+1

and once again thanks a million for the help sam,
i agree, the haynes manual is a god send, but some of the stuff is very ambitious, remeber the bit sam, unscrew the hub nut in haynes? 3 hours later, and alot of swearing of the nut came!!
And with the windscreen parking, in haynes, made no sense what so ever,

when i went round sams house to do my kingpin, out came sam with the bastard of the viking's kingpin topic all printed out, and it was a breeze, well i had no idea but sam obviously did!!

i think twofifty must of woken up on the wrong side of the bed??

i cant put my finger on how viking is making more business out of helping people all over with his usefull guides and tips (and ken sean etc) ive not once actually read that he himself is a 2cv spesh, ive just geussed and its obvious he is, but he doesnt brag about it,
the information people are giving on here is free, we arent paying for it, and some of it is invaluable and shouldnt be free. thats the way i look at it, im always greatful when someone replies with some very usefull and informative information to a confused me!

i also think we should thank viking for the help (and others too) they dont have to go out to the garage and take photos and post them do they?

There isn't any politics in my post. The simple fact is that having one person write a series of guides on which no one is allowed to comment is ridiculous. I don't see any reason why anyone should be preaching from the internet equivalent of a pulpit. It isn't my forum, but until such time as admin decides to create a pulpit for one individual, any individual, I think I'm perfectly entitled to point out that I think it is a bad idea.

Look for instance at Russel's suspension thread, it has been commented on, elaborated, modified and expanded and it is the better for it.

The possibility of being gobsmacked by a comment is one of the strengths of a forum, isn't it (so long as the comment is accompanied by a good bit of reasoning)? And the whole point of a forum is to debate and talk and chatter. The idea of a forum thread where nobody is allowed to comment negates the forum!
The best online medium for a collection of in-depth posts that reflect a single editorial line is a blog. There's a place both for articles and for forum posts. O-N did this really successfully with his recent Blue Bamboo renovation: posting very engaging blog articles and then updating his thread on this forum (and others also, I believe) and thriving off and adding information as a result of the comments from others.

I welcome Viking's thread proposal. But to prevent the anarchy of input from others would kill the very liveliness that we enjoy.

Still fancy the idea of a "Top Tips" thread, btw.

Oh dear...

Personally I'm all for this 'How to' section.

The whole point (surely?) is to make the forum easier to navigate and more informative. I think I2F is a place where somebody, who wants to try their hand at something, can come to and give it a go. They can search for the stickies in the technical section and get their hands dirty much quicker.

So if Viking (or whoever) is wiling to put in the time to do this then why shout him down? This then frees up the rest of the forum for those healthy 'chassis flex' debates that can go on forever. Not everyone wants to trawl through that to get to the bits so they can get the job done.

Most other car forums seem to be able to do this and in my experience the stickies are generally written by one or two members because they have the time and inclination. This kind of dedication should never be hindered.

Why not go down the same route as the "Deuche Speciale" threads? Have the "manual" locked, but have a section where you can post questions for answering?

studioru,
I'd be interested to hear why you think that someone expounding their half-baked theory on 'flexible' chassis is healthy.

From my point of view, their stance was a direct attack on my livelihood, made even worse by their insistence that the galvanizing process renders a chassis prone to failure.

I don't know how far along you may be with testing of your 2WD chassis at Status, but no doubt the properties which they will be examining will include its torsional and bending stiffness, looking for a minimum acceptable value in both cases.

ken

Oh dear (again)

I used 'chassis flex' as an example of how the technical sections can be divided into debate and 'how to' sections... wish I had mentioned tyres now or maybe 123 ignition.

All equally contentious topics. Me thinks this should all be avoided

Relax Ken, it appears to me that if anybody dare not agreeing with you, you get very upset. Nobody is having an attack on your business; I don’t think for minute that it would have any impacted whatsoever if someone did. Sorry for being upfront but I think you see yourself as the victim if somebody question your posts. I do respect your knowledge a lot but not the way you go about it. If a sub forum about how to fix this and that is a goer, you may feel pushed aside but that it not the point whatsoever. I would welcome your input at all times but I’m sure you understand that an open forum is simply not possible due to disagreements just like this subject is being turned inside out. I admit that I do mistakes, we all do including you but hey we are not robots, just passionate A model enthusiast wanting to share and help. What about something like constructive criticism from your court, I sure you got plenty on offer if you could pull out of your grumpy old man syndrome. I say this with a smile on, if you take it any other way, I’m sorry. If you don’t want to be part of it, no worries, it may not be for you. I shall rest this case for now and wait for the final say from the owners.
Cheers
Viking