a few questions..(saving old paint job,slow up hills,hot idl

[hippy]

alright so i am clearly not that great at forum-um-um-ing , i have a few
a) forum questions
b) general car questions(related to my mk1 but could be general)
c) mk1 & mk2 questions
can't figure my way around as to best place to post things sometimes...so at the risk of getting my cyber tranny head bitten off, gonna put it all right here coz old cars and their drivers make more sense to me!!!

1-my van is in reasonable nick, has very minimal rust but paint is certainly well baked on-having been in aussie sun since 76..has sort of crackle effect, I want to preserve it and give it a shine without taking the paint off, what shall i use??

2-Have just got my van back after an overly helpful (more trouble than worth) mechanic held her hostage for over a month ..I had fully serviced and put in new fuel pump, fuel line, leads, dizzy cap myself,then he put in new muffler(which is way noisier than original) which led to reface of manifold, studs rusted....new head. should be running like a dream right?!? NO! like dogs balls idling hot, running like a charging bull-is hard to hold back, but has no power going up hills oh yeah, dif was stuffed, just had all re sorted.

3)-my indicators went crazy today, I have a dash switch that an auto electrician fitted as my indicator arm is broken and am still looking for a reasonable price one but has always worked fine...today, when switched to off all my indicators flashing so i look like i have my hazard lights on...had to disconnect flasher unit( which is reasonably new) and drive with no indicators. any ideas?

4) how do I.... a) email another member, do I have to be their 'friend'
b)update...or just put details on my profile
c)put my avatar on...tried following instructions via photobucket but didn't win

alright... thats it hope its not all too much
cheers

[BigNeil]

Loads of quesstions there

1. bigmastif can advice on paint work shining as that is his forte. I take it you are in Australia

2. some one more technicla than me needs to answer this issue although I think there is more than one in the question.

3. going back to answer to first Q have you tried ebay but i suspect if you live where i think you live it will be postage that is the prohibitive part.

4. PM another member by pressing "0 messages" although you may have one by then. Compose message which will open a blank template for you. Find the username you want to contact and then fill in like any other email. then send. it will sit in your outbox until the person you send it to picks it up !
b. If you go into user profile you can add things in
c. and putting your avator on is easy as long as you have photobucket and copy the right peart of the url

[hippy]

thanks! will try avatar again tomorrow, and will wait in anticipation for the paint and techie answers
have tried ebay...there is a guy who has a matching van that he is wrecking just round the corner but won't split it. and i dont really want any other spares right now.
and yes to in australia.
cheers!