Simo's inherited 306 HDi

[simo2007]

Great progress, fair play to you. Got a pre-heater working with some xud9te plugs myself.


Wrt tyres, I found rainsports horrible, but love my Michelin ps3s. They were only ~£5 more expensive per corner.

Poodle, how long do you find it takes to get heat from your blowers with the new pre-heater plugs in?

Thanks for the replies regarding the spoiler guys, I will keep my eye out for one!

about 5-10 mins average, depending on the severity of the frost.

And are we talking 'some heat' after 5-10 mins or very hot? I would say after 5-10 mins my coolant temp is coming up to 70C and I can feel some heat...

[306gtiparts]

I've fitted stumpy self tapping screws through the 4 holes in the glass with foam washers.

Sounds like you have the smaller phase 2 spoiler.  The phase 3 one is a bit deeper and just has two bolts through the metal above the window.

No you can fit a p3 spoiler to a p2 using stumpy self tappers with foam washers in the original p2 holes in the glass. Holds much better and your not left with 4 holes in the glass.

[Toms306]

I've fitted stumpy self tapping screws through the 4 holes in the glass with foam washers.

Sounds like you have the smaller phase 2 spoiler.  The phase 3 one is a bit deeper and just has two bolts through the metal above the window.

No you can fit a p3 spoiler to a p2 using stumpy self tappers with foam washers in the original p2 holes in the glass. Holds much better and your not left with 4 holes in the glass.

Fair enough. The OP has a ph3 tailgate already though...so the easiest option for him is to just buy a ph3 spoiler and either use the 2 standard bolts above the screen or bond it on.

[Poodle]

5-10 minutes sees her fully up to stat temp.

[simo2007]

The time has come to start thinking about doing the suspension components on my Grandad's car, I will be replacing the following:

Front shocks
Front springs
Top mounts
Anti roll bars
Rear shocks
Rear beam (after I source a refurb/get an old one and get it refurbed)

Since I am changing it out, and I'm not fussed about working to a budget, what is the consensus on brands and potential lowering? Bearing in mind it is a daily, so I don't want it to be a rough ride at all, but say for example getting a front strut brace would that tighten things up, or would I be better going for a small drop in ride height? I feel like the handling can be a bit 'floaty' and vague at times, but I am also fully aware that the front suspension as it stands has seen better days!

Look forward to your responses!

[Toms306]

Bilstein B8s and Eibach springs are ideal on the front of a 306.

Gti6 rear beam has thicker torsion bars and ARB than your current meridian setup.

Never had a strut brace on one personally so can't comment on that.

[simo2007]

Bilstein B8s and Eibach springs are ideal on the front of a 306.

Gti6 rear beam has thicker torsion bars and ARB than your current meridian setup.

Never had a strut brace on one personally so can't comment on that.

Thanks for the reply Tom! In terms of Eibach springs are we talking stock height? Does the Gti6 rear beam sit the same height as the meridian beam?

[Toms306]

Bilstein B8s and Eibach springs are ideal on the front of a 306.

Gti6 rear beam has thicker torsion bars and ARB than your current meridian setup.

Never had a strut brace on one personally so can't comment on that.

Thanks for the reply Tom! In terms of Eibach springs are we talking stock height? Does the Gti6 rear beam sit the same height as the meridian beam?

The Eibach springs are around 30mm drop from Meridian height, there aren't any uprated springs that sit at the OE height.

The beam is about 15mm lower as standard. But can be rebuilt to your desired height when refurbished.

[simo2007]

Bilstein B8s and Eibach springs are ideal on the front of a 306.

Gti6 rear beam has thicker torsion bars and ARB than your current meridian setup.

Never had a strut brace on one personally so can't comment on that.

Thanks for the reply Tom! In terms of Eibach springs are we talking stock height? Does the Gti6 rear beam sit the same height as the meridian beam?

The Eibach springs are around 30mm drop from Meridian height, there aren't any uprated springs that sit at the OE height.

The beam is about 15mm lower as standard.  But can be rebuilt to your desired height when refurbished.

Thanks for your swift reply Tom, all of your points have been really helpful! I'll be posting back soon with my decision and build pictures!

[simo2007]

Does anyone happen to know where I can get the GTI6 cyclone wheels balanced? I'm currently having them refurbished and the place I've took them can't balance them without the centreless adapter.

If anyone has any specific recommendations in Birmingham, Hertfordshire or West London that would be great!

[Toms306]

ATS Euromaster branches often have the adapter. Getting centreless alloys balanced nowadays is a pain though so good luck finding somewhere to do it!

[simo2007]

ATS Euromaster branches often have the adapter.  Getting centreless alloys balanced nowadays is a pain though so good luck finding somewhere to do it!

Tom you are a true champ at replying! If we ever cross paths the first few beers are on me! I'll start calling some ATS branches!

[simo2007]

Update: if anyone needs it done in Hertfordshire, ATS Euromaster in Welwyn Garden City do it for around £7.50 a corner.

[simo2007]

Thought I'd post a quick update! Just been using my Grandad's car as a daily for work duties really. I've covered about 15,000 miles since I pulled the engine.

Since my last post I've only ran into a couple of issues really, I suspect the VSS is becoming intermittent- I occasionally get a flutter from the speedo and on one occasion I felt a very brief dip in power. Probably happened a month or two back and hasn't happened since. The N/S rear brake caliper was seized, managed to sort it out without replacing but the pads on that side were battered. Swapped the pads out and works fine now!

I'm averaging between 56-62mpg depending on the London traffic, to my current tank of diesel I've done 650 miles and still have a quarter left! Quite astonishing the fuel consumption a nearly 20 year old diesel gets!

MOT is due in a couple of weeks so I'll be swapping out front shocks, coils and top mounts, along with the rear shocks just for a fresh up this weekend with a bit of luck.

Oh, and I bought one of my dream cars in April, she's a Jap spec, twin turbo, 6 speed manual 

[Mighty306]

Great to hear the car is still going strong. You must be pleased your various repairs have held up so well ..esp the head gasket.

Am always impressed when HDi owners state their MPG. Prob better than quite a few modern cars, where manufacturers have up to now massively overstated the fuel economy!

The Celica looks very tidy! I expect there's an owners club for those is there?

[simo2007]

Great to hear the car is still going strong. You must be pleased your various repairs have held up so well ..esp the head gasket.

Am always impressed when HDi owners state their MPG. Prob better than quite a few modern cars, where manufacturers have up to now massively overstated the fuel economy!

The Celica looks very tidy! I expect there's an owners club for those is there?

Thanks Mighty! Yeah very pleased (touch wood). Whenever I visit the cemetery I always update my Grandad on how it's running.  

The mpg is incredible to be honest. It's nice to be able to drive something and not worry about putting miles on it. 

It's a Supra   and yes there is, I have been doing lots of reading!

[Mighty306]

My lack of knowledge of Japanese exotics has just been woefully revealed. The 'Supra' looks very tidy! 

[simo2007]

Haha no worries matey! She's immaculate, barely believable that she's 24 years old now!

[simo2007]

More updates! Managed to change over the suspension this weekend. Had a bit of a nightmare on the N/S since I couldn't undo the track rod nut and get a bit more movement of the hub. ended up having to sacrifice a dabble of gearbox oil. Took me about 6 hours all together to get the fronts done, but I was meticulously cleaning up the threads and allowing some WD40 to soak through before doing anything. Also had manual coil clamps too that I was winding by hand!

Rear shocks were a walk in the park in comparison, only took just over an hour to sort them both out including thread cleaning. The result? The car literally feels like new now, massive ride/comfort improvement and it was long overdue to change. Got the car tracked up yesterday as it's a good idea when doing any suspension changes, and it was out, but only slightly.

Shouldn't have any MOT issues now with a bit of luck, but I do have some pin holes in the mid section of the exhaust, so I will be changing that and the back box this week at some point.

Parts changed:

Top mounts
Coil springs
All 4 shocks

I was going to do the drop links but I was supplied the metal ones. I read on here it's best to change for the plastic ones that are already there. Drop links seem fine I think I changed them a few years back when I did the cam belt so I'll get them changed eventually but not in any rush!

Things to do:

Need to sort the passenger airbag wiring under the seat, intermittently comes on the dash
Clean/inspect VSS
Check gear linkages as there's a creak when the car is warm when changing gear

[simo2007]

And for one of the first times in its history, my Grandad's car passed its MOT with NO ADVISORIES!

Absolutely chuffed, all that hard work was worth it! Currently sitting on just under 186k miles.

[simo2007]

Well I haven't updated this for quite some time. Nothing to report really, I did the rear axle in October 2019 as it started creaking and I changed the rear callipers as they were starting to get a bit crusty, here are some photos







Just under 203k miles on at the moment, just passed its MOT (had a 6 month extension due to lockdown) with zero advisories.

Due to do the cam belt in the next year or so, will do the water pump whilst I'm there. Might pull the engine again just to give all the seals a check over and do the cam belt whilst the engine is out, undecided as of yet!

Not commuting to London any more so dropped from 20k/year down to <5k/year now. Hope everyone is well during this madness.

[Mighty306]

This is a very late reply ...been a bit busy with other stuff. Great to get an update n hear you're still driving your Grandad's car. That head repair is holding up well then? Good work on sorting the rear beam. It's not a small job. Cheers for now.