|
|
|
|
|
this thread genuinely makes me LOL. I bet you feel like a complete utter stranger there (and maybe a king driving around in an old RR)  TBH, having lived in Asia for over 6 years now and travelled over for three before that, I find the Philippines the easiest of the lot to live in. English is widely spoken, beer availble anywhere (unlike Malaysia), you don't get the active dislike of White Guys you get in Malaysia and there's none of the out and out xenophobia often encountered in Thailand. It's certainly easier from a work perspective. However, they do have a way of complicating what should be easy tasks, witness the above process. It's also taken me since August to open a local bank account. Gawd know's why! And renting an apartment is worth a book in intself. As to the RR, well my company have just been bought out by an American outfit who recommend (despite not one representative having been here) that we should all drive around in cars that look like they've just been dug up out of the ground to minimise the risk of car-jacking and kidnapping that they've read about in the papers. They'd have a bleedin' duck fit if they saw what I was smoking around in! I've only seen two others on the road so far, so they do stand out a bit. |
| |
|
|
|
|
jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,274
|
|
|
|
this thread genuinely makes me LOL. I bet you feel like a complete utter stranger there (and maybe a king driving around in an old RR) As to the RR, well my company have just been bought out by an American outfit who recommend (despite not one representative having been here) that we should all drive around in cars that look like they've just been dug up out of the ground to minimise the risk of car-jacking and kidnapping that they've read about in the papers. They'd have a bleedin' duck fit if they saw what I was smoking around in! I've only seen two others on the road so far, so they do stand out a bit. On other hand with the Range Rover maybe you look enough like a kidnapper or a drug dealer or a mercenary that they won't touch you  |
| |
Last Edit: Jan 4, 2014 2:07:51 GMT by jpsmit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As to the RR, well my company have just been bought out by an American outfit who recommend (despite not one representative having been here) that we should all drive around in cars that look like they've just been dug up out of the ground to minimise the risk of car-jacking and kidnapping that they've read about in the papers. They'd have a bleedin' duck fit if they saw what I was smoking around in! I've only seen two others on the road so far, so they do stand out a bit. On other hand with the Range Rover maybe you look enough like a kidnapper or a drug dealer or a mercenary that they won't touch you Fair point!   |
| |
Last Edit: Jan 4, 2014 2:44:19 GMT by georgeb
|
|
bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,971
Club RR Member Number: 71
|
|
|
|
this thread genuinely makes me LOL. I bet you feel like a complete utter stranger there (and maybe a king driving around in an old RR) I'm enjoying it too but..... I'm away in KL for the next few days but when I get back I'll get properly stuck in and try to get some pics up. Hopefully of her (the RR) sitting on a palm fringed beach! I'm still waiting patiently for the RR on a palm fringed beach - Pretty Please |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 26, 2014 16:56:45 GMT
|
|
Okay, just a quick update. Madam passed her test in December and the fact that I wouldn't let her near the RR (I've seen her with a shopping trolley) has been causing no little friction, so, I’m pleased to announce that Madam now has a motor of her own and the earlier vehicular tension has now dissipated.
Went looking the other weekend for a little lady run-around and, after resisting her pull towards Mercedes, BMW and Jaguar showrooms, arrived at a little used (should that be little, used?) car lot at the end of the rather grandly named Senator Gil Puyat Avenue. She spurned two little Suzukis, mainly I think because one was lime green, one bright yellow, both had major suspension lifts that would have required step ladders, and winches fitted. No? No. Okay, what about this nice little 1969 Beetle, yes? “No, it manwel. And old. And white”.
Of course. What I’d forgotten is that to a Filipina, colour is the most important thing, so that was blue out, “Car for man”. Black? “Like funeral”. Even a bright pink Nissan Cube was dismissed as, surprisingly, “too bright”. Now personally, I’d have liked a loud colour so that when it inevitably does its gentle plunge into Manila Bay, the divers can see it easily and get any of my tools out in the minimum time before the acid dissolves them (it’ll be too late for the humans), but Madam sees things slightly differently. Anyways up, her little eyes fell on a dark red Honda CR-V and, because the number plate doesn’t end with a 1 or 2 (there’s no point having two cars we can’t use on the same day), that was that. Got a good deal out of the chappie and, so far, it’s been a gem. Engine is very sweet, it slurs through the gears nicely and apart from a quarter inch tear in the driver’s seat, is immaculate inside. Given the fleet, we now seem to be the proud owners of both the most common and the rarest of vehicles in Manila.
She’s had it just over three weeks and has used three, sorry as of yesterday, five tanks of fuel. Yes, she’s chewing through the stuff like it was free…oh, hang on. As a comparison, at 16mpg, I fuel the RR around every three weeks. That gives you an idea as to the miles she’s munching. She’s learned quick too. Last Saturday, I had to go to DHL to collect a package and she says “You not driven my car properly yet. You take and see if anything need doing”. All became clear as soon as I turned the key. Fuel need doing. Oh well.
And I still haven't got my registration sticker.
And the shockers still haven't arrived. "Next week". Again?
|
| |
Last Edit: Jan 26, 2014 16:57:41 GMT by georgeb
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 26, 2014 17:25:34 GMT
|
[/quote]I'm still waiting patiently for the RR on a palm fringed beach - Pretty Please [/quote] Yes, apologies for the lack of pics. I jacked my job just after Christmas so the next weeks have been spent setting my own conpany up in Hong Kong and working like a lunatic for my first client. It's likely to be mad until April or so when, hopefully I can grab a few days and fulfil the promise :)Can't complain about being busy though. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well Santa turned up - better late than never - with my new Nanocom ODB2 kit. Been playing with it this morning.  Now, when you turn the ignition on, sweet silence from the dash. Yes, all faults cleared so no cacophony of beeps and warnings any more, just peace, perfect peace. Happy to see that engine and box were showing no faults either. What a grand bit of kit. Shame I had to pay over half the cost again in customs duty. Ah well. All in all a good mornings work. |
| |
|
|
sonus
Europe
Posts: 1,392
|
|
|
|
A good read this thread And on a side note your number plate reads "moose111" in Norwegian and I think it might just cause the same reaction as a moose would in Manila due to its rarity Bookmarking and looking forward to future updates. |
| |
Current
1968 TVR VIXEN S1 V8 Prototype
2004 TVR T350C
2017 BMW 340i
Previous
BMW 325d E91LCI - sold
Alfa Romeo GTV - sold
Citroen AX GT - at the breakers
Ford Puma 1.7 - sold
Volvo V50 2.0d - sold
MGB GT - wrecked by fire
MG ZT 1.8T - sold
VW E-golf Electric - sold
Mini Countryman 1.6D -sold
Land Rover Discovery TD5 - sold
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A good read this thread And on a side note your number plate reads "moose111" in Norwegian and I think it might just cause the same reaction as a moose would in Manila due to its rarity Bookmarking and looking forward to future updates. Never been one to give a car a name, apart from when it's been a Land Rover product which is normally "You Ba5tard" but from now on, "Moose" works for me. Thank you. |
| |
Last Edit: Feb 2, 2014 8:34:44 GMT by georgeb
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 13, 2014 12:13:09 GMT
|
|
Bleedin' double post.
|
| |
Last Edit: Feb 13, 2014 12:15:25 GMT by georgeb
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 13, 2014 12:14:37 GMT
|
Last weekend was tightening up the steering box. 10 minutes work for an enormous improvement. Still needs all the front end bushes etc., sorting, but way better. Always difficult with them silly 18" wheels as they seem to love to tramline but I missed the only set of 16's I've seen since I've had this. Ah well, if nowt else, finding parts for this has taught me patience! This weekend, ditching the HID conversion and putting good quality bulbs back in. The BECM hates them and they are now the only source of alarms. Should save around 1/2kg in weight and that's good in a 2 ton motor, right? And no registration sticker yet, they should just put "Next week" on an answering machine and they could sack 50 people! No sign of the shockers either  |
| |
Last Edit: Feb 13, 2014 12:16:26 GMT by georgeb
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 13, 2014 12:50:16 GMT
|
Just discovered this thread and it's brilliant! What it lacks in pictures, it more than makes up for in humour and entertaning reading. Please keep the updates coming, I'm really enjoying reading about life and Land Rover ownership in the Philipines.  Nice car BTW...I'm tempted by one of those engines for my Land Rover. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 13, 2014 23:44:49 GMT
|
|
Thanks and yes, it does lack pictures, apologies. My excuse for this is that unless you actually like slums, much of Manila is not madly photogenic, or you get your camera pinched double-quick. Given the pressure of work, it'll be the end of April before the promised palm fringed beach photos are likely. However, I'll try to address the issue if possible!
As a little side business, we've just bought two small blocks for rental in Tondo (don't be thinking glass and steel towers, Google Tondo in Images - you'll see what I mean, very much from the Shanty school of architecture) so you may be getting a few of the RR parked in the less salubrious part of town. It'll be an interesting contrast, I think.
A nice 4.6 is a lovely engine. Smooth with a wall of poke when riled, even in a 2 ton motor, it’d push your LR along happily. You just miss the burble of carbs.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So, having a grovel around underneath tightening up a weeping water hose and what's this I don't see? No wonder it likes to wander and gets upset at potholes. Someone's nicked me steering damper! Well probably not nicked, but removed at some point and not replaced. How'd I not noticed before puzzles me. Must be an age thing.
Oh goody, another part to track down.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
more likely suspension bushes/steering joints.
damper just stops your thumbs getting broken if steering jolts (via the road wheels)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
damper just stops your thumbs getting broken if steering jolts (via the road wheels) It tries to do that too! Yeah, all the bushes will be getting done at some point, but given that the potholes here can swallow small cars, it may save my thumbs. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just thought I'd bung a little update on here for a lark.
RR on palm fringe beach pictures still not available, I'm afraid, as the Girls decided Boracay was to be the destination of choice (despite me pointing out there's no shopping malls!) but a) there's no way to get a motor there and b) there's nowhere to drive if you do, so we went the conventional route and flew. Dull I know, but necessary. So plenty of the latter palm fringed beaches but a distinct lack of an RR on any of them. And may I recommend, I kid you not, Nigi Nigi Noo Nu's Beach Resort? Excellent gaff, great staff, top bar right on the beach (very important) and do the best steaks I've had since moving here. We shall return!
On the RR front, still no shockers but the more I think, the more I reckon it's just the fact that it's on coils rather than air that's causing the crappy ride problem. It has always been my intention to convert back so I've been doing a bit of pricing up. Ouch  ! I need 4 air bags, obviously, 4 height sensors at US$150 a corner, compressor US$500, various bits of tube and connectors, new dash switches as a previous owner seems to have glued them solid(?) and a bit of time (which, given work on a big privatization tender, moving apartments and the Girl's school holidays, has been at a bit of a premium). Fortunately, the valve block is still there, thus saving $1,500 , so a refurb kit will be on the cards for that. I'll order new OEM shocks at the same time along with various suspension and steering bushes and joints. The big problem here is import duty. With the Nanocom, I paid half as much again in customs  , so God knows what they'll hit me up for with this little lot. Anyway, it looks like Mr Arnott, Mr Atlantic-British and Mr Philippine-Customs are all going to have a field day at my expense.
Talking of Nanocom, what a great little bit of kit that is. Been having a bit more of an in-depth play and now the engine runs beautifully. Smooth right through the range, as a V8 should be. Mind, I was reading a bit about what to do when you reset the adaptive settings. Apparently, you need to do some accelerations up to different speeds and in different ways, so gentle up to 50kph, hard to the limiter in 3rd, etc. Now this is all well and good but anything involving romping up to 80kph will have to wait until around 4am on a Sunday morning as there's no chance of ever reaching that speed at any other time in Manila !
In other motoring news, Madam decided that after a temperature sender failure that rendered her immobile in the middle of Roxas Boulevard, just in time for a jeepney to rear end it, the Honda is unreliable. So, obviously pursuing liberal a "One Strike and You're Out" policy, it's gone and she ordered a new Toyota Fortuner.
First thing she had to do was find a buyer for the Honda. Done. He can pay half up-front in cash and the balance a week later. Fair do’s. What I didn’t know is that the balance was going to be in 25kg sacks of rice. Of course, silly me  ! So there we are with no Honda but 150 bags of the finest Thai rice worth a thousand Pesos a pop. Anyway, the next thing I know is that this is deemed “very delicious” by the local populace of Tondo and is flying out the door at a good profit. Full sacks only, no splitting, thank you. Now, the guy who bought the Honda is a rice importer, strangely enough, and Madam gets onto him and orders another load. So we are now a rice dealer, water supplier and slum landlord. Oh, and one of the local mobile providers wants to pay us rent to put a mast on the roof of the last house we bought, so we’re about to be a rice dealer, water supplier, slum landlord and communications hub! Could only happen in the Philippines.
Anyway, the day of the Toyota delivery finally turns up after 3 unspecified delays, only to find out that the appointed date falls on a Thursday and the garage, who’d registered the vehicle, hadn’t realised that the allocated number plate, ending in 8, meant it couldn’t be driven on a Thursday until after 7pm. So it was, at 7.30, this shiny black item arrives outside Malate Towers. “I thought you said it was white” I mention. “No darling, they give me choice of white or black and I choose white so people could see me at night, but white not available, so I choose black instead”. Erm, of course. Filipina logic at its best!
On a final note, the tender I've been working on as Technical Advisor has been won, so I now get my own railway to play with again! At the moment it's government run and basically a mobile scrapyard, with little in the way of maintenance over the years, so first job is to get half the fleet (some of which are over 30 years old - so seriously retro) and currently parked up immobile in the depot back on the rails again, which, incidentally, also have to be replaced. So it should be good fun for a while. We've also got to bring the "maintenance" back in-house and get it working properly, which will be a major task. Anyway, a few stats for our railway members:
Length:- 20km (to be extended to 31km by early 2019)
Stations:- 20 (will be 28)
Depots:- 1 (will be two)
Staff:- 1,100 ops staff transferring over + 300 or so maintenance staff to hire + support personnel
Fleet:- 27 x two, three and four car trains. It should be 46 x three and four car, but the rest are dead (will be 61 x four car)
Headway:- 4-ish minutes, depending on mood (will be 2) Concession:- 32 years, like I care!
And it's mine, all mine!
More as it happens. |
| |
|
|
jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,274
|
|
|
|
Pictures please - of the railway stock that is |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pictures please - of the railway stock that is Oh, you sad man! We should have access to the depot in a few days, so I'll get some pics of dead trains. |
| |
Last Edit: Jun 18, 2014 8:47:48 GMT by georgeb
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2014 11:35:16 GMT
|
|
As always a fantastic read! Oh, and more pics please!
|
| |
|
|
[*]
[*]
! I need 4 air bags, obviously, 4 height sensors at US$150 a corner, compressor US$500, various bits of tube and connectors, new dash switches as a previous owner seems to have glued them solid(?) and a bit of time (which, given work on a big privatization tender, moving apartments and the Girl's school holidays, has been at a bit of a premium). Fortunately, the valve block is still there, thus saving $1,500 
, so God knows what they'll hit me up for with this little lot. Anyway, it looks like Mr Arnott, Mr Atlantic-British and Mr Philippine-Customs are all going to have a field day at my expense. 
! So there we are with no Honda but 150 bags of the finest Thai rice worth a thousand Pesos a pop. Anyway, the next thing I know is that this is deemed “very delicious” by the local populace of Tondo and is flying out the door at a good profit. Full sacks only, no splitting, thank you. Now, the guy who bought the Honda is a rice importer, strangely enough, and Madam gets onto him and orders another load. So we are now a rice dealer, water supplier and slum landlord. Oh, and one of the local mobile providers wants to pay us rent to put a mast on the roof of the last house we bought, so we’re about to be a rice dealer, water supplier, slum landlord and communications hub! Could only happen in the Philippines. 