The cursed Rallye

[Usget]

Great write-up, but Jesus TF Christ, I would have given up when someone drove into it!

[bitwrx]

Thanks for the replies all. Glad someone is reading.

Really feel for you Matt. I remember how it felt when I binned the Mini (similar enthusiasm >> driving talent, leading to a loose back end).

Really did feel like chucking it all in when the truck did the back end, but after spending so much on the head and deer damage, it just didn't make any sense to let the insurance co have it. I could have broken it for parts, but it just didn't seem right. Less than 200 left on the road now.

Next update is in draft. Don't think I'll be giving too much away by saying I'm nearing the bottom of the dip.

[p1doc]

loved my red rallye-as you say not many left now so if worth saving....
martin

[bitwrx]

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[bitwrx]

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[bitwrx]

I had planned on getting up to date with the story by now, but I've not managed to find the time - hence the placeholders. Hopefully one day I'll get round to doing the prequel. But as it is, tomorrow me and the Rall-y-e will be taking the 0936 Eurotunnel to la belle France.

I love France. Food, wine, roads, countryside, people (yes I even like the attitude); it's a great place to visit. I did a big trip in the Mini this very week in 2012, heading to Dijon (where Ma was taking part in Coupes Moto Legende, and then on all over the place (as far as Toulouse, Modena and Austria) over the subsequent two and a bit weeks. A bit less ambitious this time, and a bit less focussed on driving, but still looking forward to some cracking roads.

Plan is to head to Dijon again (or thereabouts) tomorrow in convoy with a couple of mates, drop their car off somewhere, all pile into the Pug (3 of us and 3 bicycles!!!) and head south. I know a little place in what Parisians snootily call 'la France profonde' (probably best translates as 'deepest darkest France'), where a warm welcome is assured. Gonna drop the car there, and cycle back up to Dijon to see the motorbikes next Saturday. I then have to make my way back to the Rallye (6hr train ride then 50km through the hills) before heading on to see a mate in Aix en Provence.

So in preparation I got the wheels balanced (again). Bit of a fiasco involving incorrect application of clip-on weights, improper use of an impact driver, and one buggered locking wheel bolt. After watching the tyre guys spend the best part of an hour making a complete hash of what appears to be a relatively simple job, I had the pleasure of being told to ditch the lockers as they just break, and that they wouldn't be doing any more centreless wheels ever again as it takes too long. How it takes a pro with all the tools ten minutes to fail to achieve what I can in 30 seconds with a 400mm breaker bar, I do not know. To be fair, the wheels did run a lot smoother, and hopefully I won't have to go back for a while so it's not the end of the world.

Next job was to get some split seats. Only way in hell we'll be able to get three of us plus bikes in... and I'm still not really sure we can. A housemate runs a 306 estate with split rears, which he'd agreed to lend me in return for a spot of dinner. Turns out not all Ph3 306 seats are the same. Didn't find this out until Wed eve. Was moderately concerned. The two of us were thinking of ways round the problem for 20 mins before I realised that a former housemate also ran a 306 hatch. And she'd come round for dinner that very day. And her car was outside. 20 mins later, the problem was solved. Quick trial run with one bike. Will let you know how we get on with three.
IMG_20140523_211550 by bbitwrx, on Flickr

Anyway, next on the list was tracking. I'd recently had it done properly (for reasons that will become clear when I get round to filling in the blanks), but it felt wrong. Just a bit dead. So I bought myself some brick line and a couple of bits of batten, and got busy in the garage. It took a while, but I eventually got to 2mm toe out... with the wheel about 30deg off to the left. :doh: But it drove much better. That was last week. Today I did it all again with the rain pissing in through the garage door. Not very nice, but got there in the end.

As I pulled out of the garage a series of sounds alerted me to the fact that not all was right. The first a dull thud. The second, the sound of the bootlid shutting. The third was a pretty serious crash. Looked up to see the garage door sitting on top of the car. I'd pulled away with the boot open. To my unmitigated surprise and delight, there appears to be not one jot of damage to the car. The same could not be said of the garage door. Didn't take long to fix, but was a bit tricky extricating the car without causing any further damage. Would have made a good photo, but I was a little panicked at the time so didn't think to stop and take a snap.

Quick wash and a fluid level check and she is ready.
IMG_20140523_211535 by bbitwrx, on Flickr

As you can tell, I think I've hit the bottom of the bad luck (although only time will tell if it's a true minimum, or just a point of inflexion!).

Edited by bitwrx on Wednesday 18th June 22:40

[bitwrx]

Day 1 cycling complete. Pretty good day until the last 30km. Altitude gain and dropping temp combined with relentless rain.

Rallye was faultless on the way down. Balancing and tracking pays dividends. Motorway cruising very comfortable at approximately the speed limit . Could have done with A/C for a bit though!
(Managed to lose the other half of my convoy on the motorway. We had the ticket, his wallet and phone. Luckily, the tool was just less than the 20euro he had in his pocket. And we eventually meet up again just south of Reims )

Had the pleasure of driving one of my favourite roads 3 times on sun eve, down the Gorge du Lot from espalion to entraygues sur truyere. It was fun in the mini, but that road is just perfect for the Rallye. Constantly on cam in 2nd/3rd/4th. Some rally nice well sighted corners to practice balancing it on the throttle, a brand new road surface and, importantly, very little traffic!

Getting up into the mountain lanes was a bit of a revelation as well. Where the mini would bounce from bump to bump, the Pug just seemed to take it all in its stride. Perfect amount of compliance for a road car

All in all, very happy with it.

[p1doc]

good to see a happy ending
martin

[s m]

Great write-up - you've had some misfortune with the car.

I feel your pain with the centre-less wheels - when I had my Saxo VTS there seemed to be only a couple of places that had the adapters to balance them

[HereBeMonsters]

s m said:

Great write-up - you've had some misfortune with the car.

I feel your pain with the centre-less wheels - when I had my Saxo VTS there seemed to be only a couple of places that had the adapters to balance them

Mobile tyre fitter I used on mine didn't even mention it would be an issue. When I drove it later that day and it wobbled from all four wheels I thought it would fall apart!
I called him back, then he said "yeah, I don't have the thing that does that. You'll have to get it done somewhere else." Brilliant...

[chevronb37]

Very sorry to hear of all your Rallye woes, OP. I did, however, enjoy the drole delivery of your story-telling.

We (GF and I) have a black 306 Rallye. It's a lovely old thing but it's significantly more expensive to run than my S1 Exige - and seems to suffer mechanical maladies with greater regularity.

We recently suffered a bust heater matrix, which was fixed. It still gets smelly in the cabin and wonder whether this is the result of residual detritus in the ventilation system? I wonder about getting the HG checked out sometimes but Mrs Chev seems happy enough and it still absolutely flies on the right road. It's as quick across country as just about any car of my acquaintance.

Good luck keeping yours in tip-top condition and hope you enjoy a prolonged period without so many issues.

[s m]

chevronb37 said:

We (GF and I) have a black 306 Rallye. It's a lovely old thing but it's significantly more expensive to run than my S1 Exige - and seems to suffer mechanical maladies with greater regularity.

Good luck keeping yours in tip-top condition and hope you enjoy a prolonged period without so many issues.

That looks a nice one

I enjoyed my old GTi but I remember a Peugeot mechanic telling me to get rid of it at around 80k miles unless I wanted to get used to spending out regularly on it. In his opinion, lots of things seemed "lifed" to around 80k miles on the cars. Still, if you can fix stuff yourself they're good fun to drive

bitwrx said:

Had the pleasure of driving one of my favourite roads 3 times on sun eve, down the Gorge du Lot from espalion to entraygues sur truyere. It was fun in the mini, but that road is just perfect for the Rallye. Constantly on cam in 2nd/3rd/4th. Some rally nice well sighted corners to practice balancing it on the throttle, a brand new road surface and, importantly, very little traffic!

Looked up that road to see if I could incorporate it into this year's hols but it's a bit far west for me. I did like a lot of the Tarn gorge roads though when I went to Millau so I can guess it was pretty good

[bitwrx]

chevronb37 said:

We recently suffered a bust heater matrix, which was fixed. It still gets smelly in the cabin and wonder whether this is the result of residual detritus in the ventilation system? I wonder about getting the HG checked out sometimes but Mrs Chev seems happy enough and it still absolutely flies on the right road. It's as quick across country as just about any car of my acquaintance.

Despite taking all the vent unit apart and cleaning it in hot soapy water, I still get the very occasional whiff of glycol. Think it's something you (and I) will have to put up with.

And agree, it is fast across country. It was no embellishment to say I kept it on cam in 4th. Do the sums. By any measure, that's fast.

Have just finished a second hard day's cycling, and have really enjoyed it, but am counting the days until I get back to the car.

[bitwrx]

s m said:

I did like a lot of the Tarn gorge roads though when I went to Millau so I can guess it was pretty good

I have a few days to fill. If you remember which ones I'll have a look.

[s m]

bitwrx said:

I have a few days to fill. If you remember which ones I'll have a look.

One I remember as worth looking out for was the road from Ales to Mende, the N106. I'm sure it would be fun in yours ( although my hot hatch is driven from the other end now - but still much the same dimensions as your Rallye )

[chevronb37]

bitwrx said:

chevronb37 said:

We recently suffered a bust heater matrix, which was fixed. It still gets smelly in the cabin and wonder whether this is the result of residual detritus in the ventilation system? I wonder about getting the HG checked out sometimes but Mrs Chev seems happy enough and it still absolutely flies on the right road. It's as quick across country as just about any car of my acquaintance.

Despite taking all the vent unit apart and cleaning it in hot soapy water, I still get the very occasional whiff of glycol. Think it's something you (and I) will have to put up with.

And agree, it is fast across country. It was no embellishment to say I kept it on cam in 4th. Do the sums. By any measure, that's fast.

Have just finished a second hard day's cycling, and have really enjoyed it, but am counting the days until I get back to the car.

Unless you're tackling very slow corners, you can just use the torque in 3rd and 4th and cover the ground beautifully. I love the kind of magic carpet ride quality. You can feel it rise over crests and it'll get a bit light sometimes but if you trust it, it works with you. Over broken surfaces that compliance means all the wheels in contact with the ground and bags of confidence. I've never driven another car which feels like such a 'friend' - if that makes sense.

My GF actually bought the Rallye off me and uses it as her daily now. She absolutely loves it.

[chevronb37]

s m said:

chevronb37 said:

We (GF and I) have a black 306 Rallye. It's a lovely old thing but it's significantly more expensive to run than my S1 Exige - and seems to suffer mechanical maladies with greater regularity.

Good luck keeping yours in tip-top condition and hope you enjoy a prolonged period without so many issues.

That looks a nice one

I enjoyed my old GTi but I remember a Peugeot mechanic telling me to get rid of it at around 80k miles unless I wanted to get used to spending out regularly on it. In his opinion, lots of things seemed "lifed" to around 80k miles on the cars. Still, if you can fix stuff yourself they're good fun to drive

It's not been without its problems! Between us we've spent quite a bit on it but ultimately decided that it's a great car and we want to hang onto it. I see my Exige the same way - I like an analogue driving experience and the Rallye has more in common with the Exige from that perspective than one might think. The intention is that both cars stay with us now and we'll do what we can to keep them driving well.

I think your mechanic might be right, though. We've certainly had our fair share of problems since 80k miles. But we had a few before then too...!

[S10GTA]

chevronb37 said:

I think your mechanic might be right, though. We've certainly had our fair share of problems since 80k miles. But we had a few before then too...!

Oh dear. My VTS has just clicked 81k....

[s m]

chevronb37 said:

s m said:

chevronb37 said:

We (GF and I) have a black 306 Rallye. It's a lovely old thing but it's significantly more expensive to run than my S1 Exige - and seems to suffer mechanical maladies with greater regularity.

Good luck keeping yours in tip-top condition and hope you enjoy a prolonged period without so many issues.

That looks a nice one

I enjoyed my old GTi but I remember a Peugeot mechanic telling me to get rid of it at around 80k miles unless I wanted to get used to spending out regularly on it. In his opinion, lots of things seemed "lifed" to around 80k miles on the cars. Still, if you can fix stuff yourself they're good fun to drive

It's not been without its problems! Between us we've spent quite a bit on it but ultimately decided that it's a great car and we want to hang onto it. I see my Exige the same way - I like an analogue driving experience and the Rallye has more in common with the Exige from that perspective than one might think. The intention is that both cars stay with us now and we'll do what we can to keep them driving well.

I think your mechanic might be right, though. We've certainly had our fair share of problems since 80k miles. But we had a few before then too...!

I think they'll go on as long as you want to maintain them in reality. Probably the 80k comment had a certain amount of validity for Joe Average though who would begrudge spending out on wheel bearings, rear beam refreshes etc and similar stuff.
I'm in your camp when it comes to running cars - if I like a car I'll keep it fixed!

[bitwrx]

Back with the car now. Packed the bike in the back this aft and tied it down well. The trip from Entraygues to Aix tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun.

Interestingly (or not, if you are less boring than me), in seven days in France now, I've not seen a single gti-6 (or s16bv6 as they were known over here). Plenty of late/high spec hdi versions though. Looks like the frogs didn't sell many hot hatches in their own domestic market. Is this why the Rallye was a UK only special edition?

(Still can't get over the number of 205s still soldiering on over here. Saw a 'sacre numero' special edition earlier, and an XS, along with the obligatory brace of glds. Nice to see proper respect being shown to all examples of the best car ever made.)