Handwashing cars through the winter

In message , Adrian writes

Yup. Same with the 306. The Civic, by my maths, should max at about peak power.

Maybe not... I'm trying to think, the Citroen AX diseasel we had was OK. I had a Ka for a courtesy car when they were first released and was gobsmacked by how much better it was than I expected. 1.4 Fiesta was OK,

I don't think I've driven any of the really small cars on the market now, though. I suppose a Smart or that ugly little Daewoo/Chevrolet thing could be quite unpleasant.

Steve Walker ( snipped-for-privacy@otolith.demon.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Narrow it down a bit... That's the entire range!

I used to use a good pair of Gortex Ski gloves - totally water proof and warm.

Mostly I use a car wash, nobody notices those tiny tiny scratches in the laquer, so once you've done it once you don't have to worry any more. Some have an underbody spray too.

On 22-Nov-05 19:58:01, Avanti said

I have only ever had one new car, and that was in 1987. T'was a Ford Escort 1600 Ghia that was with me for ten years and still turned in over

Anyway, my point is that I completely get where Avanti is coming from, its his baby, so give the guy a break! :)

All the best, Angus Manwaring. (for e-mail remove ANTISPEM)

I need your memories for the Amiga Games Database: A collection of Amiga Game reviews by Amiga players

Darwinism in action. If he improves, he lives. If not the gene pool strengthens

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

But it all points the wrong way. Surely the 'cento engine bay's not long enough?

I remember being stood at the Earl's Court motorshow years ago, staring at the bare bones of a 33 Permanent 4, with a silly thought going through my head. Just behind me, there's a voice - "Yeh, it'd all fit in a 2cv well enough" - turn round, couple of mates of mine thinking the exact same thing.

Yeah, that was the worrying dimension. However, it's easier to fix that than it is to sort out a lack of width.... just move the firewall back a bit and put the driver in the rear seat footwells ;-)

Mind you, the Alfa Boxer was quite a compact engine, I think the gearbox would be the problem, though.

Heh.

In news:Xns9717E6101D824adrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.244.170, Adrian decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

I know the 33's 16v lump has been fitted to a fair few 2cvs.

My personal favourite is the Impreza turbo powered Hillman Imp thats knocking about.

Pete M ( snipped-for-privacy@blue-nopressedmeat-yonder.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Dunno about that. There's been a couple of Sud-engined/boxed, but not heard about 33-lumped.

They're never nice to drive, though. They're more a case of "making it fit" than "engineering".

I'd quite like to have seen the mid-engined Europa-suspended Turbo-Sud Dyane that was in Cars & Car Conversions many moons ago, but it seems to have disappeared.

One of the "Scary Skodas" built for the road used a Subaru 1.8 turbo engine. Another used a ford V6 but that blew up. And another used a big block V8, a Hewland mid-engined transaxle and a GRP Silhouette shell on a space frame chassis (race car).

In message , Adrian writes

True. Ah, who cares which one, whoever buys them pretty much deserves what they get.

Me too please.

--=20 Malc

The message from "Malc" contains these words:

I'll take a dozen.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk, Guy King decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

sheesh, I'd have thought you lot would know better.

I can't do them for any less than a quid, so you'll have to wait.

In fact you *have* to.

Brings back memories of my mate with a race-prepped 2CV - welded roll cage and all.

Seeing 6'4"of him coiling himself in between the crash bars was a laugh every time....

The message from "Pete M" contains these words:

Nah, I'll wait for the 2007 model in that case. It'll have a power output socket so I can use it for CHP for the house when I'm not driving it.

I boil a kettle full of water and put it in the bucket with the car shampoo, suitably diluted to hand temperature. BTW I said a while ago that I polished my car; it hadn't been done years. That certainly had an effect; much less dirt was stuck on this time, much easier to clean. Also easier to dry.

As the CH is usually on in the house I could use water from the hot water pipe, yesterday was a time for test I decided to get the power washer out and the sponge mop, took 40mins, including setting it all up and putting everything away.