Rich

Having been to Yorkshire for the first time last month I can understand why you'd want winter tyres fitted. Some of those country roads go on for miles with patchy phone signals. So the last thing you want is to get stranded. What winter tyres have you gone for?

Well I got the undertray off on one side so I can see the bolt from the wheel arch now. The problem is despite trying several ways I couldn't get the bar in anywhere and on to the bolt. Either the brake lines were in the way or the suspension/chassis. I don't think I'll be using the car again before the end of the month now. So will have to sort it another time. Can anyone recommend a fuel stabiliser though?

Anyone still using winter tyres? With the Lexus now sold I've got a set of wheels to sell. I was also going to sell the Civic wheels that are on the Accord with the winter tyres on and stick with the 17s on summer tyres seeing that I'm keeping the car a bit longer. I do well under 3k miles a year so didn't think it was worth replacing the winter tyres. I have a dilemma though. The tyres on the 17s aren't brilliant. It seems to be tramlining abit and the traction control kicks in on greasy roads too easily but they have lots of tread left. They've been in the shed for at least 2 years as I didn't swap the winter wheels back over so that probably hasn't helped. They're the rims that came with the car but it's very unlikely I'll be selling it when it does go so having the Civic wheels on shouldn't matter too much. Costco are doing an awesome black Friday deal on the Michelin Crossclimate 2 for just under £65 a tyre fitted. I know they're an all season tyre but the originals got great reviews so I'm really tempted. Looking on eBay I may get up to £150 for the Accord wheels. Or I could just keep them for summer use. Someone talk me out of it! 😂

I forgot the MK2 started in 98. I had a look yesterday, all of the bolts undo apart from the bottom one. I had to remove the manifold bracket to get a socket on there but it wouldn't budge. I've sprayed it and will take the driver's wheel off later to see if I can a bar on there. Tony, yes it's the long one the alternator pivots on.

Was it a pain removing that lower bolt Andy and did you swap it for a MK1 bolt/nut? Mines a 1999 so the first of the MK2 and a MK2.5 alternator wouldn't work on it from what I've read. So I don't have many options for a replacement. I'm reluctant to replace it until I absolutely have to. A Mazda one is something like £400 I think 😟 When checking the pulley it was spinning freely so I'm hoping any corrosion is minimal. That probably contributed to it snapping where it's been getting stuck before. I've barely done any mileage in the car since it was last replaced 6 years a go and still looks new.

Well good news, the pulley was spinning freely. So I've ordered a new belt along with a PAS one, that has to come off first. I'm just hoping the bolts for the alternator aren't seized so I can slacken it to fit the belt. It would be nice to use the car one last time before winter.

I've been doing that the last couple of years, there is probably corrosion between the pulley the mount. It's low down in the engine bay so gets all the crap off the road thrown at it. I'll see if the pulley is spinning when I get home but I don't think it will be!

I filled the car up on Tuesday and went for a drive, then took it to work yesterday with no problems. This morning the battery light came on and I just knew the alternator belt had snapped. Pulled over and yep it was on the undertray so that's game over for this year! Luckily I had only just left home so went back for the other car. The last couple of winters the pulley kept seizing so I think it's probably gone completely now. It's a sod to change cos of the location and one bolt always tends to snap, which is threaded in to the alternator itself. I'll park it up for winter now and do it next year. It also needs a specific alternator compared to the rest of the MX5s as it's not controlled by the ECU but regulates itself.

Well I put some v power in the car, 24 litres costing £40. I got 95 miles from it which is about 18mpg! I checked my invoices earlier to see when I gave it a full service with plugs etc, it was in 2014 at 100k miles. It's done 130k miles now. The plugs should be replaced at 25k mile intervals, the auto gearbox oil at 50k miles or 4 years, so it's 7 years old. Then the air filter and oil. I'm going to order everything and get it done. The first coolant change was also due 5k miles a go so that should be ok. It has been losing it gradually for a few years so I just top it up. The car has only done 5k miles in the last 5 years so I'm trying not to spend too much on it. Especially when it's only worth £500 now. It won't be long before the tax costs more than what it's worth!

That's just bonkers! I've only put petrol in the Accord twice since the change and not even a full tank. I do 10 miles a day going to work and back so didn't notice any difference the first time but I did on Wednesday when I was literally watching the fuel guage drop like a stone!

Would it really drop that much? That's not good in a 2.4L petrol! They are determined to get petrol and diesel cars off the road aren't they. I've switched to Esso E0 in the MX5 but I doubt it's worth it for the Accord. The extra price paid for Supreme fuel won't give me that many more miles. Maybe I should try a tankful and see though.

You know what, I can't remember if I actually cleaned the rear brakes up from my last post but they've been fine since! Passed the MOT on Wednesday. Despite some battle scars on the bodywork he said the car mechanically is in great condition. I did 155 miles, mainly at 50-70mph on motorways and dual carriageways. This only returned 23mpg, which is down a little. Usually it would do 26-27 on a trip like that. That cost me £40 with petrol now being £1.46 a litre! ☹️ The oil change is due, which I'll be doing in a couple of weeks and I'll replace the air filter. I've only done 2k miles in the last year. I changed the oil to 5w40 last year which has been ok but I'm now going to switch to 0w30. A 20L bottle is just under £70 delivered (with a code) and will do me for 4 years. 5L bottles are £26+, even more from places like ECP, so it'll leave me plenty for top ups too. https://www.lubetechshop.co.uk/product/optima-fs-0w30-fully-synthetic-engine-oil-acea-a5-b5-a1-b1-api-sl-cf/

I was taking the car off the road this weekend for winter but I have decided to do it at the end of November now. Usually I leave the fuel tank empty but will fill it up this time. Do I need to use a stabiliser? These seem to be aimed at cars using E5/E10 fuel but now I've switched to Esso Supreme, which is actually E0 I'm wondering if I actually need it? It will be off the road for 4 or 5 months. If I do is this one ok or are there better ones? I didn't get around to looking at the front chassis rails so that will be a job for next year. But nothing is going to stop the rust unless it's cut out and new metal welded in! The alloys are corroding more so I may get those refurbished over winter or have a go myself. But they're getting bad so may need a professional job done.

That's what I was thinking so no need for brakes if you can't ride it 😁

Could you even ride that, the seat looks too far away from the handles!

Blast from the past! How are you Mark?

It's America! Looks like the plate is hidden behind the pole. Wouldn't want to be in a rear end crash in that though! 😲

It's called retro, lots of things from years a go are making a comeback, some under the guise of modern technology 🙂

The truck is painted on the doors! 😉

We have a landline, it costs no more to have it so might as well. It's good for emergencies and people who live in rural areas still need them cos of the crap mobile signals!

It's just a holder shaped like an old rotary dial phone.

Very retro, I like that 😎

It's going to be awesome when it's finished. Not cheap but will definitely be worth it 🙂 How do you insure you ICE, I assume separately from the car or with a modified specialist?

That really doesn't surprise me! 😂 I'm struggling to understand how it happened in a lodge as you normally don't have locks on the bedrooms. Unless other people were staying in it too like a shared one?

I went through my AA policy documents yesterday and came across the part for NCB. They accept up to 20 years, so if you're with a company who only give 9 years it's definitely worth chasing them up for a letter stating how many you actually have. Yes the difference is only 5% between 9 and 20 years but that's better in my pocket than theirs! 🙂