As anyone who has written articles or reports will tell you, starting with a blank piece of paper and writing something original is not always easy.. Its good to start with a little hook to get the reader interested and hope that the rest of the piece does the intro justice. Im not feeling that original or creative tonight, so a review is called for instead.
In the months we have been writing up reports and stories about what goes on in the SOC’s area within the internet, subjects covered have been fairly diverse, ranging from the predictable points of interest about our cars, to the merits of Ms Minogue and the ample but controversial charms of a certain animated avatar. We have made videos of days out, solved problems, met new people and made friendships that wouldn’t have happened if the forum hadn’t been established. The odd nutter has also been encountered, our community has become global, we have a man that thinks he is a snake (he is actually a brilliant engineer and a great bloke to share pint with) and there is a legend in the making with the extrovert king of the green, “Russ - Kryten” who turns-up with an answer to every technical problem quicker than IanB gets himself to the bar when someone else has their wallet out.
The first “official” forum meet happens soon at Brands Hatch and the stats are pretty impressive as well. In total, there have been 2.5 million page views, with a million of those in the last 7 or 8 months. In May we had 21,432 separate visits. Given that we not have 780 members, it means that on average, most of the members visit at least 5 or 6 times per week. We set a record of 50 members on-line at the same time in March, which as a group of members would only happen at national day or a busy night in Norfolk, so all in all, a very active place.
Having spent the last year tempting you to have a look, with the disappearance of Kingpin, we are thinking about finding a way of publishing the results of forum technical questions in the magazine, provided nobody has any objections and we can find a volunteer to pull them together – please email me at stagforum@anvuk.com or message me on the forum if you would like to help with this.
As this article is called “this month in the forum” its time to get back on subject. In no particular order:
A vigilant member spotted some small print about insurance cover or the lack of, if the car is left with the roof down. Concensus appears to be that the club scheme makes reasonable allowances for where/how long the car was parked topless but it might be worth checking if you abandon your car roof down for any period of time.
A group of members used the forum to bulk-buy a new design of mesh wind-deflectors. We look forward to the feedback on these.
There has been a problem with sticky cylinder heads this month. Seeing some of the pictures its hard to imagine it being possible to damage solid metal that much, let alone have to do that to remove a cylinder head. If you want to learn the various techniques to un-stick a head and some remarkable tricks of the trade, have a search for the large post on cylinder head removal.
A few members have been having suffering from noisy refurbished differentials and clutch release bearings, prompting some healthy debate about the clubs stance regarding supplier recommendations and the role of the tooling fund to help in this area.
Finally a round-up of todays posts:
If you don’t already know how, you can access the forum via the SOC web site at http://www.stag.org.uk/index.aspx or if you get stuck, email me at stagforum@anvuk.com and I will help you get on-line.
We hope to see you on the forum soon
Graham
In the months we have been writing up reports and stories about what goes on in the SOC’s area within the internet, subjects covered have been fairly diverse, ranging from the predictable points of interest about our cars, to the merits of Ms Minogue and the ample but controversial charms of a certain animated avatar. We have made videos of days out, solved problems, met new people and made friendships that wouldn’t have happened if the forum hadn’t been established. The odd nutter has also been encountered, our community has become global, we have a man that thinks he is a snake (he is actually a brilliant engineer and a great bloke to share pint with) and there is a legend in the making with the extrovert king of the green, “Russ - Kryten” who turns-up with an answer to every technical problem quicker than IanB gets himself to the bar when someone else has their wallet out.
The first “official” forum meet happens soon at Brands Hatch and the stats are pretty impressive as well. In total, there have been 2.5 million page views, with a million of those in the last 7 or 8 months. In May we had 21,432 separate visits. Given that we not have 780 members, it means that on average, most of the members visit at least 5 or 6 times per week. We set a record of 50 members on-line at the same time in March, which as a group of members would only happen at national day or a busy night in Norfolk, so all in all, a very active place.
Having spent the last year tempting you to have a look, with the disappearance of Kingpin, we are thinking about finding a way of publishing the results of forum technical questions in the magazine, provided nobody has any objections and we can find a volunteer to pull them together – please email me at stagforum@anvuk.com or message me on the forum if you would like to help with this.
As this article is called “this month in the forum” its time to get back on subject. In no particular order:
A vigilant member spotted some small print about insurance cover or the lack of, if the car is left with the roof down. Concensus appears to be that the club scheme makes reasonable allowances for where/how long the car was parked topless but it might be worth checking if you abandon your car roof down for any period of time.
A group of members used the forum to bulk-buy a new design of mesh wind-deflectors. We look forward to the feedback on these.
There has been a problem with sticky cylinder heads this month. Seeing some of the pictures its hard to imagine it being possible to damage solid metal that much, let alone have to do that to remove a cylinder head. If you want to learn the various techniques to un-stick a head and some remarkable tricks of the trade, have a search for the large post on cylinder head removal.
A few members have been having suffering from noisy refurbished differentials and clutch release bearings, prompting some healthy debate about the clubs stance regarding supplier recommendations and the role of the tooling fund to help in this area.
Finally a round-up of todays posts:
- K&N air filters
- Carb mixture settings
- Fitting a soft top
- Engine starting problems when hot
- T-bars
- Removing police forensic finger print dust from new paint work
- Front wing repair panels
- New Triumph web-site
- Stainless steel bumpers – fitted at last.
If you don’t already know how, you can access the forum via the SOC web site at http://www.stag.org.uk/index.aspx or if you get stuck, email me at stagforum@anvuk.com and I will help you get on-line.
We hope to see you on the forum soon
Graham
Comment