masturbated regularly i think that's something to be proud of.
also found a job with people i actually get on with and have a good office atmosphere..

i stand truely beaten.

Yeah Roadrash, never argue with Alex. He knows everything because he read a book. Well I went for dinner with Craig David, beat that.

Ive parked up for hours with my engine running and I've never died. Even slept for 2 hours with my engine running no problems!!

Sounds a bit of a myth...then again you can be blown up by a Meteor who knows.....

It's going to be a problem as Scawen said

lol that's quite funny actually

Quote from ajp71 :

Good old mild steel (any random grade) is a far better material for an exhaust than stainless steel (except possibly unobtanium type grades). If you're consuming mild steel exhausts at a rate that isn't financially viable then you're either driving a boat (a lot of which do not use stainless steel exhausts) or have some very strange exhaust products (sticking stuff in your fuel again?). An exhaust should rust from the inside out, especially if it has got a decent protective coating on the outside of it.

Stainless steel exhausts are typically sold to three types of people:
1. Classic car enthusiasts who want an exhaust that'll last forever.
2. People who like shiny things.
3. Idiots who believe marketing material.

It'll probably surprise you to learn that the order of preference for race car/very high performance exhausts is titanium/Inconel/other unobtanium > high strength steel > mild steel

Mild steel exhausts with 4 figure price tags are common place in lower level motorsport competition and where exotic materials are banned.

A stainless steel exhaust could be made lighter and last longer (in an extreme environment) if it was made from just about anything else.

If you're really obsessed about rust then use a water called aluminium exhaust.

well, i'm not doubting what you're saying but speaking from my personal opinion. i had a bike which was an fzs600 fazer which had mild steel exhausts from the factory. they had a paint type finish but this chipped easily. rust quickly consumed them, it was a common problem. it was replaced with stainless steel downpipes and they gave no problems to the previous owner and was fine for me after 14,000 miles, rain, sun or puddles for that matter.

you'd need to stick more than a bit of 2 stroke oil (which is not a corrosive, you should now that) however my golf exhausts seems fine. i'll only find out when the exhaust company have it in to develop the new one on and say "yeah you've got loads of holes".

now the most important part in exhaust design for performance is not material but flow and you can achieve the same flow with a mild steel, stainless steel or titanium exhaust. the only difference is weight which is where the titanium comes in handy as it's light.

now i'm not doubting your knowledge here but when miltek, piper, venom, akropovic, arrow, mtc, beowulf, hks, scorpion, etc, all are using stainless steel as a minimum rather than mild steel, certainly says something.

use of stainless steel isn't amazingly costly compared to mild but means it won't rust regardless of what happens (within reason) - i've never come across a corroded stainless steel exhaust. they are good because they are durable and fairly cheap. if you want to spend double the price on a titanium exhaust which won't do anything other than have a blue tinge to it when it gets hot and weighs a bit less save the money!

also many boat exhausts are made of a cast iron which does not rust when submergered as it's not exposed to air as must. there are also many types of coating (usually ceramic) which are applied. to be fair a thick layer of paint would protect a boat because generally they are not subjected to impact force such as stones, speedbumps, stonechips, etc .

Quote from Kristi :

Its a stickerbomb. Hunderds of stickers in fact.

Unless it's a sheet of stickerbomb...they're not always individual stickers haha

looks like a focus to me and looks wicked!!

Quote from ajp71 :

Stainless steel is a terrible choice of material for an exhaust and whilst people have traditionally got away with using it on low performance engines it is still a stupid choice. It will make fatigue from both vibrations and especially thermal cycles far worse. Welding stainless steel is not always straight forward and bear in mind the number of mild steel exhausts that fall apart due to dodgy welding...

Yeah unfortunately most people can't afford titanium or anything fancy such as that so stainless steel works fine. had stainless steel exhaust systems before on my motorcycles and all been fine. if it's ok on a bike revving to 14000rpm it's ok on my car revving to 5. it's fine miltek, piper, scorpion, akropovic, etc, it's fine for you and me and bob up the road.
hopefully should be getting my free exhaust system soon..

Last edited by S14 DRIFT, Tue 13 Dec 2011, 18:55.

can affect performance and mpg negatively. won't necessarily damage the engine but won't do it much good. about time you upgrade to a stainless steel it sounds like?

Well for example some cars use different methods for example the mk4 golf v5 came in 2 versions, one with a distributer and one with coil packs. so it would different. also try unplugging the maf if it has one (a sensor on the air intake) see what happens comprende amigo.

and what is your girlfriends car, ffs provide information.
probably either the plugs, battery or coilpacks.

it's ok you don't need antifreeze, just piss in the bottle

They would be ok. You'd need to put the M sport kit on it too! the e46's look a bit naff without them IMO.
if i had a bm i would properly euro it, air ride, all that stuff. :>

I love not having a facebook and having to deal with that shit.

I was set on getting a BMW 320d or a 330d as my next car but the list of problems seems quite long and it's rather offputting...

First of all is the turbo which you say has been replaced but is there proof of this? And not just an invoice..pics, or something.
Also spend 2 minutes googling swirl flap and you can see what i mean.. if i was going to get one I'd get an 04 or newer car, mid 03 and younger seem to be the most problematic.

although what you'd do to it is slightly worrying after seeing your taste in motors (haha just a bit of teasing mate nothing serious) i'm sure for £2k you could do worse.

lovely corsa b needs more lows though some sort of sideskirts or something

Quote from ajp71 :

Do you still avoid air travel after the Comets fell out of the sky?

I do actually. Hence why i fly 747 first class baby.

Quote from Klutch :

Nothing wrong with a boost gauge...

Its a pretty good idea if you're upping power/boost, as you can spot possible issues like boost leaks/spikes/creeps

that's exactly why. my turbo is a vnt17 which is at upped to around 23psi peak and 18psi hold (hey it's a 118,000 mile old turbo) and an issue which can occur is the vanes get clogged and causes overboost. with this i could see if it happened before it causes damage to the turbo.. also i can see any diverter valve problems, generally keep an eye on the health of my turbo.
i like it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2Kj8-wZHNY
and say what you want it's my car at the end of the day.

Last edited by S14 DRIFT, Sun 11 Dec 2011, 22:06.

before;


during:


after

Last edited by S14 DRIFT, Sun 11 Dec 2011, 16:57.

Quote from mr_x :

Cheers guys, was looking at Firestones and Hankook's, Conti's are a little out of price range for 4... Considering doing Conti front and something cheapish on the rear again.

Firestones = firebomb just check out their history!! Some of the hankook ones are OK, kumho too... Consider the falken ze912s they are quite good as well and cheap!

Goodyear Excellence I had in 195/65 before I changed to 17 inch wheels. Very good. The p6000s are rubbish. Unfortunately it's hard to find sporty rubber in sizes which such a large profile and the excellence is one of the best you can get. a pair with fitting and tracking cost me £140 so you should be able to get them online for that.

Just tried to find some for you and couldn't - consider some Conti premium contacts - http://www.camskill.co.uk/m53b ... ACT_2_-_195_60R15_88H_TL_

Quote from amp88 :

More snow today in Scotland, after we had a little bit of trouble with wind yesterday.

Nice photo!

Quote from Jakg :

Good Halogen bulbs = Good.

Cheap Xenon bulbs (filament ones, not HID's) = terrible.

Xenon gas makes them burn brighter (by a bit), but means they burn out a lot lot quicker - I had a set go in less than 6 months

Yeah the set I had went after about 5 months but they went about a week after I changed over my bulbs (as I swapped headlights) so I presume it was because of me.

Quote from Jakg :

Ewwww... "HID" halogen-style bulbs ftl.

Depends on the type. Some are OK. Before I went Xenons I used Phillips halogen bulbs which were 4k and looked pretty much like a set of Xenons/HIDs.
They had a light blue coating on the glass though, not a full blue one like that.

Quote from ajp71 :

Monster energy has lots of sugar in it > sugarcane can be used as a fuel > it's sort of the same thing so will probably work > stick it in and see if you can feel the difference (don't listen to all the ney saying combustion specialists)

Got to love S14daft logic...

My my it's like you're taking the ideas out of my head and writing them down for me. Cheers Alex!