Bargain Bucket 6

[gti6man]

This isn't gonna be a thread about stripping the engine and rebuilding the engine as I would have no idea where to start.. this is a project of being an absolute beginner with no clue what I'm doing and using purely the people who are kind enough to help me on this site as they have so far and what I can find on the internet.

I've wanted a 6 for a while now as my first car was a 1.4 306 and I loved it, just wish it had more poke, so this was the perfect opportunity in my eyes after I just rolled my £200 fiesta into some comfy bushes...

I bought a rough and ready Blaze 6 off ebay with no history, in the dark when it was raining with 2 months mot left on it. Think I was asking for trouble but got away with it sorta...





So got it an MOT within a week and it passed with only advisories, 2 front tyres, rear discs, rear axle minor play and front reg plate nearly unreadable. Phew! 

So stuck some new PS3's on the front and got some discs and pads for the rear and off I go.

Initial changes were easy, new interior light cluster as the switch was broken, new glove box as previous owner decided to use screws and araldite to keep it shut rather than just pop a new lock in... Door check straps were missing so fitted a new pair, new rear parcel shelf cause the boot connector was missing, new passenger foot well cover as again was missing and new reg plates . Most done from a single trip down the scrappy for £20 :thumbsup 

As the car has no history I had no idea when the cambelt was last changed, this is definitely not something I'm gonna do, so took it to the good guys at Pug1Off for a new cambelt and waterpump and service. I also asked them can you have a look around the car and just check there is nothing that is going to make me cry... And nope seems all good, the rear beam does need doing but not the end of the world So about £600 later new cambelt, waterpump, abs sensor, a new oil cap and fuel lines changed happy days. 

So after some clear side repeaters to she wasn't looking too bad...



Decided to fit an original gear knob and get the drivers seat re-trimmed to, makes a hell of a difference. This was the nasty smelly seat I took from an old phase 1 xsi I was driving around on for a week or so though...



This is the seat before the retrim



And this is it after and fitted, £80 well spent I'd say! Decided to fit an original gear knob to makes a big difference!





Starting to gather a few parts now to fit so hopefully get them on before FCS on the 3rd June some new alloys that need a clean and some new rubber on them before they go on:



Got a front splitter that needs a lick of paint before going on and still need to fit the rear discs... and some new clear front fogs she will be looking good soon hopefully!

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Got my alloys on, very happy with the new look  


Also gave it a bit of a clean with help from my mate and his now sparkling trophy 


Just a couple of things managed to swap out the rear discs and pads, never done that before on any car so was quite happy how simple it actually was and definitely needed it!



My new brembo discs and pads



And I swapped out my bulk head heat shield for a stainless steel one from pug_306, even though my engine bay is pretty filthy still lifts it a bit





Maybe but I think that may make the black look a little OTT but that may change

So I have fitted a spare wheel cage so I don't get a load of sh*t from my misses if I get a puncture and can't sort it, stuck one of my old cyclones in



Took out the old rubbish head unit to find someone had botched the install and twisted and taped the cables together so when I pulled it out everything came apart... :thumbsdown 



Managed to get that sorted by an autoleccy and got a new unit fitted



Swapped out the standard door speakers for some Alpine SXE-1275's which is 100% better especially as mine would cut out intermittently and buzz... 

Old:



New:





Got a manifold decal off of Rikky which makes the engine bay a little cleaner but next job is to give it a good scrub! 



Painted the calipers red with some hammerite, not a pro job and needs another coat but I think it sets off the alloys quite well

Before:



After:





Still need to fit a upper steering column, front fogs, front splitter and door wiring loom. 

Anyone know a good way of prepping the splitter to make it look original? Ideally I don't want to paint it cause I want it to match the colour of the grill.

Got a few pics from FCS where its looking pretty good if I do say so myself  

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So small update fixed a few niggly things that were bugging me, first of which was the up and down movement of the steering column, which seemed to be caused by the upper bearing. I bought a unit from another 6 on ebay, fitted it and it made the drive so much better! It felt a little like the car floated over the road but not in a good way, now you can get allot more feel off the road through the steering wheel... so old one out 



New one in



Looks like you can get a replacement bearing though as it says 'Nadella Deltaflex DG 138 PAT BTE' not sure where you would source this from though?:



Then I fitted an OMP upper strut brace with some slightly longer bolts from peugeot as suggested and it fit like a glove, but then I noticed the servo depression hose was looking rusty and crap and the oil cap was leaking again so replaced that to made a nice difference and an easy swap, happy days



Old hose out, new hose in



The the clutch cable clip snapped, so got to work replacing that, no pics as it is a horrible job where you can't see much anyway but the thread on here was a huge help with the replacement and it seems it was way overdue as it has made the clutch so much nicer and softer and no longer crunches into reverse! Woop! I also noticed a couple of subframe bolts were missing which was a bit of a worry as they seem pretty critical, got a couple of replacements and they went in smooth, was so happy I didn't hit a sheared bolt or something!! Also got some mist jets to fit fingers crossed I won't have any issues with the spray direction

Also picked up a free rear beam off of Dave (Gnrlee), thanks mate! Just waiting to find the monies to get it rebuilt will have to be after new year now as Christmas has skinted me :no but fingers crossed will be done soon! I am a little worried about giving it to Jord to refurb as it looks horrendous so tempted to offer it as a replacement for imaxles cause i don't care if I give them a knackered beam... 

Here is the beam in question:



Whats peoples thoughts on the beam?

So had my MOT and sorta went as expected failed on the trailing arm play, rear fog light out, head light aim and parking brake efficiency... So replaced fog bulb, turns out I put the headlight bulb in upside down :whistle, so spun it the right way up, tightened the handbrake cables under the centre console and then onto the beam... So Ryan (pug_306) had a low milage vts beam for sale and a trip down to chambers for fitting:
New beam going in



Gotta say a big thanks to those two!! Life savers!!! And very knowledgeable lads!!

Then time for the retest and other than a close call on emissions nearly a clean sheet  

So looking to get a new CAT soon and a couple off ball joints should fly through the next one, but wanna look at getting a full stainless system this year and replace the sportex kit as it's a bit too loud at the mo.

Replaced the door pins to stop the doors clunking open and shut and still a few more bits to do but got a years more motoring to get it all sorted happy days!! :thumbsup 

Cheers mate, yeah the blaze is my favourite colour tbh I also like how it stands out in the car park compared to all the blue/silver/white cars everyone else has. Thought I'd do a small update been slow progress as just moved, but I now have a drive woop!!!  

So managed to get a door leak after replacing the drivers door,  had to replace the wiring within the door as the replacement door was ph2 and my door was wired for a ph3 or something like that... Ended up removing most of the inner door membranes so decide to patch up the holes with dust sheets and happy days, leak cured! Doesn't look the best but atleast its hidden and functional... :whistle 



Got some new metal pressed plates, the old were okay just thought they looked good and couldn't resist...



Also got some shiny bits! Picked up a second hand scorpion backbox and a nearly new Klarius centre section from DeeTurbo (thank you!)and an OEM cat from Carl Chambers, so new system ready also picked up all new OEM clamps and CAT fitting kit from the local dealer... Will hopefully, once its on, be able to drive for more than half an hour without needing a handful of anadin...

Gotta love shiny bits...



This a pick of the klarius section (bottom) against OEM (top) pretty good match id say but guess ill know once it's fitted



Also fitted those little white hockey stick clips as both mine were broken and it was annoying and looked crap when they kept popping out, while I was at it sorted the drivers side headlight beam aim, turned out to be a load of green crap over the connectors so gave them a good clean and happy days



Then thought I best give it a bit of a clean

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So I haven't done a huge amount since the last update but thought I would update anyway...

I gave the 6 a service, oil, oil filter and plugs and changed the pipercross foam cone filter for a k&N and think this was well over due! 



The plugs were looking good after 20K



I also cleaned the ICV as the engine kept dieing when using the clutch to come to a stop, it seems the revs dropped too low and the ICV wasn't catching the revs before it died... Hasn't really made a huge amount of difference. I think because it was a little rusty. So my new ICV arrived today and hopefully will fit it later on if it doesn't rain





I have replaced the ebay cat with an OEM cat and the sportex backbox with a scorpion system the car sounds so much nicer now! No more headaches and I can actually talk to the passengers I also sprayed the rear wiper arm as it was looking a little tatty







I've replaced the bonnet with a moonstone bonnet which I've sticker bombed with around 700 stickers.. I also painted the badge black. This is only temporary till I get the original bonnet repainted. Think it is very much a marmite look... I quite like it though













So did a few bits at the weekend. Finally got round to fitting the new fogs and changed the gearbox oil for total 75w/80 gear 8. Much needed I'd say now the gear change between 1st and 2nd when cold is now allot smoother. 



Nice new fogs






And still got some nice shiny bits to go on soon  





Took a trip to trax which was good fun, only 306 on show that I could find which was a bit of a shame...



Hoping to do Bedford Autodrome on the 20th Nov first track session so fingers crossed all goes well!!

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So small update thought as I was replacing the injectors may as well tidy up the fuel rail so old ones out and new ones in







So had a bit of a car day last weekend and managed to get front powerflex wishbone mounts fitted and rear partner p bushes. Defo needing doing as the old pbushes were knackered! Espeicially drivers side, this could have been from not having the subframe bolts in when I bought the car...

So old Pbushes off



And replacement fitted:



Powerflex mounts fitted, were much more of a pain than expected but got there eventually




Need to replace the passenger side ball joint, but looks like it is riveted on so that could be fun, I have ordered the 16mm replacement and will also need to order a drill and angle grinder...



Also replaced the lower engine mount bush a sthe old was very perished and had a slight tear, you could see the mount was sitting towards the bulk head to, so old one hacked out and new one nice and snug





Also removed the front brake lines and fitted braided replacements, the union was bit of a bugger drivers side but managed to undo with the help of vice grips :whistle 

So nice new braided lines, used the gunsons easybleed kit to which worked a treat



So bedford has came and went after all the work on the front end feels like I may have overlooked the rear, the front felt like it was on rails but the rear was a shopping trolley as some of you may have seen the vid on facebook...

Bedford November Oh dear...

Taken from a diy cam mount that worked perfectly btw, also attached it to drivers head rest to reduce the risk of stabbing me in the face and added plastic moulds on the end which isn't in the pic



Got some good pics though





You can just see Simons Rallye about to fly past me in the last pic

So on the to do list:

- Rear braided lines and new brake fluid
- Passenger side ball joint
- New tyres all round
- Kam racing gear linkages
- Clutch and cambelt + waterpump

[Eeyore]

looks like a lot of good work has gone on there! Well done! Good to see youre enjoying it on track as well!

[Mighty306]

Epic thread, and like Eeyore said, you've put in some great work.  Looking at the video something definitely wasn't right.  Car seemed to be letting go far too easily.  Possibly the balljoint contributed?

Looking back through I see you got your drivers seat refurbed & they made a really nice job of it.  Was that someone local to you?  Mine could do with some attention.

[Nexus]

Great read and lots of lovely work done!

[gti6man]

Thank you all for the kind words it was a guy in milton Keynes, I think the company is called autotrim but it's just a one man band in a little shed of a place. I did cheat a little I must admit it's very well matched suede rather than alcantara as it wears better... Yeah I need to look into the back end ideally need to refurb the beam I reckon may get some b6 rears to go on at the same time. But that will have to wait till I have a bit more moolah

[Mighty306]

Bit of a shame you think the VTS beam you had fitted needs attention. Problem is you can't really know what state they're in until you pull them apart.

Looking back through again I notice you mentioned ordering a 16mm ball joint. Am 99% certain you'd need the 18mm one. Only very early sports models had the 16mm joint.

[gti6man]

I measured the ball joint when the wishbone was off the car and it was a 16mm so I've just ordered like for like. Yeah I am in 2 minds at the mo to get a gti6 beam reconditioned or the vts beam. Ideally I'd have the vts tbs put in a gti6 rear beam but that leaves me with no beam to potter round on...

[C2K]

Hey Oliver nice to see you on here.

Needs moving to 306 projects.

[Eeyore]

moved!

[Mattcheese31]

some really nice tlc going into this car, love it, hub must have been changed at some point, as said it should be an 18mm, no worries though

[Poodle]

Seen a lot of ph2 gti6s with 16mm balljoint, so I shouldn't worry about it. Seems odd to me since you'd think they'd want the bigger balljoint on the heavier and higher powered cars, but there you go...

[Midnightclub]

Yeah my ph2 gti is also 16mm both sides, so couldn't be that rare

[cully]

mine had 16mm originally now has 18mm

[Mattcheese31]

i'll shut up then

[gti6man]

Thanks yeah probably would be stronger with the 18mm ball joints, i guess some may have been bored out from 16mm... I'm happy just to stick with the 16mm for now, really not looking forward to attempting to remove those rivets so kinda glad the snow has give me a good reason to put it off...

[Mighty306]

It's very weird that some of the GTi-6's came with 16mm ball joints because my XSi's (ph2's & a ph2.5) all have hubs that take 18mm ball joints!

[gti6man]

So small update I have had my clones refurbed and ready to go on with two new pilot sport 3 tyres





Changed the power steering fluid over and now the pump is much quieter




Then came out my house just before I was meant to drive to Gatwick to find this



Took the inlet manifold off and had a gander, looked like it was coming from the oil pressure sensor:




So ordered a new sensor and a ptfe gasket before I went on holiday and now it's mostly back together, just waiting for the weekend to put the manifold bolts in and a couple pipes. I've ordered some SS nuts with an extra 5mm in length to make up for the thicker gasket. Fingers crossed all is well when I can start it up again as MOT on the the 19th Feb :/.

[wainwrightj]

Good work on the car by the way looks good the bonnet grows on you the more you see it I think

I've also had a similar car history as your minus the bush hugging fiesta. Had a 1.4 306 Meridian and then went and bought a rallye from someone in chichester after a facetime video of the car got it delivered to me after I had paid for it.

Where did you get your clones done? They look great

I've got a VTS beam with solid mounts and the standard setup up front so almost the opposite to your car. How different does the car feel after replacing the bushes?

[gti6man]

It felt allot better but I think the lower engine mount made the biggest difference! It held itself in the corners much better and the gear changes were a million times better being more stable. Cause of the backend being unpredictable I havnt really been able to push it yet. But it is on my list. After I fixed the oil leak the bloody front spring snapped, sorted that but in my haste made a couple mistakes which caused me to fail my mot. Think I've sorted them now though but dday is tomorrow. Your rallye is very cool!! Loving the pink/black colour scheme!

[wainwrightj]

Thanks, I got the clones done by a guy called Joel Wharton in Kings Sutton, you'll find him on Facebook. It felt allot better but I think the lower engine mount made the biggest difference! It held itself in the corners much better and the gear changes were a million times better being more stable. Cause of the backend being unpredictable I havnt really been able to push it yet. But it is on my list. After I fixed the oil leak the bloody front spring snapped, sorted that but in my haste made a couple mistakes which caused me to fail my mot. Think I've sorted them now though but dday is tomorrow. Your rallye is very cool!! Loving the pink/black colour scheme!

Nice one I'll have to look into that was thinking about getting mine gloss black. And I'll definitely get some of those bushes on order soon they probably need doing soon anyways as I don't think they've ever been changed. Thanks bud the pink was a bit of a risk but I think I like it keeping the exterior colour scheme yellow/black and the bay pink/black

Keep up the good work though looking forward to seeing more.

[gti6man]

Another small update, managed to get through the MOT with a clean sheet after sorting the mistakes I made fitting the new strut and using the spare wheel I had woop!! 12 more months of tinkering and playing! 


 As I said in a previous post managed to fix the oil leak to roll of the drive and have the drivers side spring snap:



As I rolled it back onto the drive the spring decided to gauge through the sidewall of the tyre... they were on limits as it was anyway so not the end of the world just kind of annoying so two new front tyres needed...



Managed to get the strut out and it turns out it had snapped at both the bottom and the top, thought that a bit weird but means I get to buy some new shiny bits



So I managed to get the spring off and replace it and stick the strut back in to get it mobile again, but have ordered some new KYB Ultra SR dampers, need to stick the nearly new OEM springs on and Im going to buy some new dust boots, bump stops,  bearings and top mounts to suite



Me and the misses are in the process of buying our first house so probably won't get it all fitted till April but look forward to seeing how the Ultra SRs perform

[Mighty306]

Have had a number of springs go at the top over the years. A break low down taking out the tyre could be the stuff of nightmares. Good job you were only on the drive! Is it possible seized top mount bearings contributed to the spring failure?

[gti6man]

When I took the strut apart the bearings were okay, I think the previous owner may have changed passenger side spring more recently than drivers side as it seems in better condition, probably because it snapped. So drivers side may have just been a matter of time, i'm just going to keep it going till in the new house then overhaul the suspension Decided to fix a minor leak from the brake vacuum pump with a new o-ring You could tell the old o-ring was  well past it, very easy job and defo recommend if yours is leaking.

You could tell the old ring was leaking from the bottom down the side of the engine bay:




It was very brittle and perished too.. snapped when taking it out...



So back on with new o-ring (44mm x 2mm) and fingers crossed no more leaks