16th December 2006

Right, so it's almost Christmas? How come bad stuff always happens to me this time of year?

An update is pending so I thought I'd do one.

I get the keys on the 21st December to my new house so looks like a lonely Christmas for me moving in. I have got on the property market finally. I will have my own gaff! There will be a house warming and anyone who bothers to read this and want to attend should let me know. If you know me well enough to be in e-mail or MSN Messenger contact should get in touch if they are interested. I won't have the internet when I move in which will kinda suck.

There's been a loss in my life recently which is really upsetting me. How come you never know how much you miss someone until they have gone? Why should all good things come to an end? Well I don't know if I can be strong to get on but I sure as well have to try.

I still have Dylan to fight for. Final court hearing is in February which will decide if his mother can remove him from the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. At least I will have a place of my own where he can stop either way.

My car is due a new clutch but I thought I would go all hog and put a new engine in. I have the engine, but need to get other bits and bobs before I can put it in. I have got a matching interior now after many months of having black front and cream back seats!

So that's enough waffle from me. Goodnight everybody!

12th September 2006

Well I was in court again yesterday, managed to get Dylan for staying contact every 3 weeks starting from the 30th September... so I'll let you know how it goes! Can't wait!

Another thing is that I really gotta archive some of these posts off or something because it's getting quite long eh? I wonder how many people read this site?

7th September 2006

Looks like OSBA closing made big news in the world of the Internet.

AeroXP.org
JXCP.Net
IEXBeta.com

I know where the new home is but not sure if I can link you to it or not. Check back for more details soon!

4th September 2006

Looking for OSBetaArchive.com? It's gone. It's over. Sorry guys. No news on the new location, but I'm not the guy to speak to about it.

In other news, my ankle is still causing me bother. It still hurts. I think it's going to be painful for a long time to come.

I picked up a new engine for my Mondeo, at 152k and drinking oil faster than I can eat a McDonald's, it's time for a replacement. Gonna be a while before I can drop it in mind you because I am going to rebuild it!

Erm, that's about it for now.

17th August 2006

The beta scene used to be about swapping information and sharing "secret" downloads between a few people, mainly "rebels" from IEXBeta.com. Now it's just a place where people with no opinion go and think they have one because they can sit at their desk and type flames away at people about anyone without thinking about the consequences of their actions.

They probably do this because they are safe thinking no-one will get at them unlike if they did the same at school or work etc, they would get the s**t kicked out of them.

OSBA has turned into a horrible place that doesn't seem to hold any value to me anymore. I really used to enjoy OSBetaArchive, but now I just want keep away if you can understand me.

I'm sick to the back teeth of people having a go at OSBetaArchive and or it's people. It gets even worse when people are passing my personal and private information around in IRC channels.

I feel that I can no longer support OSBetaArchive or contribute to it any further. The Admin team and I are currently moving the site to a new home with a new name. After the move, Grabberslasher and I will longer be part of the OSBA community.

More details will follow but as from 10pm GMT 17th August 2006, OSBetaArchive will be closed until the relocation is completed. The relocation is going swiftly. There will be some general tidying up of the site before being re-opened in it's new home.

I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but we have our own life problems to deal with and no longer wish to be dragged down even further by the events taking place on OSBetaArchive. I'm actually filling up with tears doing this I feel so bad.

9th August 2006

Well, another long update pending I suppose...

Recently I have sprained my ankle and done some ligaments in. I couldn't walk or drive for about a week but it's slowly getting better. At least I am driving now. It meant though that I missed a weekend of seeing Dylan. This isn't what I like to do if you read my earlier posts.

I also did a 0-60 sprint at Silverstone at this year's Ford Fair. I didn't manage to hit 60mph in time though and my top speed before the finishing marker was officially 58.1mph. I don't think that was too bad thought because it was nerve wrecking having hundreds of people watching you, and I have a 1.6 Mondeo which let's face it, isn't the fastest car on the planet. But at least I had the guts to go up there and give it a go anyway. I can stand up proud and say "At least I dare do it!" to all those people who took the piss but never even attempted to prove they were any better. There were Golf GTi and Fiesta XR2i that weren't getting times either...

In other news, I'm looking to buy a house and whatnot... All that adult stuff I hear so much about these days. I'll keep you posted.

Bye for now!

12th July 2006

Hey looky looky! I've updated with some content. You might now notice that the original news items from ProjectRed are now integrated! I have also added the original gallery page and contact information!

Why don't you check them out?

I've also fitted my new wing today :) Looks a million times better.

Shame about the car burning oil!

9th July 2006

Oh my gosh, what a long time since the last update!

What recent events shall I talk about? Well let's see...

Dylan:
Well lots of things have happened with Dylan. He's 21 months old now! He's learning new words every day, can count to 5, can identify various colours and people in my family, too much to remember!. I now have access to him each and every Sunday from 9am until 6pm. Sometimes we swap to Saturdays depending on what's going off etc. I have to go back to court in September with a review to gaining over night contact. He'll be almost 2 years old then.

Car:
I suspected back in Feb that the VSS on my car was at fault for causing the "stalling at the lights" syndrome it was suffering. The fact of the matter is that the VSS had not been reconnected after the speedo cable was changed (before I bought it). This meant it must have been dragging along the floor egro it was damaged. It have since replaced the VSS using one from a Ford Ka 1.3, which has cured the problem.

I've also picked up an "as new" interior cheap as there was too many marks and stains from dirty clothes etc on the original interior to clean off. The problem is that the back seats I was going to get were accidently set on fire! Which means I still have the old back seats... never mind!

Seeing PMR UK never got back to me, I have also decided to fix up the bodywork myself so I have bought 2 straight doors to replace the crumpled ones I had on. The scrape down my drivers side had been repaired and I have a new front wing ready to be fitted. I have also fitted colour coded wing mirrors because I got them in exchange for some favours.

Other:
Blue Watch Limos is getting busier and more established. We have work almost every weekend night now and sometimes during the week!

I am still working where I normally do as my main job, but I help my mate out voluntarily with the limo work. I also have to re-design the BWL website!

I've had a migrane for about 5 days now...

7th February 2006

Not heard anything back from PMR UK :(

Spent £225 on having some bits done to the engine my car to fix it.

Now I think the VSS is gone (Vehicle Speed Sensor) which is why the car cuts out at the lights and slowing down etc

Recent events that I thought I should mention is that some of my best mates are leaving where I work to pastures new which is annoying.

Also, more interestingly, for the last few weeks, whenever I have nodded my head, Dylan has shook his, until Sunday when he nodded his said for the first time. He also shouted out "YES" which is the word I have been trying to associate with the nodding action. I think this is good because I have read somewhere that nodding is suppose to be quite hard for a baby to pick up.

PS: He's can also jump now :)

15th January 2006

ProjectRed abandoned! I've sent it to my mate Steve in Kendal :(

24th December 2005

How weird is that? Last few updates have been on a monthly basis.

Another year gone by almost and what an eventful year it has been...

I bet you was waiting for me to list those "interesting" events? Hmm nah. However, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas :)

24th November 2005

Well it's been a month since I last updated here. In the last month I have been working on a cut down version of Windows 98 that will install in less than 20mb. It works and that but no support for my wireless network card in my laptop.

I have also been trying to investigate my car's engine problem. I could be something as simple as the head gasket, but who knows these things? Not me!

I've applied to go on Pimp My Ride UK so hopefully they will sort it if I am accepted!

Another reason for the lack of updates is that I have been getting more involved with my main website, OSBetaArchive.com.

24th October 2005

I downloaded everything I wanted and because it was before my activation date, it was unmetered! Result!

In other news today, I am still waiting for my Wireless LAN card from a work mate of mine. When it comes, I can finally be lazy and sit in bed on my laptop haha!

My car's new brakes have just bedded in are feeling good. Just need to sort the handbrake out and then that will be sorted. Have to sort out that low compression on cylinder 4 however. I am currently in the process of purchasing a head gasket kit to do all the work...

18th October 2005

Ok, so my car comes back from the garage with new brakes. I am now £90 worse off but at least I'm in the safe knowledge that my front brakes don't look like corrugated iron, and won't vibrate when I slow down... The problem with my engine is a little clearer now it's been in the garage. Cylinder 4 is down on compression which points to a valve problem. I must take the head off the engine to investigate further. Ah well.

I've change the colour of this site again. I am always playing with it. This is the main reason why the other sections of the site are non-functional right now. "Microsoft's IE Developer Toolbar" is helping to get everything looking right, such as making it fit in 800x600 screen resolutions!

Since getting broadband, I have to "catch up" on stuff I need to do these include:

• Download the latest version of Windows Longhorn
• Download "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children"
• Download Half-Life Platinum Pack into my "Steam" account now it's all up to date and seeing as it'll be a "clean" install into Steam rather than put a 4 year old version on then "bodge" it there instead.

That's a good 5 GB right there, so me thinks I'll be getting them when my connection is un-metered between 1am and 6am.

17th October 2005

My 2 megabit internet connection commenced today. Scheduled for the 20th but if it comes early, I'll use it.

In other news, my car went into the garage today, new front discs and pads to be fitted because last time I did it myself, I couldn't get the discs off. So the garage is going to make the car meet mister grinder or mister blow torch. Either way, it'll make light work of getting stuck on brake discs off.

Whilst it's in there, they are going to have a look at the "cut out" problem that I have. At the moment, it cuts out when I slow down. It gets better when I put "No Smoke" in it, but that's not the point, it shouldn't do it anyway. So far I have tried a new coil pack, HT leads and plugs in reverse order... With no luck. I have even put a new flack valve in on the EGR system as I was told these might fail and block a vacuum hose up... It's missing on cylinder 4 and I know they are going to have a look at the hydraulic lifters.

16th October 2005

Had Dylan today. It hurt only being able to see him for a few hours to say it was his "birthday" visit. I had only a couple of hours to get from his house, to my grandparents (both sets) and my auntie's so they could see him.

They haven't seen him since April/May time. My dad was most upset that he only got to see him for about 30 minutes. I promise, as soon as I get my access, I'll be getting some time off work and I'll be down my dad's for the weekend with him.

14th October 2005

My son, Dylan, is one years old today. Happy birthday son :)

13th October 2005

Well, I got bored and inspired so made some changes to the design.

• Side menu
• CSS & HTML W3C validated!

The menu links aren't working yet... I want to be happy with the design.

3rd October 2005

Well this has to be the rehashed version of another site I designed!

"ProjectRed" anyone? LOL.

Monday, 8th August 2005 - V5c, White Dial-arama

From eBay, I have managed to pick up some Fiesta Mk4 Si White dials with both plugs and healthy lengths of wire... perfect for modding into the 2i. Pics and fitting information coming soon :)

The v5c finally came, so now the car is declared off-road and is now in my name. Primed and ready to go! I was holding off major work until it was officially mine - I didn't want to have it ready and then not be able to tax/insure it LOL!

Sunday, 17th July 2005 - Gift

A friend from work gave some rather spanking Sparco foot pedals!

Check them out in the gallery! Brand new and un-used.

Saturday, 16th July 2005 - Purchases

Well I bought a K&N panel filter for the standard air box for £6 from eBay.

I have also been speaking with James (Heeman10 from FiestaTurbo.com) with regards to a 50k miles diseasal gearbox that should go straight in the XR2i. Investigating postage costs.

Friday, 15th July 2005 - List of problems, current status

This is the list of current problems with the XR2i:

• V5c not come yet!
• No earth in the tailgate
• Possible hydrolic tappets worn (clacker clacker clacker engine sound)
• Gearbox on its way out... (you can hear it whirring)
• Front fog glass broken, not all lights work
• Needs 2 sills and some patching
• Front suspension crossmember is missing :/
• Drivers side window doesn't stay up
• Has some dogdy half-removed "Cobra" alarm fitted
• Bald/Flat tyres
• Usual Mk3 Fiesta fuel cap rot
• Door card knackered
• Possible burning/leaking oil

Thats about as much as I can remember for now.

I've bought 2 new sills and a fuel flap replacement panel which totalled about £40. However, I might need to swap the entire rear quater if the arch is bad when the bodykit comes off.

I got a bodyshop quote to fit and paint the new sills, £160. That includes stonechipping to protect them, and plating up the front seat mount.

I checked the oil level and it was next to nothing, I doubt this car has had an oil change in the last 3 years. I filled her up for now and put some Wymm's "No Smoke" (£4.99) in which has stopped the blue smoke when the engine is running. It could do with a full flush and change but this will probably be left as whilst its stood, it's not going anywhere.

I will be overhauling the engine hopefully, and to aid me, I have bought the Haynes "Rebuilding and Tuning Ford's CVH Engine" book (£14.99, ISBN 1 85960 006 9)

Friday, 3rd June 2005 - Initial Purchase

I've actually gone and bought this "ready for the scrappers" Ford Fiesta XR2i 8v for £50.

It's failed it's MOT on more than one occasion, but with some TLC, it can be roadworthy again!

This site is dedicated to the rebuild of this car, everything I do to it, i'll post it back here followed by tips and guides to things as I go.