Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

i'd like to have bought a 550 five or six years ago and put it in a garage

Ah but what colour?

Im thinking sage? Did they do that? (Swap with SUV)

Jist call me Jamiroqwhy?

*Wouldn't we all Btw

Blue with tan interior, that's BASIC

If you look at the list of cars, on my link, you'll see a thema 8.31 that is part of the haul. All will be for sale at retromobile.

Given the way petrol prices are going, something with a larger engine makes a lot of sense.

http://www.marlowcars.co.uk/mercedes-cl65-amg-in-marlow-buckinghamshire-4132552

Remappable to 737bhp and 804lbft, which would be enough I reckon. Just need £20k.

Love the Citroen BX. My dad had an 8v GTi in 1988 and it was a fantastic car. Very quick, comfy, great looking, funky suspension, all the toys, and faultlessly reliable.

A cheeky bonus and a salary upping could make something like that realistic and it's 20 mins down the road from me...

If only it were real...

(Albeit with pillar moved / 5 door)

Love it.

I really fancy this one:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201311129867391/

Wouldn't mind some input re car purchase. We're looking for a station wagon for the household. As we're in Sweden, the default and mostly recommended would be a Volvo v70, petrol, manual, 170bhp, '04ish but I'd be open for other ideas from others not stuck on repeat about Volvos. Looking to stay around the £4-5k mark and it needs to work for 2 adults, 1 (potentially 2) young kids and a fair amount of luggage. Doing more motorway than city driving.

Audi A4 estate B6 or B7, super solid build and bags of room in the back, rails on the roof for bikes... The 2.0 Tdi or 2.0 FSI are the best diesel and petrol engines.
All good K?

I'm finally gonna have to learn to drive when I get to Oz... Landy Defender, here I come...

Also going to recommend an Audi estate based on nothing other than the fact that Audi's make you cool as fuck and are built like Macbook Pros

AUDI drivers don't need wing mirrors.

They use the car infront.

#TRUFAX

Got MX5 back. DRAMA.

I started getting concerned when the guy rang me to tell me he'd road-tested the car and checked the AFRs on his wideband. He said it was running ever so slightly rich but that's OK because it's safer (fine - I agree), but he said it felt slower than the other Jackson Racing supercharged cars he's built in the past, but he couldn't check if boost was low. I asked him why, as there's a perfectly usable boost gauge in the car, and it's running a smaller pulley than standard so it should feel quicker. He said it wasn't working, it was reading vacuum but not boost - I don't think this is possible, it either works or it doesn't.

Anyway, I went to pick it up, he turned it on, it was noticeably mechanically quieter than before, which was good. I completely forgot to query the boost issue as I had to quibble on the price and after getting £50 knocked off, I drove it away. First things I noticed were that it was fucking filthy inside, it had sat for 5 months on my driveway and stayed tip top inside, it was now mouldy in many places, my suede OMP steering wheel had dirt marks and was matted in places, and the passenger seat had a stain on it (luckily that brushed out).
I could tell that it had a boost leak, I took it easy until it was nice and warm then tested a bit of WOT and the boost gauge swung straight up to 0, and as the revs built there was a massive whooshing sound - much like a quieter version of a screamer pipe- and the gauge stuck dead on 0 until I let off when it swung back down and resumed measuring vacuum.

I needed it this weekend to go to Scunthorpe and back so I cleaned it up inside, and I thought I can still drive it without boost, the Bipes/RRFPR are reactive, so if they don't measure boost, they won't adjust timing or fueling so it will just drive like an NA but with some power loss due to turning the supercharger. It still feels quick, 3/4 as fast as before, which suggests to me the head work is more than I expected, and with boost it will be quicker than before.

However, it's been 425 miles since I got it back and it's consumed 1 litre of oil. I can't chalk that up to running in a new head, there's no visible oil burning smoke, no smell of oil burning, no oil stains on the floor, it's doing something to that oil... Water is the same level, no mayo in the head or on the cap, I'm going to take it back but I'm now worried the bottom end is fucked too.

Ugh, NA, gross!

Question for owners, past and present, of 4WD cars (particularly quattros): what's the real world difference in feel and behaviour between having ESP on and ESP off?

Nurse- if the oil isn't leaking out then it's being burnt, surely? No other way for it to be leaving the engine.

Did they replace the rings when they had the head off?

A rebuilt head should not be leaking oil. The valve guides were replaced and the oil seals too, if it wasn't burning oil before it shouldn't after. A litre of oil in 400miles is alot and if there is no signs of a leak.

Odd question but how are the brakes, does the servo feel like it works?

Nurse- if the oil isn't leaking out then it's being burnt, surely? No other way for it to be leaving the engine.

Did they replace the rings when they had the head off?

I agree. No the rings weren't replaced and it wasn't suggested. It wasn't burning oil before, but it is now so that would lead me to believe it's a head replacement issue but what sort of faults would create that? I'm guessing it needs to go in for a leakdown.

Servo feels fine, brakes are as good as normal.

First just do a compression test and then add a little oil to see if the compression goes up.

Or take the spark plugs out and see what colour they are/are the plugs oily?

^this

is it smoking?

No smoke, but I've noticed my cam cover is loose, it looks like it wasn't torqued correctly. No visible leaks, don't think it could be the cause of losing 1 litre.