Bianca Ratlye

[C2K]

Thanks. Really hope that the passenger rear has a shine to it now as it was really flat before. I have depleted a good portion of the parts I wanted to fit, can now sell some other pieces.

[C.A.R.]

Sweet! You have way too many shinies on that car now though!

Are the Mintex pads just the standard compound? Can't imagine needing more than that on the rear axle anyway.

[C2K]

What can I say, I'm a magpie. Each has it's function though!

Standard compound yes, perhaps change the pads for track but likely to be a while away. Well be plenty of shaking down to go. Front brake hose is perishing which is gay as I have braided lines for my new setup but they don't fit the original calipers, so I'll need to fit my spare goodridge hoses I think

[C.A.R.]

One thing I'm not sure whether to replace is the brake hoses when I upgrade the calipers. I'm fairly sure they are identical on all 306s anyway...

[C2K]

Brake hoses are the same for the 6 and the HDi. I've just had to replace the ones on the HDi, it's not a difficult job it's just messy as you have to live with the fluid dribbling on your hands.

Passenger side hose looks ok, just the drivers front. Might just fit the braided hoses all round whilst i'm doing the brake fluid change. I'll need to change the fluid again when i upgrade my front brakes as the brake unions are different on the new calipers. I have brand new Brmbo discs and Mintex 1144s though on the front at the moment that came off the GTi6 I stripped for bits, they've just gone rusty whilst I was away.

[C2K]

Ok so then I managed to find a couple of hours to spend on the car. Will be the last for a while as i'm away - somethow doubt the mrs will do anything for me whilst i'm away. ;D

Here we have some lovely Miles gear rods. Quite fiddly to fit wth a full engine bay - i now look a bit like a self harm victim on my left hand. Once on you have the fun and games of fitting the little locking pins. Some go in easily, others put up a fight. Glad I was lying on carpet under the car and not the floor as it's bitter outside FWIW side cutters are a quick and effective way of prising the old ones off.



I like those a lot, I have contemplated fitting a set to the HDi for a while but not had any need really.

On from there I made myself comfortable and fitted my rose jointed drop links. I had ummed and ahhed about fitting these before the MOT, but when i noticed that the metal droplink that was on the drivers side had a duff joint on it I didn't really have much of a choice but to go ahead. Very thorough instructions from Phil, and a lovely product.



Aside from my front brakes, beam/mounts/arb, decat and solid mounts I think i've now fitted everything. I want to get a 2.5" exhaust from Miles but I must wait til I know she's passed the test.

[C2K]

Collected my cambelt kit from Peugeot. Discovered I already have a 136 tooth cambelt on the Xsara engine i dropped in which saves me a little job swapping the tensioner spindle over. Note that when the engine went it I didn't need to do a belt change as it was only 3K old but having stood for two years now I'm not risking the engine for the sake of a little prevention.

This weekend will be the next time I have a chance to work on her, when she's getting the new cambelt. Then, the front brake lines are the only other thing I can think of that might give me some MOT grief, so will make a date with them and sort out an MOT.

[C.A.R.]

Don't envy you taking on the cambelt!

Trouble with all the shinies you've fitted to the car is that they make the rusty bits stand out! Must be tempting to get a wire brush out and some silver hammerite?!

[ginge191]

Awesome read here!!

also, a small pic request - can we see more of that TVR?
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4147571/rallyepr...AG0363.jpg

[C2K]

Don't envy you taking on the cambelt!

Trouble with all the shinies you've fitted to the car is that they make the rusty bits stand out! Must be tempting to get a wire brush out and some silver hammerite?!

Stan from gti6 is going to give me a hand as he's in Peterborough on Sunday. He's done hundreds and whilst I know what i'm doing, i'd rather not risk damaging something when someone more experienced is easily on hand.

With regards to hammeriting, it is tempting, and it can maybe follow on, but the car really isn't as pretty as she is photogenic! I don't want to get carried away as it's a combination of winter toy/track toy! We shall see! There is a cheap powdercoaters about a mile from work.

Awesome read here!!

also, a small pic request - can we see more of that TVR?
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4147571/rallyepr...AG0363.jpg

Of course.









Waiting to collect her from MOT, been busy.

[ginge191]

What an epic garage!! Lucky man!

[C2K]

Thanks. Bit older than a few on this forum and worked hard for every penny.I lusted after a Cerbera since I first saw one, HDi being so reliable made it affordable!

[C2K]

New cambelt and water pump on today. That is all.

[Alee83]

Getting there son, getting there!!

[C2K]

Yes mate she's nearly there. Might take a day off later in the week to get the hose/fluid changed and wazz it in for an MOT.

[C2K]

Not that anyone reads this but i'll use it like a diary anyway.

Did a few bits and bobs this evening, tidying up the stuff that was left after the cambelt like putting the aux belt on etc. Then dived into getting dirty doing my favourite job - brake lines. Seems to be a recurring theme for this year so far!



That's both the fronts fitted anyway. Looked at the rears and they are pretty shocking too so in readiness for another night this week I liberated the ones off my Xsara beam, purely because they match my custom made fronts which will go on when the new brakes do. Quick bleed through them later and then might put it back on the deck and do the rears.

[C2K]

That's a bit fail on the price of the braces. On my HDi the figure of 8 that retains the drivers side cable has decided to separate in two, so you can see my handbrake cable dangling and there is nowt to cable tie it to! Shall be chemical metalling that back together then! :p

Tonight I just finished off the front end having changed over the brake hoses by bleeding the front lines. Fluid didn't look too bad actually. Fitted the arch liners, turned the car around, pedal wasn't really spongy at all which is good, then backed it into the garage to look at the rear lines.

Drivers side hose union seems to want to take the pipe with it, even though the union has split. Not sure what else to do with that really, just wirebrushed the hell out of it and soaked it in plus gas a few times. The compensator side union split no issue. Don't want to be heating it up as it's a bit close to the petrol tank for my liking. Worst case i'll cut it off and get the factors to copy it, but that's a delay I don't really need tbh.

Will see how it plays ball tomorrow. Fitted all my new brake line clips anyway - what on earth posessed the previous owner to push them all through i'll never know - brake lines, abs sensors, fuel lines the whole shabang. Fortunately the ABS sensors and fuel lines just clipped back in.

[C2K]

Hurrah!

Rear brake lines nil, Pieman 2. Got them off with a bit of lateral thinking. The front unions were seized but the back ones were free at the compensator end. Undid the free ends, then rotated the brake lines off the seized union nuts.



After finishing that, did a quick bleed at the rear end, remembering to copper grease the bleed nipples. Ended up with a pretty firm pedal right off the bat - that's a good start. Will give it another cheeky bleed before MOT if I remember but it should be fine.

Whilst I was under there I fitted a new fuel filter - took a whopping 45 seconds including getting it out the box!

That said and done, I think she's ready for MOT! Can't remember what else I need to do, if anything!

[Piggy]

is that a split in your underbody next to the fuel filter?

[C2K]

Nay lad! It's a trick of the light. It's just some underbody protection that ends there.

Not sure what's going on with the return fuel line though, Peugeot don't use Jubilees anywhere. Will have a gander at servicebox tomorrow.

Edit: Servicebox shows a long male and female connector there, seems someone's bodged it together - I wonder if they snapped the pipe as the fuel filter didn't look to be that old, but i was surprised the old one was genuine Peugeot.

[C2K]

So, best laid plans and all that.

Did the cambelt the other week and didn't think much of it. Started the car and spun it round to do the brake lines.

Few days later when i'd done the brake lines, i was getting it ready to think about booking an MOT when it got warm for the first time and a horrendous noise appeared. Having isolated the aux circuit it was coming from the cambelt train but only when warm. Enter the genuine Peugeot water pump that I changed as a precaution - it's got a f*cked bearing. Horrible dry metallic sound that sounds like a camshaft with no oil.

So yeah, missed the MOT plans, just got a replacement water pump from Pug under warranty but it's still hassle to go and fit it as i'm running short of time. Got uni assignments to do which are due in soon (masters), jsut got a promotion at work which will bring more hours and force a move to Rugby so the DIY needs doing in the house so I can get it on the market. Eish, running seriously short of time.

[Alee83]

Man, sounds like you got a lot on your plate dude... Good luck!!

[C2K]

Yeah, the Rallye would've fallen nicely onto the road with MOT had that noise not appeared. Instead its still sat in the garage with a dodgy pump and no ticket. Needs time that I just don't have atm - should be driving it not cursing it.

HDi needs a droplink too.

[C2K]

Haven't updated this in a while. Mainly because I didn't touch the car since April.

Cambelt turned out to be a disaster one way and another. I changed the water pump as a precaution, only to have a faulty genuine pump which had a knackered bearing. Swapped out the waterpump and then replaced the cambelt onto the car. New pump was better but still making a noise. Whilst the car was running, the inlet cam pulley bolt worked loose (was tight, but clearly not tight enough, slight miscommunication with the person helping me) and made the most godawful knocking noise you could ever hear an engine make.

As a result of that mucking up all my plans I walked away from the Rallye and did everything necessary to get my house on the market. That consumed a huge amount of time one way and another.

Fast forward a few months.

Was getting sick of pushing the rallye up and down my single-width driveway as the TVR has been home a few months now. Finally got some time to return to the car to establish wtf had gone on last weekend. I'd worked out that the noise was the cam pulley thumping the cam forward, which by the action of the valve springs makes the cam jump forwards (as you find during a belt change) before being smacked again by the pulley, what I didn't know and almost couldn't face was the prospect of valve damage to the engine which was bought from my mate's car with FSH, low mileage, and had just been installed with the charger conversion to replace a tapper, not to mention the several hundred pounds worth of service stuff that had just been sunk into it (oil, charger oil, filters, belts etc)

Got the belt back on on Sunday night, to find that the engine itself is quiet as a mouse with no valve damage. The relief was indescribable. Still not happy with the water pump but given that I have to move house soon i'm not touching the damned thing for fear of rendering it immobile again. I spent last night putting all the engine covers back on, and then refitted all of the splash guards.



A lucky escape. Since then i've been busy putting it back together and trying to customise the replacement arch liner to hide my oil cooler lines out of the way, and the brakes are absolutely shocking so i suspect a union needs nipping somewhere. Once i've spent time checking all the car over properly I shall book it in for an MOT.

[Midnightclub]

Phew..! That does sound like a lucky escape.. Good luck for the MOT

[Rich306]

You were bloody lucky buddy, I've just read through this entire thread and it sure seems like you're having 'fun'!

[C2K]

I was indeed very lucky, it was part of the reason I didn't bother going back to it as i couldn't be arsed to face facts. I shouldn't really have been working on the car as much as I was in April as I should've been trying to sell the house in reality, that kind of forced my hand to abandon it.

Been out this evening and given all the brakes a damn good bleeding. Pedal seems better but not great, it's not lethal as such any more though. Chucked in 2 gallons of fresh VPower and got it running for a bit, checking all the lights etc and everything seems fine. Fuse 25 had blown again, wiping out the dash clocks and mileage, so I suspect one of the wires to the time clock has shorted out behind the dash thanks to the fuckknuckle of a previous owner.

Swapped out my OMP lower strut brace whilst I was there for a PhilipM one, mainly because the OMP one seemed to be touching the gearbox bellhousing, leading to all sorts of cabin noises that weren't particularly nice. Guess it wasn't really compatible with the 6 engine after all.

Replacement strut brace:


That said and done I set about getting rid of my black grimy hand marks on the body. I need to learn how to recover some sort of shine on the bodywork as it's unbelievably flat with nothing even resembling a shine.

[Rich306]

I think i need to invest in one of those lower strut braces. Time to start saving!

[C2K]

It's a nice piece of kit. I bought it on a whim really as it came up for sale as a spare he had made. I am quite bad for such things really, although there isn't a great deal left to buy to fit to my car it seems! Can't wait to use the LSD, but I must be sensible when she is on the road, given that it has all been apart there is bound to be some niggling problems, like boost piping.

[Alee83]

Just give the old girl a right good T-cut and wax she will shine plenty with some decent coats of wax on...!