Mondo

I don't have any days off. Working 7 days a week for the foreseeable future, man! See the answer above, guys. Once the weather improves, I can drive her to work and back... which isn't a particularly long journey on some pretty crappy road surfaces... :( Hardly the life she was built for, is it...?

This is pretty lousy news, Russ! I genuinely hate folk like this who try and ooze machismo - we had something similar a few years back when one of the houses in the street turned into a bail hostel overnight. Swaggering muppets acting like Top Kiddie. Threatening to bite the dogs' noses off and suchlike... proper diamond geezers. Seriously... where has the :xxx: emoji gone to??!!

Spring is at last upon us. No more wintry weather or salty roads... hang on a sec...!! :lol: Anyhoo, it'll soon be time to un-mothball the old girl and attend to a couple of bits of paintwork and suchlike, ready for a summer of topless motoring. :) Or to stick her up for sale. One of the two. I know I've muttered about this before but I really have to accept the fact that I don't have a great deal of free time to spend driving her, and sitting around idle probably won't do her much good in the long run as cars are designed to be driven and enjoyed. I really don't know! Whilst it would certainly gut me to watch someone else drive off in her, it would gut me just as much if she deteriorated simply due to the fact that I have no time to stretch her legs...

You mean something like this...? I only ever use high quality leather - just one of those things that it isn't worth skimping on, in my opinion. :)

I fear none of this is going to placate the members who feared I was heading off to the Bahamas and nobody would get any work out of me.... No matter which way I turn here, I can't win. So scrap the whole donation thing completely please! I'll remain as a Trader seeing as Richie's increased his order, which means his impulsive (but well-intentioned) donation comes out of my pocket anyway. All in all, this has turned into a bit of a circus... and where's that old :XXX: smiley gone??

You won't have to jangle anything, Gaz - as the GB progresses, I'll send the pictures to the owners so they can add them to their own threads. All I'm doing then is fulfilling my obligations under the GB and not doing anything that could be construed as trading, be it back door or otherwise. :thumbup1: This whole scenario is clearly causing issues. Refunding the donations and putting me back as a regular subbed member is far and away the simplest solution, yes?

I can't believe I've just had to "Like" one of Znut's posts... and thank him too! :lol: Looking at this from my own perspective here, the events of the last couple of days sort of make me look like a charity case. Certainly not helped by the new addition to the info beneath my avatar. Here's some facts: when my Trader subs expired, I had some lengthy chats with both Groover and Richard Smith about cost versus cost-effectiveness for me. The tiered system was introduced but, even at it's minimum fee, it simply didn't make financial sense for me personally from a business perspective. I asked the Committee how the Group Buy would work with me no longer being an active trader on this forum and they collectively agreed to let me post updates and pictures for that. Since my subs expired, I've had one direct contact on here about work and I asked them to contact me by email instead, as I didn't want to be back door trading. This whole situation has come about through my thread being locked, my reacting to that and then, for reasons that I can't quite fathom, suddenly my subs have been paid and I'm a Trader once again! A humbling gesture, but quite a confusing one as well. I've spoken to Richie about this and, whether he likes it or not, his kind donation will be repaid to him. The alternative, and this is actually my favourite, is for the club to refund those who donated and to then rescind my Trader status. That way, if I choose to sign up again in the future, it's entirely my choice. :) I appreciate the undeniable vote of confidence this shows for me, and that is genuinely humbling but, as we can see, it's already causing issues....

Have you read any of my recent posts? I haven't asked for this and, truth be told, I didn't particularly want it. But it's happened, for reasons I don't entirely understand. One thing I do take exception to is your insinuation that my Trader fee has had to be paid to prevent me doing a runner with members' pennies! To "prevent it going tits up" as you so eloquently put it. Why would you think that...?

Explain please...

Well, this has all got a little out of hand whilst I've been off buying a car...!! I'm not and haven't judged anyone for locking the thread that started all this off. My only gripe was, as I've already said, that I've gone out of my way to avoid any kind of "back door trading" but ended up getting tarred with that brush anyway. Gaz: I've not turned on you in any of this. You have a role above and beyond "subbed member" and I appreciate that. In hindsight, you could've probably just axed the thread at the beginning and dropped me a PM. But it's done now and, somewhat surprisingly, I'm a bloody trader again! Which leads me to.... Richie: truly, God's Perfect Idiot! I do appreciate this but you don't think I have enough work to do, man...??!! :lol: But thank you - even though funds were never the issue for me, it's rather humbling to find that I appear to be rather well thought of around here... You may all change your collective minds when I put a current price list up, mind... :rofl:

I appreciate this gesture, guys, but it's not a shortage of money that stopped me from renewing. It was weighing up the benefits against the outlay, especially when compared to other larger forums. Nobody is required to pay anything for me, although I do appreciate the offers. Ego plays no part in it. By the way, Richie : I was a Trader here before I was even an owner :wink: I'll give some thought to subbing at the minimum level, if only to make the group buy run a little more smoothly...

I'm quoting the following not because I'm trying to justify my starting a thread, but to clarify my points about the Trader fees: When my Trader subs expired, I discussed with Groover the fact that £100 for a year was steep in comparison with other forums. I'm currently a trader on the 350Z/370Z forum which has a much larger member base which is, statistically speaking, much more inclined to spend money on their interiors. The primary reason for this is the fact that their cars, unlike ours here, are not "classics" and therefore don't necessarily hold their values better when unmodified. That said, it's unlikely I'll be renewing as a Trader on there because it's very quiet (for me) nowadays. But, for £54 per year, I get a nice little sub-forum that is all my own and can advertise to my heart's content. I ran this by our Committee and that was when the tiered system came into existence. But that still didn't make financial sense as my "advertising presence" would've been tiny for virtually the same outlay as on the 350Z forum. That's why I didn't renew. I get the Committee's position on this. I do. But I was "granted permission" to post progress images/threads for the group buy which, surely, could attract enquiries just as much as my latest thread has? This surely puts me in an awkward position. I'd say 90% of the members here know what I do for a living and, because of that, I do get enquiries on here. I reply with my email address so anything can be discussed off-forum, specifically to avoid any accusations of back door trading. Now what do I do if I change something on my own interior? Do I post pictures? Or do I keep quiet...? Realistically speaking, any time a member does something themselves it can lead to posts along the lines of "How much to do the same for me?" Joel Morrison played about converting all his lights and he definitely had people asking to do theirs. When Will (wchestnutt) started his Great Japanese Retrim thread, that could be classed as advertising as he's had enquiries following it. As I said previously, my reason for starting the previous thread was mainly to reassure GB participants that they WILL be seeing something for their money. The blame for the delay in getting started lies squarely on me. Hopefully the participants (or the bulk of them) will have seen that thread and their fears are now reasonably assuaged about what sort of end result they can expect. That thread can stay closed as far as I'm concerned. I think I was just more shocked at Gaz's phrasing than anything else as, since my Trader subs expired, I've gone out of my way to avoid "talking shop" on here just to avoid the phrase "back door trading" being mentioned about me!

If you look at the thread, the only response I gave to a direct question from someone who openly stated that they wanted me to do work for them was regarding Russ' embroidery. And, even then, my response was flippant and I ignored his follow-up. JoeDM was asking about dashboards and the like, but not asking me if I would personally undertake the work. Had he done that, I'd have ignored him. I get what you're saying, Gaz. But it was a very different story back in the day when Phutumsch was converting everyone's lights without even a hint of a Trader subscription on the horizon. Sorry to drag Andy into this, but he's a rather pertinent example here. I'm trying to play by the rules here now that being a Trader makes no financial sense, but surely any photos I posted of group buy work would see me "back door trading" as well? But I was given the green light to do just that. In all honesty, the only reason I posted those pictures is because I'm very conscious that I'm at least 5 months late in doing anything GB-related and I want to try and reassure people that I'm not about to do a Lee Dent and start ripping anyone off!

I'll confess, I'm a little unhappy about having my thread locked for the reason of "back door trading!" I purposely avoided any kind of serious response to any members who expressed an interest who aren't signed up for the group buy, and yet still the keys came jangling... The sole reason I didn't renew my Trader subs is because they aren't cost effective. There are forums out there with a much larger member base who offer everything that £100 would get me here, but for half that amount. I mentioned that to The Powers That Be but it couldn't be matched. So that was that. One thing I absolutely haven't attempted to do is trade via the back door and, if I'm honest, I'm a little resentful that I've been accused of it. So what I shall do, when the GB work starts, is email pictures to the relevant members so that they can update their own threads with the progress. Then I can't be accused of anything untoward. I can think of a few members who are far more guilty of back door trading, either currently or in the past, than I'd ever be. But hey ho... such if life....

Did the dealer give you any kind of warranty at all, chap? Or did they just agree to fix the issues we highlighted...? I'd say either starter or battery. Have you tried jumping it? In my experience, they only make that kind of noise when the battery doesn't have quite enough oomph to turn it over properly.

It is entirely possible, although not a quick or easy process by any means. When done right, they look stunning and really modernise the cabin... when done wrong, they just spoil everything... Lots or prep time and lots of custom work involved! It's always been on my "To Do List" for my own Zed but customer cars keep getting in the way of EVERY plan I have for my own. :lol:

I haven't forgotten. It's a consideration, Lee. I still don't believe there's actually much call for my work within the Z32 community currently (unless I'm offering discounted rates!), but I could be proved wrong. Big "Veilside" logos embroidered everywhere, yes...? :rofl: I think adding to each member's thread is the best way of doing it, to be honest. For the reasons you stated, amte. As you yourself know, Andy, it's nigh-on impossible to get a great finish doing the doorcards in one piece. I've refined my technique (and my patterns) over the years and I can honestly say that the doorcards on this Zed are about as close to perfect as it's possible to get. As well they should be when the fitting takes 4 HOURS for each one!! That's just the fitting of the new trim, by the way - that doesn't include removing the card or stripping the old trim off. Keith came up from Gloucester early this afternoon to collect his car and he seemed very happy indeed, so that gives me plenty of hope that all the GB participants will be chuffed with their respective end results. :)

I certainly work hard for my money! :lol: I'm not sure whether I'll be starting separate threads for each job or just adding my progress to each person's own build thread. But either way, I'll personally just be talking about whichever job I'm on with at the time. :)

I've been reminding myself how involved these cars are to work on! Still, turned out nice in the end: Some serious hours have gone into this! :)

Foe...? I'd say "sparring partner" at best... As for the A66, I can only assume you're on about the part from Scotch Corner to The Lake District. As the A66 around Middlesbrough and Darlington is predominantly 50mph and full of traffic!

Quite the healthy self-opinion there, sir. What about your current contribution though...? ;)

Hope your insurance is all paid up then! :lol: Or you can simply add it to my bill for your "oil feature" on your driveway... ;)

Profound. I could ask who woke you up too, seeing as your sole contribution to this place nowadays is to bitch at people. Usually at Jeff, but it's good to see you're broadening your horizons at last.

Oh, the irony.....

I'm not sure that weighing slightly less than 1.5 tonnes = one of the heaviest cars ever. Meanwhile, back on topic: I currently have Accellera tyres on my back end and, as Jimmer will confirm, they offer surprisingly little grip, even in the dry! They're on because I needed tyres and had a small available budget at that point. My Zed hasn't really been anywhere since they were fitted (aside from a trip to Bristol) and they'll be getting changed for something much better before she comes back on the road properly. As Funky's said, tyres and brakes are the two areas not to skimp on. Yes, not everyone has the pennies to buy the best tyres available but the money is far better spent on them than on cosmetic or power-enhancing mods. :thumbup1: