Finally have a '6, Spares or repair car now got an MOT!

[DeeTurbo]

Last week I got the car back on the road.

First thing I needed to sort out was this broken spring.



I decided to remove the hub to make it easier to get the strut out.



The strut removed.



There was slight damage to the underseal from where the broken spring hit the body.



The broken spring.





Looks like the drop link was the one that came on the car from the factory. Date code says 99 and the they are TWR.



I went to buy some springs off a chap off the '6 forum. He couldn't be bothered to remove them off the struts so he gave me complete strut units for the same price.

They look very good at first sight.



But the top mounts had seen better days.



And there is a bit of rust on them.





I got the compressors out to the replace the top mounts.



The underside of the towers look nice and rust free, which I was very happy to see.



I meant to replace the bottom ball joints when I had the wishbones off but I didn't have enough time then so got it done this time.



I had some paint left over a while back so I used it on the ball joint heat shields to stop them rusting.



When I collected the car the previous owner told me he had the drop link on the O/S replaced and he had a spare that was meant to go on the N/S but I found the one he gave me was the wrong length.



The strut all back together and back on the car.



The standard audio setup on 2001 306's are very good and the main thing that improves them over the old set up is the tweeters in the mirror covers. They lift the sound stage and improves the sound image. So I bought some off a chap breaking a 1.4l car on FaceBook. Unfortunately the plastic has greyed over time, I'll need to sort that out at some point.



I also installed a small sub and amp in the car. It was handy as a previous owner had left the cables in the car so it didn't take long to install.

The last job I did was rotate the OSF tyre with the OSR and as I done up the last bolt I noticed something in the tyre. I thought it was a nail and I was thinking of leaving it there but I thought I best remove it.

At this point I thought I had wasted my time. The whole point in getting this work done that day was so I could take the car away with me on a family holiday and there was no way I'd stick the spare on it for the trip. I had no energy left to borrow the wheels off the Dturbo.

But thankfully it was only the tip of a screw and it hadn't gone deep, no where near going through the tyre.



I then gave the Dturbo and '6 a quick wash.



The car hit 130k on the way up to Wolverhampton.



On the journey to Wolves I noticed a bit of creaking coming from the radio. I took the deck out and notice where the back of the deck has a rubber spindle and should engage in to something there was nothing for the spindle to rest on. It looks like the bracket is upside down and should be the other way.



At my dads I thought I'd replace the ICV and at the time I thought I had the wrong unit. For some silly reason I thought the shaft was meant the be the same length but I know think that the shaft on the new one is retracted and because I thought the new to be wrong at the time I just cleaned up the old unit and the plastic housing and put that back on the car. I then did a ECU reset which helped the idle.



While away I noticed the breather pipe off the rocker cover were on the wrong way and I think this is the reason I was getting more oil then I thought there should be.



I tried swapping the pipes around but they had hardened and the one pipe wouldn't go on the larger barb. In the end I cut off the the squashed 20mm of the pipe and that was enough to get in on the barb. The engine seems a little happier now and hopefully it'll sort the oil issue. I was starting to think the oil was from excessive pressure from blow by and worn piston rings.

The trip to wolves was two hours and then a three hour trip to North Yorkshire. I would have like to have done some local driving before going on such a long trip but everything went well.

Next to do will be to replace the OSF bottom ball joint and top mount as the top mount makes a little noise when pushing that corner down. I would also need to replace the brake lines and then it'll be MOT time. I've also got a replacement windscreen to go on but I need to find someone to fit it.