Cool Mods for Skint People

[ozonehostile]

High speed fans with aircon button mod:

Unplug the compressor and the plug from the refrigerant line on the inner wing under the pas reservoir, Bridge pins 1 and 3 on the brown plug. Job done.

Your high speed fans will now come on and off by pushing the aircon button, nice oem mod that costs nothing

[Piggy]

No one mentioned cleaning yet?

Hoover - free from the cupboard
Bucket and sponges and microfibre cloths - free if already owned or £10 from somewhere should get you something decent.

Cleaning a car can make something minging totally brilliant! microfibre cloths with some hot water and washing powder added, can bring up upholstery really well. Scrub with damp, scrub with dry. Job done! and it helps make it smell nice too!

time+elbow grease.

[Iceman299]

Totally agree ^
Thats the first thing i do when i buy a new car. Especially all the door and boot surrounds etc some are totally filthy when you open the doors. Even the dirt that comes off the steering wheel is disgusting

[THE_Liam]

This will sound boring but if you're on a tight budget, make sure maintainance comes before modifications every time. The amount of cars I've seen with expensive wheels and huge stereos but with warped brakes and bald tyres is unreal.

[lolsteve]

Agree with cleaning. Was starting to fall a bit out of love with the zr as it was covered in pollen(?) marks but 30 minutes with a bucket n sponge and it's gleaming

[Grant]

This will sound boring but if you're on a tight budget, make sure maintainance comes before modifications every time. The amount of cars I've seen with expensive wheels and huge stereos but with warped brakes and bald tyres is unreal.

Second this to be fair.


See too many car park cruisers around here with massive wheels and stereos, and shopping trolley spoilers, but then are running like a bag of crap, or haven't seen a bucket and sponge in about 10 years

[Pete]

De-badging the back end, Really cleans ups the line IMO and free. Only glued on 306's so a little heat and some white spirits and jobsa good 'un.

This will sound boring but if you're on a tight budget, make sure maintainance comes before modifications every time. The amount of cars I've seen with expensive wheels and huge stereos but with warped brakes and bald tyres is unreal.

Second this to be fair.


See too many car park cruisers around here with massive wheels and stereos, and shopping trolley spoilers, but then are running like a bag of crap, or haven't seen a bucket and sponge in about 10 years

Sounds like my van to be fair!

[Adam-m-h]

I recovered my headliner for £12.50 material and glue
Also painted the centre fascia £6
Next is my wheels when I get a spare set as I have some spare paint.
Gear knobs are cheap to and also valve covers/dust caps and door pins.

[Iceman299]

Rear spoilers are a good cheap mod, i paid £10 for my ph3 spoiler. Improves the look a fair bit imo

[Poodle]

This will sound boring but if you're on a tight budget, make sure maintainance comes before modifications every time. The amount of cars I've seen with expensive wheels and huge stereos but with warped brakes and bald tyres is unreal.

Again, this. Amazed Rowell didn't mention it in the first post after his own experiences- spent loads on making his estate a rudeboymobile, but failed to address the fact that his trailing arms were almost falling off. Cue a skint, annoyed and stranded Sam come mot time and the inevitable failure sheet...

That said, i've been modifying mine on a budget of £25 a month for years, it can be done. Bad EBay listings, garage clearances, autojumbles, joblots - all great ways of finding bargains with a bit of effort.

[Eeyore]

This will sound boring but if you're on a tight budget, make sure maintainance comes before modifications every time. The amount of cars I've seen with expensive wheels and huge stereos but with warped brakes and bald tyres is unreal.

Again, this. Amazed Rowell didn't mention it in the first post after his own experiences- spent loads on making his estate a rudeboymobile, but failed to address the fact that his trailing arms were almost falling off. Cue a skint, annoyed and stranded Sam come mot time and the inevitable failure sheet...

That said, i've been modifying mine on a budget of £25 a month for years, it can be done. Bad EBay listings, garage clearances, autojumbles, joblots - all great ways of finding bargains with a bit of effort.

The estate was great! haha. It will (may) be back! The trailing arms were meant to be like that to produce snap oversteer

but yes. Maintenance first!

[Jimmy306uk]

Bump! A nice thing to upgrade if not already mentioned is bulbs, led sidelights can be had cheap off of eBay, number plate bulbs are also the same bulb. A nice bright white light always looks good but be award as they are illegal. Can also get headlight bulb upgrades, 80w ones etc that look a lot better

[lolsteve]

I would go against the use of white dipped headlight bulbs. I've been running some ebay ones because I wanted white headlights without going HIDs and wish I had left the standard ones in. Those white/blue ones have terrible light output, so many times been driving on a motorway and had to rely on other cars headlights to see what's in front of me as my lights only gave me a 1m or 2 of half vision. Kept meaning to replace them but drive at night so rarely i'd forget to do it *very silly me* Have gone nightbreakers now before the winter nights creep up along with Aero wipers (only a 5er)

[Razorback_Rob]

I would go against the use of white dipped headlight bulbs. I've been running some ebay ones because I wanted white headlights without going HIDs and wish I had left the standard ones in. Those white/blue ones have terrible light output, so many times been driving on a motorway and had to rely on other cars headlights to see what's in front of me as my lights only gave me a 1m or 2 of half vision. Kept meaning to replace them but drive at night so rarely i'd forget to do it *very silly me* Have gone nightbreakers now before the winter nights creep up along with Aero wipers (only a 5er)

I use osrams cool blue hyper as dipped beam. Never had An issue with beam. Only use as a dipped as they're not e stamped thus not road legal but hey neither are half the twats with retrofitted hids but mine aren't an annoyance

[Piggy]

Bump! A nice thing to upgrade if not already mentioned is bulbs, led sidelights can be had cheap off of eBay, number plate bulbs are also the same bulb. A nice bright white light always looks good but be award as they are illegal. Can also get headlight bulb upgrades, 80w ones etc that look a lot better

So long as they are in the yellow-white light spectrum then led sidelights and number plate bulbs are perfectly legal.

80watt bulbs are illegal however.

Osram nightbreaker plus are a great upgrade, legal and in my experience last much longer than std bulbs...my h4 set are now in the mrs 206...I bought them for my ph1 5 years ago!!!!

[Razorback_Rob]

Bump! A nice thing to upgrade if not already mentioned is bulbs, led sidelights can be had cheap off of eBay, number plate bulbs are also the same bulb. A nice bright white light always looks good but be award as they are illegal. Can also get headlight bulb upgrades, 80w ones etc that look a lot better

So long as they are in the yellow-white light spectrum then led sidelights and number plate bulbs are perfectly legal.

80watt bulbs are illegal however.

Osram nightbreaker plus are a great upgrade, legal and in my experience last much longer than std bulbs...my h4 set are now in the mrs 206...I bought them for my ph1 5 years ago!!!!

I tried led sidelights with my nightbreakers and the led bulbs kept melting! Couldn't work out if the heat off the halogen bulbs were too much or if it was an electrical issue. Never had trouble as number plate lights and interior lights though. Much brighter for interior.

[thebluepearl]

3d carbon wrap pillars

Use the missus' hair dryer remove old trim replace with new trim
Level of ease out of 5 1 being piss easy I'd give it a 1
Time- 1hour

Price £5-£10

[Orta]

Bosch Aero Flat Wipers



Cheap mod again can get different brand (valeo, bosch etc) mine are bosch as pictured. Pick up the 20" and 22" with traditional clip (sell in halfords or major motor factors at least) at most £30 I paid £20 for the pair.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vie...0762373334

These the right ones?

[Jimmy306uk]

Bosch Aero Flat Wipers



Cheap mod again can get different brand (valeo, bosch etc) mine are bosch as pictured. Pick up the 20" and 22" with traditional clip (sell in halfords or major motor factors at least) at most £30 I paid £20 for the pair.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vie...0762373334

These the right ones?

Yes

---

So long as they are in the yellow-white light spectrum then led sidelights and number plate bulbs are perfectly

Going back to this, are yellow lights legal then? My mate had a starlet and wrapped his headlight like you would with the fogs and told me they was legal? Meant to be a lot better for seeing on road too

[Piggy]

Yellow light is good for rain/damp/fog.

It will be the wrap thats illegal not the colour

[procta]

how about a second rear fog? even easier to do with the 306,
like this on the metro , ( rear bump)


I took the idea from my metros, and thought will the 306 have spare hole for the fog, and guess what I was right!
so a case of a spare bulb,

before,

light removed, and board checked for a spare holder and yes there it is!





poke out the plastic thing that blanks off the hole, in the lens.


slot your spare bulb in

give it a test

and put it back to gether,

and check out your twin fogs!

[Jimmy306uk]

Yellow light is good for rain/damp/fog.

It will be the wrap thats illegal not the colour

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vie...1532986552 so am I right in thinking these are perfectly legal and will emit the bright yellow light? Thinking of getting some but I don't really fancy being pulled every 2 minutes, might have to read up on the actual law about them so I can quote it if it ever happens

[Piggy]

They are illegal. Due to them being over the prescribed 55w limit.
The extra current draw may also melt ya wiring or relays






Oh and I have done the double fog light thing on all the pugs/citroens I have owned 106-206-306-ZX etc etc

[RetroPug]

Meant to be a lot better for seeing on road too

Yellow light is good for rain/damp/fog.

It will be the wrap thats illegal not the colour

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vie...1532986552 so am I right in thinking these are perfectly legal and will emit the bright yellow light? Thinking of getting some but I don't really fancy being pulled every 2 minutes, might have to read up on the actual law about them so I can quote it if it ever happens

It is easier for the human eye to see the definition in things (in layman's terms) in yellow hues, hence why ski goggles are often yellow/orange tinted, which is why fog lights are sometimes yellow.

However, ANY colour filter on a light will reduce the total light output, because obviously you are filtering some of the light out. It won't necessarily reduce it to dangerous levels, but nevertheless if you tint your lights yellow you are filtering out other frequencies of light. Some older french cars did have yellow glass headlights as standard.

As for those bulbs, they might be alright, they might be absolutely awful and being from some random company on the other side of the world for 6.99 I'm not sure I'd have much faith in them.

[Slam Wagon]

Yellow light is good for rain/damp/fog.

It will be the wrap thats illegal not the colour

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vie...1532986552 so am I right in thinking these are perfectly legal and will emit the bright yellow light? Thinking of getting some but I don't really fancy being pulled every 2 minutes, might have to read up on the actual law about them so I can quote it if it ever happens

Those are crap, barely yellow. Have a look for nokya 2500k stage 1 bulbs. Got them in mine, much better light. Admittedly something like the osrams will give a much better light but if you want yellow these are the best ive found.

[Jimmy306uk]

Yellow light is good for rain/damp/fog.

It will be the wrap thats illegal not the colour

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vie...1532986552 so am I right in thinking these are perfectly legal and will emit the bright yellow light? Thinking of getting some but I don't really fancy being pulled every 2 minutes, might have to read up on the actual law about them so I can quote it if it ever happens

Those are crap, barely yellow. Have a look for nokya 2500k stage 1 bulbs. Got them in mine, much better light. Admittedly something like the osrams will give a much better light but if you want yellow these are the best ive found.

You ever get police bothering you for them?

[Slam Wagon]

Nope, yellow or white are legal for headlights. Quite a few of us run them roud here. Only problem ive heatd of is the beam pattern not being right on mot on my mates civic but that was using a different bulb, my mot has always been fine.

[Dave]

Some good mods going on here.

I havent got the picture to hand, but I found the shorted gear linkage cut and weld approach for a quick shift was pretty effective! If anyones been in my car they would have seen its abit extreme at the moment, diagonal!!

[Mattcheese31]

what Procta did just up there, some 306's only come with one reverse light, same trick as above, break the plastic insert out, pop a bulb in and hey presto, two reverse lights, very useful actually . .

think it might just be phase 1's where there's just one sometimes . . .

[Razorback_Rob]

what Procta did just up there, some 306's only come with one reverse light, same trick as above, break the plastic insert out, pop a bulb in and hey presto, two reverse lights, very useful actually . .

think it might just be phase 1's where there's just one sometimes . . .

Mine had a fake bulb (dumby bulb if you will) in place to the opposite side. I just popped a bulb in and was fine.