The Don

Isuru do you have any ideas of their prices ? For example for the type of service hefraz is using, which is probably not a complete paint job but an overspray to cover the scratches etc (after the scratches have been treated if necessary of course) Regards, The Don

Hi Satan 06, Nopes, don't think anybodys trying to be funny here, but Shakir infact owns a Cefiro, and infact its for sale in the AL classifieds, Since you guys have such a high opinion of the car, why dont you altert somebody to but it, its in perfect condition too The Don PS. Shak I shall collect my commission later, wink wink

2K painting is not as simple as 1K bro cos you cant cut and polish as easily and thus you need to be more careful of the spraying and enviromental factors like dust. I think if possible use somebody who has a heated paint booth, I think they refer to it as an oven .... I think somebody correct me if I am wrong. A good finish will cost you thats for sure, but will be worth it, i think the thread isuru mentioned has a few other places too, No luck finding a buyer for your car ? The Don

To be honest guys, I am glad somebody brought this up, its been a bit annoying for me too, actually, I don't think its a form of short hand or anything (nexGen don't mean to argue with you, I am not challenging your position, if you use it cos its short hand we believe you) But its somewhat part of a wannabe phenomena atleast in some cases, like all these dudes who are trying to act and speak, and sometimes even sing like African Americans or West Londoners. I mean don't get me wrong, I am all for personal liberties, people should have the right to dress, and speak like they want to as long as it doesnt interfere with civil liberties of other individuals. But when people come and speak to you in Singhalese as if they only started learning the language 2 years back, and old mates suddenly start speaking as if they are rapping in a feeble voice, and people in public forums write articles (sometimes very good ones) that you cant make heads or tails of for sometime well .......... I dunno. And Isuru bro yes diversity might be the essence of life, but following your argument further on people may post in french, spanish or even japanese and some members would be able to understand most wont. I think if people wants to write in a particular way, thats fine I guess, we cant stop them, but dont think bad of us if we do not respond, not because we don't want to, but we just dont get it The Don

Hi Gunat, how much were the yokos ? Regards, The Don

Dont worry man, this "life sucks" issue with regards to fuel and energy isnt a Sri Lankan problem, over here, bloddy gas and electric prices have gone up 90% and petrol is now hovering very close to a pound per litre now, not good, not good at all ................ And people I dont think these problems we have isnt down to "a chintanaya" or anything, cos successive governments from all over the place have come in, and we have still had to endure the same shit, so bottom line is me thinks unless there is a complete different group with a completely new set of ideas take power we are still gonna have the same shit over and over, as long as the "old guard" is in power and the old system is in place. Regards, The Don

Call me dumb dhp, but what are you referring to as OD and OE ? Regards, The Don

Dont know dude, but I can vouch for Dunlop SP Sports if you can get them in the profile you want. I think maybe certain tyres perform better in certain vehicles, and Nankang's are Korean Regards, The Don

Where can you get these Pila ? any other Korean branded performance tyres in the market ? especially Kumho how much did you get your pair for yours ? it also seems you disaggree with GATM on the fact that potenza's are hard I think on an earlier thread Guant mentioned that he liked the turanza's nice and soft but also seemed to wear off a bit, if i remember correctly, The Don

Try Dunlop SP Sports at SP Munasinghe, pretty decent balance in grip and ride quality. Make sure you get the jap ones. Can also try the turanza's if you didnt like the Potenza's too much cos Turanza's are semi pro and thus give a softer ride in my opinion OHTSU Falkens are supposed to be a bit hard as well though on certain forums they are highly rated. Pila where can you get Nankang NSII in SL ? are they semi pro tyres, I am just not familiar with the brand, and what are the prices like ? Have you tried them yourself and what were your opinion ? Regards, The Don

Also there are a few Cut But mini's out there as well, Regards, The Don

Hi Fuzzo, Could anything be wrong with the gearbox ? your car is auto I asume. The Don

Well Nipuna, that means you should be able to get a new engine minus the gearbox for your car, if it shares the vanette engine should you decide to go down that route, Regards, The Don

ha ha ha me too

XDriver, take your car to Wasantha just after the railway crossing (after the prison) on base line road, on the left hand side if you are travelling towards the kelaniya bridge, Tell him that the "mahattaya" with the black mitsu Mirage reccomended him, and tell him what your problem is. To be honest he is a really nice dude, and he takes a great interest in your problem, and gets down to it straight away, and currently the only dude I know who works on time. he maybe able to help you, The Don

Hi German Tech is a good place actually, the instructors will do the work, while as they will demonstrate it to the students, and when it comes to diesels sometimes the students do some of the work too, under supervision of course. The downside is they tend to take a bit of time to finish the work. (I know cos 2 of my good buddies are frm German tech dudes, i must say these 2 know a thing or 2 about automobiles so the place is quite good). Personally I would not go to the agents for something like this, for what they charge for rebuilding an engine you can probably replace the engine with used ones twice. I remember once a doctor sunny belonging to a friend of mine was taken there, they did an ok job (though for some odd reason doctor sunnys after a bit of time no matter what you do still seem to loose its ride quality) and charged them about 140K for the engine rebuilt and other services, I am sure they did a good job though. I think guys with diesel cars should comment on this, cos its a totally different ball game. Is your car a rear wheel drive and do any of the Nissan vans share you engine ?. Regards, The Don

Hi Nipuna S, I think the jury is split over whether it is better to do a complete engine repair vs replacing the engine with a good quality used one if you can find one. Both options have pros and cons. The pro's of replacing the engine are that 1. Its sometimes the most simplest way of solving complex engine problems, and most of the time gives very good results 2. sometimes is cheaper than an engine repair Cons Very difficult to find the illusive "good quality used engines" The pro's of engine repairs are 1. If done properly has the potential to give you more milleage than a used engine and solve the problem well. Cons finding a so called good place to do a good engine repair is very difficult, plus Sri Lanka doesnt have some of the sophisticated meassuring instruments used in boring etc. which sometimes means the repairs when done doesnt have the desired effects or doesnt last as long as its supposed to. I think you should take your car to a good place and first get them to diagnose the problem as to why the car is overheating, maybe the problem isnt something that warrants a full engine repair. Also if you do find a used engine in good condition for a reasonable price (mind you its fairly difficult to find diesel engines thesedays, as there is some problem importing them) but I think you might be in luck since I think the diesel vanette uses the same engine as yours but I am not sure at all. I did an engine swap recently, and I am very satisfied with the results, because i spent quite a bit of money trying to repair the problem but unfortunately that didnt solve it, while as the engine swap solved it straight away and was a simple enough process, good luck mate, The Don

Ha ha yeps Aravinda has this old Rav 4 which he has turbo charged and fitted a snorkel in which he takes up down south arround Tissa from time to time, dunno if he has shifted vehicles now I am really envious of you lot, guess i am missing a lot The Don

I asume you have already inspected the steering and rack ends for wear, where does it feel like the noise is originating from ? and what type of a noise is it ? a metally thud or much softer ? Do you have low profile tyres on your car or over size rims ? Regards, The Don

Well Hola your description matches all of those vehicles which you mentioned were not SUV's. Lets not have an argument about it, its a commonly accepted fact.

What are they then ? Lets add the ones in Zul's list and have a discussion and a poll I guess

Personally I do not aggree with the statement that "The Jack" is an instrument that is beyond operation by anybody and certainly not a girl, the issue is a matter of ignorrence, rather than sexuality. like Nadskit says there are quite a few dopes who dont know how to change a tyre properly. I changed my first tyre when I was 4 years old, it was great fun those days, I wasnt strong enough to take the nuts off and certainly not strong enough to take the tyre but I was more thant up to the job of jacking the car up, and yes my dad had replaced the scissor jack that came with the car with a hydraulic. I think anybody who drives a car must have some knowledge of its general maintenance. I think there was once an aggreement in AL to promote a small work shop or clinic to help people, dunno if it happened yet, The Don

Nopes ZUL since they sponsor AL I dont think it would be considered advertising, but the all powerful moderators would give their own verdict I guess.

The Scissor jack can be a bastard for anybody to operate us men included, but you can get a hydraulic pretty cheap thesedays, and thus thats the way to go I guess. Large vehicles come with hydraulics anyway, all you need to do is place it in the correct jacking point and operate the lever, requires little to no effort. The bigger problem possibly is getting the bolts off which sometimes tend to tighten as time goes on. Believe me I am not a small dude, but I've had to stand and jump on the wheel brush a couple of times, and once even had to get a mechanic to come to get an extremely tight bolt off (he came with a wheel brush and an extention pole to get enough leverage to get the damn thing loose). so short answer replace the jack with a hydraulic and get somebody to show you how to operate it and you guys should be ok. I've found that mostly its simple ignorrence that causes problems in tyre changes and not the equipment, and thats not a girly thing. Regards, The Don

Well machan, JDM's aren't sometimes as hardy as the export model vehicles, what I like about my car is its little quirks, its rather light at only 900Kgs (which also means you have a few trouble spots with rust if you are not careful) has stiffer suspension as standard and the exhaust for some odd reasons sounds rather sporty (still the stock original one on it) and has a DOHC Mitsubishi powering it, so its a fairly nippy ride. Bought it in not so good shape, and have spent a lot of money nursing it back to health. I have seen a few other Mirage Coupe's but I dont know how many ASTI Z graded ones are actually here, would love to hear from another person who owns one though. The funniest incident I had was when I took it to UM to get some spares but their system didnt accept the chassy number Regards, The Don