Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[paps511]

Does anyone here have a Suzuki Cappuccino? I'm semi seriously considering buying one for a nice weather daily driver

[Bitter]

2 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

First true two bucket style wash. Wasn't perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than it was before 

 

Your Ford Escape looks weird.

[ProfBrown]

I am tossing around the idea of trying picking up a 2000-2003 BMW 540i with a manual... Love the sound, the look to me is still very modern in many ways, decent aftermarket and great pricing.. If only they got better mileage lol, but how can you complain about mileage considering its a v8 in a larger sedan, when you consider that, 21 MPG isn't bad at all, especially with its age? I drive too much to be having these thoughts lol! 

 

Had an e36 328i manual and I loved it, just was at a time I wanted a truck. Had the truck, now I drive to much so I got the TDI golf wagon, but now I am missing the stick shift and the gasser rev happy sound from the BMW I had lol. Carcaine is an addiction and I need help! Preferably in the from of cash so I can support my habit in a healthy manner lol.

[AlwaysFSX]

4 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Your Ford Escape looks weird.

It's cold, it shrunk.

[Anomnomnomaly]

Back in August I was visiting my mum and stayed the night... a drunk driver decided to go for a drive... crashing into and destroying 3 cars and damaging a 4th.

 

mine was the first one hit and it's a write off... I'd only had it on the road since April after spending the winter getting her in mint condition. The driver was not only drunk, but uninsured and promptly did a runner.

 

Luckily I'm well insured, and they provided a hire car the next day... it took a little more than 5 weeks but on Friday they finally agreed to pay out what I wanted for the car... which is about a grand less than I've spent on it.

 

 

However... I was lucky that I had some savings behind me and could go out and find something right away... I found an enthusiast with an identical car to mine, but a year newer and 26k fewer miles on the clock... and a couple of optional extras mine didn't have (rear parking sensors and ipod adapter). Not only was it the same car.. but the exact same colour.

 

I've been able to transfer a load of parts over... the spoiler, reversing camera, dash cam kit as well as all of the LED lighting and refurbished headlights... I also got the car for £300 less than I paid for the previous one and the insurance paid out £700 more than it cost.

 

I can also claim back my excess of £200 and some other incidentals... which comes to around £420... I found a seller on ebay with one of the wheels I needed and bought that... it's being powder coated at the moment and a new tyre is being fitted.  I then found I had to by another tyre as one of the others have  chunk gouged out of the rear sidewall when the silly transporter caught it with a ratchet strap. I wanted to replace the wheel as they're quite rare Honda Enkei ones that you don't see very often... My replacement has the stock ugly ones that I hate.Plus I'd had all of the other ones powder coated to match the car and with new tyres... had spent almost £600 on. So finding another set was going to be hard and sellers want silly money for them.. plus new tyres and refurbishing them. You're looking at £700-800 anyway.  Spending a further £240 to buy a wheel, powder coat it and replace two tyres is actually the better option.

 

I've also been able to remove a few parts from the old car before it gets taken away to be scrapped... and I was able to pump out almost 50lts of fuel from it into my new car to give that a full tank, and some went into the hire car as when that goes back next week it needs to have a full tank too.

 

I've also removed a few of the sensors in the engine bay, the bluetooth module and some other bits... I'll see if they notice when they take it away... the ins already know I've had to dismantle a lot of the dash to remove my equipment that had been installed (BT kit, reversing cam and dashcam wiring for example).

 

I was hoping to keep the car and strip it for parts, help other club members with repairs and so forth... But they wanted £500 for it... so I said no... I'd struggle to get that much out of it in parts and it would mean charging other club members more than I'd want too.

 

So here's the damage... it doesn't look that bad does it... But look closely and the bumper is out of alignment as is the light, the wheel was pushed back into the A pillar with split the frame in two places. Snapped the lower control arm clean in half, bent the shock, and ripped the drive shaft out of the gearbox. The sill cover was ripped off, the A pillar is a little bent... and it's all structural... It's not fit for anything else any more.

 

When we had to open that door, it bent even more of the door/wing out of shape but at least the door does open/close and lock.

 

The police came, but have done pretty much nothing to find the culprit... I doubt the car was even registered to anyone... but their were witnesses I hear and I saw people with their phones out filming so I can only hope they've supplied pictures to the police of them and they will eventually be caught.

 

Thankfully this shouldn't affect my insurance, it's a no fault claim and whilst I will have to declare it when renewing my insurance... it won't count against me.

 

At the end of the day... when all is finished and I've claimed back the extras... I think I'll be about £200-300 out of pocket. But I'll have a newer, better condition car and you won't be able to tell the difference between either of them.

 

 

[Bitter]

Take as many things as you can off the car without affecting it's ability to roll up onto the tow truck and be pulled away. Modules, unseen parts, sensors, brackets, accessories, etc. lol.

[handymanshandle]

2 hours ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

Back in August I was visiting my mum and stayed the night... a drunk driver decided to go for a drive... crashing into and destroying 3 cars and damaging a 4th.

 

mine was the first one hit and it's a write off... I'd only had it on the road since April after spending the winter getting her in mint condition. The driver was not only drunk, but uninsured and promptly did a runner.

 

Luckily I'm well insured, and they provided a hire car the next day... it took a little more than 5 weeks but on Friday they finally agreed to pay out what I wanted for the car... which is about a grand less than I've spent on it.

 

 

However... I was lucky that I had some savings behind me and could go out and find something right away... I found an enthusiast with an identical car to mine, but a year newer and 26k fewer miles on the clock... and a couple of optional extras mine didn't have (rear parking sensors and ipod adapter). Not only was it the same car.. but the exact same colour.

 

I've been able to transfer a load of parts over... the spoiler, reversing camera, dash cam kit as well as all of the LED lighting and refurbished headlights... I also got the car for £300 less than I paid for the previous one and the insurance paid out £700 more than it cost.

 

I can also claim back my excess of £200 and some other incidentals... which comes to around £420... I found a seller on ebay with one of the wheels I needed and bought that... it's being powder coated at the moment and a new tyre is being fitted.  I then found I had to by another tyre as one of the others have  chunk gouged out of the rear sidewall when the silly transporter caught it with a ratchet strap. I wanted to replace the wheel as they're quite rare Honda Enkei ones that you don't see very often... My replacement has the stock ugly ones that I hate.Plus I'd had all of the other ones powder coated to match the car and with new tyres... had spent almost £600 on. So finding another set was going to be hard and sellers want silly money for them.. plus new tyres and refurbishing them. You're looking at £700-800 anyway.  Spending a further £240 to buy a wheel, powder coat it and replace two tyres is actually the better option.

 

I've also been able to remove a few parts from the old car before it gets taken away to be scrapped... and I was able to pump out almost 50lts of fuel from it into my new car to give that a full tank, and some went into the hire car as when that goes back next week it needs to have a full tank too.

 

I've also removed a few of the sensors in the engine bay, the bluetooth module and some other bits... I'll see if they notice when they take it away... the ins already know I've had to dismantle a lot of the dash to remove my equipment that had been installed (BT kit, reversing cam and dashcam wiring for example).

 

I was hoping to keep the car and strip it for parts, help other club members with repairs and so forth... But they wanted £500 for it... so I said no... I'd struggle to get that much out of it in parts and it would mean charging other club members more than I'd want too.

 

So here's the damage... it doesn't look that bad does it... But look closely and the bumper is out of alignment as is the light, the wheel was pushed back into the A pillar with split the frame in two places. Snapped the lower control arm clean in half, bent the shock, and ripped the drive shaft out of the gearbox. The sill cover was ripped off, the A pillar is a little bent... and it's all structural... It's not fit for anything else any more.

 

When we had to open that door, it bent even more of the door/wing out of shape but at least the door does open/close and lock.

 

The police came, but have done pretty much nothing to find the culprit... I doubt the car was even registered to anyone... but their were witnesses I hear and I saw people with their phones out filming so I can only hope they've supplied pictures to the police of them and they will eventually be caught.

 

Thankfully this shouldn't affect my insurance, it's a no fault claim and whilst I will have to declare it when renewing my insurance... it won't count against me.

 

At the end of the day... when all is finished and I've claimed back the extras... I think I'll be about £200-300 out of pocket. But I'll have a newer, better condition car and you won't be able to tell the difference between either of them.

 

 

ugh, I fucking hate drunk drivers.

 

 

 

On another note, fuck man that Saab 9-3 I've been wanting to buy almost sold on Friday. Actually it was accidentally marked sold lol.

 

Since I wasn't able to get financing with their lenders, I'm going to have to try and work with my bank and if the bank is firm on what they want from me either hope that it stays on the lot for the next two weeks (it likely won't at its price, although they've had it since 9/12) or I will have to find something else for up to $3200 or there abouts. 

 

 

I found another 9-3. I wonder what that means

[JoaoPRSousa]

11 hours ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

- sniperino -

 

Damn dude, that sucks  For a moment I thought you were talking about the MX-6, but then realized it was an Accord. At least it looks like you have everything covered, so that's not too bad.

[bcredeur97]

10 hours ago, Bitter said:

Take as many things as you can off the car without affecting it's ability to roll up onto the tow truck and be pulled away. Modules, unseen parts, sensors, brackets, accessories, etc. lol.

I’ve always wondered if this is legal... I mean it’s technically your car until they take it away from you right?

[Anomnomnomaly]

12 hours ago, Bitter said:

Take as many things as you can off the car without affecting it's ability to roll up onto the tow truck and be pulled away. Modules, unseen parts, sensors, brackets, accessories, etc. lol.

It's a bit of a grey area... the car can't really roll very well due tot he suspension damage. I';ve got ratchet clamp/straps around the control arm, strut, anti roll bar and from beam... to try and stop the wheel from moving back into the frame... But it's not doing a great job and the wheel drags because it's kicked out at an angle.  It's currently on a gravel drive, and it's got a space saver wheel on that I took out of the other car... which will need to be removed. So they may have to lift it onto a transporter.

 

As for removing stuff... I've got a few sensors out from the engine Air flow, MAF and frequency solenoid... those 3 alone would cost around £400-500 to replace. It had a brand new battery a few months ago, so that's removed. I'd swapped the headlights out as I refurbished them 6 months ago... The old ones are just inside the house, so if they ask I can grab them and just pretend like I didn't want a load of large parts visible in the car in case some one tried to steal stuff. but sensors can't be seen unless you open the bonnet and remove the top engine cover.

 

Basically I'll remove what I can and see if they ask about things... as I said I can just argue that I didn't want to leave stuff lying about in the car to be stolen and If I keep it right inside the front door. I can literally just reach in and grab it when asked.

 

Until I receive the money from the insurance... the car legally belongs to me... after that it becomes the property of the insurance and whoever they assign to dispose of it. technically it has to be in the same condition as it was at the accident, however I am permitted to remove items I have fitted... hence half the dash already being pulled out to get at stuff and wiring... I could put it back together and hide a few bits if I wanted.

[Beef Boss]

These plugs seem a little white for at least 10k miles. 

 

Heres the dirtiest one, and the only one dirty. 

[Bitter]

Eh, they're not bad. No melting, no cracking, how's AFR?

[arnavvr]

On 9/29/2019 at 4:14 PM, ProfBrown said:

I am tossing around the idea of trying picking up a 2000-2003 BMW 540i with a manual... Love the sound, the look to me is still very modern in many ways, decent aftermarket and great pricing.. If only they got better mileage lol, but how can you complain about mileage considering its a v8 in a larger sedan, when you consider that, 21 MPG isn't bad at all, especially with its age? I drive too much to be having these thoughts lol! 

 

Had an e36 328i manual and I loved it, just was at a time I wanted a truck. Had the truck, now I drive to much so I got the TDI golf wagon, but now I am missing the stick shift and the gasser rev happy sound from the BMW I had lol. Carcaine is an addiction and I need help! Preferably in the from of cash so I can support my habit in a healthy manner lol.

I'd love better mileage rn, the California Gas Prices are killing me since my car takes 91.

[ProfBrown]

15 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

I'd love better mileage rn, the California Gas Prices are killing me since my car takes 91.

What your daily? Where about in Cali?

 

I came from a truck doing about 14.2 mpg and about 60-700 miles a week lol. Trust me, the car change up was more of a necessity than a want lol. If it was all wants, I'd have kept the truck a while longer, or gone with a V8 RWD car of sorts lol.

[arnavvr]

25 minutes ago, ProfBrown said:

What your daily? Where about in Cali?

 

I came from a truck doing about 14.2 mpg and about 60-700 miles a week lol. Trust me, the car change up was more of a necessity than a want lol. If it was all wants, I'd have kept the truck a while longer, or gone with a V8 RWD car of sorts lol.

I drive a 325i, and am in the San Francisco Bay Area (on the peninsula). Just filled up at ~ $4.19/gallon

[ProfBrown]

Just now, arnavvr said:

I drive a 325i, and am in the San Francisco Bay Area (on the peninsula). Just filled up at ~ $4.19/gallon

e36, e46, e90 or newer? If its a non turbo 325i like the old inline 6 cars, you don't need to use premium lol. I had an e36 for a few years, 328i, and ran mid grade all the time. No issues what so ever. 

 

Also, premium where I am is closer to $4.25 at the lowest lol. More like $4.35+ 

[bcredeur97]

7 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

I drive a 325i, and am in the San Francisco Bay Area (on the peninsula). Just filled up at ~ $4.19/gallon

I actually really like the beater civic i just bought for gas mileage. $20 gets me almost 400 miles here lol

 

and I need to drive a lot so it really helps.. keeping the miles off the miata too

[dcgreen2k]

Storytime: Back when I was first learning to drive stick shift, I was having some trouble getting the timing right on releasing the clutch to pull away smoothly, and I had gotten into the habit of releasing it a bit later so as to make sure I didn't stall. Around this time, I was returning from the store with my dad and was stopped at a traffic light; still having trouble with the timing with the clutch/gas, I unintentionally revved the engine up to about 5k rpm but didn't release the clutch so the car didn't launch forward. Unfortunately, when I turned to look at my dad's face of disapproval for my small, albeit noisy, mistake, I realized that there was a police car literally right next to us. Luckily, they didn't seem to care too much and the only thing that was hurt was my ego...

 

There was also the time where I stalled three times while I was at a stop sign because I didn't notice that I left the car in 3rd gear, fun times.

[Beef Boss]

2 hours ago, Bitter said:

Eh, they're not bad. No melting, no cracking, how's AFR?

No idea lol. It was just running a little sluggish lately, so I was checking some things. I doubt I could check that. I've got a code reader from some snap-on brand that's all. 

[Bitter]

9 hours ago, veldora said:

No idea lol. It was just running a little sluggish lately, so I was checking some things. I doubt I could check that. I've got a code reader from some snap-on brand that's all. 

I forget, what car is this?

[Beef Boss]

1 minute ago, Bitter said:

I forget, what car is this?

It's just my protégé lol. But when it's down on anything you can tell, because you always use all the power it has. 

[PandaCopyRight]

13 hours ago, dcgreen2k said:

There was also the time where I stalled three times while I was at a stop sign because I didn't notice that I left the car in 3rd gear, fun times.

starting in 3rd is not that difficult, but for people who sometimes have difficulties with 1st (aka while learning) ... i see how it can be issue  

[Bitter]

4 hours ago, veldora said:

It's just my protégé lol. But when it's down on anything you can tell, because you always use all the power it has. 

Haha amen to that. The AC in my 626 slows me from 70 to 60 when it comes on if I don't add throttle.
Cleaned the MAF recently?

 

[bimmerman]

bay area gas+toll prices and the m3/SS's gluttony are one reason for why I'm biking to work now.

[Beef Boss]

7 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Haha amen to that. The AC in my 626 slows me from 70 to 60 when it comes on if I don't add throttle.
Cleaned the MAF recently?

 

Never. Didn't know it needed cleaned lol. Ive just been doing typical 100k mile maintenance.