f1steveuk
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Posts posted by f1steveuk
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Well it's not income, because we don't earn a living in France, so no tax forms.We agreed when we first moved to France with our local office to pay the full rate as even though we return to the UK to work, France is the only property we have, so not a maision secondaire or holiday home, and that has never been a problem. As we pay the full whack, why would one month have an extra 300+ Euros added? Especilly as there has been no written warning of it eiher!!
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I'm not due back in France untill next week, but I'd like to get a handle on this before we set off!! Checking my bank statements our monthly payments for property tax, TF and TH have been the same as always (aprrox' 117 and 156 euros), until this month, when one of them suddenly became 486 Euros!!! Credit Agricole just paid up, and obviously don't know why it has changed, but nor did it raise a flag or did they tell me. Anybody else had this this month or before, any clue as to why they might have done this? No payments have been missed so I am at a loss!!
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Blimey, it's longer ago I went to see him than I thought! He lived notfar from ex team manager Peter Warr, who has also sadly passed
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I know the man that invented the Workmate, he lives nearBergerac!!! He came up with the idea while working for Lotus, when Colin Chapman blew a fuse when the team set up a tressle table as part of the pits garage. He tells me he still gets 10p per unit sold, including licensed copies!!!
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Do you remember the days when you were buying your first car, and you tried to steer clear of anything with over 33,000 miles on it!!!?? I did 257,000 in my Volvo 850, and it was no different to the day I brought it. The guy who brought it off me was made up with it, "oh great, you've finished running it in".My Honda CBX1000 waited until it got to 30,000 miles and everything just let go, like it was designed to, whereas my XJR1200 got better and better the nearer to 100,000 it got.
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As my spare hangs on the back door, I suspect they will look at it, so it, and the bracket may come off for the day!The question about "if it's fitted does it have to work" was because I have one inoperative fog lamp on the front, which is a part that is no longer available, so I was thinking I would take theother working one out, but I have found a "new old stock" one (£19 insteaad of the original £140 when you could get them), so that question is now mute.As I suspected, Frencch laws, grey areas, so they can be adjusted to suit!!!
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Hence my question
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I'll rephrase one part of that question. Tyres on a particular axle have to be the same size and make, but if you have a different make on the front to the rear axle, what does the spare have to match!!?? Or, just take the spare off and put a bottle of glup in for the CT!!
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Sorry, probably been asked before but,Is a CT much like a UK MOT, in that if it's fitted it has to work? And does a vehichle HAVE to have a spare wheel (e.g Smart cars don't)Likewise, with the tyres on axles must be the same, what about the spare, what does that have to match?Love the French use of the "grey area"!!
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Yes Michael, it is all designed to stress one out!! Now I have found some headlights, and know that when the VIN is typed in, the type mines should be correct (the same for Terrano and Maverick petrol, as both were imported into France), so it is possobly becoming easier to et my Maverick French reg'ed.I am assuming that the CT runs the same as a UK MOT, e.g, if it's fitted, it must work, so I am still hunting for a left hand fog lamp, butt the "spray chrome" may get me out of that one, if I can get the rusty fittings out!My only bug bear now will be that my "car" comes up as a "Maverick Aspen" (as per the V5), but mine was converted to be a "van"[URL=http://s161.photobucket.com/user/f1steveuk/media/IMG_0343_zpszq2gtaky.jpg.html][IMG]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/f1steveuk/IMG_0343_zpszq2gtaky.jpg[/IMG][/URL]I have the paperwork that confrrms it was a works conversion, but my local CT man says as all the original fittings are there (rear seats, rear seat belts mounts and all the internal trims, and that he can see that moulded load tray comes out (if unbolted etc), it is still, basically an Aspen, so it's just the fog laight holding me up, as even my over engineered "bodge" on the cat' seems to be better than the rest of the system! Downloaded that catologue though, very very useful!!
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I have now found out, officially, that the Terrano/Maverick will come up as the same vehicle, and hence will not be a problem to CT. I have also located, and awaiting the arrival of some brand new, unused, old stock French market headlights. The "bodge" I made to the cat' converter, has proved so efficient, I cannot remove it, and it has set as hard as steel, and painted looks no different to the rest of the cat'. Leboncoin seems to have more spares for this than "Fleabay" UK, though I am having trouble finding a left hand front fog lamp, but again, there are work arounds to that as well. Can I have a "pre"CT, to see if I have missed anything?
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Can I just throw in the words, series and parallel, which can also bugger up an equation set in stone! Auto electrics, I gave up on doing my own years ago, a field now totally on it's own, and no fun at all!! Anyway according to my Merc' wiring diagram, the three "power sockets" are two in parrallel, and one in series, this series one having the lower rating...............
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Yes, we have the notaires folder with the map included. We re just trying to work out who is responsible for the maintainance of some trees that could be ours, coulb be nextdoors! One boundary of our property is a steep slope/near cliff and we are trying to work out if we own up to the top edge, or the bottom of the slope/cliff!! Logic decrees it should be the top, but as they can erode away, where does the boundary go then!!
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I may have recalled this totally wrong!!I have a recollection that during a conversation about checking land boundaries for properties in France, there was a website, official or otherwise, where you you could check the boundaries using a composite of the registry map, gps and satelite mapping, on line. Is this wishful thinking on my part, or do I remember this correctly?
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Fortunately my rust problem is minimal, surface stuff on the rear wheel arches, which I have already treated. On the plus side, I haven't invested a huge sum of money in it, but it would be nice to have it road legal in case we get snow. just sucks when you TRY and do things the right way, but "the system" tries to prevent it.When we first moved here, I brought my bike over, and having worked in F1, I used to use my motorsport helmet on my bike. Never got stopped once by French police (did in Britain, once, because the policeman wanted to have a closer look and ask how much one cost!!), but TRY and do the right thing.............Much though I'd love to build a Caterham, I have a hatred of paperwork!!!Anyway, went to Perigueux yesterday and saw three Terranos, so there are parts somewhere!!
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I think I can "make" a cat converter, as the bolt flanges are pretty solid, it's just the body has gone, and a Teranno one must be pretty close, as the engine is the same. The ECU being sealed probably precludesany tinkering.It must be a major arse restoring a classic car here. As a motor museum curator in the past, I know howw much stuff we had to remake, make, or convert, but I sort of knew the French rules might be a bit much!!The fog lights I can adapt, and until I see how the round headlight version difffers, I think I may be able to go that route, until then, I have rust to conquer!!
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When I originally posted I expected the basic answer "your F@~k$d" but was vainly hoping someone might have a solution, like one off type approval etc, but the original question was actually, "can I remove the catalytic converter". I also posted that my local CT man has said, "it's an Aspen, so we do it as that, as it could be converted back", as the Aspen has the relavent Type Mines. The headlights and front panel on mine? I shall endeavour to return it to standard and go from there. The cat' I shall remove what is left of the original and see if I can weld the flanges to a later one, and replace.I can, as an ex motor trade worker, identify many of the parts used to build my Maverick, which incidently was used in the original sales brochure, and not once shown from the front , as they continuously modified it before the project was shipped to Spain (as I have been told by the garage that built the thing), like the flred plastic wheel arches, that once lived on a Rav 4, so I am not a total idiot. Ultimately I will try and find a Nissan Teranno Commercial, and see how much I might be able to use. These were sold in France, Spain and the UK, but in very limited numbers. Where mine scores is that the ONLY mod's from standard (except the front panel and lights, due to a once fitted bull bar) is the removal of the rear seats (fittings still there, along with belt mounts) and the rear side glasses replaced with metal/plastic panels, so it's an Aspen, which my CT guy says is "lightly modified", which means it (as he put it) "travels on the same COC". Failing that, I get the COC from a French market Nissan Teranno Commercial, as I can prove it is the "same" vehicle.The lights shown in the links sent show a curved upper/inner corner, which are late Maverick/Legend, though then could be just using that picture for illustrative purposes.So in summary, yes, I sort of knew the answer, but hoped there may be a solution, just didn't expect such negativity.Push comes to shove, I keep it UK reg, take it back once a year, and just drive it down forthe winter, if that's ok?(I'm not annoyed, honest)
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Sorry to "labour the point" Dave, but we can't all be as clever as you, oh wait , we can, those headlights are for the later Maverick or Mazda Legend, but you must have known that without the registration, chassis/vin number or even the just the year of manufacture?If the scrappy had them, I'd have brought them, and the cat', but at present they don't. If there was a pattern part for both headlights, and in LHD, and a cat', I'd have brought them. ONE of your links does show a Teranno/Maverick with the correct style headlights, but the wrong front panel, which wont fit. If it were "simple", I would have just got on with it, but the parts for mine are specific to that year and model, of which just under 80 (that's EIGHTY) were built by Roper in Norfolk for Ford, before the project was handded over to Nissan, for them to be built in Spain, but aagain, you surely knew that?, The are NLA, hence my general question, "what if you need parts that are NLA, but if I am labouring the point, just don't read the thread.
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I am aware of pattern parts (I did a five year apprenticeship with Caffyns Ltd, who were Rolls-Royce, Austin-Rover and Leland Commercial, waas garage manager at Harris Bros, and worked na multi dealership garage before becoming a motor museum curator), so OE, pattern and secondhand parts are not a mystery to me, but my question as to if a OE part is unavailable is still valid, some parts are vehicle unique!I'm looking into lhd lights, but the reflector problem seems to be a commonn ailment, and I am wondering that as the Terrano was imported into France, if it's possible to convert from square headlights to lhd round ones.Ultimately, looks like a bigger project than I thought!
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I took the Maverick to my local CT man, and once he had seen it was a Maverick Aspen, and I howed him that the mounting holes for the rear seats are still there, and that the glass panels for the rear hav been replaced with metal ones, he laughed and said, " ah, converti, pas du probleme". So to repeat the original question, what if there are parts you need for the CT, that according to the manufacturer are NLA?
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Well to answer the points brought up.The cat is beyond welding, hence the problem. I looked at the cat' repair pipes, and just from the diameter, it looked like they might not be up to snuff, but may be the only option!!!My Maverick is actually one of the first two built, as prototypes, so a converted Aspen model, and as it was available in France as both the Maverick and a Terrano, and all that is changed on mine is no rear side glass, no rear seats and a fitted load liner, I don't think it will be hard to CT. As I said, my biggest problem is parts that are no longer available, e.g. the headlights (the original square type) and the catalytic converter. As I say, if you put in the chassis number/reg number, it comes up as a Aspen, not a commercial, and I have aall the paperwork regarding the conversion. The Nissan version was available in France (built in Spain)
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Here's a technical one!!! Just brought (in the UK), a 1996 Ford Maverick 4x4 van (second one built and a rare beasty). Obviously, now I have in at home, I will need to set about gettting it French registered.Problem 1. Headlights are no longer available, but as it's really a Nissan Terrano, I might be able to use LHD lights off one of those, though I know I can get a CT with deflectors if it's the only. Though one light is losing it's silvering!!The bigger problem is, I had a new exhaust middle and tail section fitted before we left the UK, but the fitter forgot the middle mounts, and it sressed the weld on the catalytic converter joining flange. It appears these too may be no longer available, for either the Maverick or the Terrano. I can get a "catalytic converter repair section", which is the same diameter pipe, and has a larger diameter flexy section, which I have to assume has some form of cat' in it, but would that be accepted in a CT? How do you prove it is the ONLY alternative? Can I just replace the cat' with a piece of exhaust (I'd guess not). How do you stand if the manufacturer has actually stopped making the parts for a car? Oh the joys!!!!
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Does anyone know more on this?http://investir.lesechos.fr/placements/impots/actualites/bientot-une-nouvelle-taxe-sur-le-foncier-bati-1563912.php#SjpcHP8ic2ikMCcV.01
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I have read that under new laws, you can now block unwanted calls.As I read it, under the law, ALL companies have to check that you haven't registered your number onhttp://www.bloctel.gouv.frand if you have, they cannot call it.Anyone else heard of this/read it, and can confirm?
Monthly RIB payment for property tax wrong!!
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