The Chat Thread - Almost focussed - WC 16/09/24

[HoTWire]

Hey Folks!

Another week, another weekly chat, your place for stuff that may not warrant a full thread or stuff that is just going on right now that you want to share.

Well the social media diet continues, wish I could do actual food diets as well. It has been very useful and is gradually unloading my brain of all the million bits of mush that end up in there as a result of scrolling through stuff. Leaving me a bit more focussed on the things I actually need to do (which is hard for me and my stupid brain). Still more to be done in that area, but a positive step.

Site update as mentioned last time is going to take a bit longer, but should be substantially better than what I was doing, which was already an improvement on what most people are using at the moment. I'm going to try and do a bit on that every evening. I'll try not to be too all or nothing about it, so it is possible it'll come out gradually, like home page and thread listings in one release, then thread page and profile in another, then PMs etc. etc.

Also Club RR System is very firmly in the works, but not ready for the end of last week. The RR Events stuff now mostly has dates for next year, still one thing to nail down and we'll be on the road to announcements. Very long chat with Keith about events wiped out my RR Friday time, so hopefully end of this week for Club RR stuff.

Really excited for what 2025 holds for events and what the next few weeks hold for Retro Rides.


Anything exciting happening with you?


Previous Thread: forum.retro-rides.org/thread/227650/chat-thread-social-media-diet

[DarrenW]

Sept 16, 2024 12:32:21 GMT HoTWire said:

Well the social media diet continues, wish I could do actual food diets as well.

I've lost over three and a half stone so far this year via intermittent fasting. I'm not finding it difficult at all, wish I'd done it years ago.

In terms of car stuff, well it's Santa Pod later this week for the National Finals, probably my last time there this year. Really looking forward to it!

[zeberdee]

I lost two & half stone at the beginning of last year with intermittent fasting .

As DarrenW says , is was pretty easy & I’ve managed to keep it off .

As for car stuff , starting to plan how I’m going to improve the suspension setup on my pickup over winter .


Also waiting patiently for Goodwood weekender details .







👍

[fogey]

Closed my business and retired recently and will officially become a Senior Citizen in a couple of weeks - looking forward to receiving my State Pension as I intend to spend it wisely on my project car . . .

[akku]

I manage to fast every day between about 11pm and 7am. Its not helping.

Anyway, stuff has been happening. I went to Norfolk to collect a car I had bought a little while ago but had been too busy to do anything more than ask a mate to go pick it up for me...

I went over on the train and was picked up at the station in this lovely old thing



What I'd come for was this...



1966 Oldsmobile 98

Its the "Luxury Sedan" version. Well cool



Quite big on Norfolk roads...



Made it home OK with only one little moment of disquiet

Managed 16mpg on the way home, about 185 miles done on its maiden journey with me

There was a frustration. I had planned that the Olds arrived on the saturday and the '71 Galaxie would go off to the painter on Sunday. The Olds then has the Galaxie's spot at home. I drove to the station in the Sovereign and left it there as there is cheap* weekend parking there. The idea was to take the bus into town and pick it up once I was back from the painters dropping off the Ford. But this was not to go to plan. The Ford would not start. No electrics at all other than the stuff you get with the key off. I thought it was the switch had failed so had to juggle space to get the Sovereign back here with the Ford still here. Argh.

Rearranged to drop the Galaxie off next weekend now. So today I investigated other options and it was the starter relay. How that can take out the turn signals, wipers, fan, etc, I dunno but thats what it was. The trans fluid is low and the brakes not quite right so I need to sort those out before I take it over on the weekend.

Other than that, I had a problem with the 1969 Country Squire not charging, so I changed the voltage regulator and the ALT light is still on but the battery is showing 13.6 - 14.2 v charging. Something mysterious amiss somewhere but it appears to be working for now.

Ah the fun of old cars.

[skinnylew]

I managed to lose a couple of stone this year as well, although somewhat unplanned and not a good way to do it

Just had an MRI done today so hoping the results show up the sickness issue or anything else going on and then I can finally get to rehab and learn to walk/adult again 😂

[stealthstylz]

One more week to go till we get the keys for the unit and can start moving stuff in/making progress again. Really want the Carlton done for next year as I don't need to daily my cool car any more so it might stay nice for a while.

It was my birthday today so I'd saved myself a nice crossflow to build, though due to a slight misunderstanding the customer turned up to collect it at 1pm and i'd not really started building it. Couple of hours later and it was all done. Nice basic "fast road" spec for in a historic road rally MK1 Escort. Should be a giggle.

[misteralz]

I've started the week ill. After long covid in 2022, every little bug is wiping me out. Which segues nicely into car stuff inasmuch as I'm due to be helping a pal with his daughter's Beetle on Friday. Also got T5 and GTI stuff needing doing, but suspect it's not happening this week...

[slackerTHEpinstriper]

20mm spacers added to the Passat yesterday, need to drop it some more

[stealthstylz]

Errrr......David have you been thefting again?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98yy2jd32ko

[adam73bgt]

Went to another collecting cars coffee run at Bicester heritage on the weekend, didn't take many photos but will put a few up when I get a chance

The nicely patina'd Elise was very cool to see

[Seth]

Nice bit of car/work interface this week, having been kindly included in this article written for the Goldsmiths Company.

www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/goldsmiths-stories/maintaining-old-junk-a-passion-for-metal-beyond-the-precious

[jpsmit]

Sept 17, 2024 17:03:00 GMT Seth said:

Nice bit of car/work interface this week, having been kindly included in this article written for the Goldsmiths Company.

www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/goldsmiths-stories/maintaining-old-junk-a-passion-for-metal-beyond-the-precious

Great article.

[Rich]

Went to a local hotrod meet last night, good and varied turnout, especially the SM which was a pleasant thing to see.

[mrbounce]

Going on holiday on Thursday so will look out for Retros in the centre of San Francisco. Not driving this time, so no huge rental.

Will return to a new job as well, so it's a bit weird for me as I have been in my current job for almost 10 years.

I shalldo more Midas stuff when I return. Promise!

[classiclineuk]

No weight loss here, but did have a fab weekend at the Hot Rod Drags despite the seriously cold overnight temperatures, then a trip to the Hinckley BID Annual Motor Show on Sunday.

We're now busy getting ready for the All Mini Breakfast Meet on the 6th October - all classic Mini owners welcome: link

[vulgalour]

Not really sure where to put this, didn't seem worthy of a new thread. Coming out of Lidl Scunthorpe I found myself behind a really very nice blue Morris Minor with lots of lovely accessories including a RR air freshener hanging from the mirror. Exterior visor, roof rack, Morris branded mud flaps, curb feelers, early rear lights wired American fashion and a very pleasing exhaust note.

Absolutely immaculate looking too, was hoping to find a build thread or even a showcase thread but no joy yet. If it was you then shout up and point me to where I can learn more, your car looked excellent.

[surprisingskoda]

Sept 16, 2024 18:33:25 GMT DarrenW said:

Sept 16, 2024 12:32:21 GMT HoTWire said:

Well the social media diet continues, wish I could do actual food diets as well.

I've lost over three and a half stone so far this year via intermittent fasting. I'm not finding it difficult at all, wish I'd done it years ago.

That's awesome! I'm coming to the end of three weeks of "one meal a week" fasting and although I don't think I've lost much weight (well that wasn't the point of it anyway, as a Christian I'm in the habit of fasting and praying every so often) but it has certainly rectified a few other things. For one, although it took 5/6 days, my brain re-adjusted to a non-caffeine existence. That was rough, had bad headaches for a few days. The lack of sugar and carbs has pushed my body into ketosis and my only cravings during this time have been for real food i.e. meat (I even had a dream about burgers!) - but most importantly, I'm getting up much, much earlier, sleeping more regular, and feel every bit as alert and focussed during work as ever. Coming off a 3 week total fast in Jan 21, I had a really strict low carb low sugar diet for a year and lost about a stone and a half, putting me into optimum physical shape (along with usual gym stuff) and peak energy levels (previous to that I would have fallen asleep in front of the TV after a carb-heavy dinner).
What I'm trying to say is that it only take a little bit of willpower and the benefits you reap are enormous. It's not even that hard once you get over the first slump. Like I'm genuinely not even hungry right now and the last time I ate was 96 hours ago. 3/4 days max after you start and the hunger subsides. If you ditch caffience like I did, that may take longer

Does this relate to anything automotive? No, not really, sorry, other than along with the Youtube/TV/spotify purge there has been some car purging going on too and that's also not fun. But life, it doesn't always go to plan...

[misteralz]

Did T5 and mk5 stuff this afternoon. Fresh rear caliper and rear handbrake cables on the T5, which was absolutely required as they were very rooted, and fresh rear shocks and springs on the back of the mk5 since I was running on one poor spare. The shocks had lost ALL pressure. Off to help a pal with his daughter's Danish import Beetle this evening, so I'll be interested to see how different it feels...










Not pictured are the new bump stops I had to take a knife to to get them to fit.

[HoTWire]

Sept 16, 2024 12:32:21 GMT HoTWire said:

Also Club RR System is very firmly in the works, but not ready for the end of last week. The RR Events stuff now mostly has dates for next year, still one thing to nail down and we'll be on the road to announcements. Very long chat with Keith about events wiped out my RR Friday time, so hopefully end of this week for Club RR stuff.

I DID IT!!!

ko-fi.com/retrorides

The set up of Ko-Fi was straightforward and I did that a little while back... I needed to have extra customised stuff our end so I could replicate the functionality of the previous club system. So far the hard bit is done (getting the data from Ko-Fi to our own database), next step will be done over the next few weeks which is member portal so address, forum user name etc. can be updated, and so I've got a dashboard for current member status etc.

Right now all current members don't need to worry about anything, as I'll be sending out update emails in due course with renewal dates and all that stuff.

It is also possible this way to drop a thank you for selling a car or whatever via the forum if you fancy it as a one time donation. Although if anyone hits the £12 in a single year for donations you'll be gifted GL level membership or £24 for GTi, which means if you wish to pay a one off for membership rather than repeating amounts you can now do that again. I'll write a full post about all this once I've got the next round of stuff done. Eagle eyed folk will notice the membership has gone up slightly, which is a function of the new platform making more sense with round numbers, hopefully being able to spread that out to £1 or £2 a month will ease that pain slightly.

This new system has been a long time coming to be fair, I'm sure there will be some teething problems, but it makes everything a bit more joined up. I'm hoping as a result I can make something that will auto add people to the right group on here when they join and have their forum name set, but one step at a time


Oh and seeing as you've read this far. We're changing what we're doing with Gathering next year, all under wraps at the moment and will be for a while. However I will say that camping space is going to be limited and will be offered on a first come, first serve basis and will go out to Club RR first (both tiers) as we usually do.