Boring Black Rallye

[Eeyore]

good work

[Poodle]

That final colour is beautiful!

[wainwrightj]

Not an update as such but the work I've been doing on the car is done and today is the first day I've driven the car and it feels amazing. Compared to the 1.4 Meridian (bad comparison I know - miles apart) the rallye feels so planted and effortless, you floor it in 4th and it still flies such a great feeling.

I'm stupid happy to be driving it proper update coming in the next couple of days for anyone that is interested.

[Matt-Rallye]

Not an update as such but the work I've been doing on the car is done and today is the first day I've driven the car and it feels amazing. Compared to the 1.4 Meridian (bad comparison I know - miles apart) the rallye feels so planted and effortless, you floor it in 4th and it still flies such a great feeling.

I'm stupid happy to be driving it proper update coming in the next couple of days for anyone that is interested.

Just wait till you get on your favourite B road and give it the magical 6th - 3rd downshift circa 50mph and feel it come alive

[Eeyore]

A rallye at 19. jesus. It would have blown my socks off at that age

[wainwrightj]

A rallye at 19. jesus. It would have blown my socks off at that age

It has it's the best thing I've driven and given that I've come from a 1.4 it feels stupidly quick, only problem is I've set the car bar fairly high and I'm not sure how or if i'll ever beat the feeling of getting into this car ahah

[Eeyore]

A rallye at 19. jesus. It would have blown my socks off at that age

It has it's the best thing I've driven and given that I've come from a 1.4 it feels stupidly quick, only problem is I've set the car bar fairly high and I'm not sure how or if i'll ever beat the feeling of getting into this car ahah

i started with a 1.4. then went to a 1.8. Then to a hdi estate. then back to the 1.8. then to the rallye. Theyre good and I like the fact its a classic that people like to see out and about.

[Poodle]

Not easy to beat the feel of a well sorted and looked-after 306 on a back road.

[wainwrightj]

As I've said i'm now driving the car, I've done around 120 miles since monday just driving it for the sake of it (i'm telling myself it's so I can find any faults that only appear when driving it; in reality I just cant get enough of the damn thing it's amazing. Only things I've noticed are that the rear beam has a knock on the rear left corner when the wheel goes over bumps, the sound only comes from the that side, a shop noted this on a piece of paper that was given with the MOT slip but I'm hoping it's just the exhaust or something silly like that.

Well anyways carrying on from the last update, with the help of my dad I removed the front rad that was pretty F****D the fins would fall away from the rad if you sneezed too close to it so I ordered a new rad was hoping for a nissens one but couldn't find them anywhere so I just bought an NRF one which is a heck of a lot lighter, it also doesn't leak which is a plus. I also bought some BV transmission fluid which has apparently been replaced by Total Gear 8 so changed the fluid and now as if like magic none of the gears crunch. My dad was adamant that changing the gear oil wouldn't change how the car shifted so it was nice that he wasn't right for once.





As you all saw in the last update I chose pink as the colour to repaint everything and I don't regret it given that this feels like my forever car in the words of Moog from MCM, I'm not fussed if it reduces value or will make it harder to sell because I don't plan on selling it at all, and even if I did the pink is only visible when the bonnet is open (and slightly from the gap between the headlight, the bonnet and the front wing).








TOP TIP :: Make your own smoke machine with an external light that gets really hot and spray WD40 all over the glass front 

I didn't take many photos when I was working as I decided I was going to just put everything on in one night and taking photos wasn't going to help me finish at a sensible time. Also there isn't any before and afters on the rust removal because of the above, and if I'm honest it doesn't look very spectacular because I was rushing to get it done which I regret a little bit but I plan to go back and tidy stuff up at the end of summer.

I'm not sure there will be a lot going on with the car anytime soon as I'm slightly skint from having the insure this £1700 for 10 months and that's with both my parents as named drivers (neither of them have any convictions I had to declare; although I had to declare my speed awareness course..)

[wainwrightj]

Been gone a while but should be back now!

Made some progress on the Rallye since my last post I've been taking photos along the way but haven't spent anytime getting them ready to be posted.
So after someone put a dent in my rear quarter panel I decided it was time to stop using the Rallye as a daily. It's since been sat in my aunties garage looking fairly sorry for itself took it out once for a quick blast and I've missed it a lot.

Been daily driving this beast since putting the Rallye in the garage.
1995 Volvo 850 T5 2.3 Turbo 225BHP



On the run up to pugfest here is a list of things I want to try and get done so keep your eye on this thread -

• Paint front calipers to match the rears
  
• Install Hel Performance brake lines on the front
  
• Clean the engine bay up a little bit
  
• Clean K&N air filter
  
• Paint rear underside again with better coverage this time
  
• Fix the couple of dents in the body work
  
• Weld patches on the wheel arches which have been taken by rust
  
• Paint fuel cap plastics gloss black to match the side plastics
  
• Install miles solid gear linkages
  
• Install new interior light surround after breaking the clips when I had to fix a leak from the antenna
  
• Possibly tidy up stone chips along the front of the bonnet
  

Here's a sneak peak of what I haven't updated you all on -



Hopefully lots of good news to come with some slightly more interesting updates than before!

[wainwrightj]

Hello there finally got round to making the full update.

After having enough of putting up with a shagged beam I started having a look around on eBay for a replacement. After a little searching found a decent Xsara VTS beam with 21mm torsion bars for £100 posted if I can remember correctly around 80k miles which is 40k less than my shagged beam had done so jumped at it.

Before


After


After stripping all of what I could off of it my girlfriend and I gave it a coat of Kurust.



Followed by a coat of Black Hammerite and a splash of pink on the ARB plates that matches the front slam panel, airbox and abs bracket.



Ordered some new bits to throw on at the same time as the new beam, Baker BM solid rear mounts Hel Performance braided brake lines. Also bought new ABS sensors as they wouldn’t come off the beam, some new brake disk covers and finally a pair of handbrake cables. Don’t worry sent the horrible green brake lines back for some carbon fibre look ones that don’t look as obnoxious.



Chucked the mounts on the beam along with the shocks, turns out the shock on the shagged side of the old beam had started to collapse which may have explained why that side went and not the other that or the beam caused the shock to collapse and that’s what was causing the knock. Either way put the shock that came on the beam back on. Looking to get eibach at some point if I can lower the beam couldn’t get the torsions bars off so I’m not sure how that’ll go. Either way the pics!





Got the old beam off after this and as I did the bump stop on the shagged side fell out with it. Got the calipers off to ready for some paint.



With the old beam off I made new brake lines using the old ones as a template and ended up with a finished product.



Bathed the calipers and the brackets from the Xsara beam in a citric acid bath and attacked them with the wire wheel on a drill and a chisel. At this point I hadn’t bought the new disk covers and was planning on saving the old ones safe to safe it wasn’t worth the effort.



Decided on yellow for the calipers.


Before


During


After


Had a look at where the bump stop was supposed to be and of course it was held together with rust and luck dad was able to bring his works van home and he went about welding in a couple of sheets to strengthen it back up. As he said it doesn’t matter what it looks like as long as it’s strong.

Ignore the line down the center I lazily pasted an image over the other rather than doing it properly


Before


After


Whilst I had the beam off tended to some rust under the boot floor and bare metaled the majority of it before painting it with more black Hammerite. Would’ve liked to take the fuel tank off but it looked like if it had come off it wouldn’t be going back on.





So that’s that! I haven’t got any photos of the beam on the car unfortunately. I always get too excited and take less and less photos the closer any job gets to being done because I just want to drive the car again. Ignore that just found a couple on my phone and a video of its first start after the work.



https://youtu.be/nJqInJQDEyI

And finally where it’s been since September. Hopefully giving it a clean tomorrow weather permitting.



Anyways that’s that, bit of a long update with a couple pics. More to come on the run up to pugfest!

[C2K]

Good update mate. Keep them coming.

I'd get that spare beam rebuilt when you have a chance as xsara ones tend to be in worse general shape than 306 ones as you can see in my project thread.

[wainwrightj]

Good update mate. Keep them coming.

I'd get that spare beam rebuilt when you have a chance as xsara ones tend to be in worse general shape than 306 ones as you can see in my project thread.

Thanks man

I read through your project after the last update and saw that photo, I think ultimately that'll be the plan and then if the time comes I can swap the torsion bars over.

The amount of miles the Rallye does is so small so the current beam should stay in take for a little longer

[Eeyore]

Good work. I need to do exactly the same on mine. Hope mine isnt too rusty :/

[Mighty306]

Yea, cheers for the update.  Good to see a Rallye getting a thorough clean-up.  I'm also planning to clean up the underside of mine but keep putting it off as I'm a) worried what I'll find & b) know it'll be an awkward, filthy, and long job!

I've been cleaning up steel parts using an electrolysis tank but am quite interested in your citric acid method.  Seems to give similar results.  If you could post some instructions that would be great.

As above, I'd get the old beam rebuilt as it will only be a matter of time before the other one goes.  I've just stripped down my second beam.  It wasn't giving any indication of problems and did turn out to be much better that the first but in fact the bearings had started to wear the swing arm shaft on one side.  Once that goes too far I think the seals start to let water in and from there the deterioration is pretty quick.  You seem to be pretty good at handling a spanner but if you need a hand stripping it down I may be able to help.  I think you're fairly local to me aren't you?

I did notice a couple of things in your build.  The bolts fixing the mounts to the beam were the wrong way around in one of the pictures with the beam off the car (left side).  With the nuts on the outside they will foul the swing arm.  I think you may have spotted that though as you've got them the right way around on a later picture with the beam on the car (but that pic shows the RHS).

   

Also, on the rear brake calipers the plate that locks the pads in place should go on the bottom and the springs on top.  Welshpug has said in previous posts that with them the wrong way around they pads can pop out, which isn't going to make for a good day.  I can't tell if you've managed to transpose the carriers on to the wrong sides but hopefully the pic below will help you work it out.

   

[wainwrightj]

Yea, cheers for the update.  Good to see a Rallye getting a thorough clean-up.  I'm also planning to clean up the underside of mine but keep putting it off as I'm a) worried what I'll find & b) know it'll be an awkward, filthy, and long job!

It's worth it though as you can see I did it all on jack stands and it wasn't enjoyable haha.

I've been cleaning up steel parts using an electrolysis tank but am quite interested in your citric acid method.  Seems to give similar results.  If you could post some instructions that would be great.

It seems a decent method I'll make sure I'll get a guide together soon.

As above, I'd get the old beam rebuilt as it will only be a matter of time before the other one goes.  I've just stripped down my second beam.  It wasn't giving any indication of problems and did turn out to be much better that the first but in fact the bearings had started to wear the swing arm shaft on one side.  Once that goes too far I think the seals start to let water in and from there the deterioration is pretty quick.  You seem to be pretty good at handling a spanner but if you need a hand stripping it down I may be able to help.  I think you're fairly local to me aren't you?

Yeah based near street went to IKEA in Bristol recently so up your way anyways ahah

I did notice a couple of things in your build.  The bolts fixing the mounts to the beam were the wrong way around in one of the pictures with the beam off the car (left side).  With the nuts on the outside they will foul the swing arm.  I think you may have spotted that though as you've got them the right way around on a later picture with the beam on the car (but that pic shows the RHS).

Yeah we swapped the bolts round dad noticed that too, I put them on that way round because it was easier than trying to pry the sway arm down to get the bolt in. Doesn;t pay to cut corners though

Also, on the rear brake calipers the plate that locks the pads in place should go on the bottom and the springs on top.  Welshpug has said in previous posts that with them the wrong way around they pads can pop out, which isn't going to make for a good day.  I can't tell if you've managed to transpose the carriers on to the wrong sides but hopefully the pic below will help you work it out.

That's how I've done the brake calipers I think it's right I could be wrong I may have put them on the round side of the car or something. I didn't take photos before and taking the other calipers apart and used google as a reference for putting the pads back in. Let me know if it is wrong and I'll make sure I correct it

Thanks for the help in advance

---

Good work. I need to do exactly the same on mine. Hope mine isnt too rusty :/

I feel as if you said something similar when I posted about my rusty wheel arches

Tell you what I'll sort out the rust on yours and you can sort out some throttle bodies for mine

[Mighty306]

Yep, the pads are in the carriers correctly but you may have transposed the carriers to the wrong sides.  How much that matters if the pads are in them correctly I don't know.  I'm sure someone on here will be able to confirm.

[wainwrightj]

Yep, the pads are in the carriers correctly but you may have transposed the carriers to the wrong sides.  How much that matters if the pads are in them correctly I don't know.  I'm sure someone on here will be able to confirm.

Hopefully it doesn't matter and I'll be okay ahah

[wainwrightj]

Washed the car today filmed it and made a little video on my Youtube channel go subscribe if you want to see more 306 content in the future. *shameless plug*

https://youtu.be/dTjirAMq_Yk

[welshpug]

it does matter, they can pop out as mentioned.

[wainwrightj]

it does matter, they can pop out as mentioned.

Does it matter in my case though? Are the clips in the calipers correctly on my car?

[welshpug]

I would imagine brake pads falling out matters a fair bit.

in your picture they aren't on correct no.

[wainwrightj]

I would imagine brake pads falling out matters a fair bit.

in your picture they aren't on correct no.

Like getting blood from a stone eh?

Thanks though i'll make sure I correct them before pugfest.

[Eeyore]

remove the audio from the video track and blend it in when you bring it in. Also see if you can get a gimbal to smooth out the footage.

[wainwrightj]

remove the audio from the video track and blend it in when you bring it in. Also see if you can get a gimbal to smooth out the footage.

I kept the audio in places where I think it gave it something so i'll make sure I think about it more next time.

When you say blend it in do you mean fade one audio track out as you fade the other in?

I'm assuming you're using the last clip as an example where the music dies and the car starts?
If so the song actually ends there and I liked that the car starts as the music stops abruptly but I can see why it's not good practice.

Thanks for the criticism though it's helping me out

[Eeyore]

yeh use some fading. I think it may have been a video in a background tab stuttering. i thought there was some audio of you and your mates talking?

[wainwrightj]

yeh use some fading. I think it may have been a video in a background tab stuttering. i thought there was some audio of you and your mates talking?

There could well be, my family were all in the house possibly the mic picking them up. I muted every track except the ones where I wanted audio I'll just make sure I'm more careful next time

[Mighty306]

I would imagine brake pads falling out matters a fair bit.

in your picture they aren't on correct no.

Like getting blood from a stone eh?

Thanks though i'll make sure I correct them before pugfest.

He may be a man of few words sometimes (probably a result of having made thousands of posts on various Pug sites over the years) but he knows his stuff and his advice is worth taking.  Swap those carriers over ASAP!