Barry

Carver One. 3 wheeled beast with 660cc's of Kei power. Controls are the same as standard car controls, steering wheel, 3 pedals, H pattern gearshift. When you drive it around corners, the whole body tilts like a motorbike, up to an angle of 45 degrees. The level of tilt is determined by how fast you are going. Very fun, if sometimes scary car to drive. Will update with more pictures when it comes out of the paint shop.

26 minutes ago, Desert Dweller said:

I don't think we are allowed to recommend businesses here. However, I got it done at this address 4 34th St - Umm Ramool - Dubai. I went back to the same place to get it fixed. I had done it before to another car I had in the same place and it worked fine from the first time. This time I had to go again as it wasn't as nicely done as the previous time.

There’s no issues naming and recommending anyone on here, it helps everyone. You just have to be careful if you say anything bad about someone because of the defamation laws. 

It’s a pretty easy thing to do. When you pull the fuse, you are left with 2 empty terminals. Put a wire in each one, then connect the other ends of the wires to an on-off switch. I recommend fitting an inline fuse holder with a fuse the same size as the original. I would love to help you with it but I don’t get involved with safety related modifications due to liability issues.

This is also true. Basic hot hatches now are faster than supercars were back in the day. Take the latest Ford Focus ST for example, 276 bhp. In comparison, the Ferrari Dino only made 192 bhp. 

Shifting up in a car without using the clutch is easy once you get used to it. If you time it right, you can skip gears. It just takes practise. I do it sometimes when I’m being lazy. Shifting down is a bit trickier. You have to rev a bit just when you hit neutral to match the engine speed to the transmission speed. If you get it wrong it can be jerky. On a bike I never use the clutch, only for starting and stopping. Also for popping ghetto wheelies on low powered bikes. 
 

The majority of vehicles all operate on the same principle. Once you figure one out, you can probably have a good go at understanding how something else works. I learned to drive on tractors on the farm when I was 7-8. When I learned to drive cars when I was 10-11 it was the same, just different. Steering, gears, clutch, brakes, throttle. As long as you understand what each does, you can figure it out. 

20 minutes ago, Frederic said:

With my biggest fear being the yearly RTA inspection crew suddenly saying: "Where is your Catalytic Converter Sir, we cannot pass you if you don't have it" i would like to keep it in place. The few percents power savings are not worth it in my opinion. 

You have 2 options. You can cut the cat open and remove the guts and weld it shut again. This is obvious to anyone inspecting it. The other is to put a metal rod down the centre and beat the guts out with a hammer. This is undetectable by visual examination but may or may not be picked up on a HC test. If you have a downstream O2 sensor, both of these will cause a catalyst efficiency DTC like P0420 and bring on the EML. 
 

18 minutes ago, Mohamed Seidam said:

@Barry thanks for last info well clear 

what if the muffler only totally removed will the sound ( sound pollution ) be worse than if the a whole was created from the exhaust pipe just after existing the engine ? What I am trying to say does pipe length affect sound ? 
 

because I still believe that muffler helps only 30% of noise because it’s at the end 
 

The muffler at the rear is only part of the system that you can see. In the centre of the car there will be more mufflers/resonators. If you remove any of these, it will get louder. If you remove all of these and run a straight pipe, it will be stupid loud and Sharjah police will take your car. The other issue is resonance. When you are cruising at a constant speed, the droning sound is unbearable for any length of time. I used to enjoy it when I was younger but now I just want to chill out and listen to the radio, not baaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww all the way down the road. 

The catalytic converter doesn’t actually absorb anything. What is does is catalyse 3 reactions to help make the exhaust emissions less harmful. 
 

1 - Hydrocarbons (Unburnt fuel) are converted into carbon dioxide and water. 
 

2 - Carbon monoxide is converted into carbon dioxide. 
 

3 - Nitrogen oxide is converted into nitrogen and oxygen. 
 

It’s not 100% efficient, some harmful components still escape into the atmosphere, but it does help a lot. Sports cats are less efficient because there is less catalyst contact area inside but they still help and because they are more free flowing, you can get more power. It’s a trade off between emissions and power and sports cats make a good compromise. 

I would imagine liability is a major issue. What if someone turned their airbags off, forgot about it then went out on the road, had an accident and broke their face on the steering wheel. Same with ABS, what if someone forgot to turn it back on and skidded into the back of a petrol tanker. Who is going to get the blame for that? The vehicle manufacturer. 
 

The market for such products is extremely niche and would be an extra cost that manufacturers just wouldn’t be interested in entertaining. The closest the majority of 4x4s and SUVs will ever get to off roading is parking in the sandy area outside their apartment or going over speed bumps in the mall parking. 
 

Frankly, I would be terrified if the general public had the ability to turn safety systems on and off at will. The majority of people don’t care about performance driving and even more are reliant on these safety systems to keep them out of trouble. A quick drive through Dubai and a look at the standard of driving will show why these systems are in place and how important they are. People just aren’t responsible or smart enough. 

1 hour ago, Rizwanm2 said:

hi @Mohamed Seidam after reading your comment i realised yes why not manipulate braking system to simulate a difflock. 

to be specific is it possible to modify the handbrake. current handbrake setup is pull the lever lock both rear wheels. instead can we install another hand brake lever and link both levers individually to the rear wheels. So when situation arise we can use the handbrake to lock the free spinning wheel and send power to the other wheel.  understand its not exactly like a difflock to send power equally to both wheels.

what do you think guys, is it good idea specially for desert driving and recovery situations. 

It’s entirely doable. But leave the original handbrake in place for parking and add dual hydraulic handbrakes so you can lock the rear wheels individually. It’s just a matter of rerouting some pipe work. You need to go hydraulic because the handbrake cable would be stretched in no time. But could you really be arsed going to all that bother? Just go buy a LSD. 

Ask the garage where your old cat is. Some of them sell for up to 1,000 dhs for scrap because of the platinum and palladium inside. I would be looking for my money back. 
 

They do suppress noise and they do stop flames from shooting out your exhaust. 
 

If you want to remove a cat and go straight pipe you need to be aware of the type of O2 monitoring system on your car. If you only have an upstream sensor, you can remove it safely. If you have upstream and downstream sensors, it will throw the engine light and the fuelling will be off unless you delete the downstream sensor from the map on the ECU. 

Went back to take another look and it’s gone. Only to be expected. It’s not the sort of thing you want to leave out in the sun for days. 

For anything which drives on the road, yes it should have one. For anything which is solely for off road or racing, I’d chuck it in the bin. Purely from an environmental perspective. 

19 hours ago, Wrangeld said:

Does anyone know a metal working shop that can fabricate something I designed?

@Barry - know anyone with a bit of metal and some welding equipment? 

I did have a guy but he left recently. 

Relearn process is nothing to worry about. Plug the computer in, hit the throttle relearn button and follow the instructions on screen. Only takes a couple of minutes. 
 

Have you pulled the intake pipe off and looked inside the throttle body to see if it actually needs cleaning?

Other than that, you need to go for a drive with the computer plugged in and monitor the live data to see what’s going on. Being scientific and methodical goes a long way towards diagnosis rather than reckoning. 

I guess that’s why he didn’t want to let you do pre purchase inspection. Paint depth indicator would pick it up straight away. 

A FF would definitely be a nice thing parked up outside. In this same blue colour. This is the second one I’ve seen in Dubai. I saw a silver one on the back of a recovery truck maybe 6 weeks ago. Pretty surprising given they only made 4500 ish. Even back home in all my years of going to car shows I’ve only seen 2-3. 
 

If it’s still there in the morning I’ll try to get some more shots. 

Nice spot in Al Quoz this evening. 
 

Anyone know why it has standard plates rather than classic plates? They stopped building them in 1976. 
 

Just change the radiator. It's around 1,500-1,600 dhs for a new original plus coolant, labour etc. This is also a good opportunity to upgrade to the lower temperature 370Z thermostat. You may also need to refill the AC gas if the condensor has to be removed to do the job. Its been a while since I done one so I'm not 100% sure about the last part.

A bit of surface rust on the differential is nothing to worry about. If you were really worried about the aesthetics, you can scrub it with a wire brush and spray it with some black paint.

Xterra is one of the more reliable 4x4s out there. Engine, transmission, differentials don’t really give any problems but I have seen injector problems although not common. As with any vehicle, use due diligence and check for signs of leaks, overheating, driveability etc. 
 

Outside of that it’s just normal consumable items such mountings, bushings, brakes, rods, links etc but that all comes down to who owned it previously and how well they maintained it. Engine and transmission mounts are a pretty common part to be replace on older cars. Get a proper inspection done and use any faults to knock the price down. 

I agree a lot of it is to do with resale value but what it creates is a false market where people buy cars these colours so they can sell them easily, then someone else buys it so they can also sell it easily and so on and so on and it perpetuates a vicious circle that exists for no other reason than to serve its own being. 

Watching traffic and contemplating, whatever happened to the time when people chose interesting car colours. All I see is black white grey silver black white grey silver white white grey silver, maybe an odd brown one here and there. Coloured cars are few and far between these days. Even in the upper end of the market anything outside of black white grey is becoming rare to see. 
 

So, what colour is your car and why did you choose it?

So that’s what that button does...

A lot of times the rust starts from the inside and works its way outward. If the hook is mounted to tube/box section, it may be worthwhile to drill a couple of holes in it and spray the inside with waxoyl or similar. 

Every time I see a tow rope getting tight on a sharp tug, it makes me wince. I've seen too many parts flying off cars and turning into projectiles. There was a video going around on whatsapp a couple of years ago showing the aftermath of where the rope broke and went through the windscreen and hit the guy in the face. It showed the guy rolling round on a hospital bed in pain with half of his jaw missing. I've seen a lot of bad accident videos but that one stuck with me.

I would test it for a couple of days on the road first just to make sure there are no vibrations, slippage, shifting issues etc. and if it seems good then go for it. It's not strictly necessary but it will give you a feel for if there are any problems before you start abusing it.