Roger Ford

Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989 say that a dipped beam headlight should have "an approval mark or British Standards mark" (post 1986 vehicles). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/schedule/4/made It doesn't specify whether that mark has to be on the bulb, the outer housing, or both. I would assume that if your reflector/lens has a BS or EU mark then you're covered. Generally insurance says your vehicle has to be "roadworthy". I don't think there's any legal definition of that term, but there might be some case law that defines it. However, I doubt that "conforms to every sub-regulation relating to construction and use" would be a reasonable definition - if it was a large proportion of the population would probably be driving uninsured. It's commonly thought that having no MOT invalidates your insurance, but very few insurance policies contain any such clause, so it's unlikely to be true. Being incapable of passing an MOT is even less of a reason - as someone commented earlier there are several situations where your car is perfectly roadworthy and legal, but would still fail an MOT.

JK - is your advice secret?

The balls are on the inside on mine. You'll probably need to make the drop-link longer (unscrew the female fittings at both ends) in order to make it fit comfortably.

Mine's still in regular use (replaced the sealions many years ago) but it only pumps over a limited range of its movement these days. Must get around to topping up the oil. Any hints on how to do that?

I don't think you can buy the male parts alone, so for full coverage of all the holes you'll need six of these costing around £40 Drop-link ball

Don't bother with the locking clips on the bottom, they're not necessary, and it makes the job much easier. Tools required are a big flat-bladed screwdriver to pop the link off (can be tricky to get it at the right angle to get leverage) and a pair of water-pump pliers to squeeze it back on. A Mole grip might work instead but it needs to have pretty wide jaws.

Yes. I (and I assume many others) look first at "New and Updated posts". You then see a post of interest, try to reply to it, and then find you're not logged in. You log in, and get dumped back at the profile page which helpfully shows you the very first post you made on Blatchat, 14 years ago (edit: looks like they've finally fixed that and show you the most recent). But you want to get back to the post you were viewing. However, "New and Updated" has now totally changed because you're now logged in, and it's hard to find the post you were viewing before. So the problem is not so much with being logged out, but that the login process is far from seamless.

From the regs (link as above): b. Rear: Live Axle (baffled). Lower A frame and upper radius arms. Standard progressive coil springs over Bilstein dampers (Caterham part No: 75524). c. It is permitted to fit adjustable spring platform kit (Caterham part no. DSSU01). Addition circlip grooves may be machined into the dampe body to allow for ride height adjustment. So the springs are the standard ones fitted to Billies, with the adjustable dampers as an addition. If you've got Spax dampers then it's probably not standard, or not a Classic Grad.

On.

Tset a si siht.

Will get you going after a PC failure while you wait for a new one, or ideal for a relative for light-weight use such as web and email. System: Dell Optiplex 380 Mini-tower / Desktop Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 7500 dual-core 2.93GHz Memory: 2 GB DDR3 RAM Disk: 250 GB Graphics: On-board. VGA only (no HDMI) OS: Clean install of Windows 10. Fully licenced through the originally-supplied Windows 7 sticker. Windows 10 works surprisingly well with only 2GB RAM, but I can upgrade to 4GB for an additional £15. Can also replace the boot disk with a 120GB SSD for another £45, keeping the 250GB disk for storage. £60 for the system unit alone. Other options: Monitor £35 (1280x1024 non-widescreen LCD) New Keyboard and Mouse: £10 Wifi adapter (USB): £5 Base unit + monitor + keyboard/mouse + wifi adapter: £100. All plus postage at cost or collection.

Will get you going after a PC failure while you wait for a new one, or ideal for a relative for light-weight use such as web and email. System: Dell Optiplex 380 Mini-tower / Desktop Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 7500 dual-core 2.93GHz Memory: 2 GB DDR3 RAM Disk: 250 GB Graphics: On-board. VGA only (no HDMI) OS: Clean install of Windows 10. Fully licenced through the originally-supplied Windows 7 sticker. Windows 10 works surprisingly well with only 2GB RAM, but I can upgrade to 4GB for an additional £15. Can also replace the boot disk with a 120GB SSD for another £45, keeping the 250GB disk for storage. £60 for the system unit alone. Other options: Monitor £35 (1280x1024 non-widescreen LCD) New Keyboard and Mouse: £10 Wifi adapter (USB): £5 Base unit + monitor + keyboard/mouse + wifi adapter: £100. All plus postage at cost or collection.

I would certainly think so, but with a couple of caveats: 1/ I assume the plotter runs from a USB port, rather than an old-fashioned parallel (or even SCSI) port? If it was made in the last 10 years it's almost certainly USB. 2/ You should check whether the software you use with the plotter is OK on Windows 10. I can put Windows 7 on instead if you prefer, but matching up the Windows 7 licence key with the correct version of Windosw 7 can sometimes be a challenge, so you might end up with a copy of Windows which claims it's not licenced. If you're not sure of the answers to those, PM me with some further details and I'll see if I can check for you.

I have a refurbished Windows 10 PC for sale. It's quite a fast beast, with a 3.3GHz i3 processor, 4GB of Corsair XMS memory and a 120GB Crucial M4 SSD disk. This isn't a gaming PC, but is really fast for day-to-day browsing, Office use, etc. The SSD isn't large (so not ideal for storing masses of GoPro video, for example) but it is very fast which makes the whole machine nice and snappy in use. It starts up in a matter of seconds. You could add an external hard disk if you need more storage. Small form-factor case so doesn't take up too much space. Can be used in desktop (flat) or tower (tall) configuration. It has a freshly-installed fully legal copy of Windows 10, licenced through the existing Windows 7 licence key sticker on the side of the machine. I've run extensive tests with memtest86 and Prime95 to check everything is running smoothly. The only fault is that one of the two front panel USB ports has been damaged. I've blocked that off. The other still works, and there are six USB ports on the rear. A replacement board for the front panel is £8 on ebay if that's an issue. £150 delivered for the base unit only, or £200 with mouse, keyboard and a 17 inch 1280x1024 (non-widescreen) monitor. This is actually my son's project. Which basically seems to mean that I do all the work and he gets the money :)

See you tomorrow :)

Roll cages are required fitment on all Grads classes except Classics. Classics can use an FIA rollover bar with petty strut: 5.3.3 Caterham Super-Graduates, Sigma-Graduates, SigMax-Graduates and Mega-Graduates Classes: (v) A Caterham supplied rollover cage (Caterham part number 79131, T, U, UX or UXT) shall be fitted. Caterham R300/R400 style rollover cages are not permitted. 5.3.4 Caterham Classic Graduates Class: (i) A Caterham supplied rollover bar must be fitted without modification and must be bolted, not welded, in place. The removable strut bracing the top of the rollover bar down to a point immediately beneath the scuttle on the passeger's side of the car is mandatory. (ii) A Caterham supplied rollover cage can be fitted in place of the rollover bar and is strongly recommended. When a rollover cage is fitted a Caterham supplied side impact protection brace is strongly recommended. I think all current Classics drivers have full cages. I would certainly recommend one if you're thinking of taking it seriously. If you still think the regs are a bit vague, let us know how we can improve them!

I've had a blowout on a double-axle trailer and didn't even notice. Hate to think what would have happened with a single-axle one. Get a Minno. Sport or Max models are best, but a little more expensive. Make sure it's got a fully-boarded bed - keeps the car cleaner and makes the trailer useful for lots of other things as well.

Apparently Barry has (or had) all the old Blatchat data complete with formatting and working links. Charles and I offered to tidy it up and present it through a new search engine (something like the LowFlying archive search I developed) but the management team were scared that we might try to make money out of it somehow, and preferred to "keep control" by leaving it unused and unloved in a locked electronic drawer somewhere. Such a shame. I've given up pestering them now but perhaps one last attempt: MT, if you're listening, we can use the same server as is being used for the LF archive. The development effort won't be large, and it won't cost the club a penny. Please allow me to do it.

I'll repeat - do you have a removable steering wheel?

Very easy to look at the upper clamp while turning the wheel on a 7, can't you do that on a 21? Do you have a quick-release steering wheel? That's usually the main culprit after the clamp. If not, then the universal joint near the rack might be to blame.

Carpet? No carpet in an Academy car. Don't forget the X-Power sticker for the back. Might possibly have the rear badge somewhere, I'll take a look.

YHM, Dave.

Or use LED brake lights which will drop the current by a similar amount.

Interested, though I'll have to check our regs to see if it's allowed.

Hydraulic tappets can get air trapped in them which makes them noisy. Fix is simple, rev the ballcocks off it it for a short while. Simply rev it to 6000+ RPM and hold for about 20 seconds. It's painful to do if you're mechanically sympathetic, but should cure the problem if that's what it is.