Kickstart

Belts partly are used as they don’t “stretch” with wear, unlike chains. Just they become a maintenance nightmare, especially when engineers do strange things (like drive the water pump for it to wreck the engine when the pump fails, or bury the belt making it a nightmare to get at). Heard in the US there in a minimum belt life required on cars Bevel drive should have the best of both worlds (or cam gear drive), but adds to the cost. Not a clue when the dowel dropped down. Going to clean out the holes for the dowels with brake cleaner, and loctite them in! All the best Katy

I think I am scared enough not to want to try and find out! But of a mare of a week. I gave a friends bike here to sort a few wiring issues. And replace the rocker cover gasket. Rocker cover off and I cleaned it and refinished it. Then noticed a missing locating dowel. Cams out and no sign of it. Sump off and found it. But then could get the cams timed. Set them right, finish tightening down and there would be a noise, and the cams would be 1 tooth out relative to the crank. Eventually got it right. Presume the cam chain wasn’t seating correctly on the crank. But took close to 20 attempts to get it right! All the best Katy

Think they were going to call a car the Silver Mist, but in German mist translates as dung, manure, etc. Opel weren’t going to use the name Nova from Vauxhall. Nova = Non Va = No Go All the best Katy

Mokka just makes me think of a posh coffee. Nissan Qashqai just makes me think Nissan Cashcard. All the best Katy

Buying the AIS data is not cheap, especially when you likely need to buy it from multiple providers to get a good amount of data (quite a lot of the data will be duplicated) Did have some fun when analysing some data for a former employer. You could see a pattern by time of the satellites collecting data. All the best Katy

While I have the kit to make up cables, I won’t touch a brake cable. Risk to reward ratio too far! Useful for clutch cables, throttles, etc All the best Katy

Went there 6 years ago. Wanted to see a band so picked the Hamburg gig so we could do MW. We planned to see it on Saturday afternoon, but went back again on the Sunday to finish looking. It is very much a train set rather than an accurate model, but extremely well done. Lots of small jokes hidden around. Intend to go back some time. All the best Katy

Gives more options when you need to mount a 17pdr on a Valentine chassis! All the best Katy

Airfix have done it in general All the best Katy

GPZ600R? GPX600R? Remember around 1992/3 the Cossie was dirt cheap 2nd hand as so many were stolen that insurance was a nightmare. All the best Katy

I spent 15 months working in Belgium. Bought a lhd 33 (a lot easier for the barrier at work!). I was driving back many weekends. To be honest there were quite a few uk registered cars floating around Brussels which hadn’t been back to the uk for an mot in a LONG time. All the best Katy

The boxer engines encouraged you, as did the cars in general. The 75 TS engine was also fun (and despite its reputation, the fear change wasn’t bad) The 16v TS engines were also pretty good, and encouraging. The 2.2 engine I have only driven in a Brera and it did nothing for me. All torque and no fun. But then I like small 2 stroke bikes. There is a guy on YouTube doing a series of videos restoring an S2 Esprit. Soup Classic Cars. Well worth watching. All the best Katy https://youtube.com/c/GeorgeKarellas

Had 3 Alfa 33s over the years. Just sold 2 a couple of months ago (finally accepted I wasn’t going to get around to sorting them) First was a series 2 Sportwagon 1.7. So carbed (sone series 2 were fuel injected , but not uk market). The 2nd was a 16v P4 (bought to replace a 75 TS) . Lovely car to drive / thrash, just no fun for driving sensibly! 137hp claimed, with 1200kg. Revved well, acceptable fuel, pretty reliable, comfy Ricaro seats, etc. And with 4wd was just about impossible to spin the wheels (although the clutch might not appreciate attempts to do so!). Would love a similar car again , but pretty much zero chance anything with that much power and 4wd would be that light. 3rd was a LHD 1.3 series 3 I bought while working in Belgium. Despite being a series 3 (last shape) it was basic with 2 twin choke carbs, manual rack, etc. This was 86hp, but light (was lighter than a mk1 MX5). Quite fun despite being basic. Far more refined engine than the P4 , and if cruising at 130kmh / 4000+rpm it gave 40mpg (less said about short journeys around town the better - accelerator pump carbs don’t help there). Absolutely love 33s. Have an MX5 NC these days as about the nearest normal road car in similar fun to drive. All the best Katy

Montana had “reasonable and prudent” as the limit at one time. Until someone took them to court for not actually having a specified limit All the best Katy

My driving instructor had one, and indeed it was almost impossible to stall. Think I managed to stall once in all my driving lessons. First car I did many miles in after my test was a 1L Metro. Best part of a decade old at the time but no major rust. Not massively quick but did the job. No objections to it really. One plus point of the Metro was front 4 piston brake calipers! All the best Katy

One I can remember was at a show (in the hmrs section) at the Midland Railway Butterley All the best Katy

Funny how that happens! This needs the piston running in, and brand new tyres on the slimey roads are not fun. Still a few things I should tidy up but nothing urgent. It did take the mickey slightly. This model has a fuel gauge, which is actually reasonable. Last time out it had played up. Took the sender out and cleaned it up. Seemed ok. So filled with petrol today. Ignition back on, gauge rode up to the top. Then a minute later fell to the bottom where it is still languishing. The sender unit is mounted on the bottom of the now full tank! All the best Katy

Well, little AF1 was MOTed last year but was a pain to start (once started it was fine fir the say). Found the choke jet was blocked. Freshly powder coated wheels fitted with new tyres. Brake disk centre refinished. Needed bread and milk so took it for a spin. All the best Katy

Best I can remember 2 star was 92 RON . Think originally the basic European unleaded was 91 RON , but not available in the UK (presumably why uk basic unleaded is labelled premium) All the best Katy

I can’t say these surprise me. And Wheeler Dealers is far from the worst. All the best Katy

Probably applies to horse riding, motorcycles, cars, buses, lorries, etc All the best Katy

We do have a pretty local scrap yard, but quite a while since I needed something from there (possibly a hub for a Corsa belonging to a neighbours girlfriend - bottom ball joint had gone and worn the hole in the hub oval). But fir the MX5 probably easier to find a specialist breakers (there is one over just south of Derby) I am missing the bike autojumbles. But project bike prices have gone through the roof over lockdown. Occasionally I have watched some restoration shows on tv, especially us ones. Way too often they annoy me by doing a slap dash job and then boasting about the profit. One on a few days ago they bought an old pickup truck that had been sat fir years (decades probably). Engine was a mess. They did a good job on the interior (well, mainly their local upholstery lady). Visible bodywork they pretty much washed and clear coated to keep the rust. Engine wise they just bought a new engine (not they right engine....) and stuffed that in. Minimal work on the brakes. But they did nothing to the suspension, any work on the chassis (certain to be a load of rot), differential, wiring, etc. All the best Katy

I should still have my one of those floating around. In air cadets I did an O level in air navigation, which was a Associated Examining Board exam All the best Katy

Quite, but if the cost of something is needing an SUV then that is a cost too far! All the best Katy

Best looking SUV is hardly something to be proud of. Can’t say any appeal to me, and while I can see uses those don’t apply to me. All the best Katy