Colin Lindsay

Ok so I meant the brake pipe end rather than olive. Early morning. Ate an olive once, it was like eating an eyeball. Never again.

Last time we drove in Greece our local driver kept up a constant litany of 'Oh my God! Oh my God!"which really impressed her. She also has a very bad habit on narrow country roads of coming to a complete stop everytime she meets an oncoming car, no matter how wide the road is, which means she gets an earful from me as well.

Drop it in boiling water; it should expand enough to get it over the pipe. Once on, unless it's an amazingly solid grip, the nut should move it fully into place when tightened. This is a problem I'm encountering more and more when suppliers try to mix metric and imperial fittings; with brakes for example the pipe is often the original 3/8 but the olive is metric so either so tight that it doesn't fit, or else so loose that it leaks.

Does she make dimples in the floor with her imaginary brake pedals? Mine has two phrases, closely linked - 'WATCH OUT!' at full volume followed by another phrase which usually starts 'Well, I thought...' as in 'Well, I thought he was coming out in front of us' or 'Well, I thought you hadn't seen him...'

Page three has the rear leaf spring eye bushes/ kit, bottom left, and one row above that to the right is the rectangular pad for inside the swing-spring mounting box. Stabilising arm I'm assuming that's what I call the rear radius arm, the kit is the one directly above the rectangular pad.

Last time I drove on the M6 I was too frightened to nod off. Over here the best device for keeping you awake is called the East European Driver. The other half also screams her head off if another car comes within half a mile, so I need to adjust her settings to a more reasonable distance.

Does it fit at any angle? They don't have to sit with the filter at the bottom; any quality anti-drain filter will allow a different angle with no detriment to oil flow. You can also use smaller oil filters; there's a thread on here somewhere about it.

It was actually removing the mechanical engine fan and replacing it with an electric version - one of the first Herald / Triumph-related books I bought back in the early 1990s claimed that you could boost engine power, between 5 and 8hp and maybe even greater, by this simple mod; never tried it myself, but I'm wondering how much truth was in it?

You've been on that other site again, haven't you?

It does make a change from someone trying to get £10000000000000000000 out of some African country or other and asking for your bank account details so they can give it all to you. We still have a lot of the on-line dating scams over here, where Brad Pitt talks some poor lonely woman into funding his air fares, travel insurance, bank debts and medical fees and then when she finally realises it's a scam and he looks like John D's avatar, he's gone. Some local women lost over £80,000 recently. Personally, if any potential partner costs more than a couple of drinks, they're not a good investment.

Oh, and another myth debunked - boiling them in soapy water or soap powder doesn't make any difference whatsoever.

Looks like the same way I do mine, kitchen sink and Fairy Liquid.

We've gone through two machines in four years due to door locks not opening. The water level sensor sends a signal to the door when the machine's empty, and when it fails the door won't open at all. I bought an old model off Gumtree for £80 and it worked superbly until some idiot put a hair bobble through it and broke the pump. Being the only short-haired one in the house it wasn't mine...

Coded speakers? Oh Lord not something else to go wrong... If they stole my car they'd probably return the CDs as completely useless to anyone else..

Found that once removed. The dash display shows everything, from a small model of the car which indicates lights, doors open etc and when the radio is on, station, or CD track and a lot of other detail, seven or eight drop-down menu selections. Once I removed the head unit it was all gone bar two. I like my music, and nothing annoys me more than some kind of sound imperfection that I can't fix. You just know it's wrong, but can do nothing about it!

Just make sure it does drop down under control, as it's quite a weight to get on the forehead if you're under it! As Mjit advocates, I too remove the propshaft from under the car, leaving just enough room under the car to get in and get access with spanners, one end at a time, then I could use my knees to support the weight and it drops out under control.

First thing I did, Ludwig, and amazingly I was able to do it quite simply with only small wiring connectors required! All four replaced and it made a massive difference to the muffled crackling that passed for sound when I bought it. I'd love to be able to add USB connectivity to it, as the jack input for iPods is terrible, and I have a lot of music on USB stick. Sadly I don't have the funds for one of those super duper double-din USB and Bluetooth players that might be easier to fit than my JVC.

I've given up on playing with modern cars... too many weird things. When I slow at junctions or traffic lights the wipers go from 'on' to 'intermittent' until I drive off again, and the sound from the radio fades as the engine revs drop, unless the eco setting is on and the engine stops altogether. I had to admit defeat when trying to connect a replacement head unit to the Mondeo - connect to bluetooth, connect to steering wheel controls, power for the ariels, Fakra adaptor, loom adaptor... then when it was finally in it wouldn't work at all so the original has gone back in and sod the sound quality, which is sadly quite poor. Apparently there's already a USB socket hidden behind the glovebox so I'll explore that for USB stick connectivity. It's getting positively scary. You no longer feel that you're in control; it's either the car or the manufacturer who decides things these days.

Isn't that a Yankee Candle scent? Very nostalgic for old car owners... I use heavy felt in the GT6 (but not open to the elements, as you say!) as it pads the carpets out to an almost luxurious softness... very Jag-like!

Thanks; test e-mail sent.

Not to be offensive Mark but doesn't that mean that you can get away with heavy, given that it will compress more? I'm no feather here myself but I use the old fashioned felt on mine and it works fine.

I have new webbing for mine, bought a few years back, but you can also use seat-belt webbing so if you know of any good scrapyards it will keep the price down. I have the frame from mine with the hood still attached, but in very poor condition. I'll measure a lot of dimensions going by marks on the old hood and take a lot of photos before I remove it. What I was considering was using the old webbing to make a template for the new; I'll fit the hood frame to the car, minus the hood but with the remains of the old webbing still attached, then position, mark and fit the new webbing whilst gradually removing the old. I reckon that if I do this at least the frame will be as originally fitted and so the hood can be positioned to a correct frame, without the hassle of trying to gauge both from scratch or find measurements. I'll worry about rivets that go through both webbing and hood when I get to them. I've heard of one local man who is recommended for hood fitting, but knowing my luck, he's retired.

Start at the rear, in the middle, then work outwards and forwards. It's a job I'll have to do on my own 1200 when I get to that stage. I can't find one single video or 'how-to' on the Net, but Lindsay Porter's 'Guide to DIY and Restoration' book covers it in two pages and makes it look simple, which I suspect it isn't. The Practical Classics Herald / Vitesse book takes three pages and is somewhat more in-depth. Both books are on eBay at present, at varying prices but keep an eye out for a cheap one coming up. As Pete says keeping the hood warm removes wrinkles and makes the material more pliable.

Don't worry, if I'm desperate enough I'll gnaw the top off. It's amazing what you can do one-handed if you just jam the end in somewhere tight. Maybe I should rephrase that? 😮

Just bring the pills.