Lazlo Woodbine

I'll level with you, I've never had an auto or even worked on one. However it's one of those things that's definitely worth doing right. My gut feeling is that if you're going to do any more than just a fluid/filter change then a full service would be the way. I'd research the companies you're considering and if they have a good rep then follow their advice. Some people even take their ZF equipped cars to ZF themselves, in Dortmund! http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/527361 To be fair no-one can know them better.

When I was asked how I was adjusting to the Jag after I'd had it a few weeks I said something along the lines of; "Well I'm already looking down my nose at everyone else and my parking 's gone to hell, so pretty well really". Actually I did feel very uncomfortable in my S-type at first. Stepping in to it from a boyed up old Golf which had followed a motley line up other of old, odd stuff was a shock. I don't really think about it now, it's just my car, a nice car but after nearly two years I'm used to it.

You could probably save yourself the hassle of a separate laptop by making a new partition on your hard drive and installing XP there. Or you can buy "Windows on a stick" off ebay which doesn't need installing, it just runs of the stick.

I've never been under a car like yours so I don't know what the set up is like but; I'd certainly want to have a look at the diff oil before considering a new unit. If it comes out burnt or looking like Goldschlager then yes it's not healthy but even then I would expect it to whine or whirr not knock. A knock makes me think more of prop/drive shaft joints or splines, maybe even a wheel bearing, and it's entirely feasible that that noise could be heard in the diff housing what with them being connected. EDIT; Just remembered I had an old Volvo with a two piece prop shaft and the joint was supported by a rubber donut. This collapsed on one side and let the shaft knock going forwards but was silent in reverse as it pushed the joint to the opposite (good) side of the donut. Just a thought.

I blanked off the egr valve on my AHU engined Golf TDi as the inlet manifold was so clogged that the ports were more than halfway blocked. After cleaning it out I had much more power at high revs.

The headlining can be taken out through the front passenger door if both front seats are fully reclined. All the pillar trims and both sun visors have to come out first. There are several wires that have to be disconnected, one of which has a plug hidden under the parcel shelf somewhere. Two people can do it, unless you have a sunroof. In which case I'd say a third person would make it safer as the lining can fold at the cut out just under its own weight. Then some spray adhesive and very careful pressing down of the fabric onto the board should have it fixed.

Hi Mike Well as you see the bushes can be changed with tools that any garage should have and the skills anyone calling themselves a mechanic should posses. For me it made financial sense as I did everything myself. However, if you're paying someone else to do the work then a pair of arms like Russ got may work out cheaper. Two arms at £200 each plus two hours labour (I could do them in under one hour with a ramp) should be about half what you have been quoted. If I were you I'd see if your garage will buy them direct from Berkshire Jag Spares and quote you for labour. Bear in mind that garages wager on a big mark up on parts so they may not like that idea. Some will fit customer-supplied parts but many won't, having worked in repairs I can understand their reticence.. Either way a little calling around could save you a lot of money. Damper bushes; Almost certainly not economical to change if you're getting someone to do it for you. Circa £15 (£30 genuine) per bush plus the labour and you're probably half way to getting a whole new damper. Plus if your garage won't consider changing the lower rear arm bushes then I'd not bother asking them to change any others. I have no idea how mechanically adept you are but changing dampers and arms is not difficult with a basic tool kit. Six bolts per side and the only one that might cause you trouble is the drop link, for £30-40 it would be worth changing them anyway whilst it's apart. An alignment check afterwards would be nice but certainly not vital as you wouldn't be disturbing any of the adjustment points. I don't know for sure but I get the idea that these bushes fail pretty regularly at 80k miles and upwards. The problem is the dust seals perish and split so letting the grease out, I maintain that if the seals were better they would last far, far longer. Come the spring I'll be climbing under my car to clean and grease the seals to try and keep the elements at bay.

I've certainly minimised it. There was a slight air leak around the control flap unit on the back of the inlet manifold and the rubber end of one vacuum line was perished. There's still a noticeable surge as the revs drop to 1800 but not like before. The control flaps have a big O ring to seal them and they're silly money to buy. As both flap units are the same I put the top one in the back where it's awkward to get to then fitted the one with leaky O ring to the top with some instant gasket to seal it. There's no oil catch tank as standard. I got an after market one to install but haven't yet. There are a few jobs mounting up that I'll do all at the same time, sometime..

In the pre-MID days I was once charged with driving with no insurance, despite having a policy in place, due to an error by the broker. I presented the police with my documents twice and yet charges were still pressed and I had to attend court (three times due to the officer not turning up twice). When he finally did he was laughed out of court, but I wasn't laughing. I had paid my dues and so did every one else whose taxes pay for all that wasted police and court time. I also had to pay for three days off work and 150 miles travel, but at least I got an apology, oh hang on, no I didn't... Chances are these lads weren't insured but then maybe it was yet another database error, the sort DVLA make all the time.

I like them. At one point I was running two classics insured as such and it cost much, much less than having either one on a standard policy. The stipulation at the time was that you had to have regular use of another car, nothing said the other one couldn't be a classic. I think most insurers have tightened up on that now..

Thank you. That's very handy as my drivers side seal is in tatters. I think someone very fat owned my car at some point. The drivers seat bolster is really worn, the leather on the squab is worn through right across and the foam has gone "dead" so you sit low in the seat. It suits me as I'm tall but isn't as comfy as the passenger seat witch looks like new. Some previous owner kept slamming the seat belt buckle in the door as well, the A pillar is full of dents! It always retracts for me so I can only think they eventually gave in and replaced it.

I like that. I bet Colin Chapman would've been disgusted! Joe; No worries. Yes it's the B6 I'd want. I'm sure they're much better value than cheap stuff but it's a lot of money regardless of what I got for it. Still, £1200 does make me feel a little better!

My renewal's due and the people I've been with for a couple of years quoted £380. I paid £300 last year but they said in the renewal letter I'd paid £550! I phoned them and they dropped it down to what it was last year but with £30 worth of extras taken off. No -one at the office can explain the £550 but they accept it's wrong and said it must be a typo. A week later they wrote to me with a quote of £280 with the £30 worth of extras included. All well and good, I like money off, but that letter also said I'd paid £550 last year.. I just pray I don't have to trust them with a claim.

That's the front bush. Adjusting that end of the arm in the subframe changes the castor, the other end of the arm does camber. Yes it is offset by quite a lot so putting it in wrong could push the geometry right out. Fortunately the hole goes closest to the arm-side of the register so it's not too difficult to get right. If you look back through the pictures you can see I used a pair of callipers to determine the narrowest part of the bush and marked up it and the register with a pen. It would have been nice if they'd had a mark moulded into them to be honest, I have seen that on other round but eccentric bushes. I would assume these big bushes were made thicker on the inside edge to allow the wheels to move backwards ever so slightly to help absorb the jolts of hitting square edged bumps. You can certainly feel patches and missing bits of tarmac more with the new bushes. Well as I say it's only my conclusions but thank you. I suppose I do have a bit of a suspension obsession generally. I've ridden off road on two wheels for most of my life which certainly make you appreciate traction! Then as an adult I had some fast cars which didn't grip or handle well enough to use the power. Struggling to enjoy driving them fast I realised that I prefer corners to straights and haven't really tuned an engine in years but concentrate on suspension instead. Bushes and geometry tweaking is fairly cheap compared to dampers and springs or some of the more radical changes you can make and it's probably going to be as far as I go with the Jag. Russ has heard me whining on about wanting a set of Bilstein dampers for months now, but they're £600! That's over half what my car's cost me with all the work I've done to it. One day maybe..

That's pretty convincing. I'm guessing one of that lamp posts neighbours left its mark on the side of the car there. I had a very hard head on crash in a Renault once and one sill folded over itself and the other side split open along the seam at the bottom and splayed open by several inches, scary stuff.