Lude Generation

lxstuart wrote:Well I decided to buy the car in the end, starting problem seems to have been an alarm issue, which seems to have been resolved by resetting the alarm.
Anyway, pictures is what you dear people want.









It's an import F22B 2WS, a few paintwork issues and a slightly blowing exhaust, but other than that, quite sound.
Paid £800 in the end, which I though was pretty good. Specially with a set of these on

lxstuart wrote:Well, time for a minor update.
With the stereo sounding like it was on it's last legs, I decided to upgrade.
As this is my daily drive, I didn't really want to spend a great deal of money on it (especially as I don't have any right now), but fortunately I had a load of old components from previous cars.
First off, I had to rip the old one out. Not too taxing, but a little worrying when I got a look at the wiring behind there.



The original loom had been hacked to bits, and the stereo I was taking out had been hard wired into the car. Fair enough, it had all been crimped, but badly
I'm suprised the stereo was actually still working.

Next up, was changing the speakers, which after 18 years of abuse, were looking a little worse for wear



The foam surrounds would just disintegrate as soon as I touched them. I swapped them out with some Kenwood KFC-1666's, which it turns out screwed straight into the stock mount.



No clearance issues either, as they were fairly shallow fitting.

For the fronts, I had something a little bigger, a pair of Alpine SPR-17LP coaxials. After fabbing some nice mounts for them I fitted them (funnily enough).
Looked a ittle something like this:



I though it might be best to run these through an amplifier, as they can handle a fair amount of power. Fortunately I had one laying around, a somewhat batered JBL one. Was going to make a nice board to mount it behind the rear seats, but as nothing is flat there, I was having a hard time marking out where I was going to mount it etc, so I decided to just mount the amp to the metal behind the seats.
Unfortunately, none of the holes would line up with any of the others, and with the time cracking on, I decided to do it ghetto style



Cable ties FTW A Honda's best friend

As fun as that was, biggest PITA was definately getting the heavier gauge speaker wire into the front doors. To get the cable from the cabin, through the conduit thingy, and into the door, probably took about 1 hour.

PER SIDE

Definately a job I shant bother with again.

I have still yet to put the doorcards back on, but I'm gonna try to get some insulation on the back of the cards before I refit them.
Not bad, the only thing I had to pay for on this install, was the speaker cable, as I had everything else laying around

lxstuart wrote:The beady eyed among you may have noticed I've not been online much this week.
This is mainly because the start of my week has been less than pleasing.

Now before I go on, I'll give a little bit of back story, as this will really bring the punchline home.

My lude is VTECless, don't worry, this is the way it was meant to be, but it's fair to say that I have been missing my weekly dose of VTEC, what with not being too eager to drive the CRX during the winter.

Therefore, I devised a cunning plan, by which I would buy another lude. Simple, why didn't I think of it before #-o

So the search began, for a 4th gen, no rust, H22, preferably JDM. A few sprung to mind, Shiney's one for example, but I had to remind myself that as a daily runner, I didn't want to spend too much.

Now as there was no immediate need to change cars I had plenty of time to find the right car, at the right price. It also meant that I wasn't constantly checking all the ads, autotrader, etc. Because of this, I almost missed one for sale on this site, which had been reduced a couple of times already, and looked to be in rather good condition.

I spoke to the seller, and arranged to view the car, went to see it, struck a deal, and gained a BB4.
Only one downside. In my experience, most insurers wont insure an import without at least 2 years NCB. Some do, but not my one. Bummer, but could be worse, just meant I'd have to wait until February, when my current policy expires. And in the meantime, take my time transfering the bits I wanted off the old lude, onto the new one, and likely pass off the new one as my old one with some work done :-$


Ok, lets now fast forward to Monday morning.
I was driving to work on the same route I've taken for the last couple of years.
Part of my route takes me down the country lanes, not the worst I've been down, but certainly nowhere to pass, other than the passing points every 60 meters or so.
Now one part in particular, there is a long shallow bend in the road, and the sides of the road are banked up, so you can't see too far ahead of yourself. As a result, I usually go round at about 20 mph, not too slow, but slow enough to stop should you need to.

Now coming round the bend, what do you suppose I saw?

A rabbit?

A deer?

The arc of the covenant?

Lord Lucan riding atop Shergar, wielding a sackfull of headlight protectors?

No, none of them. Shall I tell you what I saw?
Ok then.

I saw.....




A vauxhall Astra.

But not just any Vauxhall Astra.
It was a vauxhall astra, seemingly on a world landspeed record atempt.
At an estimate, I would say he was traveling at 50-60 mph. He didn't stand a chance of stopping in time. Now this is a corner I have for a long time noted as being "hairy" so my reactions were quick, and I came to a halt (just to reiterate, for later on in my ramblings, I was stationary).
Now, as you've probably guessed he did indeed hit me, first point of contact was the front drivers side wings, and from there all the way down the side of the car, and bouncing off my car, up the verge, before finally coming to a halt some ~20-30m behind me.

Time for some pictures?

OK then, if we must.






Now I know what you're all thinking, "oh my, is Luke ok?"

Well fortunately, the Lude is a sturdy beast, and other than being a little shaken, I was fine (i also gained a renewed sense of relief that I'd had a crap before leaving the house, but thats a story for another time).

We both got out of our cars, where he began to appologise profusely, and explain that he couldn't stop in time because he thought there was ice on the road (again, there was not, it was hardly even damp).
Now with him doing the honourable thing, and admitting fault, I calmed down a little which is possibly for the best. Very few people have ever witnessed me completely lose it, lets just say you'd better start running.
Now being in the middle of a road, cars are inevitably starting to appear, so he moves his car out of the way, I quikly take some pictures before moving mine out of the way, and the waiting cars drive past.
We then exchange our details, and he drives off, I cable tie my bumper on, and then decide it's best to carry on to work rather than go home, as I've only got another mile to go until I get to work.
So I very carefully drive to work, fortunately with no further incidents.

Now work were very understanding, not kicking up a fuss about me being late, and not minding me dithering around all day. They also didn't mind me spending the morning talking to the insurance companies.
Now from previous experience, I've found it's best to deal with the third partys insurance when they admit liability, so I started by phoning Tesco insurance. After a short time on hold, I got though to someone in the claims department. I explained that I had been hit by one of their drivers, and wished to make a claim. I gave the details of astraman, and was told that the accident had already been reported, however, and heres the part thats really p1ssed me off, he had said that it was my fault. I told them that he had already admitted at the scene that it was his fault, but they claimed that this was irrelevant. They told me that as fault was disputed I would have to speak to my insurers for a claim to proceed.
So, trying my best to stay calm, I call my insurer and give them all of the details, they say they will be in touch.

Wednesday comes, and I've still heard nothing, I then remember I took some photos, so I emailed the first two pictures to the lady dealing with my case.
Tursday comes, I get a reply stating that it will have to be settled on a 50/50 basis, as I can't prove that I was stationary at the time of the collision.
I reply, saying I am not happy with that. I point out that given the tyre marks and the distance astratwat took to stop, it is clear proof that he was speeding.
Today comes, another email from them, saying that speed cannot be used as an act of negligence as it cannot be proven.

The more I speak to my insurer, the more I'm getting the impression that they really don't care, they just want it over and done with.

Now obviously I'm rather pissed of with all this.
The damage done to the Lude means it will be written off, the cost of the panels alone is more than the car is worth.
If this goes through 50/50 liability, I'll lose my NCB, which means I likely wont be able to insure the BB4.


So, what do I do now?

My last remaining hope, is to wait around in the lanes on Monday morning for one of the other cars from the photos (maroon Rover, green something) in the hope that they saw something, or witnessed the astra driving like a kebab.

Any other ideas?
Thankyou if you've gotten this far, I appologise for the length (but not the girth)

Feel free to add suggestions, leave sympathy, or just mock me (the insurance are, everyone else may as well join in)

Dbo wrote:have a look on fleabay you can buy another lude with another set on!