My god I've bought a barge!

[midsmike]

Taking those cross bars off the roof rails might release a little pent-up performance.

I'm going to remove the towbar too - should make the barge about 5 tonnes lighter...

i wouldnt if u have a rear ender it could save ur car

[scotty73]

Taking those cross bars off the roof rails might release a little pent-up performance.

I'm going to remove the towbar too - should make the barge about 5 tonnes lighter...

i wouldnt if u have a rear ender it could save ur car

He also mentioned highchair, pushchair, camping and most important BEERS... i think he needs that hitch for a small trailer.

[mjb]

Taking those cross bars off the roof rails might release a little pent-up performance.

I'm going to remove the towbar too - should make the barge about 5 tonnes lighter...

i wouldnt if u have a rear ender it could save ur car

...or bend the chassis instead of just smashing the easily replaceable bumper. With a new driver behind the wheel, I'm pretty much expecting the back end to come in contact with a wall or bollard (WHY do Sainsbury's plaster the car park with bollards which are too short to see out of car windows?!?!?! )

Besides:

1. SWMBO doesn't like the aesthetics of it - especially the badly rusted steel plate
2. Removing it is a hefty weight saving. Those things are bloody heavy, and the car isn't exactly the most spritely thing
3. Towbar electrics are part of the MOT now, so it's an unnecessary failure risk
4. Bloody barge barely fits in the garage with it on - removing it will let me close the door AND be able to walk around the garage. I might even have enough room to use the jack...

[teamster1975]

Nice find there Matt! I was trying to convince Emma that she'd be fine driving a 406 estate before the V40 came on the scene, I can't imagine having a saloon now what with the move and lugging all the kids clobber around!

[sirwiggum]

Tempted to get an XUD estate. 406s are getting thin on the ground, so I've been sniffing round Xsarararas. Basically a Xantia-fied ZX (both of which were great cars)

[mjb]

I can't imagine having a saloon now what with the move and lugging all the kids clobber around!

Saloons are the weak part to the 406 line-up in my opinion as someone who's owned all 3 stylesr. Bad handling and all the impracticality of a coupé (actually, I think the boot's actually smaller!) without the good looks (which people still comment on - not bad for a 15 year old design!)

[Doggy]

Tempted to get an XUD estate. 406s are getting thin on the ground, so I've been sniffing round Xsarararas. Basically a Xantia-fied ZX (both of which were great cars)

A 2000 mile round trip to the south of France in a Xsara made me determined to get:
elbow room
cruise
armrests
enough oomph to cruise at 85 mph

None of which the Xsara had.

[lozz]

Nowt wrong with Xsaras, as long as its not a Picasso,

[mjb]

elbow room
cruise
armrests
enough oomph to cruise at 85 mph

None of which the Xsara had.

The hdi90 has only one of those (elbow room), but I'm working on the others

[mjb]

Work done so far:

Tow bar removed
Roof rails removed
Stereo fitted (badly - forgot to remove the VAN lines so I've got to re-do it)
Wiper blades fitted
Fuel filter changed
Air filter changed
225KG of crud removed from the bonnet catch

Half-way through cambelt change
Half way through coolant change
Half way through oil change

I'm actually enjoying working on it - apart from the fuel filter it's given me no problems. Even the wheelarch liners - THEY'RE HELD ON BY PLASTIC CLIPS!!!!! The crankshaft pulley bolt was no match for my electric impact wrench either

The tiny engine makes everything easy

[scotty73]

(badly - forgot to remove the VAN lines so I've got to re-do it)

What is that? wouldn't be the reason why mine dont go far enough back to lock in place would it?

[mjb]

On the D9 stereo power connector, there are three connections which are used for the internal VAN network. If you hook up a non-standard stereo without disconnecting all of these lines, it will misbehave - turning itself on when unlocking or opening a door for example. It can also cause strange things to happen with the car's systems

[scotty73]

It does come on without when it wants to sometimes but i put that down to my ipod firing it up?

[nutski]

On the D9 stereo power connector, there are three connections which are used for the internal VAN network. If you hook up a non-standard stereo without disconnecting all of these lines, it will misbehave - turning itself on when unlocking or opening a door for example. It can also cause strange things to happen with the car's systems

Hmm that might explain a few things from trying a different headunit in the 307, might have to have a play on my barge..... i remember when digging in PP2000 a while back there were setting for disabling certain parts of the multimedia systems, might that possibly stop things kicking in if the car isn't looking for the radio?

[mjb]

i remember when digging in PP2000 a while back there were setting for disabling certain parts of the multimedia systems, might that possibly stop things kicking in if the car isn't looking for the radio?

Nope. Remember non-oem stereos don't actually talk VAN - they just see power coming in where it shouldn't when the BSI wakes up, and go and power themselves off it, which then causes interference between the BSI and other things like the ECU, COM2000, instrument cluster, etc...