Mysteries... helpplease?

[Sinbad]

Lets see if this works... an updated pic of the old girl taken yesterday 

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Congratulations on becoming a 306 owner & welcome to the club.

If the rear beam is properly on the way out you'll start to get uneven tyre wear on the rear. If it gets that far the beam tube will probably be scrap though. If you don't know the history the only way to check if it's in need of attention is to strip it down. If you can get hold of a good secondhand or decent aftermarket tube (there are some on ebay) you don't have to worry too much about leaving it until it gets terminal.

I've never worked on a cab I'm afraid so know nothing about maintaining or repairing the roof.

As for the cam pulleys, yes there are two different types found on the 2.0 16v engine. They changed from the 3-bolt type to the single bolt in the second half of 1997. As a rule of thumb if you have the cast alloy cam covers they'll be the earlier 3-bolt type and the ones with the plastic covers will be single bolt. They changed them because there was a risk of cracking the pulleys from over-tightening the 3 smaller bolts on the earlier ones. The only real difference when it comes to a cam belt change is that you need to use a cam holding tool to aid with loosening / removal of the single centre bolt on the later engines. (Like this one .... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laser-Tools-2...SwQKdcsHJx)

As for tensioners & belt length, many engines were fitted with the manual tensioner. The manual tensioner uses 136 tooth belt. The automatic tensioner needs a 137 tooth belt. You can convert one to the other, but you would need the post for the manual tensioner to mount on if you were switching from an automatic tensioner. Some say the manual tensioner is better, but you'll have to 'feel' that the tension is correct. In the guide below (for a manual tentioner, 3 bolt cam pulley) they refer to a SEEM tensioner. SEEM units were a proprietory Peugeot thing & you won't now be able to find a tensioner tool that uses those units.

When you change the cambelt it's highly recommended that you change the idler, tensioner & water pump at the same time.

https://www.petrila.net/repair/2/406d8/i...eg0ik3.htm

It's worth being aware that the crank pulley with a rubber torsional damper (i.e. most of them) can't be fully relied on for timing the bottom end unless it's new. This helps explain how you can check http://www.306gti6.com/forum/showthread.php?id=164917. (It refers to a gti6 engine but the engine blocks and the procedure are the same).

I also have an original Citroen workshop manual for the XU10J4R (same engine as in the 306) in .pdf form but can't load it up here. It's very similar to the Petrilla guide tbh. If you'd like a copy I can sort out emailing it to you.

As for rust, you'll just have to have a good poke-about underneath. One major issue is floor rails having been used for jacking the front of the car. Other vulnerable spots are around the rear bump stops & the left rear wheel arch on hatchbacks / estates but don't know about the cabs.

Get yourself a copy of the 306 Haynes manual. It's pretty good on a lot of the suspension, brake & auxillary stuff. Re the front suspension it's the usual stuff that might wear. (Ball joints, top mounts, strut bearings, wishbone bushes, particularly the p-bushes on the 306).

I'm bleeding rude fornot replying to this - sorry Mighty! I think you may have seen elsewhere I'd forgotten I'd registered 

This was really helpful especially on the cambelt - now done. I will have to sit down and make a list of the stuff I've done to bring her back to life 

It's long.... very long....