Going from a MK4 Fiesta 1.25 to a 306 DTurbo

[Gooly]

Hey guys,

Currently got a Fiesta 1.25, I'm thinking of getting a 306DTurbo though. They seem like fun (especially for a diesel), theyr cheaper on insurance, should be cheaper to run (I do a 200 mile round trip motorway run every now and then, along with a few other long journeys), have the potential to be run on veggie oil, and tbh I've always had a strange liking for the 306. Anyway, the things I like about my Fiesta are the brilliant steering feel, rifle bolt gearbox, perfect driving position with really well laid out pedals (easy heel n toe) and the perky handling; how would a 306 DTurbo hold up to that? I've heard they have good steering feel and easy lift off oversteer (fun) but I've also heard the gearbox feels rubbish and the seating position isn't great; can anyone confirm or hopefully deny that? Is it worth changing? I'd ideally gain about £200-£300 in the swap. I'm also going to go look at one this sunday.

Also how easy would it be to run it on used veggie oil? I'm *hoping* to get a part time job as a takeaway delivery guy and could probably talk to my employer about using the used veggie oil? How difficult is it to filter it for proper use? Would the MPG be around the same? Would there be any repurcussions on the drivetrain?

PS there was a really good readers ride thread on a guy with a 306 dturbo who ran it on a proper bangernomics budget and had some nice mods to boot, I cant find it anywhere, does anyone remember it?

[Gooly]

Thanks for the info, that's reassuring. RE the veggie oil I think it's the older XUD engines that can do it, the HDis are too modern/complex to run on it IIRC.

[Gooly]

Do you know what sort of years each one was? The latter two sound very fun. I'm looking at a P-reg one at the moment, it's a pre-facelift.

[Gooly]

Has anyone here had any experience with running on veggie oil? Whats the process to filter waste vegetable oil? I've been searching PH and I remember some proper guides on here but all I can find is half answered threads from years ago.

[Gooly]

I'm a little bit confused though because some people say they had no problems running with just simple particle-filtered WVO (waste veggie oil) whereas some other people are saying you need chemical filters and cleaning and it's very complicated to run WVO etc etc, I'm not really sure what to do. I'm at uni halls so no space for a major filtering operation, if it's just particle filtering thats needed then I could do that but full on chemical cleaning and filtering is beyond my reach, unless I manage to rope in the science department to help me.

[Gooly]

Did specific years come with certain pump/turbo combos or was it just a case of some random cars got the bosch/garret and some cars got the lucas/kkk?