Green laning is a hobby of driving 4x4s down unpaved roads around the UK. I think it is called trailing in the US. Some are very gentle dirt tracks others are vehicle breakers. After moving from the middle of nowhere it is the only offroad action my truck sees these days.
I'm a dirty old man to the insurers but they still like to stick it balls deep.
I am trying to avoid taking out loans to buy vehicles, the company I work for is still on shaky ground so I'm not completely confident I'll have a job for long enough to service any loan.
The main thing is time to fix it after you break it. Whenever I go green laning I live in fear of breaking something and then having to get to work on the Monday. Last time something broke I had to get a rental car as the garage I used didn't have a courtesy car ready.
Quite a collection you have there. Insurance would rape me if I had that many vehicles.
It is a costly mistake to have a hobby car and daily driver as one vehicle. When I finally get to save some money I'll get a new daily driver so I can save my truck for special events. My monthly fuel bills are killer. D:
The was I was taught to do it was place the gearbox on your legs, so you can heave it into place and hold it there with your knees taking the bulk of the weight and use your hands to jiggle it into place. Isn't for everyone as it can hurt if the gearbox slips, but when you don't have access to ramps and lifts, you do what you gotta do.
By bad mechanic I was really referring to those who get paid for their time as you have increased the time required for this job by doing it that way. It is work you don't need to do? I used to work under trolley jacks and axle stands and never needed to remove the front of a Golf or the engine to change the clutch. You've given yourself way more work than you needed to do an easy job.
But I suppose a Golf on axle stands with the gearbox dragged out from under it doesn't look as good on a forum. Since you have the front off you might as well do a full service and give the engine bay a good clean down and repaint.
Could be because you don't have to take the front off, only bad mechanics do that. All it takes is a bit of intelligent thinking to manoeuvre the gearbox out of the sub frame. It does requite some upper body strength though as you can't get away with using lifts.
Pop the CVs, drop the box, change clutch, manhandle box into place and return CVs. All you need is a standard toolbox and an engine bar (one of these).
Yay, I am now awesome like Jak, behold! Completely safe and legal driving. If only the other road users were as considerate. I was concerned when I came across a school bus that had left it's lane and was now in mine.
* Tbh, it isn't anything special, just my normal drive to and from work, I stripped all audio because I couldn't be bothered to find some copyright free tunage.
Easy rule to remember. RIGHT of way. Always give way to the guy on the right. IMHO, that should've changed to Left in left hand drive market, but as I understand it, you still give way to cars on the right.
Roundabouts are, apparently, the source of the British sense of humour. So you're welcome world.
You sound like the sort of person who knows they have ruined their car and running a better setup (airbags) would be so much nicer, but can't admit it and/or can't afford it. Handling is a BS excuse because we all know a car that low doesn't handle anyway.
I quite enjoy my airbags thank you very much. I can slam it on the bump stops or rise up enough to drive over a smart car. All you can do is rip open your sump and ruin your chassis.
I imagine it all depends how little you car about the underside of your vehicle. The kid in that video is a hazard to other road users as he needed guiding down a small slope. Sure I don't get the appeal of slammed vehicles, but if you're going to do it, do it properly. Get airbags. It is the only way to do it.
Him trying to enter a carpark at the end just shows you what a pointless vehicle he has created. I do enjoy that he has the lovely neck snapping pillows on his seats though. Enjoy that when someone inevitably rear end hims.
I had to fill my truck. 95 litres of derv at 143.9p/l means I have 136.71 less in my wallet.
It was quite funny though, I walked in to pay and like everyone I have no idea how much fuel I put in, I just run it until it clicks then go pay. The woman behind the counter was "are you sure it is that pump?" because it was a fair few pounds more than I normally put in (45-50 a week). T'was all "yeah, that sounds right" the young lass, maybe 16-17 on the other till was all "dafuq!?!?" at the thought of someone putting in that much fuel. Especially as I shaved so look about 14 myself.
Where it says TLRD, that is a typo, it should read TURD.
Anyone who lowers a vehicle stupidly low but only have one ride setting, stupidly low are stupid cheap bastards who should hand over their car keys. If you want to go that low run airbags. That way you can have the looks but not be seen by everyone as a cheap bastard and become a hazard to all road users as you come to a halt to drive over some gravel.
Get an Escort Van, 1.8N/A, with no no claims to my name I got mine insured for a nudge over £500 full comp on commercial insurance. Insurers don't rip off commercial vehicles as much as they do private ones. Even if you insure said vehicle for domestic and pleasure use only. Make sense? Not a bit of it, but at the time I was looking at various estate cars and would have to add at least 1,200 on my bill.
The main reason vans are so cheap is lack of seats. Apparently the less seats you have the less risk of being in an accident. Sounded like BS to me as a 2 seater sports car would cost the earth. But heyho.
Plus pimped out vans are cool, everyone in college loved my van.
A lot of classic insurance won't touch anyone under 25. Landies cost a shit tonne to insure for young people too, it is not uncommon to see 5k banded about. Some of the lads who come on the owners forum (18/19) have been getting quotes upwards of 15k. Insurers don't seem keen to have young folks in Landies.
But that all said, when I was 21 I got a quote for a Defender 110 of £900 with The AA, which was a lot less than anything else I'd come across. About 1,800 cheaper than a Ford Mondeo. But things have changed since then.
[edit: Although Fifth Gear did a segment on cars for 18 year olds some years ago and they came up with things like the Capri 1.6 Laser and a Mk2 Golf as they could be purchased and insured for less than 2.5k. Again this was before massive price increases for youths so probably isn't possible now.]
The biggest killer of all of the Fords I've worked on has been rust. But in recent years they've got on top of it. Ford now has a 13 year corrosion guarantee on their vehicles.
The only mechanical problems I've come across was due to not servicing them. The turbo on a turbo diesel Focus failing because the oil was 40k old.
Although the Mk3 Mondeo has a rear subframe bush problem, it is no uncommon for them to fail and until recently (about 3 years ago) you couldn't get the bush on its own, it had to come with a new subframe. At about £1,200 a pop you can see why many people chose to bin their cars. But the bush is available for about £25 (not genuine Ford though, they still only sell it as a subframe last time I looked into it), bit of a shit to fit, but otherwise a better option.
This is very true. Anyone over 20 has a nice solid desk. Anyone under 20 has one of those silly workstation bedroom jobbies with the sliding keyboard tray.
Not sure how any could cope with a daft workstation though.
Although that should be a good thing your Focus should have a lot more trouble free years left in it to be classed as reliable. At least 200k. I've got a 13 year old 180,000 miles P38, regarded as one of the most unreliable vehicles on the face of the earth. Other than wear and tear items, glow plugs and alternator needed replacing 5k ago which isn't bad for original parts, I haven't had a single problem with it. Tell a lie, the battery in the key fob died so I had to resync the key and I hit a pheasant breaking a headlight, but otherwise not a problem.
Although it could just be I have one of the few that were built properly. But I've no doubt cursed it now as I said something similar when I hit 175k, the same day my alternator died. Although I do make a point of watching any oil leaks. If they stop I know I need to refill.
Until recently, they only ever checked for a light on your dash. Now they have to test if you have an airbag fitted. Although I'm not really sure how they plan on doing this in the small time frame they are given to carry out an MoT Test, diagnostic equipment could only tell them so much. This rules are being rolled out over all of the EU.
Yes you can switch the wheel over, but if you're unlucky enough to get a random stop by the 5-0, depending on the mood of a traffic cop (and how well they understand the law, most don't) they could declare your car illegal on the spot. You'd then have to pay a garage for the wheel to be refitted and for them to fill in paperwork stating the wheel is now legal. Most will charge you through the arse for this service.
A lad I know from college got caught out and the garage he used charged him £150 an hour in labour and an admin fee of £100 to fill out the paper work. That was the best offer he was given of all the local garages.
But it is a risk you have to take for that race car look.