WiNgNuTz's Smoothed HDi Estate

[Grant]

Looking really smart mate.



I don't want to hear that is need a new clutch any time soon though!!



And lose the wing mirrors :p

[WiNgNuTz]

Cheers dude, you'll be glad to hear the clutch is fine so far, and i should be acquiring some new mirrors at FCS. Then i'll just need to get them sprayed to vaguely match the car.

[7057sam]

Mirrors looks pretty sweet

Need to ph3 the front end again

[WiNgNuTz]

Mirrors looks pretty sweet

Need to ph3 the front end again

You're welcome to them when i take them off and replace them with standard ones if you like?

[WiNgNuTz]

Well at least i'm keeping with my old habit of not updating my project thread for ages! Having said that...nothings really happened since ive bought it, apart from me fitting the ABM's.

Until now that is, thanks to SRowell, the gash looking stickerbombing on the centre console has been removed and replaced with the standard issue silver/gun metal colour:

[attachment=16901]

This is likely to get spayed EYCC silver at some point when i've got some spare paint, as will the dash surround.

On the subject of paint, im currently getting a set of standard ph3 mirrors sprayed up and ready to go on the car, literally cannot wait to get rid of the awful DTM things that are on there at the moment!

[attachment=16902]

[attachment=16903]

And thats basically it for the moment...kinda need to finish paying my mate for the car before the real work can begin!

EDIT: Apologies for the awful pics, my phone camera is utterly rubbish.

[Eeyore]

Wow those mirrors look great! Good stuff. What about the speaker grilles? Surely everyone needs to know about those too!

[WiNgNuTz]

Oh yeah, i got some speaker grills off Rowell too, but they have a habit of falling off at the moment as the doorcards are missing a couple of the securing clips, so just flap about.

[Eeyore]

And the B pillars?

[WiNgNuTz]

Havent got round to fitting that yet, need to find some screws to fit it with!

It's on the list though.

[WiNgNuTz]

Mirrors are now all finished, and ready to be fitted to the car in the morning!

[attachment=16956]

[WiNgNuTz]

Update fail again!

So heres a pic of the standard mirrors in their rightful place:

[attachment=17325]

And as usual, not much else has happened. Had a day at my mums with the toolbox out, took the exhaust off and beat the subframe sill, put the exhaust back on, and found I'd not beaten it enough, so that still knocks...in fact its now worse than it was before!

Still couldn't get the pigging nut off the top of the power steering pump, despite dousing it in WD40, GT85, plusgas and some rust dissolving stuff that my bro has got, so that still makes that awful graunching noise the whole time.
Lost my rag and gave up by the time i'd finished doing that.

Today though, i managed to acquire a decent sized off cut of 18mm MDF, so i'm making a start on mounting my little 8" sub that I got for free into the passenger side cubby hole of the boot. Credit goes to Ian "Slam Wagon" for the idea, hope he doesnt mind me pinching it! Its the ideal place for me really, as it means i can get a little bit of bass (not after window rattling bass, just a bit of extra meat to help take the hard work off the components ) without losing any boot space, which is currently taken up with all my work gear.

[attachment=17326]

[attachment=17327]

Thats all for now folks! Come back next month to find out what else i still havent got round to!

EDIT: Oh, Rowell will be pleased to hear i fitted the B Pillar trim! Didnt use any screws in the end, the rest of the trim and the door seals hold it in place just fine!

[Eeyore]

I dont think anyone uses the screws to hold the B Pillars in place. The black clips always break off so its door seals only.

Good progress. I didnt realise Ian had done the sub idea. I started but never finished. I did however mount my amp inside the passenger side compartment and the plan was to put a 10" sub in the other.

[WiNgNuTz]

Yeah, the amp I've got won't fit in the other compartment, so at the moment it's looking like I'm just gonna screw it to the back of the rear bench.

It's not the progress I really need to be making, kinda working on the theory of "if I can't hear the squeaks and groans the car makes, they're not there!" instead. Plus, ive already got the sub/amp, etc, and the mdf was an offcut pinched from a job I've been doing, so far this audio build has cost me nothing but my own labour.

[Eeyore]

Yeh Im pretty sure we all just turn our music up to cover up the sound of creaking. My dashboard makes lots of noise over rough road. Fairly sure the whole thing is going to fly off at some stage even though its got all of its bolts!

I got my amp off tom because i knew that it would fit in there.

How do you plan on sealing it up? Are you going to put any deadening or anything on the inside of the compartment to stop more rattles and try and make it more bassy?

[WiNgNuTz]

Maybe in the future, I'm kinda making it up as I go along at the moment, I need to get a new wiring kit for the amp anyway, so although I'm rattling on with the mounting for the sub, it won't have power for a little while, giving me chance to sort out the finer details. All input is welcome though, already had a good couple of tips on Faceache.

[Eeyore]

Ive got some cables lying around if you want them.

[WiNgNuTz]

Mate, I think every 306 owner has an abundance of cable ties at their disposal! I know I have! As well as gaffa tape and electrical tape!

[Eeyore]

Ive got some cables lying around if you want them.

I meant a wiring kit! But if you dont it then fine Ill keep it

[WiNgNuTz]

Y'know what, I have no idea why I read that as cable ties.

Might take you up on that actually mate, I'm planning to try and make ace this month, as kwik has offered me the stock boot speakers from his estate, so that's gonna be the best place to collect them!

Really wishing I'd taken the cables out of the dt before I sold it now, couldn't be bothered at the time.

[WiNgNuTz]

So, continuing with the audio "install", I got the template cut out the other day, and got it all fitted in the car today, i think this should be airtight, don't you?

[attachment=17389]



It'll do for now, got a better idea to fill the hole, but not the materials at the moment.

And the finished product:

[attachment=17390]

Now i've just got to wait for the new wiring kit to turn up (sorry sam, couldn't help myself, got a whole new kit coming, £7 all in, couldnt really whinge for that!), then i can get the amp plumbed in after i screw it to the back of the rear bench. Not the ideal location, but it'll do. Long term plan, if i can lay my hands on some more MDF, i'll end up mounting the amp in the other cubby hole instead, as it does seem to fit....just.

[WiNgNuTz]

In other news, has anyone got any suggestions about sorting this problem im having with the wipers:



This tends to happen when the wipers have been used for anything more than about 10 minutes, usually on auto, don't see the need to use them on anything else. Now, the green relay directly to the left of the jaunty angled purple-ish one gets REALLY warm while using the auto wipers, would this be the wiper relay? And is this likely to be as simple a fix as replacing said relay?

[Niall]

Need to open up the motor gearbox and clean up the tracks (Assuming they are not too far gone!)

[WiNgNuTz]

Really? Why would the symptoms only develop after prolonged use though?

[Niall]

Really? Why would the symptoms only develop after prolonged use though?

heat build up potentially

[WiNgNuTz]

Hmm...fair enough, might have a gander at the wiper motor tomorrow if the weather plays ball.

[WiNgNuTz]

OH MY GOD! THIS IS FINALLY  GETTING AN UPDATE!! *Why dont we have a shocked smiley?!*

So yeah, after running the tyres on my "Euro Design" wheels (!) to their absolute limit, and slightly beyond, I finally invested in a set of 4 tyres for my Ariannes! Currently having to run them with tapered bolts though, until I can get my hands on some extended flat bolts, which is annoying and i don't like it.

Also had to go without the centre caps as well to start with, as they needed a quick spray, but I've done that now, and here is the final product:

[attachment=21253]

Gonna give her a quick bath this weekend so I can get some nicer pics, and get my sig updated, already had enough of those old wheels without them staring me in the face every time i post on here!

As Jamie has already said on Faceache, it's kind of lost it's chavvy look now, sits far nicer on the Ariannes than it did on the 17's, and I'm hoping to get the rear doors I got from LondonDan sprayed up soon, so I can get them on....got the MOT due at the end of Feb, so I've got a deadline to work to with that.

Other than that - as you can see - not much has changed...this has basically become my daily slog/work van/family wagon (spends a fair chuck of its life at the moment with a ladder on the roof rack too )....plus the fact it's too damn cold to be working on the car at the moment! Still got a plenty long list of things that need doing though, so may manage to tick some of them off in the near future.

[1616six]

Looking good, a Ph3 bumper would make it look awesome!

[7057sam]

Ariannes look 100 percent better that the 17's

[WiNgNuTz]

Fully agree on both counts there lads, may well try and get a ph3 bumper to spray up at some point, but tbh I think I'd rather sort out a smooth bonnet and grill first, to complement the other smoothed bits. Got more important mechanical gremlins to attend first though.

[WiNgNuTz]

So i reckon the MAF sensor has had it. Had a serious lack of power recently up to about 3k, then it gets a little spurt, then drops away again about 3.5k. Unplugged the MAF this evening, and the car went like greased weasel faeces! Anyone got a good one floating about I could procure? Or know where I could purchase one, and how much i'd be looking at?

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Also got a new set of droplinks to fit ready for MOT at the end of the month, and I ordered myself a stud/nut conversion off ebay yesterday too, so that will be on the cards by the weekend at the latest!