Motoring questions you are afraid to ask.

[crank_case]

Vat applies, 13.5% if the car is original and 23% if modified.

I understand non-EU imports are always going to pay VAT, but how does that work in terms of "modified" or standard?

[Bazg2]

My understanding is that in the older systems, the software struggled to allocate a recorded speed to an individual vehicle when there was more than one in the targeting frame. Pretty sure I dodged a bullet a couple of times because of that.

Given that it was a software / firmware issue - not really sure if that's till the case. Having seen how modern infra-red camera hardware in airports could detect and flag individuals with elevated temperatures / possible covid carriers out of a crowd of moving people in real time, I'm not sure that's still such a constraint though.

Hang in there thought - mightn't be as bad as you think.

Modern camera tech can pick up multiple objects, but if you’re lucky enough the traffic could block the registration plates and I think this is where some folk get caught as they pass the van another front mounted camera picks up the registration that was hidden by the traffic, but sometimes the traffic can still be in the way of the reg plate and you might get away with it.

[Bazg2]

Why are exhaust headers called headers and does that apply to manifolds?

[-alan-]

The header (pipe) so called because it is the one at the opposite end from the tail pipe .. or alternatively, the one that goes into the head.. no ?

[fez]

Why are exhaust headers called headers and does that apply to manifolds?

I would assume because the other end is the tail pipe

[Bazg2]

Never thought of the tail pipe and yes I was thinking that it’s because they start at the cylinder head, but then do we class all manifolds as headers?

[-alan-]

To me the general classifications were always more along the lines of manifold - primary or header-pipes - then tailpipe and/or silencer.

If the primary pipes go directly into the head then there's no manifold. A manifold in exhaust terms has several inputs, but usually only one (or sometimes two or more) outputs, but always with fewer outputs than inputs..if you get what I mean

[shaggy]

Usually called a manifold if it is cast and a header if it is tubular but that has a lot to do with the design possible with each production method.

[JohnRA]

I've always been of the thought it's a single manifold for "traditional" in line engines with a single head, and headers for anything not in line with multiple heads I've always thought headers. E.g. flat 4 headers, V8 headers.

[Type17]

I used to think that header was the US term for a manifold, but Google says that manifolds are cast, and are heavier and often more restrictive than tubular steel headers. Affordable aftermarket headers for tuning probably came to Europe from the street-rod scene in post-war US, so maybe that's where the association with headers as an American thing came from.

[TRD3000GT]

Was in the Nct center today, guy in front was a car dealer
said he would drop this one back and be back in an hour with another

Do these guys get to bypass the backlog the rest of us have to endure

[Mark2]

No, we used to just drop off cars in the hope of a cancellation, could be there for 24hrs or more, but when there's a no show they take it in

[Padrio]

What do you do when you hit the road at 7am for an NCT and the Engine Management Light decides to light up a km down the road? 🤔

Answer, rush home, grab the CARLY adapter, run diagnostics and clear the fault codes with a minute to spare. 😁

NCT passed and good to go for another 12 months

(Car is a 07 A4 Cabriolet 2.0TSi)

[Type17]

Had something similar with the MIL's Pug 206 - indicator bulb blew while signalling to turn in to the NCT centre - sent car in, ran up the road to a filling station and bought the right bulb, told the NCT guy that I had it and would fit it in a sec, and showed it working to him when he emerged with his next car, and he printed the pass cert.

[Smythy411]

What do you do when you hit the road at 7am for an NCT and the Engine Management Light decides to light up a km down the road? 🤔

Answer, rush home, grab the CARLY adapter, run diagnostics and clear the fault codes with a minute to spare. 😁

NCT passed and good to go for another 12 months

(Car is a 07 A4 Cabriolet 2.0TSi)

Engine light doesn't fail the NCT. Sure if it did then most Audi's and VWs would always fail ha. My old A4 had the engine light on due to an EGR delete for many years and never failed.... It failed on every other light coming on every second month though