Danish

I think a single cab pickup could be cool, but not twin cab.

My mechanic was telling me of something very similar just last week. Why would you even think that might be a good idea?

I've no photos, but the three worst... - A mk3 Cortina boot floor made from a 'bear left' aluminium road sign. The first I was suspicious was reflective blue bits when you looked up from underneath the car - A mk3 Capri with the driver's footwell area all made from fiberglass - A mk3 Cortina with Arris rail (the 45˚ timber you use for fencing) acting as a offside inner sill

That is crafty, but I wouldn't do it in case the car is ever sold on to an unsuspecting buyer. I don't think they expect modern cars to be repaired after a crash - crumple zones and air bags make it uneconomic. I had a VW Polo which was someone else's cancelled order and it something like 10 air bags - in the back of the front seats, in the B-posts and C-posts.

A nice car, but a Series 3 XJ12 would be my personal preference.

Apart from all the other issues, I'm struggling to see why M4XDU is a valuable registration number? :-s

Perfect. Strap the genny to a trailer and pull it behind you with a coily cable to the tractor.

How primitive! My n/s mirror is voice-controlled. I ask the passenger to wind the window down, then we have a pantomime of "up a bit", "in a bit", "no, in the other way".

Bristol Pegasus club are doing a navigation event in South Wales in February (which we're going to). They're over the bridge from us but a nice friendly club - unlike some of the South Wales clubs we've been to.

:no pics:

Ooh, it looks like the Mk3 Cortinas are going to be out in force!

1. Mexican Gerbil 2. stephens_xpack 3. Vista (x2) 4. Danish

With a T5 conversion...

There's a diesel estate on ebay at the moment: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332083375897

I used this stuff: http://www.autosparks.co.uk/electrical-components/sleeving-conduit-tapes/grey-pvc-harness-tape-non-adhesive-ideal-for-covering-wiring-harnesses-19mm-wide-approximately-20m-long.html Non-adhsive grey PVC tape. Looks quite similar to original-fit Ford tape.

Welcome to OSF! Buy your Capri, then put the engine from your Mondeo in it!

Yup, they did nearly all the decals for my rally 'tina and the service and quality was spot on.

1970s Austin Princess and Rover SD1 for me. I had an SD1 for a while. So unreliable you wouldn't believe, but looked good. If I came into money I'd have an Alvis TD21 - but that's not a guilty secret, that's a quality British sports car.

Ah. When we lived in Devon (and we won't get into the Cornwall/Devon thing) there was a chain of shops called Oggie Oggie. I thought it was just a trendy made-up name.

Egg in a pork pie is just wrong. The pie has to be cold - if hot the jelly runs out. With brown sauce of course.

It's a good question. I do have a 'charger (an ex-Toyota MR2 SC14) which is in the process of being bolted up to a Transit 205 Pinto. Sorting out pulleys and belt tension has been a pain, and the charger does suck a huge amount of power from the engine - so while it will be more powerful than NA, fuel consumption is going to be high. I guess the main reason I'm doing it is just for the experience - go through the process, learn how to install a 'charger. There's a certain coolness in having your bonnet up at a show with a supercharger on show. Also this one has an electric clutch on the input shaft, so you can switch it in or out, so I have the option to either have a big red button on the dash, or to wire it into the ECU to come on automatically. But I've no good engineering reasons for doing it and turbo would have been better for power and ease of fitting. My next engine is a T5 (ST-225) and it has a turbo - much simpler, and I wouldn't think to supercharge it instead. I know it's widely held that turbos don't rob any power, but they must take some - obviously not as much as a supercharger, but it must be harder for the piston to force the exhaust gasses out if there's a turbine in the way, rather than an open pipe?

My other half got me... an OSF hoodie! Black with Kodak yellow trim Merry Christmas!

You can get some sealant stuff to go on porous cast alloy. I haven't used it myself, but a friend had a problem with a porous engine block. I have a similar problem. When we had a new roof on the garage we fitted a steel I-beam and put a chain hoist on it. Now I can change the engine by simply taking the weight of the car, loosening the sub-frame bolts then lifting the front of the car up and rolling the engine, gearbox and sub-frame out. We had a cluster of neighbours watching when the steel was delivered, wondering what on earth we were doing.

Thanks for all the replies, I ordered this evening.

I agree, and while an MOT doesn't prove the car was OK on the day of an accident, it at least shows you had its condition independently checked within the last year. Especially for those of us who do a lot of our own work. To quote my electrician course tutor - when in doubt imagine explaining yourself to a judge!