I know the feeling.

Good work, I'm surprised at how much work such a small car can throw up. Good news about the remap results.

________________________________________

Cherry Rallye SOLD

Did the previous MOT show any signs that those parts were perhaps on there way out?

________________________________________

Senior Test Automation Engineer for the 306GTi6 Owners Club Forum

---

Time for an update on whats happening with the s**tter.

Just come back from 5 days in Europe, done approx. 2000 fairly hard miles, encompassing a few days in Spa-Francochamps, track day on the legendary F1 circuit with my mate Ben (e46 M3), then a day in Germany at the Nurburgring, before some general knocking about sight seeing, and enjoying the unseasonally very hot weather.

Journey down to Spa was uneventful, car was averaging about 39mpg at a steady is 85 - 90 mph cruise. Seats are comfy, the wind deflectors work a treat, you can have the windows all the way down at motorway speeds without ripping your head off in the breeze.

The trackday on the Monday was ace as usual, some serious machinery there, and the weather was awesome, just kept getting hotter and hotter, reached 38c in the afternoon. Tyres were being torn to bits and Ben killed a nearly new set of 18" Michelin Slicks by tea time. I was the official photographer/video man as per normal!!

The air-con on the 206 decided to play French and ran off for the hills on Monday, meaning we fooking cooked like baked potatoes from then on, typical mardy French heap!

Tuesday was even hotter, we saw 41c at lunchtime as we were heading for the Nurburgring for the evening session. 206 was driving well, the flowing roads round there really suiting it and we hit the track at 530pm.

Car was going really well, the suspension mods made such a difference from the last time it was on track, much flatter and predictable and the suppleness over the bumps is amazing.

Did 3 hard laps, passed loads of stuff, got into a groove, lap 4 was almost the downfall, halfway round, got the EML on, a misfire and "anti-pollution" fault on the dash. No overheating or smoke, so must be electrical.

Sure enough the coil pack had failed..... Got back to the car park, whipped it off and let it cool. Once it was cooler it started fine, but 3 miles down the road, as soon as it got warm, it misfired like a b**ch. Bear in mind we were 80 miles away from Spa, we had to think fast. We settled on propping the bonnet open on a box of brake pads, cable tied everything down hard and set off, the extra air over the engine bay almost kept the misfire at bay all the way back

Next morning saw me in the Pug dealership in spa, with the part number off servicebox (that took some explaining in broken French where it had come from) to order the coilpack.

Fitted Wednesday afternoon and its a ripper again!!! Had two of the younger mechanics looking at it in the car park, the service guy said they had never seen an RC 180 before. LOL!!!

So, back home now, got some new wheels coming next week, so i'll update with pics of those on the car in due course, and im uploading some Spa pics now.


Some pics from Spa....












And a few from the Nurburgring..






The next few weeks should see some decent changes for the Pug, got some new bespoke wheels coming, and finally some detailing of the arches and running gear will start at last.

Matt

________________________________________

1999 Astor Grey GTi-6 OEM+ (now gone...)
2004 Aegean Blue 206 GTi 180 (also gone...)
2006 Skoda Fabia vRS in Sprint Yellow

Downsizing FTW!!!!

The 206 180 come with some delightful 7"x17" five spoke alloys from the factory, which to some look ok, but the general opinion is that they ride and handle better on smaller wheels, in fact they even look better, I feel the car as standard looks "overwheeled" for a small motor.

Hence looking at 16"s for the car. Normal GTi 206 16" nimrods would have been the obvious choice but for future brake upgrades, the Nimrods don't allow for much room for big 4 pot conversions.

So, I spoke to Team Dynamics about some pro race 1.2's, as they are only up the road from me in West Bromwich, they don't do the correct ET28 offset for mine so id have to go for ET25 as a compromise. They were also quite expensive, even for a trade purchase.

Step in Compomotive again. I've known the owner of Compomotive for a number of years, and had approx. 6 sets of wheels, so when I rang regarding some more VLM's (like I had on the Astor 6), he said machine a set to suit.

Proper ET28 offset, correct centre bore - so no daft plastic spigot rings like the TD's and he confirmed they have never supplied a UK customer with this set up. Few gone abroad, but none in the uk, so unique to say the least!!

Collected them last week, had a set of Hankook V12 EVO's in 205/45/16 as they get great reviews from the Megane RS boys, and were much better affordability for me compared to PS3's.

Fitted up today by my local tyre man, who knows im a fussy f**ker and takes great care with the awkward raised spokes.







There are plans afoot for an AP Racing 315mm 4 pot kit for the front to fill the wheels up before we go hunting for more power....

Apologies for the poor pics, its getting dark LOL!

________________________________________

1999 Astor Grey GTi-6 OEM+ (now gone...)
2004 Aegean Blue 206 GTi 180 (also gone...)
2006 Skoda Fabia vRS in Sprint Yellow

Big brakes make you feel warm inside though

________________________________________

Ex- Phase 3 China GTi-6 T-Reg

...but, awesome as it was, wouldn't that trip have been a tiny bit cooler in your old Astor 6?

Great write-up though. Thought of black masking your headlights to go with the wheels?

________________________________________

Cherry Rallye SOLD

Great roadtrip!

Gotta do that myself this summer


Wheels look nice! will the car be lowered more?

It's about time you let me have ago in this Matt

________________________________________

Road/track car coming together slowly

Thanks Gwyn, means a lot.

Been out in it this evening and kicked its head in for over an hour, new tyres are well scrubbed in now.

Handling and ride are so much improved over the 17's, and the better tyres give loads more feedback through the steering wheel. NOW it feels much more like my 306. The dogs**t Chinese tyres that were on it made it feel heavy and lumpen, with no massive feedback.

Got a knocking on the o/s/f, sounds like a droplink tbh, only been on for 1800 miles. Pattern parts, not OE, so looks like Pug parts will replace them in the near future.

________________________________________

1999 Astor Grey GTi-6 OEM+ (now gone...)
2004 Aegean Blue 206 GTi 180 (also gone...)
2006 Skoda Fabia vRS in Sprint Yellow

Black masking update time!

Same process as a 306 P3 headlamp, warm and separate, paint insides, whack back together and Bobs your Auntys Gimp in the cellar.







Got a few more jobs to do, Fix the a/c as its gone awol, change the rattling droplink, then use it some more. Might get some smoked side repeaters for the wings to replace the white ones, and that's about it.

It'll be coming off the road in the Autumn for some underneath restoration, like Grandad Kev's done on his Rallye.

________________________________________

1999 Astor Grey GTi-6 OEM+ (now gone...)
2004 Aegean Blue 206 GTi 180 (also gone...)
2006 Skoda Fabia vRS in Sprint Yellow

Does look very smart

________________________________________

"Police arrested two kids yesterday, one was drinking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks. They charged one and let the other one off."

I liked it before if I'm honest. Looked like a well presented, looked after vehicle.

With the black accents from the masks and wind deflectors it looks like something I'd personally imagine a 17 year old with twelve branded lanyards and a bunch of keys hanging from his arse would jump out of.

That's not intentionally negative. It's a nice car, just not what I'd have expected you to do to be honest with your track record of OEM+

________________________________________

Senior Test Automation Engineer for the 306GTi6 Owners Club Forum

---

Not many have them Kev tbh.

________________________________________

1999 Astor Grey GTi-6 OEM+ (now gone...)
2004 Aegean Blue 206 GTi 180 (also gone...)
2006 Skoda Fabia vRS in Sprint Yellow