Morat wrote:

But no, there's no danger of any government seizing land in the UK. When land is needed for roads or w/e they have a thing called a CPO (Compulsory Purchase Order) where a value is calculated and the owner has to accept it.

There's the odd exception where they need to buy the land and offer a price, the owner rejects the offer so they up it until he does but just occasionally someone refuses to accept the offer no matter what it is. So you end up with a situation like this https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Whitefaced+Woodland+Sheep/@53.6415939,-1.9547333,663m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x487bda4f42ef164f:0x50ffd5e56e229444!2sM62!3b1!8m2!3d53.6625082!4d-1.8533994!3m4!1s0x487bc3fbb249a0cb:0xcf09aa3b3269ba94!8m2!3d53.6416195!4d-1.9520896?hl=en where a landowner refused to accept the offer (probably in the hope that the motorway wouldn't be built) so they ran the motorway either side of his house......

Upload it to Youtube and post a link to it.

The worst offenders are the ramblers, those that want to walk in peaceful, quiet countryside and bugger anyone else. They will claim that off road vehicles, both 2 and 4 wheeled, are noisy so disturb the peace of the countryside and damage the natural habitat of wildlife. Sometimes they have a point and some green lanes have been churned up by overuse by vehicles but once they win in getting them banned from one place, it makes it easier for them to lobby to get them banned from others.

That's the biggest problem in this country, virtually every square inch of land is owned by someone so it is private property. There's footpaths and bridleways (the difference being you can only walk along a footpath but you can also ride a horse (and I think a bicycle) on a bridleway) and even where these cross somebody's land, woe betide anyone that strays off the marked path. There's a few, very few, green lanes that are classified so they can be used by anyone, but in many cases they are either overgrown so impassible or someone has laid claim to them.

All I will say is that Halfords (and ECP) need to take a few lessons from Screwfix, or even Argos! Turned up there to find a queue out, stood there for ages and it didn't move then eventually it did but very slowly. After an hour and 5 minutes it was my turn. Gave the order number and the girl then called someone to get it for me. Out of the staff that were in the store most seemed to be wandering around doing not a lot but possibly the slowest moving of them all finally wandered over with my 5 litres of brake fluid.

Now it appears that even if full lockdown is relaxed, social distancing is going to be with us for quite some time. Did a Click and collect order at Screwfix last week. Within 5 minutes I got a text to tell me my order was ready. Drove down there, no queue, just a table at the doorway. Guy asked me for the order number and he picked it up from a shelf just inside the door and put it on the table. Picked it up and went home. So why can't Halfords and ECP actually get the items you've ordered out ready so all you have to do is pick them up rather than waiting until you get there before getting them?

Didn't your car have a big dollop of filler in the rear corner when you got it? I suspect someone has spot welded to the panel to pull a bigger dent out then covered the lot in filler.

I noticed the same thing with ECP. Had an email from them to say they were doing same day delivery but when I went online to order, same day delivery wasn't an option, only click and collect or 7-9 days. Maybe I didn't get the same day option as I didn't sign in but made the order as a guest? Just stopped for some lunch then I'll be visiting Halfords as I can't do any more without brake fluid.

Despite having retired, I hung on to the letter saying I'm a key worker and have used ECP (didn't get asked for any ID though). Standing in a queue in the car park for over an hour isn't my idea of fun which is why I decided to try Halfords.

Spending my time playing with the cars so have dragged my Maserati out of the garage to recommission it. Last time I drove it at least one of the brakes was sticking on so I'm pulling all the calipers off and giving them a bit of TLC but am running out of brake fluid. My usual factors are closed so I looked on the Halfords website. I've also got a set of seals to overhaul the front calipers on the ex-plod so figured I could do them too and flush through the brake fluid. In which case I'm going to need quite a bit of DOT 4. £24.99 for 5 litres seemed pretty good so ordered it online for a click and collect. They confirmed the order by email and text but said not to go to the store until I had received a text telling me to. That was at 10 yesterday morning. Spent the day twiddling my thumbs waiting for the text, didn't arrive. Now, over 25 hours later, still no text. Anyone else tried to order stuff and had to wait days for it?

All the ones I've seen have had Wabco printed along the length of the cable. I've used 2nd hand ones in the past and not had any problems.

dave3d wrote:

Took the roof rails off ready for spraying. Quick question ... are there any drains in the roof rail channels?

Not by design, unless the weld isn't up to spec.

If you want to know what the oil pressure really is, use a capillary gauge rather than an electric one. It won't be affected by voltage, poor earths or anything like that. I've got an old Maserati with an oil pressure light and a capillary gauge, light flashes on as and when it feels like it (due to traditional Italian electrics) but the gauge always reads correctly. In fact, the only gauges that do read correctly all the time are the two that don't involve electricity, the oil pressure and turbo boost gauges.

I can see why they leaked, where's the seal that should run round under the cover? Part number is BTR8297.

Grille should be black except for the bottom strip which will be body colour. I used bumper black paint on mine and the strips under the headlights, looks so much better than faded grey.

Cork? They are rubber with steel insets where the bolts go through so you can't compress them too much. I suspect it's the same problem as with ball joint boots, they are made from a sort of vinyl these days which shrinks.

It's the permanent live supply so ordinarily it would only draw a tiny amount of current to keep the stations stored. That would have been another clue if anyone had realised, he'd got an ignition switched supply so if the radio hadn't died it would have come on but with no stations stored.

Must be a small dog, our 10 year old miniature Dachshund still jumps in and out of my car no matter what height it's at. In fact, he prefers going out in the car to going for a walk!

From Top to bottom you've got High, Standard, Motorway and Low. Normally, assuming the car is in Standard, you can only select High or Low from the rocker switch. However, if you poke the inhibit switch next to the rocker, you can then select all heights. Simplest way to stop it waking up is to pull the timer relay out. It's easiest to get to it from the rear passenger footwell. It's a tall (about twice the height of a standard relay) black one that is next to the outer seat rail. Sometimes when you try to pull it out, the base comes unclipped which actually makes it even easier as there's enough slack on the wiring to allow you to pull it out under the front of the seat.

I suppose the question now is.......

Does the oil pressure light go out and stay out?

Sounds like the radio is toast. With that disconnected does the dash now power up and the fuse remain intact?