Emma, Dan and Daniel's pug addiction...

[ekjdm14]

So, to move on from this thread-: https://www.306oc.co.uk/forum/showthread...#pid626825  

Thought it's about time to start a thread in the forum proper.  Still not got piccies (running theme with me, always forget but Emma has a couple I think, will try get them up sometime) but red cab has been partly stripped today. Rear beam is off ready to go on the 5dr, few other odds n sods like lights put in the garage as spares, instrument cluster lens/indicator stalk/stereo and passenger window reg swapped over to the green cab.

Then we went for a ride up round Buxton as it was a nice day, if I've got any energy left tomorrow it'll be the 5dr's turn to drop it's axle & then they will be swapped between cars (seized one bolted on the red cab to keep it moveable).  Be nice to have suspension on it lol, might be tempted to lower it a bit though as it looks good with the wheels tucked in the arches a bit. Will have to see how it looks with the 'clones on though as they ought to make it look better on their own compared to steelies with ebay special trims.

[Eeyore]

definitely get some pics up

[ekjdm14]

definitely get some pics up

Umm, yeh lol will have to get some piccies sorted. Some more developments today, we picked up a load of Ph1 parts and plan is to swap the Ph1 front end, tailgate and rear lights onto the silver 5dr.  Tailgate already done, as well as the replacement rear beam swapped on the other week.  Eventual idea there is to respray the whole thing Kingfisher Green as the paint's already tatty and it's a nice colour too.

Also grabbed the top glove box from that car & ripped the passenger airbag out of the green cabriolet for that since it's much more useful to have the storage there.  

5dr is currently back on SORN as the XUD 206 is back up & running again after some injector problems, that needs getting ready to try and get another year's ticket before beginning it's VNT transformation.  Anyway, sunburnt and sweaty and tired now so off for some rest!

[ekjdm14]

Ugh I'm crap at blogging haha, current state of affairs is, cabby needs a water pump and cambelt but otherwise ready to go.
5 door is currently on the road as a daily with Ph1 bodywork, MoT expires in Feb not sure if we'll put her through again because.....

Last night we bought a Bianca White XS 3dr (some of you probably saw it of the facebook groups where our eldest lad found it & we pounced on it, sight unseen & arranged delivery immediately!!! It's been off the road 12 years (since '08) and on arrival the engine was locked up. Half an hour with diesel/atf though and it's cranking over with decent compression on 3 pots & presumably stuck/rusty valve on the 4th.

Will try and get it running as it is, since it's turning out to be a fairly tidy and very solid looking car under all the moss (gamble = win!) with under 100k on the clock, and the way I look at locked up engines is if they were tight enough to lock up they were likely in pretty good health before sitting. Anyway off out now to get petrol and other supplies to see if we can get her to spark up, hopefully get a chance to update and post pics later (promises promises...)

[Mighty306]

It's official ....you & your family have a proper 306 addiction. The 1.8 engine in the XS will be entertaining if you get it sorted.

[ekjdm14]

Yep we surely do haha!  It is also official that the white XS has gone from sat 12 years and seized solid, to running sweetly in under 12 hours!    Cannot believe it myself, but after chasing a bad earth for a while (guessing from the symptoms and diagrams from BoL that it's E4, anyone know where it's located?) and eventually just bodging a jump lead between battery - and the fag lighter housing, we had the ECU powering up and trying to do things.

Then had to look into no spark and no fuel prime, guess it was a stuck/dirty/sleepy relay contact since after tracing stuff out and finally backfeeding the coil pack with 12v from the battery + she fired really willingly into life, even on decade old fuel!  Within 10 seconds the final cylinder had picked up compression and there she sat, idling away smoothly and quietly with hardly any smoke even with the diesel/ATF treatment...

Tomorrow (in the words of Jesse from the fast show) I shall mostly be fixing the wiring properly, sticking some epoxy on the cracked heater hose connector & dumping some fresh fuel and injector cleaner through it. Then it'll be a quick wash, put the intake bits back on the engine and see how close we are to throwing it at an MoT station... Really never expected to be saying that 24 hours ago, honestly didn't hope for too much for a scrapyard find bought unseen.  Will try and post up a couple of pics (the very same 2 pics we saw before gambling 500 quid on it!!!) and hopefully a short video of the second start, seeing as the first was so unexpected and no camera out in the rain at that point...

---

Oh, by the way, she's a 1.6 TU5 car not 1.8 sadly (well, I dunno I actually really like the TU engines TBF).  Initial plan was assume the engine was junk and DT swap it (obv.) but it's come round so well I'm considering whether that's really the way forward at least for the moment.  Here's a short vid of the second start anyway.

Not bad for an engine locked up solid this morning, and on 1/8th tank of 12 year+ old petrol!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2lQvoRQwKY

[ekjdm14]

OK heater hoses removed (had to cut the left one as can't reach, will join later it's only temporary). Epoxied up the crack in the connector block & waiting for that to cure.

Earth E4 is, once I figured how to stop rushing through the BoL, under the dash left side. Makes sense. Will have to move car around to get in at that though as there's a grey 206 blocking that side. Whatever relay was stuck causing no spark initially has come back around and she started on her own wiring today so that's good. The kids have been giving the old girl a quick wash over to knock the heavy stuff/moss balls off and the car is looking half decent, fresh fuel to go in shortly and when the cooling system holds fluid it can move round a bit for better access to the interior bits that need done.

More to come I'm sure!

[ekjdm14]

Ok heater hose bodged, still dribbles a little bit but it's fine with the cap loose & no pressure. Heater matrix does appear to be good, and very effective too so no K-seal abominations like the 5 door's. Engine runs better and better, although idle is high & sometimes erratic, temperature is great though hangs around 85-90c and fan cuts in and out as it should.

clutch feels decent and even the brakes seem reasonable for moving round the drive at least. Next order of business will be finding a heater hose assembly, digging through the removed bits to see if the remainder of the breather and idle air pipework is in there & finding those bits if not.

Front springs sound broken (clanking when turning the steering) so got to put some spares on that are buried in the garage, and assess what if anything needs done to the brakes before I throw a wiper assembly in and book the MoT. (all the lights even work right off the bat, surprisingly).

Pleased as punch at this point. Oh, better change the oil/filters and adjust the valves too. The oil in it is super clean but old & one valve is a little tappy, presume shitty seat so will have to keep an eye for it closing up again if I do set the overhead.

[Mighty306]

It's nice when a gamble pays off. Seems like this has turned out to be one of those cases. Impressed at the progress.

[RetroPug]

This the one you bought of Matt_Rallye by any chance?

Nice to see it being resurrected!

[ekjdm14]

The guy's name was Matt yes, and I believe he also has a Rallye so likely the same car lol, do you know any more about it?  From what we know he'd saved it from a scrapyard but that's about all the info we have.
Bit more reassembly done today & driver's front strut replaced, bolts came undone better than cars half it's age, it's almost as if the car has never seen salt...

MoT booked for Tuesday, everything looks so good on the car that we deemed it worth putting it in for a test.  Just need to "borrow" the wiper motor and wheels from the 5 door, and if it passes that loan will become permanent.

Only potential issues I can think of are emissions due to old fuel (will add some super on the way to the test) and the possibility of fluctuating brakes from standing so long, although the discs/pads are actually better than on cars that have sat less than a year & the handbrake feels strong and even so fingers crossed the drums/shoes are still good.

Note to self - Check load sensing valve on back axle before test!!! nearly forgot that little bugger.

Will update when we know more, but it'd be epic to be able to say it's gone from seized solid to on the road in under a week. At the very least it'll have gone from that to being driven to the test centre I suppose but I want a pass dammit!!!

[ekjdm14]

OK no load sensing valve in sight lol thought being a non-abs drum rear car it would've had one... Not complaining though.

MoT in just under an hour, fingers crossed !

[ekjdm14]

We're back home finally, failed on a couple of little niggly bits. inner CV boot clip broke & right headlamp aim too high (adjuster didn't work for the tester).

Booked in to get it's ticket Thursday at 5 now though, well impressed with the sheet in all honesty considering how long it's sat for & that the engine and rear beam were both seized tight 6 days ago. She really really wants to live, and so she shall!

Advisories on brake discs having rust (that'll clear with driving anyway), reg plates cracked (being replaced with Irish font anyway), small oil leak (just my spillage from adjusting the valves) and surface rust on the suspension components. Emissions passed fine & brakes passed fine which impressed the heck out of me, it's definitely not how long they stand for but where they stand, had cars in worse shape that've sat less than 2 years.

[ekjdm14]

Years ticket = check... Not quite a week from seized to roadworthy, but 8 days ain't bad & it would've been yesterday if they'd had a retest spot available. Now just need to do the backdated maintenance and new heater hoses & she'll be in rude health once more

[Mighty306]

Great job fella! You don't hang around when you set your mind to something do you!

Hope it's driving great n stays problem-free for the forseeable .......

NB. Only just clicked on that vid of the 2nd start. Sounded sweet.

[ekjdm14]

When the motivation is there, we can get a bit done. Just having a clearout of 206 related stuff at the moment as space is tight, but the XS has been running nicely yeh. 200 odd miles under her belt (the majority of which was covered on the second day she was on the road, was too much like good fun around the peaks!)

Still need to sort a proper heater hose, it's currently running with the connector block from a DT spliced into the engine-side hoses from the original cracked one, incorporating part of an old XUD dipstick tube & a 17mm socket as joiners!

Runs even better with the MAP sensor connected haha! One thing I will say, some folk feel like you should treat an engine gently if it's been sat a long time/was seized. I don't subscribe to that way of doing things though, the way I see it is if the engine was healthy when it last ran the best way to keep it that way is to (obviously spin it over plenty to get oil circulating again first) give it a good thrash as soon as it's warm enough. I believe that seats the rings/valves etc back in better than idling/running gently which (in my opinion anyway!) can just lead to glazed bores, low compression and a smoker.