"him"
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I guess it depends how much shorter the side exit pipe will be than the std. system as obviously the exhaust more the further it gets from the manifold.
If the exhaust is only marginally shorter (and then cranked outwards) then I doubt it will be a problem IMO, after all a Vectra is quite a long car.
My car is much shorter (though has more silencers), and I have less clearance with no issues.
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TimR
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I was meaning that the exit stops short of jutting out from the sill so the hot gases may have come into contact with it.
I'm sure a stainless plate will be perfect though.
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Jasper
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I would think about protecting the fuel tank. graham is going to be driven hard and that exhaust is going to get very hot
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Blarno
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The pipes actually exit directly under the sill, the extensions haven't been welded on yet.
I have 2 ideas for the fuel tank: Either cut a scallop out of the exhaust pipework so it doesn't hit, or bash the fuel tank with a rubber hammer and dent it in where the pipe hits. Then heatwrap the exhaust, or line the outside of the fuel tank with Rockwool. The exhaust actually passes under the fuel tank as standard, so I can't see there being much of a problem if there is some clearance.
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Matt
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Bashing fuel tanks sounds a little dangerous, no?
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Blarno
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Only if you use a metal hammer. I have a trusty rubber mallet called 'Persuader' who will have 'a word' with the fuel tank for me!
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Matt
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Fair enough. In Blarno we trust.
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Blarno
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I'm glad someone does!
To be honest, I may drain the tank first just to be safe. I only need to dent it a bit, just enough to clear the pipe and allow me to shove the Rockwool in the gap.
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Blarno
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Also bought some Nissan Bluebird wing vents to aid cooling. Need to cut holes in the bonnet, should fit straight in and help release a lot of the heat the big 6 pot creates.
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Blarno
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Bloodyhell, that fuel tank is a resilient beast. I've just spent half an hour solid 'Persuading' it and only gained about 10mm of clearance. Should be enough, though. Worst case scenario is having to take it off, steam it out, cut a bit out and weld it back up.
Whilst I was there, I took the grinder to the bonnet for the vent holes. I'm very impressed, the vent fits perfectly. I only need to measure and cut the other side, paint them and mount them. Best £5 I ever spent...
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Jasper
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I should have known you'd have it under control.
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Blarno
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I let nothing phase me. A huge, dribbling chimeara could leap from behind the back wing of the Vectra whilst I was under it, and I would probably just ask it to pass me a spanner!
I love working on that car, it's so easy and relaxing. I only went out there today on a spur of the moment decision. With any luck, it will be back on it's wheels in a couple of weeks. I have a set of GSi brakes and front hubs arriving. 
One day, I may even get it running again!
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marcg
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Engrossing thread. Can't wait to see the results!
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Blarno
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Cut the other vent out now. Given my lack of equipment, they actually measure up to be only a couple of millimetres askew of each other, which has chuffed me no end. Ran out of primer whilst priming the right hand one, but all that's needed is to finish that and throw the paint on them.
I know they're going to look the dog's bollocks when painted and mounted properly.
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Stuntman
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It's looking good...
When are you hoping to debut Graham on track? Spring 08, perhaps?
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Blarno
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Hopefully, although I think the arrival of Junior may put paid to those plans. I finally have some of the switch gear to enable me to wire up the ignition switch and starter button.
It should be on it's wheels by the end of next week, possibly running a couple of weeks later. It needs to be moved out of the garage for a wash, the roof has leaked all kinds of crap over it!
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Blarno
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Today was supposed to be the day I fitted the new hubs (Including GSi discs and calipers). I got as far as stripping the old hub off, only to discover my bottom balljoints are goosed and now I need to find new control arms:
All is not lost, however. The guy I bought the hubs off has a pair of control arms off the same car, and he only wants £15. Bonus!
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Jasper
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Pesky Graham.
However I suppose there's only so much that can go wrong when it's that stripped.
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Blarno
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True, I just hope the second hand control arms are in a good way, otherwise it's gonna get expensive.
It may also be slightly my fault the balljoint seals are knackered. I was a bit over zealous with the balljoint splitter and geet-big hammer!
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Li'ldude
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Tell you what, from the front, Graham's a mean-looking bastard...
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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I've some balljoint boots if the joints themselves are OK....
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Dr. Hfuhruhurr
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| Li'ldude wrote: | | Tell you what, from the front, Graham's a mean-looking bastard... |
Certainly is. I love that Irmscher (?) grille - soooooooo much nicer than the chaVVVVV Vauxhall one.
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Blarno
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| Resident Spanner(man) wrote: | | I've some balljoint boots if the joints themselves are OK.... |
How much? Need a pair just in case I 'break' the one on the other side. The joints are spot on, I snapped the boot with the balljoint splitter.
On a brighter note, I fully assembled both hubs. Now all I have to do is bolt them on and re-juice the brake system. They may not look it, but the discs are mint, no wear at all, loads of meat on the pads and nearly new bearings in the hubs.
Now I have GSi spec brakes. 
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Blarno
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| Stevie Wonder wrote: | [
Certainly is. I love that Irmscher (?) grille - soooooooo much nicer than the chaVVVVV Vauxhall one. |
I've yet to see another Vectra with the same grill. Every other modded Vectra has badgeless plastic jobbies.
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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Measure the hole widths either end and I'll see if these will fit - I've a couple of sizes and they're v.stretchy so I should have something that fits
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Blarno
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Base of the balljoint is 32mm, shaft is 18mm. (Measured from the remains of the old seals) You could be saving me a lot of time and money with these!
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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Biggest I have are 16 and 28mm, only got one of those, got a few 14mm which may stretch enough.
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Blarno
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Cheers anyway, they may come in useful for the track rod ends if I knacker them!
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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Send me your address and I'll post 'em off tommorow.
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Blarno
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How much for 2 14mm ones?
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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You can have 'em, only sat here collecting dust, I only use 10mm ones these days anyway.
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Blarno
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Thank you very much, Phil. PM sent.
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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/signs Blarno up for gay porn letters.
Think I might have a couple of slightly bigger boots somewhere I used on some 18mm BJ's now I think about it, have to have a rummage.
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Blarno
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Short shifter anyone? Take one Mk4 Astra gearlever and swap it with the Vectra one. Et Voila, a one-inch shorter throw!
Hubs and GSi brakes all now fully mounted and waiting for re-juicing.
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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Now, me being a pikey just chopped the bottom of my lever off, threaded and fitted a rose joint for adjustable length ;)
Total cost, £4.50.
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LittleSwill
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That carbon effect gear knob's got to worth a couple of seconds a lap though.
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Blarno
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| LittleSwill wrote: | | That carbon effect gear knob's got to worth a couple of seconds a lap though. |
Came with the car, that. It's getting chopped for an 8-ball as soon as I find one.
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Blarno
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He's back on his wheels again! Minus rear brakes, mind, but rolling nevertheless. Thought I'd give him a quick wash.
The GSi brakes in tasty Hammerite gold!
Freshly washed, but in need of a serious polish. The paint is rougher than a badgers arse-crack.
Despite all the weight loss, he's still a heavy bugger to push back into the garage!
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Jasper
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I've seen a lot of these advertised on VW aftermarket places, but all of them I've seen are made from real pool balls amd are going to be heavy.
Heavy! Not really something Graham does well.
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Blarno
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| Jasper wrote: | I've seen a lot of these advertised on VW aftermarket places, but all of them I've seen are made from real pool balls amd are going to be heavy.
Heavy! Not really something Graham does well. |
The 8 ball I had in my Legacy was one that I 'borrowed' from a pub. Not that much heavier than the standard knob. Trouble is, a lot of pubs round here charge you a fiver deposit before you play, so I can't exactly steal one of them.
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canadian bacon
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| Blarno wrote: | | Jasper wrote: | I've seen a lot of these advertised on VW aftermarket places, but all of them I've seen are made from real pool balls amd are going to be heavy.
Heavy! Not really something Graham does well. |
The 8 ball I had in my Legacy was one that I 'borrowed' from a pub. Not that much heavier than the standard knob. Trouble is, a lot of pubs round here charge you a fiver deposit before you play, so I can't exactly steal one of them. |
Steal ? If its a fiver, that sounds reasonable, if it ..y'know, were to go 'missing'.....
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DaveGibson
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| Blarno wrote: | | ...... Trouble is, a lot of pubs round here charge you a fiver deposit before you play, so I can't exactly steal one of them. |
Just think how you'd feel if one of your balls were stolen! 
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Matt
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One less for him to eat when the new Fiesta is revealed.
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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Do my rubbers fit over your rod then?
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Blarno
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| Resident Spanner(man) wrote: | Do my rubbers fit over your rod then?
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I haven't tried yet, been on nights and have a massive stint of overtime coming up, so it'll be during the Christmas break.
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Blarno
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Right! Finally finished the side exit's tailpipes at work last night. I've gone for the 'Brushed with emery cloth' finish, and it looks damn fine up close if I do say so myself.
The mounting bracket has yet to be finalised, there's currently a couple of bricks holding it up for the pictures, but otherwise it's a perfect fit. I have roughly cut out the heatshield, which will be riveted on in the next few days.
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Li'ldude
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Gonna be an agressive bastard...
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Blarno
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Bonnet vents now fully painted and lacquered. One of them is a bit ropey, but hey, I'm no professional or perfectionist.
Near enough is good enough!
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Guest
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I must pop round shortly iain to take a look !!!
I like the vents, something i wanted to do a while back but was to scared at going nuts with a grinder and the side exit - class matey !!!
Well when i get the st200, i will give the old beast a run ! :)
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Blarno
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Bonnet vents are now in, fully mounted and looking damn fine, if I do say so myself. I had no black sealer, so I'm going to have to paint over the white sealer with touch-up paint.
I know there is bare fibreglass visible under the bonnet, but this isn't a show car people! No more cosmetic work for the near future, I must crack on with making the damn thing work!
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Matt
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With those pins and the vents, it's looking menacing.
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Blarno
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No mechanical work done for a while, but I have acquired some lovely caliper stickers. These are the rear ones:
I've gone for Opel as the lettering fits and the car actually has no Vauxhall badges anywhere on it, only an Opel Blitz on the bootlid. I need to do the front calipers and also have some Opel Motorsport decals for the side windows.
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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Blarno you tart!
Not that I was painting my engine bolts earlier, honest
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Blarno
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[quote="Resident Spanner"]Blarno you tart!
Not that I was painting my engine bolts earlier, honest/quote]
Hahahaha!
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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Blarno
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The front caliper decals are now on:
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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What, no tyre gel?
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Blarno
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I don't clean my tyres! What a waste of time and energy!
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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Like stickers on calipers then.... ;)
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Blarno
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You could say that! I think the black of the vinyl juxtaposes the vast quantity of gold on display!
Bollocks, I think they look good....
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Blarno
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Finally had the windscreen strips made up, with the forum web address, and my Brother's game company address.
I have 2 of each, for some reason and 3 of the 'Caution Hot Exhaust' ones.
Should get these fitted over the next few days.
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Blarno
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Fitted the sunstrip and website on the front windscreen:
Exhaust warning:
Just ordered myself some silver on black number plates. Illegal but I think they look awesome!
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Matt
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Like the warning stickers.
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Blarno
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I'm assuming it'll get hot, I've not started it since fitting it!
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Matt
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Who cares, it looks cool 
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Blarno
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There is that, I suppose. It'll look even cooler once I've formed the stainless steel heatshield.
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Max Headroom
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Hi Blarno, seems like you've made some progress since I last saw anything on Graham (I don't think he had a name then). I'd love to see it run.
(formerly porcorosso from autocar)
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Blarno
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Thanks and welcome aboard, Alastair!
Things are slowly grinding to a halt. Only 2 weeks until Junior arrives!
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Max Headroom
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Cheers! I think Haymarket have wasted enough of my time three goes at getting their site right - and its still sh!te - is quite enough. I remember when my son was born. but strangely i don't remember anything for the following 18 months. I recall being poor though....
What you will experience though is a feeling that no non parent understands. keep going on the car, you will need it for your sanity!
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Sav
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Welcome back Alastair, never thought I'd see you here!
Hope you remember me.
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Blarno
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I'm used to being comfortably skint. I won't be getting rid of Graham, I need something to fill the garage!
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Max Headroom
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| Sav wrote: | Welcome back Alastair, never thought I'd see you here!
Hope you remember me. |
Well Sav, I never thought I would either but seeing as how Autocar have pretty much killed stone dead the small beginnings on the MyAutocar fora I couldn't take any more. The only bits I liked were a couple of the blogs - noteably James Ruppert -
Even G disappeared off there which is what gave me the final push. I'm trying to get one or two others to jump ship as well. Dradus is a good guy, I like him a lot. I reckon he'd like this site. He's offline til next week i think. I don't know if douglas is over here or not. Don't know if Scummyplum would change he seems happy where he is.
I have got very forum rusty with not much to get my teeth into.
I do remember you Sav, even back when you were P......
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Sav
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Ah yes I remember Dradus from Myautocar, he seemed like a decent guy.
The more the merrier.
That new forum is so awful to use, I posted a couple of times but didn't bother afterwards...
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Blarno
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R.I.P.
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"him"
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Has he... you know... passed on then? 
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Blarno
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Check the thread further down: Project Graham, the final day...
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