(Home) BoK owner Mark sells his Ace. Now what

Hello all,

I've gone and done it. I waved good-bye to my Masterace Surf this evening as it headed off up the road with it's new family. After being part of ours for 5 years and costing me the best part of £8000 over that period I wish it well.

My early troubles have been well documented here and much appreciated help has come from this noticeboard. This sites very existence sprung from my own early struggles for information regarding these strange looking vehicles from the east.

With this in mind I must now decide what future the BoK has. I have no objections to continuing to run and manage it as normal but would like to hear the views of you, the visitors, that bring this board to life.

I would like to thank those that have assisted me and my vehicle in getting us through these 5 years and will look forward to reading your comments on this thread.

Thank-you

Mark

- (#10874) Mark, 13 May 04 15:11

Hi Mark.
What can I say? Part of me is very happy for you because I know you have been trying to sell you van for some time now. The other part of me is sad because you no longer have a "quirky little Japanese import", but that's life. Five years is a long time to have one of these vans and if you are going to keep the BOK going then good on you. Dave Millar sold his van last year and he still contributes greatly to this forum, so I hope will you. By the way you are still very welcome to visit the Jams as you will always be an Ace owner to me, even if you do drive a peugot now.

- (#10874) dave Bright (Bournemouth), 13 May 04 15:28

Hi Mark.
Sad to here the Ace has gone.
In answer to your question on peoples views wether to keep the BOK going?,consider this!
Our Head Gasket and a number of other things have gone wrong in the past year,and this site has been a
godsend with everybody sending in their suggestions on how to fix it!.Saving us £500 in garage Bills!!!
I'm sure that I speak for everybody on here,in saying
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep the BOK
going.When my wife bought our Spacecruiser three and a half years ago we couldn't find a manual anywhere,
Haynes and Toyota were as you know their usual un-co-operative selves,so we had to struggle with high garage bills,lack of knowledge,a real nightmare! for everybody. Since we found BOK I have felt more confident in doing repairs on our Ace,
as I have no mechanical knowledge. my wife drives
it not me. If anything goes wrong she says "something wrong with it,can you fix it". Then I come on here fire some questions,get back very good answers,better than any manual,and problem is fixed. there, that is my opinion to what should happen to BOK,
KEEP IT GOING!!!!
Yours a very satisfied Ace Owner + BOK Contributer
Andy Richards(Bridport)
- (#10874) Andy Richards(Bridport), 13 May 04 17:43

Hello Mark, just a few words to wish you well. As Dave B rightly says, you can have fun from the sidelines now just like Dave Miller does.

I am still soldiering on with my Super Extra going into my 4th year of ownership and a list of jobs to tackle before my Townie does its haul to France for a month. Its a means of transport as much as something I like and enjoy messing with - but thats just me - pherhaps one day the spell will be broken, until then I do hope we still have you and Dave Miller around (and anyone else who has moved on to other means of transport).

Oh and one last thing - thanks for your efforts - its much appreciated.
Kind regards

Jim A

- (#10874) J Adgo, 13 May 04 17:52

as I am as thick as two planks this board as helped me through just start doing my own repairs on my space cruiser so keep it going

- (#10874) jon, 14 May 04 00:52

mark

glad you finally sold it. hope you got a reasonable price. as i too have been around from the beginning of the bok i would sorry to see it go. it's become part of my daily routine to check through the new posts and try and help where i can. i have to admit the love affair with the townace is waining after 4.5 years but i still get enjoyment from the bok. it's different from many other sites, there's a good sense of camaradarie on here and it would be a shame to break it up.

hey who knows in years to come, when we have all sold our aces and moved on to more boring vehicles, we may have turned this site into an ace veterans site where we exchange stories about the good old days with our townaces. bit like talking about the war.

have i said too much? i'll get my coat .......

- (#10874) Ian Dunse (Derbs), 14 May 04 01:10

Mark,
Please keep it going for the short term at least.
Longer term some one may take it over, no doubt a decision made late into the night on one of the Ace jams, perhaps with your help at Bridport?
I would like to thank you for setting the BoK up in the first place, I often refer to the BoK and the Ace Answers (thanks Dave), just to confirm what I think I'm doing is correct. I do enjoy helping people and see many thank yous on the BoK, these by default must be shared with you as owner of the BoK.
Hope the replacement is trouble free, your house extension is under way and the family is well.
Clive

- (#10874) Clive, 14 May 04 01:31

The name of the site says it all, with one exception all the help and moral support I received stopped me from burning my van when the chips were down.
If you don't want to moderate it any more then please pass it on to someone else, to let it just die would be just a waste, all the knowledge held within might be lost, and where would folks come for help?
If you are intending to shut it down please say well in advance such that we could put something in place that might attempt to replace it.

With the bigger ace owners (yeah ok I am one) joining in too now this group has a long life ahead.

- (#10874) Master_Simon, 14 May 04 02:10

The third anniversary of buying my 'Ace approaches and I remember how important those early BoK threads on blue-tinted pages were to me in deciding to buy. Thanks Mark.

Without wanting to detract from what Mark has done, newcomers may not realise that the archive of the BoK postings within Ace Answers, and the emerging Ace Handbook there, are on a website which I run quite independently from Mark's BoK. You may also have never clicked on the Home Page link at the bottom here and seen the rest of Mark's site.

So our online Ace resource has belt and braces. It also has a future ... even when all the Ace questions are answered (?) there will be the club side to run (Ian's Ace Veterans) and I can see this thing, that started with Spacecruisers, being important for Estima owners too - many of them former Sp/Ace owners.

Clive's right - should you, Mark, want to offload the providing and moderating of the BoK then I think a number of us are ready to step in, just say the word.

- (#10874) Dave (Sussex), 14 May 04 07:44

PPLLEEAASSEE dont go !!without this excellent board of knowledge i would have sold my townie for a loss last month, without advice pointing to the alternater, which was replaced-from your link to bbc spares i might add!! i wouldnt have been able to fix it and would be up the creek without a paddle! for us townie virgins it is excellent wouldnt be motoring without it!
by the way new alternator sorted everything including annoying noise

- (#10874) nikki, 22 May 04 03:00

We would also like to say that your website has been a great help to us, without this site (and others) many people like us would not of even considered owning one of these vehicles....i'm good we did buy one now lots of fun !! thanks again..

- (#10874) paul&jane thomas, 22 May 04 10:46

Hi Mark,

Glad & sad, I gues this is how you are at present.

I for one have a lot to thatnk the BoK for, as well as being happy to share my knowledge & experience with others.

I would say that, so long as it doesn't cost you anything & very small time input, then please keep it going.

There are still plenty of these vehicles around & no other reference material available.

So please keep it going & I'm sure there will be plenty of question & plenty of answers still to come.

Regards Rob.

- (#10874) Rob Drinkwater, 22 May 04 13:33

Hi Everybody,
Can anyone tell me if there is a kit or something to fit a transmission cooler to my Toyota Townace Royal Lounge 1993. Can anyone tell me where I might get one in the Manchester area or somewhere to send for one and my garage will fit it for me. I am towing a Folding Camper max loading 700kg without too much trouble but am just aware that it could overheat the box.
Best Wishes to you all

- (#10874) Joyce P Mason, 29 May 04 05:59

Joyce, as this is a new question, you should have posted it in a new thread, not tagged onto the end of an existing one. Nevertheless, the Townie auto already has a transmission cooler, it is built into the upright radiator & uses engine coolant to cool the auto transmission. I would think that a 700kg trailer would not be a problem. But if you want a cooler, any self respecting garage should be able to get an oil cooler kit for you & fit it into the existing lines coming up the front from the transmission.

HTH, Rob.

- (#10874) Rob Drinkwater, 29 May 04 11:52