Is it the fifth birthday on the 29th or 30th? There was only one registered user, Gordon, on the 29th. It didn't get any more until 30th when Gordon's cat, me, Marty and Morat joined.

That's got it up to 29942.....

I'm going to need to do mine sooner or later. I've got a couple of segments that don't like the cold but wake up once the interior warms up (bit like me really). No doubt once it's warm enough to get out there and pull the HEVAC out, it'll be working fine so will get left until next winter.....

Ouch! The fan must have been cracked all along but I doubt you'll be able to find enough bits to have a good look at it.

Now it's Christmas, have a good one, or as good as your particular circumstances allow, everybody.

Yeah, we become a 4 as of Boxing Day too so that's screwed travelling for me too for a bit. My hose from compressor to condenser has started showing signs of leaking where the alloy pipe joins the hose so I've got one of those on the way and was intending to have a run over to his when it arrives. We could recover the gas, change the hose then vac and refill it but the restrictions mean I shouldn't drive over to him to do it.

There is a cure and Marty supplies what's known as a zebra strip to fix it but unfortunately he's working away in NZ at the moment so can't sell you one. He's supplied them to a number of other specialists who are selling them on (and no doubt adding their mark up on), such as https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233780270593. Marty's excellent instructions are here http://p38webshop.co.uk/RRdocs/P38%20HEVAC%20Pixel%20Fix%20v2.pdf

I also retired at the end of March (two weeks of working from home followed by just home.....) and my fuel consumption has gone through the roof. I can drive the car during the daytime rather than just in the evenings now. Went to the nearest bank that was still in my tier 2 area yesterday to pay a cheque in and ended up doing a 60 odd mile run because I can.....

The only time you would need to have the system flushed is if you had burnt out the old compressor so you need to get rid of the contaminated oil. A mate, who owns a soft dash Classic LSE and is the other half owner of the Vogue we've been returning to it's former glory, is a mobile AC engineer. You're a bit out of his normal area, but if you fancy a run up to Cambridgeshire (we're a tier 2 area), he'd be able to sort it for you.

Looks like mine will be much the same. Got plenty of booze in and more food than the freezer is capable of holding. Daughter and husband were supposed to be coming here but as they live in a tier 4 area, aren't allowed to travel the 4 miles into my tier 2 area (and as she works for the NHS has to be seen to be complying with the rules). So the plan was to postpone Christmas dinner until the 28th when Dina's daughter and her boyfriend come over from Holland. Although the ferry from the Hook of Holland to Harwich is still running and they would be allowed to enter the UK, all trains and buses have stopped in Holland so they can't get to it (and he doesn't drive). Then there is the further complication that her boyfriend has booked 2 weeks off work to come here but doesn't know yet when he would be allowed to go back home. So step daughter's return home and his visit has been postponed too. So there will be two of us with a Christmas dinner for 4-6 which will be eaten over a period of days at some time before it reaches it's best before date.

Fortunately alcohol doesn't go off so, like Morat, we will be having a very merry Christmas. Hope most of you have a better time and here's to next year.

You need the wheels setting straight and the drag link adjusting so the notches on the steering box are aligned and the steering wheel are straight. With it in the air will make adjusting the drag link easier (more room to swing on it) but there won't be any resistance to stop the wheels from turning rather than the steering box moving in relation to the wheels. It's probably best to free off the drag link with it in the air, then do the adjustments with the wheels on the ground.

Well done but it's a good job your coffee cup has a good lid on it or you'd be wondering where the puddle in the passenger footwell came from.....

I doubt you've lost any balls, most likely the cage broke up and fell out so the balls all ended up on one side. Had that happen to an alternator bearing many years ago (on an old Talbot) and ended up chopping bits of nylon off a tie wrap and jamming them in between the balls to keep them spaced out around the bearing. Lasted about 400 miles which would have been good had I not been 700 miles from home at the time......

You can smell the difference in the exhaust between running petrol and LPG, so if you've just arrived somewhere while running on gas, anyone that is familiar would notice it.

Another one to add to the list along with RPi then, on my one and only visit to them my BS alarm went off within a couple of minutes of being there. I suspect they ride on the fact that they could easily be confused with Turner Engineering. As for smelling gas, you always can. I fired mine up last weekend while doing some work on tking88's car and you can immediately smell gas from the exhaust.

It couldn't get much worse. Christmas has just been cancelled here. I'm in tier 2 but my daughter, who only lives 4 miles away, is in tier 4.

But have the reduced the premium as you are almost certainly in a low risk area now? I've got a trade policy but other half uses Direct Line and her insurance went down by £60 a year when we moved house. We only moved 2 miles too.

That would make it a bit difficult. I've found that if the screw doesn't want to come undone at first, if you try tightening it first that usually cracks it free.

What's causing the problem? With the side panel off the centre console, cut a hole in the plastic, and cut and remove the duct, then go in with a 300mm pozi 2 screwdriver with a blob of grinding paste on the tip to stop it riding out of the screwhead. See http://rrnet.gadsdenrovers.com/repairdetails/heateroring.html.

A number of years ago I drilled my manifold while it was off in anticipation of fitting a multipoint. Never did and decided to stick with the singlepoint but I plugged the holes with M6 pan head screws, Loctited and with a fibre washer under the head.

Shouldn't make any difference. I tend to plumb them so the inlet is at the top so more heat is absorbed as it flows through. My theory being that if the inlet is at the bottom the heat will cause it to rise to the top faster. No idea if it makes any difference, that's just how I do it, same as the radiator has the hot inlet at the top..

Interesting. When I first went to see them before taking my engine in they asked what I'd been running in it and I told them 10W-40 or 15W-40 which they reckoned was too thin. Remembering that conversation I asked what I should use when I picked it up and was told 10W-50 or 10W-60 if I could get it. That was just a short engine mind, I did the heads myself, maybe they were being cautious with an engine they weren't putting together or they've found that the high zinc formulations are better since they did mine. I'll always go towards the heavier oils though. If my car got used for lots of short journeys with lots of cold starts rather than running it for hours on end at a constant 2,500-3,000 rpm, the heavier oil might not be so good for it.