WCPGW Wk1 ..... Answer? Nothing!

You may recall http://40acresofyellow.blogspot.ie/2012/11/what-could-possibly-go-wrong-week-1.html?showComment=1351884240734 ; the very first What Could Possibly Go Wrong.

Well, we set out to find out :D

Bought initially by Hitlersaurus Rex after haggling from the original €700 to €300 *Cue MASSIVE cheers haahaahaa*, after a week or so the biblical fuel bill for his daily 3mile urban commute had him questioning the barges usefulness in his daily life other than for striking up conversations with petrol pump cahiers or random Eastern Europeans looking to buy it.

So after a quick email out to the 40AoY bloggers, a deal was struck between us for €350.

And so it was that Saturday that I set off from Cork to Limerick on the bus. Mission - minimise how much this yoke was going to cost me for a couple of months driving, and enjoy the barge experience!

Hitlersaurus met myself & NomNom de Plume in Limerick. After stopping for a splash & dash and picking up a hearty MaccyDs in Shannon, Geeves (aka NNdP) made full use of the V8s grunt while myself & Hitlersaurus scoffed calories, me in the back waving pope-like at the subjects I was passing. It was a fine place to travel, at home on the motorway and with plenty of grunt. It drove tight as well - not a creak, or a groan, the engine humming along, the gearbox responsive, the suspension performing perfectly. €350!

To celebrate once we got to Galway we had a plutocratic business lunch, which quickly merged into a plutocratic dinner and, Bandit Pockets demolished, a olygarchs drinking session. With a bit of exorcism thrown in. It was time to peruse the casinos, always an uplifting scne @ 3am on a Saturday night. We emerged with our shirts intact. Time to make this baby pay.

A B+B was €30 for a bed. I had figured a good move for the P&L account would be to sleep in said BMW so had brought a sleeping bag. Between beer jacket & 3 season down bag, and some strategic movement of the 14-way electrically adjustable 'comfort' seats, I slept the night away, serenaded by the nasel delights of an 18yr old car, a SuperMac meal, and the Bandit Pocket starting to complete a lap. My dreams were raw chaos.

The next day dawned bright but soon descended into a dank, rainy Sunday. That afternoon I brimmed the Beemer (see above!!!), NomNom clambering into the passenger seat via the drivers door as the passenger one was having a strop, I dropped him back to Limerick and continued to Cork. It was in its element, the old 7. Sitting in traffic, no stereo working, wipers squeaking at the top of the arc, but wafting the miles under it, with 60mph only dialling 1,800rpm up. It averaged 25mpg too, which wasn't catostrophic considering the random act of Flet & sploshing around NomNoms lanes looking for civilisation.

No sooner had it arrived in Cork than it was pressed into duty again that week. I'd a site visit in Athlone, followed by a 3pm meeting just north of Strabane, followed by a run back to Dublin that evening. A chance to see if going large really does make a difference. A casual 10 flicks of the handle had the drivers door open, the water temp gauge was up to the middle after 3/4 mile, after 5 miles the fan temp went from stone cold to sahara, after 10miles we were shaking off the slow commuter traffic then out the tunnel and cruise set as the sun was rising...

 

.. and we were in Athlone. Simples.

Soon it we were on the way again. Not motorway so no photos. I took a direct route, which was why I was on the B122 going cross country between Fivemiletown and Fintona. Gearbox to Sport, dampers to Sport, and off we went. What a hoot. 153k up, rough around the edges, but you could just tell it never saw much in the way of mechanical abuse. It was tight & engaging, well-balanced and swift, intuitive and slightly ludicrous. Being picky, even in Sport it was short shifting under brakes into the bend sometimes so you'd have to give it a stab to get your gear back, and 2nd gear is too long for this sort of driving (75mph before the red paint). I wish we had smell-o-vision so you could share the scent of brake with me below.

If you haven't been, hit the B122. It is a great road. Short enough, but really great. And you can hook some other good roads together, like the Widowmaker or the B52 through the Sperrins which was where I was going! It was stunning up there as the sun had made its way behind me and started its drop again behind the Sperrins.

Meeting complete, sun gone, and a dark run back to Dublin. In the rain. At this stage the craic was gone & in its place FOCUS. Time for some progress, and it didn't leave me down; tight overtakes, good lights, responsive box, solid middle pedal that hadn't wilted all day, v8 dusting off the red paint. And once on the M1 it was the BAWS. So much so that when I parked up in the hotel carpark in Dublin after 450miles & many hours of driving it just seemed appropriate ......

 

 

After a couple of days working in Dublin culminating in a full on 2hr session with the crisp suited & strong tie legal eagles with identikit attractive legal aids, circulating lots of cognisance of injurious affection banter, with some hearty laughs thrown in along with ‘here’s another 15min bookable slot entered into’ looks between the respective partners session, I climbed into my €347 BMW (I had found some change in it) - it was time to hit home and brim the tank. 25.6mpg was the measured average, which I was happy enough with considering of that 457 miles, 1 hr was spent in city queues, another portion spent con-calling kickdown with some hard corporate stretch target instructions, and the remainder in the outside lane of the motorway with the Autocrat dial set to 11. 11 was dialled up again, and we hit for Cork.

I bought a touch-up pen for the myriad of keying scratches, rust-ridden stone chips, flaky arches and so forth. That morning after washing the car and wiping the black plastic, vinyl & tyres, it was arts & crafts time for my 4yr old girl. We moved from paper to a BMW 7 series as canvas, and spent a happy hour approximately touching up the rust spots. With a squint it looked much better, so I took some tasty photos for the impending DoneDeal advert.

After that the BMW was pressed into occasional duties in & out of work, picking up the xmas tree, and just schmoozing around when the mood took me. I didn’t do a lot of miles but, with the NCT up in March, I said it was time to lever that value-add disc and the paintwork attention it got because rust was already starting to come up through the touch-up again. So DoneDeal was hit.

 

 

 

A few weeks of entertaining text messages, a test drive where miraculously both doors opened first time a first in 3months, and a deal was struck with a sound young man who was acquiring with an intent to continue my recent usage profile and philosophy.

So – the maths of What Could Possibly Go Wrong .....  Enjoy! (the minus indicates a profit :D)

 

730i Running Costs
(Cost / Mile to date)	-€ 0.47
Overall car purchase cost	€ 347
Petrol cost	€ 313
Touch-Up paint	€ 11
B&B saving	€ - 30
	€ -
	€ -
Expenses 2012	-€ 566
Sale price	€ 575
PROFIT!!!!!!!	-€         500

It's not you, it's me.

It's been a funny month or so.

I'm a long term car owner. I buy, over maintain if anything and sell only after a few years have passed. But little over a month after her arrival, Suki is gone to a new home.

It was a short time together, many things impressed like the feel of the gearchange and the impressive driveability of the engine right through the rev range, if anything the Vtec kick was disappointing such is the strength of the engine in the lower revs.

A few things grated a little, I'm not so sure Honda spent enough time getting the gearing right and setting up 5th and 6th to make motorway cruising more civilised would not have been a huge concession to everyday comfort.

I also think they set the handling up a little track focused as keeping it in a straight line on an Irish backroad at hoon speeds was a constant battle, something which I believe can be dialed out of the early cars and I think Honda sorted out in later cars. I know what you're all thinking now, "blippyshifter has gone crazy and is giving out about oversteer", and you might be right on both counts  :)  But while it was fun at times, it made for nervous progress and one very twitchy sphincter! All little problems I guess, nothing that time behind the wheel and more experience with Suki couldn't have sorted out eventually.

Unfortunately for me however, there was somebody else. Suki had a fling on the side one evening at Cars and Coffee, and she was always somebody else's after that spin. I wish them the best of luck together  ;)

911 Carrera 3.0 - Driven

Today I had a rare and unexpected treat as someone with a Carrera 3.0 called in to my place, and offered me a quick spin in it on some local roads.

I say rare, as the Carrera 3.0 is an uncommon beast. Manufactured between 1976 & 1977, Porsche only built 3,687 in total compared to nearly 58,000 of the SC that followed it, and over 76,000 of the Carrera 3.2 that followed again. The Carrera 3.0 followed directly after the 2.7 Carrera & 2.7RS (these now command mega money), and its engine was a direct development of the Carrera 3.0RS lump, endowing it with 200bhp, 188lb/ft and performance slightly in excess of the 2.7RS despite the extra weight it carried (still less than 1,100kg). Alot of that performance stemmed directly from the additional swept capacity and subsequent torque. They were listed as reaching 60 in 6.3 in the day, and apparently beat the contempory Turbo to that benchmark in tests.

This particular example is standard, well maintained and in fine form, so it was great to take it on a gentle local loop that provides some lumpy tarmac to get a feel for how it drove in comparison to mine. Mine is a Carrera 3.0 chassis, but is so far gone from standard it shall/can never return. It's custodian had said after driving mine that his was a weekend car and mine a race car so I was keen to see what he meant, particularly as most of my 911 comparisons to date have been 964s that I was also considering.

The same, but different, is the succinct answer. He had it right. Chassis-wise it's a softer edged car - smaller wheels & plumper tyres, mixed with less unsprung weight, gives it a nicer, gentler feel down the road than mine - less tendency to tramline, the steering is lighter, less hyper, less weighting fluctuations as lock goes on and off. My front end is dominated by its ride height and subsequent negative camber (-2deg) and its steering requires a much firmer hand. Mine has a firmer hand on its springing too, and feels dialled in where the stock is not unconnected but softer. It's hard to say which is right or wrong - the refinement and easy flow of the stock car is very impressive - in that regard it trounces mine and makes mine feel older. But then in its grip, handling and comfort in carrying some speed (with due deference to it being rare, original, in good nick and worth north of stg£20-25k so I didn't push on too much), my example makes it feel old.

Same on the braking front, although I reckon that is an easy fix on the older car. My pedal bites higher, is firmer, and gives more confidence. As we have similar discs & calipers the difference is a recent bleed, Dot5.1 & braided lines I reckon. As it was, the spongy response and low bite made tidy footwork difficult.

And you needed tidy footwork, as the box is everything people hate in 915 boxes - vague and reluctant to engage, although no graunch like mine did sometimes originally. The Carrera 3.0 will be getting the oil swap & additive mine got very soon, as it transformed mine. Mine is the older 'box too, without the 'Omega' spring and linkages, so that was very informative to compare the two and find mine currently ahead.

The final interesting comparison was the engine. I outlined the characteristics of this 3.0 lump compared to its predecessors. My engine shares the top end so CIS injection etc. Where mine is different is the 3.2 bottom end (and whatever is hidden in there). The difference is marked. Mine hauls in a way completely foreign to the Carrera 3.0. The 3.0 ramps up past 4k quite nicely and sounds well, but out of a bend from as low as 2,000rpm my hybrid lump is streets ahead and its throttle response much better (I think some work needs doing to the 3.0s linkage too). I was quite pleased with that. the lower final drive/ratios of my car undoubtably help in this too. And put all together, the cruiser vs racer is a fair comment.

So, another day, another bit of 911 learning! A Cool Car, and a privilege to be allowed drive it.

This

Videos like this capture the very essense of why trying to go that bit further to own and use your pride & joy is worth it. It doesn't have to be a Porsche, in fact I would say if you have a budget of 'X' then go for the cheaper car and go on more adventures. But get out there.

2012 saw 2 great road trips for me & the Nein!Elf with the Mizen to Malin & Wales Hoon.

Time to get the thinking cap on for 2013....

There Comes a Time

It’s with some trepidation that I put my Scooby up for sale. I fear that I’m already driving the ideal car, but after 3 years its time for a change. After a recent spin in Blippy’s Honda S2000, it’s clear I’m in dire need of something RWD again. Being realistic though I’ve too many kids and not enough hair for an open top two seater. Still the S2K experience has proved to be a tipping point, so up she goes, details as follows:

‘00 Subaru Impreza

Dark blue metallic

2.0L Turbo AWD (est 218bhp)

75K miles

Price: €3250

Specifics: 

Irish car from new (not UK or JDM).

Tax Jan ’13

NCT Apr ’13

Recent oil service & long life plugs.

No engine mods.

Interior very tidy, no nasty aftermarket stuff

No exterior mods, body and paintwork very tidy.

Fitted with 5Zigen Stainless Steel back box (burbly but not too loud!)

Fitted with OEM spec 16” alloys on Michelin Pilots Sports (front), Good yr Eagles on the rear

Chassis Setup for understeer reduction (Strut brace, Whiteline ALK, with adjustable rear ARB & links)

Prodrive geometry setup.

New brakes all round (Carbone Lorraines on the front, OEM on the rear).

In its natural environment up on the side of Keeper Hill:

40 Acres, meet Suki

Well, things took a strange twist last week with a colleague deciding he wanted to move on his long term (6 years +) S2000 for something a little more baby friendly. In a moment of mid-recession madness I put it to him that I might be interested...

And so, a few days later and a fresh NCT disc on the screen, Suki the S2000 is outside the door. Santa done good this year.

Early days yet, and I've a lot of driving to do before I can give it a detailed run down on here. I always knew the engine would be great - after all it is one of the best engines ever made. But the gearbox, the chassis, the speed of the rack, the direct action from every control input, everything is setup to let the driver know exactly what's going on while involving them fully in the act of driving. No doubt about it these are special cars, Honda pulled out all the stops to celebrate the companies 50th anniversary with the launch of this car. 

Longer review with more detail to follow, for now here's the first photo taken after getting it home :)

What Could Possibly go Wrong? Week 4

Another week, another wander through the Irish classifieds.

Let start with a simple auld salad.

1964 Westfield

Twenty word descriptions aren't usually tempting, but when three of those are "RWD"(Acronyms are words today) "Welded" and "Diff" then it's worth a haggle. Assuming it's not a complete rotbox, (and that's a pretty big "if") then you could have a lot of zero door track day fun for little outlay.

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On the subject of RWD vintage fun, how about a V8 P6? 1974 Rover P6

Only slightly wordier than the previous listing, and most of it is discouraging private numbers and texters, a silly thing to do nowadays. Two things strike me. It's a manual V8, which is rare in P6 circles, as most of them are waftomatics, it's rather cheap, and there doesn't seem to be too much rust…