440 TD in my yard, same as the Laguna bolted straight onto the mounts so me and a friend did it one weekend for a bit of fun. The car was a real POS but nobody knew it was a TD and I beat many Nova and Corsa SRIs at the lights. I should have thrown a few pink slips down 😂
  21. Barry

    Cars and cooking

    Barry posted a topic in Off-topic

    So Mrs B has started a new job which results in me getting home 2 hours before her. Which I really don’t mind. Manly me time is hard to find these days. This has put me in the position of head chef, which again I don’t mind. I love to cook. So ladies, and gentlemen, share your favourite go to foods and recipes. If there’s enough interest maybe we can have a monthly cooking competition where everyone cooks the same meal and put it to the public vote.
  22. Barry
    This is what I’m confused about. Before I shifted to outside Dubai I used to travel with my colleagues every day. Of course we all shared petrol costs evenly and if the car broke down we made a team effort to fix it putting in our own labour specialities but it wasn’t a profit driven agenda. It was just getting to work and splitting the cost and not having to stand next to someone in the metro for 45 minutes who hadn’t showered for 4 days. I think this is more aimed at the “car lifts” aka the illegal taxis. The people advertising their services of Facebook and the like need to be the ones worrying. Maybe.
  23. Barry
    True but I meant my comment as more of a general comment rather than specific to the OPs car.
  24. Barry
    Be careful firing the parts cannon, it can get expensive quick and the faulty part is usually found shooting your last bullet. Better to get a proper diagnosis. Faulty radiator cap, you can turn the engine off when it’s hot and put your ear to it. You will hear hissing or maybe see staining around the outlet. When the engine is cold look inside the radiator. It’s easy to see if it’s blocked up. Faulty thermostat can be found by putting your hand on the radiator. From cold start, if the radiator warms evenly, the thermostat is stuck open. When the engine reaches temperature and the bottom of the radiator is hot but the top is cold, the thermostat is stuck shut. Water pump is a bit more tricky to diagnose but sometimes they leak. Look for coolant staining around the bottom of the timing cover. A bad water pump can make the engine overheat at idle but when you rev the engine, it circulates the coolant and the temperature drops. A bad cylinder head gasket can cause coolant and oil to mix. You will have coolant in oil or oil in coolant. Or the coolant can simply leak into the cylinder and go out the exhaust. Don’t worry, I’m sure you don’t have this. Not always true. Some cars have externally mounted water pumps driven from an exterior belt. I learned the hard way. Just after I started driving my alternator belt broke and the warning light came on so I decided to just drive home and put a new belt on in the morning. Little did I know that belt was also driving the water pump. I was lucky and got away with just a cylinder head gasket. God bless the old days of cast iron heads.
  25. Barry
    That’s down to the dealer and their PDI process. Go out to DIP and see all the new Audi’s waiting to be delivered to the showroom. They’re pretty dusty and scratched up too. It’s all down to the dealer. If you buy a new Audi from Al Nabooda, they will polish it to within an inch of its life before handover, whereas if you go to Al Futtaim and buy an new Toyota, they will drive it out of the car park, wash it and throw you the keys.
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