Simo's inherited 306 HDi

[simo2007]

Thought I'd start a project thread. I have inherited a 2001 306 HDi Meridian in China Blue from my late grandfather. As I was brought up by my grandparents, he was literally my dad, and one of his wishes just before the end of his 2 year battle with cancer was for me to fix up his car and keep it going. Having a keen interest in cars and doing my own work to them, I promised him I would sort it out.

It was off the road for almost 6 months, so first thing was to get it MOT'd. It passed to my (very pleasant) surprise with just 3 advisories! 

She currently has a shade under 169,000 miles on the clock, and whilst I was at uni (several years back), in my spare time I did a spot of work for my grandad, which involved new brake hoses, new discs and pads all round, cam belt and tensioner kit, water pump, auxiliary belt and a full service.

He had quite an issue with the coolant system pressurising a while after, so I suspect the head gasket may have gone near the water jacket. I've replaced expansion tank cap and I've also changed the thermostat, just to eliminate these parts as a cause for the problem.

Some pictures:





And this is my current daily   



I have been using the HDi to commute to work for the past two weeks- it is an absolute pleasure to drive, and although it will never match my M135i there is something satisfying about driving it. I'm on track for 700+ miles range from the tank which is staggering, considering if I'm sensible in the M135i to work I'll get 400 miles to a tank. I've had no pressurising woes so far, and the car is now running at ~80C rather than ~70C with the new thermostat. 

I'm currently debating whether to Stage 1/2/3 the HDi, but my plans for my Grandad's car are the following:

- Engine out, renew head gasket (including skim and new head bolts), all other gaskets, glow plugs, crank pulley, engine mounts, and all seals including crank seal and driveshaft seals
- New clutch kit, possible gearbox recon as it whines a little bit in 3rd gear when slowing down, I might get some 75W-90 from ECP to see if this helps before I take the engine out
- Recon turbo- at this point I am unsure whether to up-rate it or keep it standard, I believe it's a K03 as standard
- Renew all suspension components front and rear, and see how the rear is doing in particular, I hear the rear beam can deteriorate quite rapidly
- Try and assess why the air con isn't working, I believe there are several pipes that are prone to leaking and the condenser, would be a pain if is leaking behind the heater matrix so I may just do an air con delete
- Fix up the rear wiper which stopped working. Relay pins look grubby and connecting block looks even more grubby!
- Longer term: underbody seal and recondition alloy wheels, and get a winter wheel set

Looking forward to my time here and I will update accordingly with my progress.