Bob

You'll love it mate Once they start taking on their own little personality, it's as if a hole in your life has been filled (at the risk of sounding like a soppy old sod!). The sleep isn't so bad; for the first few months they spend most of the time asleep. The "fun" is when they start teething!

Congrats mate, my little daughter is almost 8 months now. Is this your first?

I heard that the Burj Dubai has been bought up by Abu Dhabi, the same country that gave Dubai a $4bn bail-out to get their infrastructure projects finished (and also own the Burj Al Arab and at least 50% of the Palms).

Yes, nice country. The Qataris are very good people, it's just difficult to meet genuine Qataris as there are so few around these days! There was a nice black singled Supra that I saw around Doha a couple of times, which always left me wishing I hadn't sold my Supra

Hello Qatar. I lived in you for 2 years

On the bright side, at least it's another Honda off the road

I'd say he's screwed. My brother-in-law had a pretty rapid starlet running about 240bhp iirc. It pulled a 13.8s quarter mile at the local drag-strip in standard road trim.

I had a similar problem in XP, but it turned out to be the new driver for the crappy Dell video card (work laptop).

Try starting it with the gearbox in N (iirc the autos will start in either P or N)

Thanks guys. Looks like the Panda is coming in with the cheapest quotes so far, so I'll start having a look around when I'm back on leave

Quick question for you knowledgeable lot - what old banger would be the cheapest to insure? I ask because having worked outside the UK for more than 2 years, I have now lost all of my NCB. Because of the nature of my employers insurance (and the places I was working), no-one will give me any NCB bonus for having driven a company car. So it would seem that the safest option is to buy an old banger for a few quid, insure and leave it on the drive to rot. I tried insuring my father-in-law's 1981 v8 Range Rover (which is a restoration project and doesn't even move!), but the best quotes I had were over $1500 (I mean pounds - there's no pound sign on this bloody keyboard!) third-party only, 29 years old living in Northern Ireland, clean licence and no crashes within the last 5 years I'm currently thinking an old Fiesta, but please feel free to add any opinions

I used to buy LED bulbs and stuff from http://www.ultraleds.co.uk when I had the supe - maybe they have something you could use?

Oh bugger. Looks like I'd better find an old shitter to insure for a bit!

Are they road legal without the reflectors, or is it a case of swap them out for the next MOT?

Fiddly if you haven't done them before, and it helps to have the right tools as well as spare collets (think thats what they're called anyway!) from Toyota, as they tend to 'ping' away into the darkest recesses of the garage if you're not careful!

I had those viton ones when I changed my stem seals. No problems here, the car perfectly smoke free for a year or so before I sold up.

Quick question for Sky - I haven't had UK insurance for about 2 years (company cars & overseas work) and I can't remember who my last insurance was with. I sit true that I will have lost all my NCD now?

http://www.sumopower.com/product.php/548/93/do_luck_jza80_phase_1_side_skirts

Are they Bomex, or are they the earlier Do-Luck ones?

I know how you feel mate - my 7-week old daughter smiled at me for the first time this week, and it choked me up!

Really gutted for you, Rob

Wow. Is there anyone on that starlet forum that can use good old English grammar?

I don't think it would work with the stem seals anyway - when I took mine out it was quite clear that they were well past their best-by date.

Its possible to do it yourself Pete, but you'll need access to a 20t press to get the rear bearings out iirc I have fond memories of going with another ex-supra owner to his mates garage in leicester where, despite my protests, they removed the rear hub with the use of crowbars and hammers, then tried to remove the bearing with a blowtorch and a sledge hammer.

Think Chris Wilson sells them as well mate, but not sure if they're Toyota or not. Still, I don't expect CW is a guy to sell sub-standard stuff.