GTAm

Well that's odd. I got the info that there has been one from a very active member in the MB Club. Strange. Not sure what is true. ...... but I really would not be surprised if there was one.

Aha. I heard it very recently. Considering some of the cars that have set tread on our shoes in the past, its quite believable.

Stop smoking that stuff Prad. Your brain needs a rest

Yes that's the best one I've seen in a long long time. The two door look pretty original as well.

According to a guy who knows his Mercs, there HAS been one here sometime back. The Dulux Calendar car was probably a 190SL though.

It depends on the design. It's not imperative to make a mold for a one off. But to make it light weight it could be necessary. I learned to do GRP/fibre glass casting and mold making myself, but just don't have the time or space to mess up Wish I had tho...

Black as original. It will be a low cost matt black for now tho.....

Source - www.italiaspeed.com

Went to the Ferrari Dealer in HK last week. Went instantly into "stun" mode. The 599 suddenly looks stunning to me. Heck even the 612 looked good. The pick was the 430 Scuderia though. I could not get away from it. It's simply awe inspiring. Sat it in too. Btw Hong Kong imported their 1000th Ferrari last a few weeks ago!!! Sadly the California was out on a customer viewing. The showroom is shared with Maserati and at the back was the workshop. There were around 30-40 cars in there too!!!! I did not take my camera and did not want to look uncool by clicking my phone. The sales staff were very friendly. I think they thought I am a prospective customer Thought about asking for a test drive, but could not bring myself to it. In the end bought some memorabilia and came away.... For me a super car should have that WOW factor. There was a white Porsche 911 GT3 parked outside the showroom and those (mostly) red Ferraris made it look pretty unspecial. I saw many GTRs as well and however good the car might be it does not look good. On the other hand I love the Corvette looks. It looks really special. But when you compare it with a Ferrari closely its then that you notice where the money has gone. The finish is miles apart and the Corvette interior is hell to the Ferrari's heaven. Yes Ferrari could def do better with the looks, but with competition like this they've probably got lazy themselves.

Thanks Guys. Will give them a try. Yes SN its for the MR2. It can do with a bit of restyling me thinks. First it needs to come out of paint shop.

The nicest Alfa 33 in SL is on the market

Hi Guys, Just want to get some feedback on getting my own body kit done. Who are the players in the market? They need to be flexible enough to adhere to my own design and not force their heavy-handed styling on me as I am quite critical when it comes to styling. They also need to be tech savvy enough to be able to to make the kit light weight. I've seen many body kits from the usual suspects that weigh way too much and are actually making the car slower rather than faster. In short I want a GRP expert who has some art in him instead of the gaudy style shown by many of not most and someone who is humble and not cocky who will follow my design exactly. Thanks.

2913465.

Not in my book. I drive my cousin's car on a regular basis. He's had the car for more than ten years and I've driven it many many many times. You ask him what he does not like about the car and his main criticism is that as well. In fact its very frustrating that it has so little suspension travel and you have to slow right down for every little ripple on the road. If you go with higher profile tyres you tend to kill the handling. The only place it excels is on smooth roads. And we all know how rare that is in our country. I owned a series one and the ride was much much better. Also I know exactly what he has spent on the car and its atrocious. He has also had to import certain parts from Singapore as they are not available here. And mate......if you read my post properly you'll see that I have actually said "The Honda has much better performance and handling," Did you read that part? I know its not easy for most people when their favourite brand's short comings are revealed but I like to be objective here. What's a better all-rounder to the CRX is a Mazda Autozam. I had a great drive in Pradfred's car. Even though the ending wasn't very happy

You are comparing a 4 door family car with a 2 door sports car. The Honda has much better performance and handling, the Mazda has more space and can seat 4 people as opposed to two in the Honda. The Mazda's ride comfort is ok. The Honda's is terrible on our roads and the low ground clearance can be very annoying. Not sure about the maintenance cost of the Astina but the CRX can be high.

25k for a damper Lucky I'm driving (mostly) Alfas An oiriginal Alfa 156 damper would be around 12,000/-, front and 6000/- rear! 25k is nearer 166 territory. I got the suspension done on my MR2 and the bill was a lot higher than I expected. And so much was NOT available. I'm begining to see Alfa Romeo in a new light. It could actually be a budget brand with relatively easy maintainence

Hmmmmm so you did the running in before going above 3000rpm...... So maybe your engine has not gone bust after all. Maybe its the oil that spilt into the water jacket during the rebuild? Running in - In Garage speak - "Okkoma set wenakan arrinna hondha naha" What needs to happens is that the pistons and bore/sleeves have to bed in. High revving could damage the sleeve/bore. On the other hand the tolerances between piston/rings and bore/sleeve can be made higher when putting the engine together. This would eliminate the need to "run-in". "Gaththa gaman arrinna puluwan" But this will obviously reduce the life span of the engine. Good luck and do let us know what happens.

To control airflow in an engine you can change two things about the valves: 1. How early or late in the cycle the valve opens and closes -- this is Variable Valve Timing. 2. How "wide" you open the valve -- this is Variable Valve Lift You can control the airflow using one of these techniques, but there are other aspects like controlling the turbulence of the air, or the density of the fuel mix through the cylinder that require both lift and timing to be controlled. So the first production car VVT engine was by Alfa Romeo and the First VVT+EC (Electronic Lift Control was made by Honda) The new Fiat Multiair system is an infinitely variable lift and timing system - this is a really really big deal. Will be seen first in the Alfa Mito GTA.

6L sound like a lot for a 2c. ...... That said going over 3000rpm could not be healthy for a recently built engine. Was the head fazed before the gasket went on? Maybe it wasn't a good job. Did they pressure check the head and block (water jacket) for hairline cracks? Could be so many reasons. My sympathies, I know how you feel. Had this experience repeatedly on a Mazda van we had and a couple of times on my VW Jetta D.

xXx I was talking about an Indian Tax not Sri Lankan. Since Sri Lankan exports are tax free (to a large extent) we take it for granted that every country's exports are tax exempt. Not so. I know for a fact that some exports from India are taxed. In fact when goods trade between different states they are taxed. Yes the D*MO sales r down. MB because of prices. Tata because of the quality of the product?

Yes my point is that given the difference in labour as well as materials in India compared with Japan, not to mention the difference in the tech, I expect the Indian made car to be at least one third cheaper. If the Indian one uses the old gen engine, then its development costs must have been recovered at years ago. Which means either, (just guessing) a) There might be a tax on exports from India or Suzuki is minting money in India with a hefty margin and growing demand. I've just noticed that the Indian made new Honda City costs 6.2m brand new.

Seems a great machine! So tell us how it is to drive. How much has it transformed? Is it like night and day?

There is a difference in the quality of the interior plastics as well. Good question though, about why an Indian made car should be only slightly less than a Japanese made one!?

You're not missing anything trust me;)

WOW!