CosworthGuy

Ive just bought the october edition and its got an extra suppliment about how to make your ford faster on a budget

Tuning the mk1 and 2 escorts with saab engines and 24v cosworth, T16 rover engine and a few other interesting ones

Mk1 fiesta with zetec on bike carbs

and all manner of engines in a sierra. says 16valves. 24 valves v6 , v8 , turbo.
How to go fast in a sierra that isnt a cosworth

First time ive ever bought this mag so im gonna have a read.

Cheers

dojj

iTrader: (3)

they have good write ups in there for sure

but some of the stuff is way to techy for me to get my head around

CosworthGuy

ill soon see. gonna settle down with a few beers and read it later while our lass watches X facor

Stavros

seeing as most of the tech stuff they write is usually incorrect, thats probably a good thing.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

how's that then my not spanish friend

the bits they do when they fix their own cars seem to be well bodged up bits of kit that actually do the job well

the actual write ups they do for example this issues fuel injectors stuff, seems to be beyond my level of expertise but i can be pretty sure that they wouldn't print something without lots of informatin and someone who knows who to write up about it

markk

iTrader: (2)

so , no differant to every other mag out there then

GARETH T

the best ive read in there was a guy who wrote in and said he decked his block by dragging it up and down his patio PMSL PMSL

PAUL V

I agree with you mark, but what they do it show ppc you that you don’t have to spunk ££££ on a car to have fun

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Just look at the mags like Redline , fast ford, P-ford lost of the cars featured are well out of the reach of the readers[/FONT]

Martin-Hadland

iTrader: (2)

Spot on! Too many mistakes.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

anyway, forget all taht shit, look at pages 26 and 27 to spot your motor in the ford fair pictures

from memory i can see

rainbird
harvey
b9cos
ag's focus
and TWO of the royal nail

blacky.

might have to go & have a nosey at this issue in tesco
had my B10 in there on a group thrash last year

tabetha

So it's not just stav and reyland and co that make mistakes then.
My god they must be HUMAN then, bonus if you ask me.
They don't ever profess to be experts, they give an opinion, as stav knows as he reads the mag, what an odd thing to do with lots of mistakes but hey it's his money!
I must admit there are lots of other mags FF PF to name a few, that seem to have the same old stuff, but life would be so boring if we were all the same.
The one thing I can absolutely assure you is, they do thier best and are happy to help anyone, whether they make a sale or not, and I am not in anyway suggesting martin is like that as I am very impressed by his work and attitude to others, but some are not this way.
DW, Dave Walker when he did me some mapping last monday(22) made a cock up, and the amal valve was going potty, but he said right away some numpty has been at the ecu, he is so honest, he has said to me on numerous occasions to questions "I don't know", which I find mightily impressive, instead of fudging it.
After mapping properly I ditched my closed loop, and have not looked back since.
Just need to drill a hole for in exhaust better bangs and flames now.
I know of no other mag like PPC, they are just so mental not bufties by any means but get the job done cheaply and safely, and share thier knowledge.
PPC came about as DW in particular did not lime the direction CCC was going orientated towards big budget builds of track cars.
DW has been approached about re-starting the handling clinic, like they had in CCC, but he does not have the time, even though he has my car as a guinea pig, for that and the LC due to come out soon.
PPC is the only mag I read from front to back.
tabetha

Martin-Hadland

iTrader: (2)

Stop being a twat, you say that they don't profess to be experts.. If that's the case then why do they print tuning guides? Surely that would be best left alone if they aren't experts!

I actually really like the mag but they need to sort out some of the technical and also take photo's of the bits people want to see, too many times I have read about an interesting car but the photos let it down.

The magazine has the right idea and it only needs fine tuning to make it potentially the best petrol head mag out!

Stavros

PPC is my fave mag, purely as it has the most stuff relevant to me, but it drives me fucking mental as its so wrong every bloody issue.
If i didnt like the mag so much id not care, but it drives me nuts at what is potentially an awesome mag always let down by constant tech errors etc.
And when its a mag thats aimed at showing people how to do stuff and explain stuff in guides, its not good when these guides are so full of mistakes.

Not having a tech spec on the feature cars drives me nuts too, find out fuck all about the cars.

As does the fact there almost no tech info on 90% of what I expect are really really interesting cars, just a load of waffle to fill the space as the writer obviously didnt understand the car either.

Seems like a really good mag which unfortunatley is mostly written by folk who down know what they talking about.

Ade

I agree, too many snappers don't have a clue about the cars so they miss out on vital areas on concentrate on the wrong ones if not specifically guided by a writer..... I do try to be different there!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

not wanting to start a war here between different mags but can anyone answer me this:

when you write an article for a mag (there are plenty of writers here) do you tend to cover all the points that are normally listed in the tech panels?

and, for the editors (beacuse there are a few of them here as well) do you have the final say or does someone else proof read the submnissions and then you say "that looks good enough, if you say it's fine put it into print" or what?

perhaps, as a totaly differently orientated mag, the ppc staff don't have the same set up?

will has answered a lot of questions for me in the past so, based on the little bit of emails we've shared, he's come across as a really nice guy but i don't think i could go to him in the same way as dan or simon and say "look here chap" and start telling him the rights and wrongs and get to a point where we both see the other persons point of view right from the off, he'd probably tell me to bugger off

RS2.7

I like PPC mag but it's like "scrap yard challenge" in magazine form if you know what i mean .

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

I check every page at the designed stage, and at the PDF stage just before it goes to print. If I spot a mistake, and there's time to fix it, I have it re-done.

Mistakes do get through, I'd be the first to admit that. But not many.

RAT8OY

PPC is one of the mags I enjoy every month and would not miss a copy.

The only complaint I have ever had and in fact I stopped buying it for a while because of it, was there tends to be an inverted snobberey going on. Anybody who buys new expensive stuff for their cars seems to get looked down on, unless you build a car and run it on shite gathered from the scrap yard you are deemed and idiot with too much money.

I have cars I run and tune on a shoe string and love the mag for the tips and ideas it gives. I also have a project that drinks cash like there is no tomorrow and I would prefer to have a delay in the build while I save the cash than bodge it with shitty looking bits (that would probably suffice) and not have the car I want.

That my two penneth anyway!

Stavros

all mags will work in a similar way, where the words get checked before the features designed, and then again after it is, on the page so to speak.
this eliminates spelling and punctuation errors (very useful on anything i write ), and anything glaringly wrong with the feature.

but tech mistakes will only get spotted if the person whos proof reading it understands what he is reading, and thats PPCs problem, they obviously dont, and take the words of whoever writes it for granted, just as most the readers will.

thats why, even tho my spelling and grammar suck ass, i proof read as much redline stuff as i can, so no tech errors get in if i cant help it.

wheras other mags, say some shite like maxpower where not one of the staff has a clue about cars, loads of really glaringly daft errors get in, as they dont know a turbo from a block of cheese.

PPCs stuff isnt like Max, ie the staff do like cars and have a fair knowlege, but they dont seem to know enough for the attempted techyness of the mag, hence tons of tech errors get in all the time.

i still love the mag tho its like a husband who beats and cheats on his wife, and she keeps coming back to him

markk

iTrader: (2)

ive never read a glossy comic yet that i cannot find faults with technical information, that includes performance ford, fast ford etc, yes ppc is no differant but the style and rawness of ppc seams to be better to read through with something differant for a change, rather than a shiny sapphire or a shiney RS turbo with the same mods as every other one

dojj

iTrader: (3)

wait till chip tells you about the calibra headline

i'm still going to buy the mag as the plus points far far outweigh the negatives, besides, it's entertaining as well, which i think not a lot of mags have in their make up, there are the odd jokes here and there, but it's like comparing fawlty towers to hi-de-hi

ccc was too hardcore a mag to do well really, and race and track or whatever replaced it was also a bit too off the beaten track so there was deffintly a big gap in the market ready for ppc to fill

lets see what the morning brings to the disscusion

Mike1

Ah, that's a shame - I used to like that bit when DW had cars in to "sort out"

Matt Evans

I personally like the mag, its a fairly light hearted look at the "world of tweaking" with the emphassis on the budget side.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

even though he looks like a mini paul teutul, will is still cool

mcst

I know 1 of the chaps who works on PPC, met one of the other guys too. I tore the mag apart for them as they asked what i thought.
I Personally find about 40% of the mag good but think the feature cars could do with better write ups. The kids got me a subscription to Fast Ford so i don't bother buying any other mags. I can find out most things i need on the net ( same reason i stopped with mountain bike mags ).
The guys at ppc are average guys with a passion for cars like us. Theres a lot they could do better and they know it, but bear in mind they haven't the backing of Future, emap etc... they operate out of a village in lincolnshire. Cover price puts me off but the subscription appears good value.

I dont buy the mag as theres just not enough in it for me to justify the price. If i bought this for the few bits i want i'd end up with retro cars and performance french cars(REALLY POOR VALUE MAG) too.
Some really good ads in it though unlike the crap that fills the back third of most mags.

End of the day they need to sell mags so have to target a market so as the saying goes
you cant please all of the people all of the time.

Stavros

Its not a money thing for me, as i dont mind the photography, or spelling mistakes (id not notice any even if there was ), or even the general jist of the content, in fact like said, tis prob my fave mag, I just dont like the fact so much of the tech "info" they tell you is wrong, and most of all, no tech spec on the cars.

They might only do 2 feature cars a month, but id still like to know about em!

Latest issue is a case in point, drives me nuts, Polo with motorbike engine in front and RWD, talks about the rear axle, prop, allsorts, but doesnt mention the gearbox, ie what it is.
Granted you can only fit so many words on a page, but thats the point of a tech spec, all I wanted to know is what fucking gearbox it is

Turbo E30 last issue was the same, what manifold and wastegate used wouldve been good, injector size, boost, just little things that could easy been put in a nice detailed tech spec, but didnt need to be put in the body copy. But instead was nowhere.

mcst

Jesus i must sound tight!!
I'd just rather save the little difference on the cover price and buy a mag i can really enjoy. As it goes i really like retro cars just never get round to buying it. My local newsagents don't stock it and i don't want it every month so means a trip to town to WHstiffs so £1.50 parking and nearly a fiver of fuel!!

I couldn't work out what it was about the features that i didn't like and stravros got it bang on.......they tell you so much then miss a small thing, usually that little snippet you wanted to know the most!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

perhaps they don't want to give the game away?
they only have the owners to ask so perhaps its one of those questions that wasn't asked or the owners didn't tell them about

how many tuners cars have the words "secret spec something or other gizmotrinics" to keep it a secret?

if he told you want box it was using, how many of you would be out there now building ike engined rwd little motors

which leads to another question for the writer types:

do you go out with a list of standard questions to ask the owners or do you just go with the flow?

Stavros

Rubbish mate, its not that at all, not in the slightest, trust me, and ive done hundreds of features.

not many, as its not that powerful and totally torqueless. it wouldnt be hard to find out what box to use, been done before.

There a few questions I ask every time, but generally I go with the flow, all cars are different, set questions arnt the best idea unless you dont really understand what your seeing/hearin.

blacky.

well i went & got it last night & while flicking throught in the bath i seen a pic from last year when my B10 was in the mag for the factory tuneing feature
they used the pic on the wet race section