Messages

Blackheath, and I didnt. It was not going to do well with the lack of parts here so it's now a long term project that's yet to get off the ground. I'm casually shopping for another one for this side of the pond though. Lightly modded, but probably mostly stock. Maybe single. We'll see what I find.

No worries, and thank you!

NM. Saw the PH ad.

I assume this is the best place for this.

Can the mods please change my account to reflect whatever isn't an overseas guest?  I've been here (SE London) for just over four years now so...

Can you throw up some interior photos?

Thanks!

Ha. Yeah. I realized I never updated my info. Moved to SE London nearly three years ago.

Man oh man.  You\'re not all that far from me. Hmmmmm.

Thanks.  I think I am on there, though not a full member as I guess you have to actually live there for that (if that\'s the same site I\'m thinking about).  

Thanks again.  

Jinx....many thanks!!!

Good to know.  Thanks!

As far as the cost to bring it over compared to selling and starting over, it would be so far one sided against my favor that even the ease of doing it wouldn\'t be worth it.  I\'ve done a lot over the last 8 years on this thing.  Granted, finding a newer one is a very enticing thought, not to mention other vehicles that are available there.  However, it is for sale here but given the market, I don\'t know whether it would sell for the price, which IMO is low.  

Looking at that PDF, I think that works perfectly in terms of getting the information required.

I also appreciate the offer of getting that info, but I\'ll be there the last week of the month for my preview trip so if I need to pick anything up, I can do it then.  :Thumbsup!

It is a 93, and judging by what I\'m reading now, I\'ll have to retrofit a cat back in there.  I\'ve been meaning to redo my exhaust anyway.  I\'ll look for the standards and see what others are running and compare notes.

Appreciate the info.

Heh...no worries...

I do have one question though that I can\'t seen to fine a lot of information on.

So, I now have the paperwork necessary to begin the import process. However, in regards to emissions, how is that handled?  I know that certain costs are associated with the amount of emissions that are produced, but what about general requirements?  For example, I am running an open exhaust.  As we all know, rotaries are notorious for spewing tons of emissions. Would I need to retrofit before I get it out there just to save myself from any headache or do they not care and they just tax at a huge rate?  

Secondly, has anyone herd about importing but immediately doing so via SORN?  I ask as that may be a more viable option if I know ahead of time that there will be difficulties getting it registered properly the first time around.

I also understand that they would send it to some shop for "remediation."  I suppose the question there is are there specific shops they require or are we at liberty to choose one?

Thanks again.

Heh...we drop letters in words since we\'re just lazy Americans.  :p

We have what can be considered E10, which is a year round blend.  Similar to E5 as you mentioned, though in our experience it\'s not enough to make any necessary tuning changes.  IIRC, avgas was leaded, but I may be thinking of another aviation fuel.  

Based on the 98 RON, and from what I\'ve found, it looks as though Shell\'s Optimax is the same as our "premium" in terms of octane rating.  

I can\'t tell if your post is half joking (the last half) or there\'s some resentment (the first half).  Eh...

As far as what I do, I haven\'t mentioned it before.  But, I\'m in IT, if that isn\'t generic enough.  Specifically a network engineer.

The rule of thumb is 33% more fuel.  A premix is absolutely necessary.  Any castor oil is acceptable as normal oil isn\'t soluble.  The premix would take the place of any oil injection that\'s still in use, which I would think should be removed.  

The benefit, at least for us in the US, is cheaper fuel costs compared to running a higher octane fuel as it\'s usually less than regular fuel.

The other, though this is arguable, is that it lowers operating temps.  I haven\'t seen any evidence of this yet, but I\'m not fully tuned either so I won\'t say one way or another.  

Ethanol is also much more hygroscopic than normal fuel, but I don\'t believe it\'s caused any issues so long as your fuel system is sufficient.  

Lastly, like a higher octane fuel, you can achieve more power with ethanol than not.  It has less energy for the same volume of gasoline, but the difference in the additional quantity used gives you more power.  It also has a RON of 129 (per wikipedia) thus less susceptible to knock, therefore, crank up the boost, or timing and you will make even more.

When I have my tune finalized, I\'ll be able to compare that with other fuels.

Thanks for the info.

The decision has been made.  I\'ll be coming out there the last week of July for my "preview" trip to figure out where I want to live, and I\'ll make the final move Nov 1.  

As I\'ll have a whole new world of cars available to me that weren\'t here, that may further sway my decision to leave the car behind.  But, we\'ll see what the end result will be after figuring out shipping and the like.  

I will say though, as far as this site/club goes, I\'m currently the president of one of our local clubs...Rotary Car Club of Chicago (Rc³)...though slowly becoming defunct.  That being said, I\'d love to take as large of an active role with you guys, or the rotary community in general as I can.  

Needless to say, I\'m extremely excited about this move, and if I have any sanity by then, all the better.  

But I do have one question regarding fuel.  We all know here that the fuel ratings are done a little differently.  As you may be aware, we do RON+MON/2, whereas you just do RON.  That\'s all well and good, and I can live with that, but what other fuels are readily available there?  For example, how widespread is ethanol these days?  What about high octane unleaded fuels (100+)?  And what are the prices of those?

I\'m just looking ahead as I\'m in the middle of tuning for ethanol.  If I do ship it over, and that\'s not available, it\'s not the end of the world since I\'ll just re-tune for whatever, but I\'d like to get an idea of what\'s there.  

For the record, I\'ll be working basically in Central London, near Tower of London.  Where I\'ll live is way up in the air, but looking at monthly Tube passes, not too far out.  

Thanks all again and I can\'t wait to see some of your rides out there.

Thanks.  It\'s not as though it would make or break the deal, but it\'s nice to know about those little things ahead of time.  Chances are I\'ll just probably bring my bike over and leave the car.

Howdy all.  

Well, I\'ll try to be brief, but it will end up being long...er...typed...after all\'s said and done.

So I\'ve been a rotary owner for a short eight years and it\'s been a wild ride. It\'s a \'93 VR R1...with a whole lotta work.  

So I\'m here as I have an opportunity to move to the UK and work in London.  Needless to say that it\'s not a decision I intend to take lightly.  First and foremost, I love driving and would definitely be defined as an automotive enthusiast.  I somewhat masochistically enjoy working on the thing myself.  But, as is common knowledge, space is a premium out there.  I\'m not looking for a 4000 sq ft (371 m² since I should start thinking metric) pad.  I\'m in half that now and admittedly, it\'s a lot of space.  Especially for a single guy.  But, more importantly is everything else.  The little things that may make for a better experience out there.  From internet connectivity to insurance costs, taxes and the like.

From what I\'ve read, the FD can be an incredible expense to insure.  As a side note, I\'m not a fan of front plates either.  Obviously worse being as large as they are out there.  What fine exists for those kinds of violations?

The other thing I\'m somewhat looking into is importing my FD.  I have other ways to not get rid of it as I really do love that car and would hate to start over again (though some things I would do differently).  I\'m not concerned about LHD in a RHD country as I have experience with that and it\'s not bad.  I do have experience obviously then in driving RHD and stick.  Yeah, it took a little getting used to, but for those track days, it may be a whole new learning curve.  

So, ultimately, I\'m looking for tales of experience for those ex-pats that have done the same move, that have similar interests and learn from them on the benefits or drawbacks of such a move.  There\'s no particular time frame, and I need to talk with my company to determine whether such a move would be beneficial financially or if, like what I\'ve read elsewhere, it\'s as effective as taking a somewhat significant pay cut.  

So, what say you?  



Some of you should recognize this...




I\'m also into photography.  I\'d love to get out there again and get some better shots of this place.