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

Cheers. Will ask how much in timpsons

One to rock, one to stock. Shame it isn't an SF but it's the closest I'm likely to get. Available at a toy store near you now.

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He said he was using Waze, but also said he was headed from his parent's house to his girlfriend's house 🤔

I use sat nav for a route I've driven/cycled thousands of times. There's always roads closed, delays, etc

Well in good news I took it to the body shop earlier and they said everything looks perfect other than the number plate. The best possible outcome for everyone.

I'm honestly amazed. It obviously wasn't whiplash or car crush levels of force, but it really was a decent knock. I'm floored at how well the car stood up to the impact.

I'm thinking about selling my pick up as I can no longer work due to spinal problems (operation awaited), plus my Z4 as fast driving isn't the fun it was. I intend to replace them with a nice estate and have narrowed it down to a Merc E class, Skoda Superb, Volvo V90 or Audi A6.

What is the hive opinion?

Fuck yeah!

5 series

I'm on my third A6. Great car if kept right. Current one has 20 inch rims - normal rims would probably be better for ride comfort.

Ah I've been looking for that one! Along with the other dads in target and k-mart buying hot wheels for "their kids".... I swear the staff hide all the collectible ones for themselves.

I've found that Mr Toys has the best selection of the weird and wonderful stuff. I had to get these off MarketPlace, I've searched high and low in Kmart, Target, Big W and nothing!

@Aroogah Cool, eh?? 🙃

Yeah in the UK to, especially the ones from Halfords. Here better to look in Poundland or b&m

Chrysler 300c estate rebadge as a Lancia.

Definitely the Volvo out of that bunch! Lovely cars.

Obviously there's room for lots of personal opinion, but I'd swerve the E Class out of that list. They're not as nice as they really should be.

This came up on my suggested videos earlier today.

I cannot express how much I love this build, I'd go as far as saying one of the most interesting builds I've seen in the last 6 months.

I think my love for weight reduction comes from bicycles, but I just find lightweight projects so so so damn interesting.

5kg here, 10kg there, it's all just great. If I have the mechanical knowledge, I'd do something like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRz9XJZAE2U

We were discussing this in the MX5 GC earlier. That's a serious serious weight reduction way beyond what the engine swap can manage.

Not sure I follow, did you mean weight increase?

Think the car is around 650kg and a bike with that engine would be around 150kg?

I had the previous generation E Class estate and it gave me back ache due, I think, to the offset wheel which twisted me in the seat - on that basis I’d recommend checking whatever model you look at for the position in which it puts you. Other than that, mine (2016 E63) was a great car, lots of room, plenty of poke etc.

I mean often on bike engine conversions in other cars (eg classic mini), a lot of the weight reduction comes from replacing an iron block heavy engine with a very lightweight motorbike engine.

However the MX5 engine is pretty light already, additionally it's quite optimised for weight already, for example the bonnet is lightweight aluminium alloy.

So we were all surprised to see just how light this car is.

Ahhhh gotcha. It's a really cool build, I like the hood that he's created, looks like a home made Spyder hood.

I used to have an EP3 Type R, and I have to say the K20 my favourite engine I've had in any car.

I'd absolutely love to drive something as light as this with a K20 that revs to 10k. After a little google search, a K20 is 125kg, quite light...

Not wanting to pull too many holes, but looking at the power/torque curves for a CBR1000RR, it might rev to 13k but the usable power and torque is really 8-12.5k, so while you can lug it from about 3k and wind it out all the way to 13, when you're on it , you're not really going through as many revs as a 13k rev limit would lead you to believe.

A lightly tuned k20 that revs to 8.5k and comes on cam around 4-4.5k would give the same power experience without that 13k headline figure

Obviously it's what everyone's personal desire is, it's not just about what's best for performance. otherwise I'd have a turbo instead of really annoying ITBs.

I think the whole motorbike engine thing is cool but it's a niche, be interested to see the performance difference of that same car with the same weight reduction but with a 200 bhp k20 in there instead.

You've got to really want a motorbike engine but not a motorbike to do that I think, rather than seeking the best possible naturally aspirated low power/high power to weight performance

I submit: the noise it makes is worth doing it.

Sorry to hear about the back. I'm looking for something similar and have narrowed it down to an E61 530d or Volvo V70 D5. Missed an old money spec 530d SE yesterday and still kicking myself.

What is the 125kg include? Ask as I don't know. Things like wet or dry and the ancillaries.

Also gearbox can weigh alot. The only experience I have of gearbox replacement of a different but similar gearbox is a MK1 cortina to a lotus elan gearbox. We didn't weigh the two but took two and a gearbox jack to remove the cortina box and only one to fit the the lotus one.

Another of the advantages of a motorbike engine is a very compact so great for small engine spaces like motorbikes engined fiat 500 and fiat 126.

Also you can use the standard bike wiring and ECUs and there is a lot of tuning potential on the standard ECU.

I’ve only driven a couple of bike powered cars. A classic mini and a 7 type thing. They were brilliant! The mini even low down was quicker than my old 1275 and the 7 was on a par with a 1600 sport a friend had, but wind them up and fuck they were good. I think a lot was to do with the fact you could flat shift t. The issue is to drive them quickly on the road they needed to be rev’ed and rev’ed a whole load more. Which makes you look like a twat.