You meet people in your life, people who will make a lasting impression; who will affect your life so much that you will always remember them. I know plenty of people like this, I have so many funny stories to tell, ranging from fake kidnappings to very stupid camping trips involving too many illegal substances.. 
The character to the left is someone who I believe cannot be forgotten, for good and bad reasons.
To this day, I still find it hard making conversation with people, especially when you know nothing about them. I can become shy and awkward, especially around people with big personalities. 
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Ive never been a massive fan of BMW's, they have never really appealed to me if I'm honest. 
The interiors haven't changed much over the years, and look very dated, especially the dash.. seats.. steering wheel, pretty much the whole thing.
I find that they always sit a bit funny, the fronts are way too high due to the really strange body design. As the front arches sits a lot higher then the rear ones. I'm sure that hasn't gone unnoticed with most BMW owners!?

Well its been a long time coming, but I made a start on taking parts off the car. It wasn't as hard as I thought.. I tend to get emotionally attached to things very easily, and with me loving my car, I thought taking parts of would get to me. 
I know a lot of people who go through a lot of cars.. They modify them, then sell them, and get a new toy. I 'm the opposite, I buy something, and keep it for as long as I can .. which has always been the wrong thing to do, now that I look back and see my track record. Its not good..
The Ibiza Cupra nearly skinted me, £10 a day to get to work and back.. The Audi A4 was literally falling apart, and could of killed me! And now the A3, which has been broken more times then its been fixed. 
So far I've took off the rear lights, Headunit, steering wheel, gearknob, floor mats and parcel shelf. Those have been sold and made me a bit of money. All being replaced with standard parts. I will then get it put on eBay. Was going to advertise it locally first, but thinking I'll just bite the bullet and get it put on there. Once its gone... then its gone. Oh, and now I'm back at work.. fun!

My mate Liam has the Audi A4 in the picture. His car is cursed like mine, but not to the same extent! It suffers for a strange ABS/Braking problem that we cannot get to the bottom of. Basically is causes his brakes to lock on , and wears them down a lot by overheating them. Anyway,. enough of the boring stuff.
Liam can only really be described as a person who gets an idea in his head, and wants to do it there and then, usually with the help of me and some others.. and usually not to a very good finish.. because we run out of time, or because he picks stupid times to do things. Like painting a car.. when its raining!
Luckily we had a unit to do it in, so that was the first problem solved. a splitter was bought for the car, but already paint in a nice Audi black (from a B7 shape) and he wanted to paint all the lower plastics black to match his car.. so that he could fit the splitter. Now most people would usually pay to get it done, roughly £160-£200 would probably cover it. A nice finish with the correct paint. No.. Liam wanted us to rush it , so that he could put the splitter on that day! So we did. and to be honest.. it turned out quite well! 2 heavy coats of primer, 3 to 4 coats of paint.. and lots and lots of lacquer. We even waited for it to dry ! Which is probably a first for us.. It was your standard Gloss Black from any motor factors. Simonez product. Worked a treat, and now that the car is clean, it really does look nice! 
RX8 seats fitted, and multifunctional steering wheel. the car is finally getting there. Next on the list is to lower the front more, sits slightly too high and needs to come down by at least 30mm! 

Well got a tiny bit more done tonight. Nothing major, but every little helps I guess!
Firstly, I got an envelope in the post.. and it happened to be the remainder of the white vinyl I needed to finish the shark mouth.. so thats finally all done! looks okay, but it should look a lot better once the rest of the bumper is sprayed. To show the contrast between the black car, white teeth, and grey mouth. I was thinking of putting a shark sticker on my coolant bottle..?
I also got the waterpump off, to find to my surprise, that its a metal impellar. Which is good! I suppose its best to change it whilst I do the belt anyway. Doesn't appear to be anything wrong with it, no cracks etc, but it is a bit stiff when turning.
I put more back on the head as well, just a couple of brackets that I cleaned before hand.
The big task is trying to get a load of people together tomorrow, to get my car in the garage! I would love to get that done, it means I could do a lot more! but I just cant see it happening anytime soon :(

I have a massive love for Audi A4 B5s, I think they are a really nice looking car, with loads of potential! For a car that was made in 1996, I still believe that the interior was quite modern looking, and a really nice place to be. I owned one a couple of years ago, and to this day, really miss it. I obviously got myself a bad example , but that doesn't surprise me! Still somehow managed to get an MOT on it though. 
I sourced a 2000+ B5 to strip, as the engine was gone on it. So I had the full facelift front and rear lights, boot plastics/carpet, and interior parts!
I'm the type of person who needs to fit everything as soon as he gets them! So I didn't hang about.. I loved it, I loved the car! I also love the B7 shape, they really are one of the nicest looking saloons imo. And so much potential! 
I'm getting a bit off topic here... As the picture is of an Audi A4 B6. My mates car infact. A black 1.9 TDI, with baby blue Porsche Cayenne wheels. To me, this is the 'boring' A4. One that lacked in style, and never really stood out. I never found any that were nicely modified. They into the price range I was looking at, but I couldn't bring myself to even view one. Now my mates Audi is rough around the edges, but I really like what he has done to it, and what the future plans are. Subaru seats have arrived, so they will be getting fitted at some point. He has plans on an Sline front bumper and a full respray! The major thing about the car, that really lets it down is the interior. Its always very dirty due to his job, and also grey. Full of grey.. It would depress me sitting in there for too long! So I know hes looking at replacing it with black plastics, or even spraying them black. I know for a fact (as I have done this) that it will make a massive difference to the interior! And I cant wait to see it once its all done.

I liked the idea of using the Evo intercooler, something different.. something that probably isn't a common mod to do. But I just dont think its working, I'm thinking of getting a smaller, wider intercooler, the typical 'small universal ebay special intercooler'.
The reasons are... Its new - I dont think the Evo one is holding pressure anymore, and its all bent and twisted.
It has good mounting points - so I can mount it to the crash bar, and it will be further away from the radiator.
I think it makes sense to do this..
Also managed to lock myself out of the car completely tonight! Not cool :( battery went dead and key wouldn't work in the driverside door! Managed to sort it though, so its all good!
Need to really get some bits bought at the end of the month to continue with the engine, Maybe a set of the valves bought, so I can start grinding them in

Well, this weekend wasn't exactly full of excitment for me. I spent most of it in bed, watching whatever films I could download. I recomment 21 Jump Street and Safe House though! Great films..
Saturday night I eventually climbed out of my pit around 8, and went to do a bit more on the car. Found the sheet for white vinyl I've had lying about for the past week or so.
Pictures of sharkmouths got the better of me, and I finally did it..
I've ran out now, so only got half of it done! ordered more from ebay now though so I'll get to all finished wont it arrives. Creating the template was the biggest ballache ever, and something I will not be repeating again! I do feel sorry for the people who are going to spray my bumper, because they have to mask the full mouth and teeth off! oh well haha! not my problerm I guess. Spoken to a mate, and I'm getting some black/grey tint for the foglights, to blend them in a bit more. Yellow just doesn't go with the mouth now. Makes it too out of place!

Well I've cleaned the cylinder head now, but now out of things to do until I get new parts :( The shims are back in, with the spacers for the head bolts, but thats it.. I've painted the alternator black, which looks pretty nice now! fitted back on the car, but haven't got a picture.
Just trying to work out which bits are best to buy next month, obviously the cambelt will be last, and no doubt that wont be bought until mid next year at this rate! I really do dislike this car, but love it at the same time. Everytime I sit in side her, I get that childish smile back on my face! knowing that I'm doing the right thing by getting her back to her former glory. She will stand out again .. I miss her

Well just spend the night taking the alternator off the car, cleaning it and painting it. Followed by stripping everything else off the cylinder head. This included the cambelt shims and the valve stem oil seals.
 I've covered the cylinder head with Gunk cleaner, and washed it all off. Currently airing out. its a lot cleaner then before. I'm really hoping that the engine will performed better once the new valves are grinded in. I know the old ones weren't, they are simply machined in at the factory. Which doesn't allow for a perfect seal on them. Everything inside the block is getting replaced, unless it really is good enough for another 100k. I want the engine as strong as I can get it. After cancelling the car insurance, it has freed up another £70 a month, which will help towards getting parts. so think I'll make a start at the end of the month. I want this to be something special. so Its going to get what it needs..