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

My old man drove away from the petrol station with the fuel filler cap sitting on the roof.

Are they universal? The internet seems to say so but I would have thought there would have been some brand specific. 2006 Ford Fiesta Mk5.

Enjoy . I fucking loved mine .

I'm going to say no, head gasket should not be affected by a blocked cat. Unless there was a weak spot already.

Any idea where the coolant is going? Clouds of white smoke from the exhaust?

Fuel filler caps aren't that universal, but can be shared between different models from the same manufacture..or group.

Have a look on here https://www.petrolcaps.co.uk/ford/ as to an idea of prices and which fits on which car then see what a local factor can get.

Brilliant, thanks for the steer!

Cheers for the remap tip, will report back!

Got a Madone in that you painted in full camo... it's a beast of a thing!

The one with orange graphics?
That was a total PITA job…. Pretty swag tho!

Exactly that one.

Fella who owns it was nice enough

Yeah, I remember him. Welsh guy. Drove a pretty swag Golf GTI. Nice fella!

Can't picture his line of work, but I'm fairly certain he's some sort of artist

Can confirm that good tyres make things even more fun in the Abarth. Overtaking (I suppose undertaking is probably more apt TBF) a BMW 530i around a roundabout after it had been driving up my ass In a 40 zone for five minutes before doing a dodgy blind overtake on me was particularly fun on the way home this eve…… Until it flew by me on the dual carriageway about 2 minutes later at about 120.

The Abarth will do 120 just so as you know.
The one thing that impressed me most about mine was how stable it was at big speed . For a little car .
The novelty of it will wear off quickly for anyone who needs to go in the back mind you.

9 years of Scottish ownership has had an effect on the old Outback.....

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Damn, hate to think what the control arms etc look like!

In outback talk I was thinking mine was rolling a bit when taking some fast corners and mild understeer. Though not sure i want to put money into making that better. It did make me miss the handling on the e61.

TBH it's actually not that bad but these exhaust brackets were goosed.

I added thicker ARBs front and rear and the best quality drop links I could find. Flattens it out nicely while still maintaining long travel.

New backboxes are both quieter and fruitier sounding than the old ones!

What did that cost?

Exhaust and heat shields are a lot thinner metal, unless it is mazarati suspension.

Also how old is that kamasa tool kit ;)

Backboxes were £250 from Japan. Fitting was free..... 2 hours this morning of my time.

Sorry, rolls bars and bushes

Doh, sorry. Bars were around 130 for the rear and 180 for the front, drop links are lemfroder or similar brand, about twice the size of the standard parts. They're around 18 quid each.

Thats a lot better than I thought it'd be. What mm diameter did you go for? Maybe I will at that price.

Thanks a lot.

One last question for now if I may...
Are they alright with heavy loads in the back (say 200kg+ like building materials or heavy boxes, rather than a full compliment of kids)?
Mine (if I get it) will double up as weekend van. I need something that's not going to drop significantly under load.

Any recommendations for a fairly OEM looking head unit with DAB and Bluetooth?

I'm not really bothered about Nav, not in to touch screens or glossy, silver, LED laden things so am struggling to find something that isn't £400

This Blaupunkt is as close as I've found but doesn't have DAB