PhilMeUp

Took my Aprilia SXV550 out for a ride tonight. Haven’t ridden the thing since mid February, when one of the header pipes cracked, throwing out some lovely blue flames right next to the fuel line. Bought a bling exhaust from the UK and got stuffed around by a big delay - by the time it got here it was too cold to ride regularly. Finally resigned to the fact that I was never going to get around to fitting the exhaust and some other stuff myself so took the whole lot to a bike shop the other day, and got the bike back today. I tend to ride this thing at various times between midnight and 4am (ie no cops around). I have no doubt that this thing would absolutely annihilate any over-accessorised Late model camira or Falcon in a backstreet race but I need to keep my licence. Front yard - 1:37am: Leederville - 3:43am:

Speed bleeders make bleeding brakes at home VERY easy. Now that I've used them on a car I'll have them on every car and bike I own for the rest of my life. Extremely useful. For brake fluid, I get PBR Super Dot 4 from MTQ in Malaga... $4.95 plus GST for a 500mL bottle (normally close to twice that). Damn cheap, and at that price I flush a heap of fluid through when I'm doing a flush because it's not costing too much. Get a pair of Bosch AeroTwin wipers while you're there - BBA550 for $15.50 each (you need two). MTQ: http://www.whitepages.com.au/busSearch.do?subscriberName=MTQ+Engine+Systems+%28Aust%29+Pty+Ltd&location=Malaga+WA Brag time: someone at a brake parts place offered me some secondhand disc rotors this afternoon for $200 cash. I made a note of the part number on the rotors and looked it up tonight. I've just got home from leaving a note in his letterbox saying that I'll definitely buy them and to put them aside for me straight away. It's not every day that you find a pair of 355mm DBA5000s for $200...

Hawk Performance ceramic pads get a frequent mention for use with Brembo calipers. http://www.hawkperformance.com/performance/ceramic.php Luke: Have you tried the Hawk ceramic pads yet? If so, how do they compare with the Remsa pads?

I think the base can be swapped over (ie the bit that goes between the seat and the rails). Not sure if the foam is the same on both sides. With the frames, that will probably be a problem because of the reclining mechanism. Something else to consider: I've got a pair of Recaro seats here that I'm going to put in my car soon. One of the things that I like about the Recaro stuff is that it's symmetrical, meaning that driver and passenger side can be swapped over easily enough. From http://www.fordforums.com.au/showpost.php?p=3709654&postcount=18 A year and a half later and the XR6 driver's seat has been feeling crap for a while now. I know know that the bases are rubbish and have absolutely no chance of handling my 120kg-ish weight. The next step is to fit Recaro seats. I found one at a Japanese import wrecker for $100 (ie looks awful) and another two for $350 for the pair. The trick to getting Recaro seats is to get them from an early 2000s Proton Satria GTi - they came standard in that particular car. Because they are regarded as Proton seats (instead of exotic Recaros) then they are much cheaper to buy that way. For photos, have a look at www.carsales.com.au and find photos of the Proton Satria GTi by selecting the car options. Recaro seats also flip forward, making them useful for a ute or coupe. For seat covers, it turns out that Sperling (ie what I use now) can custom make seat covers to suit that seat. The Satria GTi is in their database, so that means that to get a seat cover for any Recaro seat in that shape you just have to order one for the Proton. The early 2000s Suzuki Ignis Sport also came with Recaro seats but they are not the standard Recaro base, so you would have to get brackets custom made. Useful link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recaro#Cars_with_OEM-installed_Recaro_seats The useful thing about Recaro seats is that they are symmetrical. You can swap the adjustment knob to either side of the seat. I'll probably end up rebuilding and rotating the seats every six months or so, ie spend six months on one seat, swap it with the passenger seat and rebuild that one. That way both front seats will always feel right. Recaro sell a bracket adaptor to connect the seat to the Falcon rails. One thing I haven't figured out yet is the switch for the height and angle adjustment - that switch is on the actual driver's seat. I'll have to cannibalise a driver's seat and come up with a way of getting the switch mounted on/next to the Recaro. By getting seats out of the Proton and the bracket from Recaro, it keeps the whole lot legal (essential for me). I'm also curious about getting Fairmont rails - they have a three way adjustment and memory function, which would be useful for me (ie the day driver and I could have our own settings saved). I only found out about that an hour ago so will go have a look at a Fairmont at a car yard tomorrow and see how it works. With the Recaro seats, parts are fairly easy and cheap to get. To rebuild the whole thing with all new foams, hinge kit and base costs around $A300 if you get the parts from the UK - http://www.capitalseating.co.uk

Take it a Ford dealer and you'll pay sh*tloads. Take it to a taxi workshop, they do this stuff all the time. Your user info says that you're in Brisbane. Contact Jastel on www.fordforums.com.au (very knowledgeable taxi mechanic). I think he's on the Gold Coast - see if he can do it or if he can recommend a workshop in Brisbane.

http://www.pickles.com.au http://www.manheim.com.au Start looking.

I was mumbling about it to my regular Ford spare parts guy yesterday afternoon and he asked me what I wanted to pay. I said, "about $100 each would be alright". He said that he could do a pair for that price. I left with two genuine Ford bearing hubs and a huge smile on my face. I'm having brake shudder problems at the moment and this is one of the possible causes that I can now sort out. However, a look at: http://www.carsrus.com.au/ymm/product/list/?Make=Ford&Model=Falcon&Year=2007&limit=40 shows http://www.carsrus.com.au/ford-falcon-au-ba-bf-brand-new-front-wheel-bearing-hub.html ($47.40 each) and http://www.carsrus.com.au/ford-falcon-au-ba-bf-new-front-wheel-bearings-hubs-pair.html ($107.90 for the pair) Don't know what brand they are, and have no idea why it costs more for a pair than buying them individually.

We can only assume/hope that the anti knock-off seals have been standard in Brembo calipers for a while now? http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_prod_id=537,169_701&action=product Might be time to call the Brembo importer and find out.

Does Hawk make ceramic pads for the standard Falcon calipers (ie front and rear)? If so, any idea what the part numbers are?

You might as well replace the eight bushes while you're at it, ie shackle bushes. All eight are the same.

My taxi hasn't been fogging up this winter, but I keep the windows clean. The side windows are easy enough - the day driver does them with Windex and a teatowel. I do the inside of the windscreen with a window squeegee. Ask at somewhere like Coventrys. You want the Mallory brand one (apparently they are the world specialist in window squeegees). They come in different length handles. If you get the long handle one and you're not completely short then you'll also be able to reach over and clean the outside of the windscreen with one wipe instead of having to swap sides to squeegee the water off. For the inside of the windscreen, I unscrew the wooden handle and do the inside like any other window. I use a clean towel to finish off the bits of water that then build up at the bottom of the windscreen. It only takes a minute or two, and sure beats stuffing around waving towels everywhere for ages.

NEWSFLASH::: Rupert Murdoch is sincerely touched by all the messages of sympathy left on Amy Winehouse's phone.

Ask around amongst 4WD shops, clubs and forums. I've never seen another ramp like that anywhere in WA, but there would hopefully be others around the country.

Girlfriend was in a crappy, whiny mood all last week, so now I'm in a grumpy, crappy mood this week. Couldn't be bothered working tonight, so figured I'd better find something else to do to ensure that the night wasn't a total loss. Pulled the front and rear seats out, removed seat covers, washed, dried and put it all back in. An enthralling few hours. Looks great. What can I do next? Drove to the Kenwick car wash, cursing the airbag light that was on, indicating that there was a problem with how I'd plugged the seat cables back in. Then I realised that I'd forgotten to plug the passenger seat cables in. Doing this resulted in the airbag light staying off. Goody. I find that the best car wash in Perth is the Victory Car Wash, in Victoria Park (next to the Expensive Daewoo dealership). It has the highest water pressure that I can find, and it takes multiples of $1 instead of $2 that a lot of car washes require. But the useful thing about the Kenwick car wash is the ramp. It's obviously intended for 4WD owners to wash mud from underneath their cars but is useful for cleaning under the engine of a normal car. The sump gasket on my car has a very slight weep. It's not dropping oil from the car, but is weeping enough to attract grime. These days I wash under the car every few months to ensure that it doesn't build up and become hard to clean off later. To replace the gasket requires removing the crossmember, and the whole job is very time consuming and expensive. Doing this is also a good opportunity to check under the front of the car for any fluid leaks, check engine mounts, brake lines and the general area. If you ever want the car undercarriage clean before a registration inspection, this is the best way that I've found if you can't access a hoist. For people in Perth: the Kenwick car wash is 800 metres past the intersection of Albany Highway and Royal Street/Wanaping Road. It's on the corner of Albany Highway and McIntyre Way. There's a swimming pool place across the road. http://maps.google.com.au/maps/place?cid=11939569317092781089&q=kenwick+car+wash&hl=en&ved=0CE0Q-gswAA&sa=X&ei=HyYvTpixF_GemQWz8ZGzCQ&sig2=P_JB3LlZXRRQehWSXtpe6w (click on directions to see the satellite view) It's rather freaky driving the car up onto the ramp. I always get the front wheels to the edge of the ramp and get out to double check that I've lined it up properly. Not particularly bad, but I'm going to clean it anyway. I've been doing this for about a year now, and tonight was actually the cleanest that I've seen it. I last did this in February this year (five months ago now), just before the annual inspection. A little bit on the passenger side of the sump. More mess around the engine/gearbox area than I'm comfortable with. Will look into that later. Spray degreaser everywhere and rub around with a brush. The fun part is trying to do it without degreaser dripping all over you. Start at the gearbox and work towards the front. Hose it off and the driver's side of the sump looks good. Passenger side of the sump looks much better. The whole undercarriage is now clean. Engine mount. Still there. Looks ok. This is what I use for any cleaning of engines and greasy areas. The weed sprayer (from Bunnings) has CT18 degreaser in it and means that I can spray the stuff quickly and easily. I got the headlamp last week and it is extremely useful for doing things at night. The brush is about $5 from Bunnings. The CRC Clean-R-Carb is expensive but is extremely good at dissolving gunk that normal degreaser won't remove. I also use the same weed sprayer and brush for cleaning my wheels every few days. Not in the photo: a towel, to put over the driver's seat, so that your now-grubby work clothes don't mess up the seat. 4:34am. Time to go and do an engine oil change. Should have done it while the car was on the ramp.

Sort of like a fling with a bitchy chick - great fun initially but expensive and frustrating to maintain. I got lucky and didn't have any dramas, but when the buyer took it home the fuel pump died, resulting in him sitting on the side of the road for a couple of hours waiting for a tow truck. On the first night. Ouch. But, like a lot of flings, a heap of fun to reminisce about later on. The trick is to get in (and out later) without it costing too much.

Advantages: - anti-theft deterrent - so damn ugly that no thief would touch it. - would save on future divorce and child support costs. No woman will go near it. Disadvantages: - so damn ugly that no-one would touch it or been seen near it. - no social/sex life. No woman will go near it.

I sold my Alfa Romeo 156 last week. Was an interesting car but it didn't get enough use to justify keeping it (2,000km in a year). As I described it on Facebook: "My Alfa Romeo 156 that I bought at auction. Not quite the ultimate Italian red sports car but it'll do for now (ie it is a very distant cousin of Ferrari). Love the car. HATE the gearbox. It's a manual gearbox with an automatic clutch. You push the gear lever backwards and forwards to change gear, or press the buttons on the steering wheel. Nice idea, bloody terrible implementation. Clumsy doesn't even begin to cover how this thing operates. This thing makes Mr Bean look like a professional stuntman. I do rather like how it automatically changes gear when you rev it to 7,000rpm, but by the time it actually does get around to finishing the gear change you could have put the kettle on, built a house and solved world hunger. With time to spare. Alfa Romeo is owned by the same parent company that owns Ferrari (ie FIat). Ferrari gearbox people and Alfa Romeo gearbox people need to start having lunches together. I'm positive that Alfa's employee recruiting policy consists of making job offers to people that fail completely at gearbox school. People that commit hideous crimes such as rape and murder should be punished by being forced to drive a car with an Alfa Romeo Selespeed gearbox. Number one item on my birthday/Christmas list now is a voodoo doll of an Alfa Romeo Selespeed gearbox that I can keep sticking pins into."

Have you heard that Elton John is performing at her funeral? He's singing "Candle Under a Spoon"! ---------------- McDonald's has just released the Amy Winehouse McValue meal; just coke and ice.

Breaking news, Amy Winehouse is still alive!! The police drew a line around her body. She then jumped up and tried to snort it!

Go to Wilkinson Suspension, in Bayswater. Do NOT get your wheel alignment done at a tyre shop. Ask around, and most of them will tell you that the camber can't be adjusted on a Falcon unless you fit a camber kit. Bulls**t, you adjust the camber by fitting shims at the top of the front suspension. There is also WA Suspensions in Osborne Park. I had a wheel alignment done there in December. At the time, I had been wearing out front tyres on the insides extremely quick (ie camber problem) and asked about what else could be causing the premature wear if the alignment didn't sort it out. I was extremely unsatisfied with the explanation that 17" tyres always wear that way. I've now got different wheels and new shocks/springs on the car, and tyre wear is normal. Never did figure out why I was going through tyres so quickly before (ie could have been the rims, could have been worn front suspension).

Damn, 60 bucks a pair. They're $15.50 if you know where to look. The Falcon takes a BBA550. Got 'em on my and girlfriend's taxis. I should go buy a bunch of them and sell them on eBay for $55 a pair...

Is there a difference in different brands and sources for front bearings? I got a price of $77 each from one place. CBC Bearings quoted $104. Ford's price (for taxis) was $148 inc GST. Then there's eBay. This listing has them for $49.95 for the pair. Blimey. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280708793418 A search of eBay for "BF Falcon bearing" shows various other cheap options. Sure, I can go with the belief that the more I pay the better the quality will be, but that also depends on profit margins along the supply chain. A bit like how you can pay $133 for a key blank from Ford, $25 on eBay or $8 from China. So, is there a good, valid reason to not buy the cheap eBay ones? Is there any particular brand or supply of front bearing hubs that can be confirmed better than others?

Does Clark Rubber exist in NSW? In my taxi, I use a boot mat from: http://www.booter.com.au/Cargo-Liners-and-Boot-Mats/Ford/Ford-Falcon-1998-curr-5dr-Wagon-p39.html Don't know if they make a matching one for a ute, but the wagon one is very good.