Niall's 2000 306 XS A.K.A Craig

[Niall]

Ok so a little about how I come to owning Craig.

Learned to drive in my first car. A 1993 106 Key Largo. Had 80,000 on the clock (with a dent for every mile) and had a massive 1.0L TU engine putting out a mind blowing 54bhp.





And that's how she was after a year and a half of hard work. Still miss the car today for the pure shits and giggles.

Then went onto buying something slightly faster. Bought a mint Saab 95 Aero HOT with 90,000 on the clock. 2.3L turbo putting out 250bhp and 345 Tourqes.



As much as I loved the car, it had to go due to running costs. But onto bigger and better things!



And here we have Craig on the day I bought it home. Completely unmolested! I payed 800 for it but did need some body work as it had been crashed and badly repaired.

Plans:
New lowered suspension - done
Repair crash damage - done
Refurbish Cyclones - done
New Head unit and speakers - done
Sound deaden car
Fit gti6 manifolds - done
New exhaust - done
Black roof lining - done
Black masks - done
Various bits of painting
Gti6 brakes and master cylinder
Short shift

[Niall]

So, 8 days after and im stuck at the side of the road, unable to change gear. RAC come out to suspected dodgy clutch cable only to find....seized clutch arm! 260 quid later and ive got a nice unseized gearbox and a brand new clutch.

First project for the car was the suspension so i set about starting on the front.



Replaced wishbones, ARB bushes, drop links and ball joints.

Unfortunately, on the way home one day, someone decided to drive into the back of me. Turned out to be my girfriends dad! smashed the bumper and pushed the middle of the car in by 2 inches. So 500 quid later its all shiney and new again



Few months on from doing lower arms and i develop a knocking from the passenger side so only one thing for it!

[Niall]

Replaced the dial bulbs a few months ago with some red LEDS from Crazyleds.com and they are quality! So much nicer than the standard yellowish colour.


(sorry, bad photo!)

Ordered some wind deflectors. broke one fitting it but still fits fine and look good!

[Niall]

Now then, as a man, i am always looking at ways to improve the size of my penis whist out in public. Some people will just go and buy a BMW to do this (little do they know it actually makes you look like you suffer from micro penis!) but not me. As im sure we all know, the standard horn on the 306 is rather crap. So whats better than 1 horn? 2 horns!!

Now then, peugeot clearly accepted the fact that the horn is shite but decided not to do much about it. In the arch where your horn is, you will find a white plug which is unused cabletied to something. this is infact, for another horn!

Now then, until i can afford to fit my train horns, i am using two standard horns.
Firstly, we need another way to mount the second horn. I did this by drilling a hole through the exsisting bracket and putting a big bolt through the two brackets like so!



Next, all you need to do is fit, plug in and test.



It really is that simple to make your penis seem much larger whilst having a go at people in BMWS that cut you up!

[Niall]

Few pics from today. Went for a drive with grant-306

[Niall]

Ok so not many updates with the actual car.

Firstly, got bored of the red dials so..



new wing mirror caps and badge



Ended up with a spare engine out of the car i broke for parts but didnt want to dump a perfectly good engine....so i only dumped a bit of it!

went from this...



to this



Going to completely refurb the head, and planning on getting a bit more power out of it. Also got a gti6 manifold and exhaust manifold to go on it. (which i will be writing up a kind of guide on all my findings/research and hopefully clear up all the rumours about it)

[Dum-Dum]

Cant wait to see how you get on porting and polishing the head

[Niall]

That's something that will be done nearer the summer. Head is stripped but I'm not standing out in the freezing cold doing it over winter lol

[Carlos182]

Needs more boost.

Looks good Look forward to see how everything turns out

[Niall]

Needs more boost.

Looks good Look forward to see how everything turns out

Actually you say that joking but it could well happen. I've got the skoda as the daily drive so there is no reason why I can't bolt a turbo on the back of it.
Would be epic to have the first 1.8T 306 lol

[Niall]

Ok so more updates. As i said earlier on, i got the car cheap because it had been in a front end smash and badly repaired. 8 months on from buying it and im finally getting it fixed


New front bumper ready to be sprayed on payday!

Also made my self a nice carbon fibre bonnet badge.




End of the month should have some progress pics of the respray. then the real work can begin

[Niall]

Pics as promised. Bear in mind it still needs to be polished but can't do so till its all properly hardened (the paint that is). So he's doing that next weekend as well as doing my spoiler gloss black for me!

Anyway...enjoy

[Niall]

Drunken impulse buy on ebay saw me driving down to guildford last night for a gti6 interior. Didn't have the money for it but....well needs must! lol



Much comfier than the standard XS seats. Still don't know what to do with them seats now. There in mint condition so don't want to bin them!

Next month is wheel refurb time and new tyres

[Niall]

Just a random bit of photo whoring. Finally got all the new paint polished and waxed!

[Niall]

Kwik, fitted the inlet today mate and no, you don't need to remap as long as you are using the 1.8 injectors. Ive heard of running issues with the gti injectors (which makes sense because more fuel is being injected than the ecu thinks.

anyway, progress!



Fitted my gti6 manifold today. Was a right PITA to do but its all running as sweet as now!!
Will be writing a guide soon on fitting them. Also got a K&N induction kit for it and i wish i hadn't. It sounds so much louder than i thought it would when you floor it!

[Niall]

postie brought me a present on friday



Made a huge difference to gear changes. Probably didn't help that the old ones just came off in my hand!
Also got my new power steering pump fitted after the old one shat it self! Not the easiest job when one of the bolts holding it in rounds off. Ended up chiseling the pump off lol.

[Niall]

Started refurbing my wheels yesterday. Got the spare done (as a practice) and think it came out quite well



Also, Postman delivered me something today

[Niall]

Few more updates.
Wheels are now refurbed and on with some new rubber wrapped around them. Went for a set of toyo t1rs and they are quality and they were actually cheaper as 55s instead of going for 50s like a lot do!





Sorry for the poor quality pics. Couldn't be arsed to go and get my camera so the iPhone came out

[Niall]

Small updates
Bought some new speakers for the car

Started fitting but it got dark so will finish tomorrow afternoon hopefully



Really bad image (looks much better) but also black masked my head lights

[Niall]

Ok so going to be retrimming my head lining at the weekend. Seeing as I ordered too much material, thought I would do the pillar trims as well to match.



Will get pics at the weekend when all pillars and roof are done

Also, almost got my focals in but have to wait till I have spacers for the woofers

[Niall]

Speakers are in and sounding rather sexual!
Got my new headlining in today. Looks great! Makes the car feel much smaller though!







Once again bad photos I know!

Also got some more pics of the black masks.

[Niall]

Might have got another set of focals today! Bought some 165VBs and if anyone on here has 165A1s and you think they sound good, try these! They are bloody amazing!

Haven't got rid of the a1s though. Moved these to the back and the whole lot sounds porn. Crying out to be sound deadened so I will be ordering a bulk pack on Monday





Oh and managed to ponce my self a cargo net

[Niall]

Ok so now time to start sound deadening. I'm not going to just go out and buy 200 quids worth of dynamat because its hugely over priced! I've ordered a bulk pack of 2mm silent coat for the doors and few other rattly areas but for the big flat spaces I'm taking a different approach!
Whilst browsing Talk Audio forums I've noticed a few people have used sound deadened carpet underlay in certain areas to great affect. So I'm going to give it a go! Advantages are its a hell of a lot cheaper (I just payed 18 quid for 3 square metres of it delivered), it's a lot lighter than the bitumen sound deadening and my boot floor will be lovely and spongy! Lol
I this doesn't work I will just replace it with silent coat but it can't hurt giving it a go!



Boot floor cut to shape. Also doing rear quarters for now.

Criticise away!

[Niall]

If I'm completely honest with my self, I'm a impatient *******! And because of this I have just spent the last half hour replacing my boot lining.



Put strips of cloud 9 in the gaps to level out the boot floor ready for a final layer.



Final layer down. All that's holding it down is the 4 plastic pegs as I want to be able to take it out should I need to do any work

Took it for a spin and just the boot floor has made a difference! The typical pug bangs have now turned into VAG thuds and road noise from the rear has drastically dropped. Only got up to 40 but I reckon it will make a big difference on motorways (find out on Friday!)

[Niall]

Sound deadening has arrived. So I know what I'm doing tomorrow night into the early hours of Friday.



Gotta have good sounding audio for the drive to Coventry!

[Dave]

I wish I was more particular about my interior as you! Mines a crap hole, good work

[Dum-Dum]

This car is so lush. I defo want my next one to be a china

[Matt]

Looks really nice mate, how much did the gear linkages set you back?

[Niall]

Matt linkages were 45 delivered. There a bit of a PITA to fit. I ended up hammering one of them on but they are worth the money!

Got some more sound deadening done. Doors are all done now. Just got to stop a rattly rubbing strip on the drivers door! Rear quarters are done and nearly all the footwell







Nd a pic of mine along side grants which is finally on the road!

[Matt]

Matching cars? Lol £45 that's not bad, I need new ones anyway as I've lost one, it's all held with cable ties lol