The cursed Rallye

[bitwrx]

So November is nearly gone, and it's not going to get a proper coat of underseal this month. I think I'll wait till the spring. This is how it looked before it went back on the road after the last update:


Had a good trip down to Exeter and back, during which it was fairly clear that the exhaust still had more than the requisite number of holes! Did the Exeter, Bickleigh, Crediton, Exeter loop on Sunday AM. Really good run out, just how I remembered it (but with many more cyclists - don't they know the road is for cars! ). The inside front wheel was spinning up pretty much all the way out of Bickleigh. For those of you that know it, you can probably understand why. For those of you that don't, it's steep and there are corners. All the way up, I was thinking how useful a LSD would be...

The exhaust was starting to get bad really when I went for a pointless drive the other Sunday. Ten points if you can guess where, and why this road is utterly hilarious:


Which brings us to today. I think this was probably the offending hole:


There's now a brand new second hand Bosal on there. It's ste, even compared to the non-genuine part that was rusted out.



The mandrel bends are obviously going to be more restrictive, and there are bigger tailpipes on a G-Wiz, but it was £30, and still looks pretty new, so I can't complain. Much. It really is ste. It's shiney all along, with no sign of corrosion. The sticker is still on the mid box. But there's a rust hole already in the rear box. WTF. And look at the hanger brackets. Just so low rent compared to the old one. As for the silencers, can you spot the decent pattern part?



Will have to make a few calls in the week and weigh up a genuine item vs something a bit more boy-racer. The Maniflow system I had on the Mini sounded great, lasted really well and for <£200 for a full system was great value. A mid and rear section from them for the 306 comes in at £385, and requires the cat being modified. Not so sure...

Other jobs still to do are:

• Get the wheels sprayed and buy some new tyres (pretty much code critical now!!)
• Stick the O/S skirt back on. (Fairly unwilling to do this. It's going to have to come off again when I do the undersealing, and the rivets - 11 off - are ~£1.20 each from Pug. Have got a few rivets that will fit, but the proper ones are stepped half way along the shank. I'm not really sure why they're like this, but some French engineer of 20 years ago specced it like that, and they must've done for a reason...)

The car is currently sitting in its garage with some stty 206 blocking me in. Would like to take it out for a spin to check the exhaust, but I don't know who owns the 206. I had to go out the other week when there was a Golf parked in the way, so I asked the police nicely to find out who it was and ask them to move. Am tempted to do it again, but don't want to get a rep (with neighbours or police).

[bitwrx]

So the stty exhaust is still on the car, and still really horrible.

Can't believe the last update was in November. Pretty uneventful winter really. Well...

Still haven't got the new wheels painted, so had to get some new tyres put on to the Cyclones. Luckily I've found somewhere that can do a half competent job of fitting tyres to centreless wheels.... about 50 yards from my new house!

They did the tracking as well, set to dead ahead. TBH it felt rubbish - wandered all over the place and felt really dead. And the tyres were wearing like there was a massive amount of toe in. Noticeable after 500 miles. Not happy. So I got my bits of wood and brickies' line out, and measured the toe. 13mm (thirteen) in. Thirteen. I was livid. I'd paid for that. Thirteen fking millimetres. Half an inch. WTF.

Took me a few hours, and a fair few goes, but eventually I got two consistent results at 1mm in. Happy with that. But it still felt funny.

After a few months, it started handling pretty erratically. Accelerating round a bend was fine, until an indeterminate point when it would lurch in towards the apex, prompting the removal of some lock. At which time it would lurch straight again. Something definitely wasn't right. And the pressure was on.

I was commuting from Bristol to Gloucester every day for a few weeks, and had booked myself in to do a hillclimb day at Gurston. The car was being used more than any time in the last year, and needed to handle nicely. Otherwise I sensed in my future an interaction with a Hesston shaped lump of wheat straw as I tried to not lift off round Hollow bend.

By process of elimination/chatting about suspension with a guy at work, I decided could only be an abrupt change of toe causing the wonkiness. Since I'd replaced all the bushes and track rods/rod ends in 2014, I thought it had to be the strut bearings, allowing the whole wheel assy to wobble around. But MOT man said in Feb that there was a small amount of lateral play in a lower arm bush - not enough to fail though.

That in mind, I borrowed a spring compressor, and visited ECP for a pair of lower arms and strut top-mounts.

I present to you my 13 month/13k mile old lower arm bushes (pattern parts):
IMG_20150403_181500
For reference, the (normally shorter-lived) P-bushes (genuine Peugeot):

New arms on:


Half a day well spent.

And she handles:


Yes, I missed the apex. Again.

But I had a really good day. Some nice motors there, some decent drivers, and a generally friendly bunch. Now all I need is a race suit, helmet and timing strut. And that seat. And some sticky rubber on those nicely painted white wheels.

At least I've got somewhere dry to work on it now though:

[bitwrx]

Was thinking on the weekend that it's been a while since I've posted on this thread, which means only one thing: the curse is lifted! Kinda.

I'll run through the driving first (won't take long):

• Lakes via Lincolnshire and the Yorkshire dales. Boss. Dales were fantastic.
• Early sun AM run out from Bristol with a mate in his Clio. Double plus good. Some new sections mixed with old faves. Made it to Aber before the cafe opened. Definitely the way to do it. Did see a VFR shaped dent in the pax side door of a Subaru (I think, or maybe a Rav4) during the slow run back to town; a little sobering.
• Post pub-quiz run back across Wiltshire, north to south. Caught the attention of the local constabulary with that one though, so cut it short.

Now the mechanicals:
I noticed the NSR wheel gained a bit of negative camber over the summer. Very 'scene', but not a good thing on an unmodded 306. When it started squeaking, I knew it was new beam time. Fortunately I'd procured a good second hand beam (purportedly off a Xsara VTS) in anticipation. Managed to get them swapped over during a period off work recovering from an appendectomy. It's times like this I'm glad I took some time to source of a decent jack. Nuts to lifting this badboy with three holes in my tum.



I also had the opportunity to try out my super awesome genuine Peugeot detachable towbar as well.

(Sorry to all you purists...)

Also stuck some new old stock Pug pads and discs on the rear, with new sliders. Handbrake works again.

As some of you will know, the ABS sensors on these things are single use items; once on, they never come off in one piece. My intention was to stick the spare beam on, and quickly rebuild/refurb my 306 beam to get it back to factory spec, hence saving myself the cost of two ABS sensors. Sure enough, three months later, I'm still running around with no ABS. It's only been the cause of one serious moment, playing silly buggers with Ma in the car just before Christmas: hard braking on cold pads/damp roads resulting in some serious fishtail action. How we stayed on the tar I have no idea. It's fair to say the Pug pads on the rear work better from cold than the DS2500s on the front... Anyhoo, MOT next week so ABS sensors are on order, while I contemplate reubuilding the beam a little longer.

It ticked over 120k last month, so I decided to give it a bit of a spruce up. New engine oil & filter (Mahle of course), and gearbox oil. It's also had a whole new set of wiper blades. I'd like say I've kept it real with Peugeot blades (you know the ones, with frames and a spoiler), but my bro has just got some aero blades for his 205 and they are way better (despite missing little bits on the nearside). So I got some of them. Kept it close to real by buying Valeo rather than Bosch.

There's a bit more to come, but I'm tired now. And you're probably bored. I'll leave you with a picture of me pointing at my cambelt:

[bitwrx]

Topbox said:

Nice thread op.

C. Grimsby is around on PHs. He was always the guru over on the gti6 forum when I had my 6.

How are you coping with the turning circle?! That was one of the reasons I got rid of mine.

Turning circle is fine. Don't know what all the fuss is about.

I still can't reliably parallel park or reverse into a bay...

[bitwrx]

So, it's timing belt time. Or is it?

These things have a reputation for blowing belts at relatively short intervals. If you believe the internet, anything more than three miles is chancing it. Coincidentally or not, the tensioner was redesigned on later models (sometime in '99), and the belt extended by one tooth to accommodate. Again if you believe the internet, the newer (or older) type is the one to have because someones mate had the older (or newer) one that st itself at only 40k miles.

I put all this (mis)information down to the slightly counterintuitive, but obvious-when-you-think-about-it, tensioning procedure. Basically, I reckon a load of people have cocked it up, and blamed the engine. (I include myself in this; it took me two goes to get it right when I did the head gasket.)

Now I'm fairly sure I got it right eventually - no issues in 32k/nearly three years - but there is one thing nagging (or two now I've seen the amount of slack highlighted in the last big post).I'm fairly sure that I used a First Line water pump. Rightly or wrongly I've come to the conclusion that First Line parts are generally pretty rubbish. I'm worried that the pump is going to st itself and take the rest of the engine with it, starting with the valves and pistons...

So despite the short interval, i'm going to do it. Now, I remember a few things about that job when I did it before:

1. It was a pig.
2. An absolute pig.
3. Did I mention it was a pig.

Main reason being lack of access. Here is a 3/8" drive socket on the inlet cam pulley bolt:


Toight.

And there's no way of holding the pulleys still while I do up the centre bolts.

So, a few new tools required:

• Offset ring spanner, 18mm
• Special lever for sticking in the cam pulley.

But I didn't know the dimensions of the cam pulley, so can't make myself a special lever. Hence reason for taking the belt cover off. And I couldn't help but notice that everything seemed in pretty good order when I was measuring the cam pulley, which I'm sure you'll agree is definitely demonstrated unequivocally by this highly informative photo of two pulleys and a cambelt.


To be honest, I'm in two minds now:

• 36k/3 years isn't that long - surely it can't be time for renewal already? Backed up by the condition of the belt and tensioner/idler pulleys.
• 36k/3 years is pushing it - they all go pop prematurely. Everyone knows that. Especially when there's a bit of slack in there. Obviously someone didn't fit it right in the first place...
• Changing the belt is a st of a job. You don't even have all the tools to do it.
• Changing the belt is perfectly straightforward, it just takes a while. And you get to buy/make some new tools! Awesome!

So - do I feel lucky?

[bitwrx]

Don't worry all. It'll get done. Soon. Ish.

helix402 said:

Here you go: http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/281783986268

I did one of these belts on an 807 a while back, not fun. Even with the correct flywheel tool you still need to grind it down to fit. If this applies to your car I can lend you a pre ground tool. (Postage on the full kit wouldn't make a loan worthwhile).

It's not so much the timing pins I need (although I'm not sure what happened to my special cut down 6mm drill bit...), more a device for holding the cam pulley still while I do up the big bolt in the end of the camshaft. The pulleys aren't keyed onto the end of the driveshaft, but a tab washer behind them is. When taking the belt off, the first step is to get the pins in the two tab washers and the crank pulley to get everything in a safe position. Then loosen off the big bolts that hold the pulley on without - and this is the important bit - putting any strain on the timing pin(s) or the belt. Tricky. As ever, refitting is the reverse of removal with slightly higher stakes: stretch the belt or get the timing out a bit and you'll be looking down the barrel of a premature belt failure or a piston/valve mashup.

Locking the pulleys together with a wedge type device is probably OK for belt removal, but probably not for refitting. The whole idea of this approach is that all legs of the belt will be at the same tension and the cam timing will be spot-on. A reason that was not at all clear to me before I read the official Peugeot procedure...

That in mind, I designed this:




Note the 2off 1/2" square drive holes, offset at 45deg. There are y-shaped tools available off the shelf, but I'm fairly sure that one with a fixed handle won't easily fit on both pulleys.

I'd overlooked locking the crank though, so would be really interested in seeing pics of the tool you used if possible. Last time I just got an assistant to stand on the brakes with it in 6th when I loosened/tightened the crank pulley bolt.

C.A.R. said:

Where are you based?

I'd just get a quote from Carl Chambers. He's done so many, got such a good reputation, could probably do it with his eyes closed and one arm behind his back! I wrote my GTi6 off long before needing to pick the phone up to Carl, sadly! There's no peace of mind like knowing someone has done it who is more than just a little familiar with the job...

Bristol. I think I got my replacement bumper off Carl (he's in Leicester right?). Seemed like a good chap, and no doubt knows his XUs, but a) it's a bit of a trek and b) I like working on my car.

[bitwrx]

Teaser.

https://flic.kr/p/CWjW2W

[bitwrx]

RS Grant said:

I almost swapped my RS Turbo for a 306 GTi6 in Diablo Red back in the early 2000s... I'm both glad and sad that I didn't do the deal after reading this thread, haha. I still think a Ph2 306 is a good looking car, but the tough time you've had with yours is exactly what I was afraid of experiencing myself all those years ago.

That said, you'll surely be coming to the end of the 'known' weak areas by now?? Therefore, getting that bit closer to trouble free times.


Cheers,
Grant

Yeh, all the major bits have been done. Save the rear beam, which I can do slow-time now I've got the spare on.

Though this thread may make it seem like a bit of a nightmare (and to a certain extent, buying any car with a failing head gasket *is* a nightmare), it's actually been pretty good. I've never been stranded anywhere and have no issue with setting off on any journey here or abroad. I'm sure that if I had to pay a mechanic to do all the work I'd be questioning whether it was worth it. Fortunately I really enjoy working on cars, and get a buzz out of keeping them up together, so something like this suits me well.

[bitwrx]

Quick update.

Old tyres gone


New wheels on


Shiny bolts on



New MOT. First clean one with this car!


MOT tester recognised the car. Comment as he handed over the car was "perfect, as usual". Didn't have the heart to tell him he gave it 4 advisories last year...

(It also had some ABS sensors at the rear and a quick brake caliper fettle to stop the rear brakes binding for the MOT. Caliper rebuild kits will be on order soon, even though one caliper is less than 3 yrs old. )

[bitwrx]

helix402 said:

Here's the crank pin;



This was used on an 807, can't remember if it a was a 2.0 or 2.2. You're welcome to borrow it if you want (if it's needed on your car), if you're doing the belt yourself.

Thanks for the offer. Very kind. Unfortunately I don't know where that would fit. Like what you've done with the grinder though! (I've managed to source a leccy rattle gun to borrow, so that should sort it anyway)

@mattsrallye: Will have a poke around for some more pics. While I wasn't keen at first, I'm getting to like the look. It seems to have made the 50 profile tyres look more like they're supposed to be there

[bitwrx]

Got the timing belt done this weekend.

The old one looked fine, but the tensioner and idler bearings had both lost a bit of grease past their outer seals, so maybe they weren't far away from end of life. Must've been all that time up at 7200rpm The old water pump was identical to the new one in all respects bar the date mark, casting mark, and logo on the box it came in. Even if the old one was First Line, it came out of the same factory as the SKF one.

So yeh, maybe I could've stretched it a bit more, but I managed to do some timely rust treatment on the O/S chassis leg, and the coolant needed renewing, so I guess it wasn't entirely wasted.

This time it was much easier than I remembered. I put this down to:

• Modified crankshaft locking tool (like no. 2 in helix402's img above, but with bits cut off)
• Homebrew mega camshaft spanner thingy
• Offset ring spanners

Pic of the lock tool in place. This is on the N/S front of the block. Ally bit is the bell housing. There is an M6 thread tapped into the block that can be used to hold the tool in place. Reckon M6*16 would be best length, but I made do with 12. If anyone does anything similar, FFS put a bit of rag down before you try and put the fastener in. Effort to retrieve a bolt from there doesn't bear thinking about... (Pic here is of my mate's 205 GTi-6, with bits still missing that made access easier)


The mega camshaft spanner thingy is as in the CAD images above (or as close as I can make it in the farm workshop...) Filing out the 1/2" squares didn't take as long as I expected.

Offset spanners were so useful. Only just bought a set, partly to help brother with his top mounts on his 205, and partly because I knew I'd need a 18mm one for the camshaft pulleys. Turns out the whole set has been mega useful, especially for doing the tensioner/idler bolts. And the aux belt adjuster bolts. And the undertray bolts. And basically everywhere. Recommended! Didn't get a ratchet out until I had to take the spark plugs out...

So about that. Needless to say something had to go wrong. As soon as i'd dropped the coolant, taken the upper cam cover off, arch liner out and tried to time up the engine before locking the crank, it became very clear the crank pulley had done its old slippy roundy bit. The crank timing hole was a good 30 deg out (fking stupid design). By this stage I was committed. This was my last free weekend till September. So knowing the cams were roughly right, I went by their marks and locked it all up. Belt off, pump out, new pump in, tensioner/idler on all as normal. Then belt on. Easy. Still a little puckering though. What if something had slipped? Did I feel the crank move when I tool the pulley off? Nah... Maybe... Nah... Brew, bed. Think on it.

[bitwrx]

The thing I remembered from last time was that with the timing pins in, the valves were at risk, but the pistons were safe, being at the same position in all bores. This nugget in mind...

0745 Sun AM, back out in the workshop cutting up a bit of rod in my new vice on my new bench (obligatory 'best garage on PH shot', woodwork may no longer be this clean):


Anyway. Bit of rod, in through sparkling plug hole on the top of piston 4 (or 1 in 'normal'), with a straight edge across between cam covers. Mark it, move it to cyl 3 and compare. It was a bit unclear so I filed some notches at exactly 1 mm intervals. Pretty close to identical, but not perfect. Little tweak on the crank pulley, lock up the cam pulleys, unlock crank and give it the old 720deg turn. Nothign banged. Camshaft pins not perfect, so went through the process again. Second time lucky, bashed it all back together fired it up and off I went into the sunset.

Not quite. Did a quick gearbox oil change and popped the coolant back in, then off I went into the sunset. Well, it was dark by then, but the old girl is in fine fettle.

Top tip for gearbox oil:

• Preheat the bottles on a radiator for an hour beforehand - it pours like water.
• Ickle funnel in a bent bit of 20 mm elec conduit with the end cut on the slant works a treat. Pop it in through the breather and away you go.

---

In other news:
I have run into a bit of a brake binding issue over the last few months. Economy taking a 20% hit for a month, rear end sinking under acceleration. You know how it is. Culprit: AlOx all over the place on my O/S R caliper. Now scotchbrited back to life. Zero cost fix. But the piston was a bit pitted. It's only a couple of years old... Fecking non-gen parts.


Also had to replace the only wearing part I know of on an exhaust system, the braided seal thingy between manifold and cat section. I actually bought one about 6 mths ago because I'd not replaced one in the time I've had the car, so it was probably about due... (old on top, new on bottom, both on brand new shiny rough planed oak workbench )


I'm also slowly getting on with refurbing the beam that came off last year. It's a bit fooked:

Caught it just in time though. Bearing race has a hole in, but beam tube is just about unmarked...


I'm also fairly sure the cat has collapsed and the shocks could do with replacing. She's a good old girl, but not without issue.

Edited by bitwrx on Monday 18th April 22:32

[bitwrx]

l354uge said:

Well thankyou for this thread, crushed my idea of swapping my celica for a GTI-6 immediately!

Looks like we both cut our teeth driving the same roads, the run from Chudleigh up to Moretonhampstead and then over the moors is one of my favourites.

Have you got a picture of how the whole car looks on the steelies?

No pictures of the steeloys I'm afraid. I think I may have one on the desktop at home, but I'm away at the mo. It definitely looks better on Cyclones though. And with 55 profile tyres. Still, it's racecar. Or something.

I was only in Devon for four years, half of which I was back home anyway. And half of one of them I was in Italy (which is better than Devon - sorry). I cut my teeth in Wiltshire. Which is terrible. Don't ever go there for a drive.

[bitwrx]

jord294 said:

You should just get away with that tube.

Personally, and uneven surface where the bearing sits, and I would scrap it off

Jord, just the man. Who do you recommend as a beam parts supplier? I have a preference for decent quality over minimising initial outlay... (Although you're probably right. It's not right putting a bearing into a pitted tube. Still undecided TBH.)

[bitwrx]

jord294 said:

bitwrx said:

Jord, just the man. Who do you recommend as a beam parts supplier? I have a preference for decent quality over minimising initial outlay... (Although you're probably right. It's not right putting a bearing into a pitted tube. Still undecided TBH.)

I can get hold of genuine parts easy enough, and actually have a mint tube which is being powdercoated yellow, and will be fitted with beatings and seals

Or why don't you just put your name on this one I have. Will be freshly rebuilt with genuine parts, and comes with 21mm torsion bars (nice upgrade from 20s)

Thanks for the offer, but I quite like doing all my own work. It's a curse, but I have come to terms with it.

Didn't know genuine bits were still available. Or have you got a pile of NOS bits stashed somewhere?

(And I think I already have 21mm bars in the vts beam that's on there at the moment. That's right isn't it?

[bitwrx]

Right then, biannual update time. Or is that biennial? Who knows? Who cares?

Since the timing belt, it's had a new clutch cable, a bit of an engine bay 'refresh', some new shocks, top mounts, some more tyres and another bit of good old vidange. You'll note, no shiney new axle...

It's nearly finished:


It's not really. Bit of a palaver (sp?) TBH. All the rusty bits had to spend a few weeks in a bucket of Deox C, then I had to spray them all with Electrox. Then realise the press I'd borrowed was too small to push the new radius arm shafts back in. So I had to get a mate to do them at work. Then I realised I'd told him to do it wrong, so he had to push them back out a bit. Then I mis-ordered some parts from Peugeot. Which is where we are now. Just waiting for the right parts to arrive so I can fit the ARB.

Probably should've just got that one off Jord way back when...

On the plus side, the new stub shafts went in fine:


And I got to use the gas while making up a dummy shock:


And I got to buy myself some Christmas presents:



The shocks went on fine; did rears first, back in Nov, and the fronts over the Christmas break. The rears were a bit of a parts ordering hashup. I didn't check part numbers with the parts guy at Peugeot, because he wasn't really the parts guy as they've closed the parts counter to customers (???WTF?). And he didn't know or think to mention that the old proper shocks had been superseded by something that looked more spindly than a spindly thing that had a nasty tapeworm infestation. Not the same part at all. More sunderseded (sottoseded?) than superseded. So I had to find what appeared to be the last pair of Bilstein B4s in the country. Well, the Bilstein importer didn't have any, but Amazon did.

Anyway, new shocks front and rear. Easy peasy, apart from having to go a few rounds with a drop link. Feels much better now.

New tyres went on OK. Not well balanced, but they're on the back, so I don't notice much. While swapping wheels, I noticed the OSR caliper was fking dragging again So it got disembowelled, lubricated and stuck back together with a new seal kit.

This is the third time that caliper has needed attention since it got fitted in 2013. The (presumably original) NSR is still going strong. OSR has gone through a set of pads in 15mths/15 k miles from dragging so much. fking pattern parts. Wish I'd kept the original now. Sometimes

So, why all this effort over Christmas? First track day next week. Meep. Wish me luck. At least I'll have a few newish parts to sell off from whatever comes back. Anyone else up at Bedford on the 14th?

---

Well done, you've made it this far. You now have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tell me what the juddering fk was causing this wear on the outside edge of my roundabout wheel (NSF).

Tread depth was even across the width, but there were little chunks missing on the shoulder. It looks like it's on the join between two rubber compounds, but maybe it's driving style related.

One thing I've never been sure of on this is what pressure to run. Mr Peugeot says 2.5 bar with 195/55 profiles. I'm running 195/50 cos Mr Michelin doesn't make anything good in the right size (nor does anyone else really...). At that pressure the 50 profile tyres looked a bit flat at the bottom, so I bumped it to 2.6, not really knowing whether this was a good thing to do.

Does anybody in the know what the 'correct' way to calculate these things is? I know on tractors working pressure is a function of load and speed, but the Michelin technical bods weren't much help for PS3s.

---

And finally:
After a good run out in Monmouthshire/Hereford in the Autumn, my sump plug and I are looking for an engine undertray in good condition. Either that, or some advice on sump guard procurement and fitting.

---

Happy new year all. I look forward to providing another thrilling update in 2018 ish. (But I may pop back to let you know how many pieces make it back from the track day. If I can count that high. Although if it's still in one piece, I think I'll get the thread title changed.)

[bitwrx]

Thanks for the comments. Who knew the normal maintenance of a 17 year old hatchback would be of interest to anyone but me?

As far as the tyres go, I don't think it was shock related, as they weren't shagged when they came off; just a bit tired. Will let you know in a year how these tyres wear.

Stevos2000 said:

Would this under tray fit yours.
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/7013L1-Engine-Undertray-Be...

It looks like it might - or could be made to - fit. With my experience of non genuine parts, I'd be reticent to give it a go. Interested to hear from anyone who has used one though.

---

Second update in a week:
After rebuilding the caliper, the mpg appears to have jumped from 28 to more like 31 over 500 mi this weekend. Or that may just be due to the fact that it's all motorway miles at a moderate pace due to fog and rain...

---

Oh and last Thursday was the 18th anniversary of the Rallye's emergence, blinking, into the Paris light. Maybe all that trouble I had back in '13/'14 was just teenage angst fighting to get out?

Edited because I can't subtract 1999 from 2017

Edited by bitwrx on Sunday 8th January 22:16

Edited by bitwrx on Sunday 8th January 23:05

[bitwrx]

Without wishing to go too nuts with the updates...

NSR caliper rebuilt this eve. I had a new seal kit, but tbh, it wasn't needed. The apparently original caliper was in great nick. No ally corrosion, plating on the sliders and piston still pretty much unmarked. A whole world better than the aftermarket one on the offside.

Did slider seals and piston seal and put it all back together, with new gen Pug pads.

All set for Saturday now!

[bitwrx]

OK, long time no update.

The trackday went well. Bristol to Bedford and back in a day, with over 200 track miles thrown in. Tyres weren't really up for it, but that just meant I got a chance to play with the chassis more. So easy and rewarding to balance on the throttle. Did a swap with a mate in his 205 Gti-6 (with 5 speed box, LSD and jenveys). His was faster, but we agreed mine handled better.

And the very next day, up to Derby, to pick up this:


Things went a bit quiet on the Rallye front as I was permanently under the Elise. See here: http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php?tid=433754

But the Peugeot miles have been clicking up with only routine maintenance really. And a new thermostat:


When I say 'routine', I do of course mean 'finally replacing the rear beam like I've been meaning to do for at least 2 years'.

I'd not realised how bad the ride quality had got as the old beam wore out. It's transformed the car... again. A bit like when I did all the suspension bushes in 2013.

Still can't think of a better car to replace this with. Does everything I want, and more. Totally unassuming to most people, but gets nods of approval from people who know.

I've racked up over 48,000 miles in it now over 4 and a bit years (at 28.51mpg). Long may it continue.

[bitwrx]

Just had a belting run back from marshaling a 12 car. I'm pretty much lost for words. Above a certain speed, it just comes alive. It's absolutely electric.

Right now if you asked me which car handled better out of the Rallye and the Elise, I really don't know how I would choose between them.

You should all go out and buy one of these cars right now!