Kristov4

Just a quick note to say I'm fine and thanks for the support guys. just beginning to sink in how lucky I was not to collect anyone else on my little excursion across all 4 lanes and back again with a little 360 pirouette In the middle for good measure! cars not looking great but it's only a lump of metal. Very relieved to still be in one piece! ian might well have some interesting footage if his cam was running as might I. thanks again for sticking around till I was sorted.

Not for me either.

stick us on the list Nik.

I think I'll make the run round. Cant have you eating alone Rob!

Suggested dates 9th-13th April I am looking into the possibility of doing the north coast 500 over the easter break! I will be going with my brother for some sibling bonding but it would be great to have a few more of you along for the ride. Check it out at http://www.northcoast500.com and if you think you might be interested stick your name on the list. The itinerarys on the site suggest 5 days but I reckon we can bang it out in four. dates not set in stone at this stage so just stick your name down if you like the idea. 1. Kristov4 2. Lauren

No probs I reckon we can look to leave Inverness about mid day. so shall we say 11 at the castle.

I will be in Edinburgh Friday night and heading to Inverness on the Saturday. There is no private parking at the Hostel in Inverness but there are a couple of carparks close by. It might cost up to £7 for overnight parking. All the other accommodation have parking available. @Rich I suggest we meet you on sunday at Inverness castle. I believe this is the official start point and should be good for some photos. What time do you anticipate getting to Inverness?

Excellent Rich. No problem for the 12th. Really looking forward to this now. Keeping one eye on the weather! Seems to be lots of conflicting reports about.

Excellent Rich. Let me know how you get on with bookings. i understand you won't need the 9th. There is a bed available on the 12th as Faith won't need it. you should be able to get something at the seaview John O'groats but Smoo Cave hotel on the 11th did tell me they only had the family apartment available when I booked today. They might be prepared to squeeze another bed in if you ask. It's booked in my name 'Chris Walker' let me know if you have any probs.

Route Map https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zzAk-ceQbJBU.kBtr1SnmHOBQ&usp=sharing pin points accommodation.

Yes Mike dates are for the night of stay so you are sorted except for the 11th April which I'm working on. Yes Rich you should be able to book additional beds. Availability was good when I booked. look back soon for update on the 11th. If you don't mind sharing the family room on the 12th then you can grab that bunk as Faith won't need it. Faith thats cool. Merich are you still in?

Ok I have booked or booking the following Hotels/lodge houses based on our brief discussion on sunday when it was agreed we would keep the accommodation as cheap as possible. Let me know if this is not appropriate. 9th April Bazpackers Hostel Bazpackers Hostel 4 Culduthel Rd Inverness IV2 4AB 01463 717663 Apartment sleeps 4 adult in bunks I believe. £80 10th April Seaview Hotel Seaview Hotel John O'Groats Caithness KW1 4YR 01955 611220 Quad bunk house sleeps 4 adults £100 11th April Smoo Cave Hotel Smoo Cave Hotel Lerin Durness IV27 4QB 01971511227 Apartment sleeps 4 adults Double/twin 2 singles Kitchen Bathroom etc. Breakfast included. £125 12th April Gairloch Highland Lodge Gairloch Highland Lodge Gairloch Highland Lodge Gairloch IV21 2AH 01445 771223 Family room Twin and two bunks sleeps 4 adults £156 13th April Garve Hotel Garve Hotel Mar Road Garve IV23 2PR 01997 414205 Standard twin Sleeps 2 adults £65 I have made these bookings on the basis of myself +1 Mike and Faith sharing Note the Garve Hotel is only booked for 2 i.e. me+1 Because Faith will not need accommodation so Mike you will need to book something. Hope this all makes sense and those of you that have showed an interest can join us. Cheers Chris

Sorry been off the radar for a while. I am still planning to go ahead with this and will be looking at accommodation this week. My brother won't be joining me anymore so I would be up for sharing accommodation to keep the cost down. The dates remain the same but I might be looking to drive to Edinburgh initially on the 8th before moving on to Inverness on the 9th. The route would then be Anti clockwise stopping at or around Inverness -John O'Groats-Durness-Applecross-Inverness.

Yep. I'm in.😜

Ok peeps, suggested schedule is meet in Inverness on Saturday 9th April to start the route on Sunday morning. Arrive back in Inverness Tuesday eve 12th April head home Wednesday 13th April. Link below to wet your appetite. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUhKhQP4PBo

Ok I've done a little research into school holidays in scotland and england and the result is a little confusing. As Easter is so early this year many schools are off for the Easter bank holidays but then resume on the tuesday till the friday 1st April. They are then off until the 18th April for the Spring break. However some schools are breaking up for spring break on Thursday 24th March and returning on Monday 11th April. Hertfordshire are following the former plan so I will be suggesting to my brother that we take advantage of the week from the 11th to the 17th April as potentially many schools will be back by then. Phew I hope that makes sense. Will confirm dates after consultation with my bro at christmas.

Unfortunately being a teacher I have no choice but to go during the school holidays😔 Whilst I have no problem with anyone organising trips on alternative dates I would appreciate this thread remaining focused on the window I have suggested. I hope this request doesn't cause any offence. Impressed with your proposed route though Chris. 😜

Based on your description Lauren this should suit me perfectly 😝 So add me to the NA crew!

I'll have you know I've done the London to Brighton twice! admittedly I walked up Ditchling Beacon on both occasions! But 500 miles! in the Highlands! This is definetly a driving event! I was originally considering the goodfriday - easter Monday but as Mike said I have two weeks to play with if we feel the easter weekend itself will be too busy.

So bit of a weird day. Took the day off work due to splitting headaches and generally feeling shit! Tried to make an appointment with the GP but was told the earliest would be in a week! By that time I would probably be an emotional wreck so decided to cheer myself up with some modification therapy! I've had a HKS manifold sitting in my living room (curtesy of Lee) for the past few weeks evolving into a coffee table. So I took it to my local garage to get a quote on fitting. "£60 +vat and I can do it now" sorted. Less than 1 hour later all fitted and they fixed a puncture in my nearside rear tyre. Took it out for a blast and I'm very impressed! I'm no expert but the car felt much more responsive, seemed to pull right through the old torque dip and sounds amazing. Putting a huge smile on my face! No sign yet of the expected warning light from the o2 sensors. Can't wait to get it to Fensport for Adrian to wave his magic wand over the ECU and maximise the gains! Still got a headache but who gives a shit! might have to take tomorrow off though to complete the therapy on some great roads around Oxford! Quick question for you more learned fellows. I've noticed on line that a lot of peeps have taken the step of heat shielding the oil sump following similar modification. Is this considered vital or just precautionary? Oh and if you read this Mas I could do with some HKS decals if you have any spare?

PM sent

Well I appear to have made a right cock up in my Chavy attempts to pimp my ride. It would appear in attempting to install my puddle lights I have inadvertently fried part of my ECU! Should have done my research and then I would have discovered the warnings from across the pond from owners who have suffered a similar fate! I managed to disconnect the door light and wire in the puddle light on the driver side without issue, so filled with confidence I proceeded to the passenger side. After disconnecting the door light and wiring in the puddle light... it didn't light! I then noticed the puddle light on the driver side was on despite the door being closed! It would appear I managed to short the wire sending a surge direct to the ECU. Only solution appears to be a new ECU which is very expensive! Inorder not to leave the light on overnight on the driver side I removed the fuse for the interior lights but it appears this leads to the alarm going off when I lock the doors! Fortunately everything else appears to be working fine. Can anyone tell me what the implications are of replacing the ECU with regards mapping/licence etc? Apparently simply switching bulbs to LEDs anywhere internally can and has led to the same outcome. So be warned. Of course disconnecting the battery before attempting any of this would probably have saved me a serious headache (but apparently not necessarily). Any advice greatfully welcomed just please don't make me feel like a bigger idiot than I already do!

Apparently Subaru Tech claim " that putting LEDs in the circuit can cause a BIU failure because the current is less than the expected current." (ft86club). But surely this means simply blowing a bulb could have the same effect?

Thinking about it I couldn't have caused the problem when I cut the connector off as I tested the new unit afterwards and it worked fine. Apparently their is no circuit protection between this light and the ECU. Yep still coming Nik.

No Steve I was a numpty and cut the conector from the oem light in order to use the feed to connect to the puddle light! of course with the door being open the wire were powered at the time