No worries. With my engine out and box off now would've been a good time to fit one.

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1343Z4 coolant hose o-rings for sale
198131 injector o-rings for sale

Couple more little bits done.

The replacement window fixings arrived on Wednesday.



The old, faded, whitened ones were really letting the car down. These new ones are a slightly different design in that they are of a rubberised finish, not a hard plastic like the old ones. They shouldn't fade again. Wonder if this is why the material they are made from was changed? Still, tidied up the windows a treat.









Also managed to grab me a bargain from eBay. A brand new, genuine Peugeot front fog. £15 delivered. I'm certain the reflectors are peeling in mine as they look brown not silver.

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Cherry Red Rallye .... On going OEM spec resto

China Blue GTi6 .... Weekend toy

Black 208 GTi .... Wife's car now

Silver BMW 550i.... The executive missile

So in July 2020, I took the car for a drive out with some friends. Great day out, although the rear didn't feel quite right. Couldn't put my finger on what exactly, and I couldn't find anything in the history to suggest beam work, although marks on the passenger side inner arch suggested it's got to have had a beam at some point..

So, operation Sort out the suspension begins....

The one bit of the car I've never been sure about because there is nothing in its history to verify it, was the rear beam. Clearly been lowered, rumoured to have an uprated ARB in it and most definitely judging from its appearance, been off an apart from before.

That however, didn't stop it being a pain. It's not hugely difficult to remove a beam from a 306. Backbox needs removing first, then it's a case of just undo things. Oddly, the earlier 306's like my Rallye are slightly easier because there are two brake pipes running across the boot floor with big chunky unions. Undo those, and that's the brakes sorted. On later beams, it's slight more difficult with less access. Typically as well, the union's didn't want to rotate on the pipes, and then the ends of the handbrake cables get stuck in the calipers (typical galvanic corrosion, steel cable ends, into an aluminium lever in the caliper by the looks of it. Useless design).

I got the brake pipes apart in the end, although the unions are now a bit of a mess from the mole grips. Ideally I'd have the ends off and redo them but the pipe on the car is plastic coated steel I think and will be awful to try and flare. Taking the pipes off the car isn't an option as the run the full length of the car and routing means the tank will have to move, if not come out...I'll figure something.

I took the grinder with cutting disc to the handbrake cables. Best thing for them. One looked old and half seized anyway. They are cheap enough to replace. The only other bad thing is I managed to shear one bleed nipple on one of the rear calipers.

Eventually, old beam off.





Have been and picked up the rebuilt one from Andy in Wrexham today. It's not his usual level of painted up beam, didn't really see the point on this car and I've not done anything else to the underside. Torsion bars have been painted but they are the ones I painted for the Rallye beam, but that's getting Xsara spec stuff now so figured I'd use them on this. He had a quick look at the old one whilst there and it wasn't great. ARB was loose and had worn one end cap partly. Cheap shafts been used and not sure what else. Definitely the right decision putting a refreshed beam back on it. Set to standard ride height, this one will be ok for a long while now.

Tomorrow is about trying to get it back together and on, although I may end up taking a while and redoing the brake lines for the sections on the beam etc.

Well, 'tomorrow' never happened. She sat on axle stands with her arse in the air like a pornstar for 14 months.....

________________________________________

Cherry Red Rallye .... On going OEM spec resto

China Blue GTi6 .... Weekend toy

Black 208 GTi .... Wife's car now

Silver BMW 550i.... The executive missile

Beam finally back on, not without a fight and some exploding molegrips, which was nice.

Tighten up the bolts for the heatshield over the back box, put the back box back on ( although it's blowing but mainly due to it's a really odd joint between centre section and back box..two flanges you have to put this metal olive in between...getting it all in place and keeping it there whilst you clamp it is easier said than done! I thought I'd succeeded, clearly not!), Wheels on and off the axle stands back into 4 wheels







She was filthy, so got a good wash to get all the grime off. There's still lots more to do cleaning wise but that's for another time. Then it was time to try and start it. Battery, as expected, was flat as a pancake, putting out 3.5v. wouldn't even go jumping it off the wife's mini. Then the lad next door gave me a spare new battery he had in the garage.. wouldn't take anything for it, saying I'd helped him out more than enough times! Some good people in this world still. So new battery in, turned the key, started instantly. Good, strong engines the XU10J4RS.

Noisy lifters, to be expected. Started to quieten down but the car probably needs an oil change, a good run, and I'll drop the oil again after a few miles.

I'm just not sure I want to sell it now! Such a good looking car from many angles...thinking cap on!

________________________________________

Cherry Red Rallye .... On going OEM spec resto

China Blue GTi6 .... Weekend toy

Black 208 GTi .... Wife's car now

Silver BMW 550i.... The executive missile

Last weekend, I had the front bumper off to sort the foglights.

I'd had that brand new one for a while, found another for the other side on eBay for £20, so bought that. Yesterday, as some may have seen on FB, the bumper got a good clean, a machine polish (didn't spend too long on it as there are a number of chips etc but it did look much better afterwards), all the black trim treated and refitted the new fogs. I'll get some pics up in a bit

In terms of other bits to do:

Front suspension will be changed back to standard. I have some OEM springs and shocks courtesy of Ryan Power
Bottom arms will be changed for new. Ones on the car are roller bearing ones. Fronts stiff as you like and whilst I'm sure they are great, too stuff for me and, imho, road use.
Needs a belt. Had the whole lot done 5 years ago. Only done 4k miles since, so pump/tensioner should be ok, but will have a belt fitted.

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Cherry Red Rallye .... On going OEM spec resto

China Blue GTi6 .... Weekend toy

Black 208 GTi .... Wife's car now

Silver BMW 550i.... The executive missile

Hi Alistair

Hope you are well. I've not progressed any further on the Rallye sadly. Even a rough couple of years in the personal front....I'll get back to it at some point.

________________________________________

Cherry Red Rallye .... On going OEM spec resto

China Blue GTi6 .... Weekend toy

Black 208 GTi .... Wife's car now

Silver BMW 550i.... The executive missile

Starting to get there
Great updates Ben

that's because it's just the best colour, even by todays standards.

All great work Ben, as usual.

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1999 GTi-6 (china blue)
1999 Rallye (black)

It took some polishing, that's for sure. Ask David Warren about it......he should just about have recovered from the video I sent him of me polishing my pipe

Yeah, she's getting there. In for some paint and mechanicals soon I hope, should make it lovely.

________________________________________

Cherry Red Rallye .... On going OEM spec resto

China Blue GTi6 .... Weekend toy

Black 208 GTi .... Wife's car now

Silver BMW 550i.... The executive missile

So after the above work, I'd gotten to a point where I couldn't really do too much more, at least not at home on the drive. Replacing front suspension (shocks &springs and then wishbones), and handbrake cables (amongst a list of other jobs) is far from ideal trying to to it at home.on your drive. Add in the fact I'm struggling with Carpal tunnel and twirling ratchets is rapidly becoming a pain (literally), I called in the CG Cars cavalry.

Car got picked up a couple of weeks back after a while, (I'd told him there was no rush, because there wasn't), I got the message on Sunday asking was I around that afternoon as he was heading in to finish it off. The list of jobs was quite extensive:

OEM struts and springs fitted to replace the units with lowered springs
Roller bearing wishbones removed and replaced with OEM arms
Lower strut brace removed
New rear caliper and filled and bled the brake system
New handbrake cables
Fitted an undertray
New starter motor (which I suspect the old one was the cause of the battery drain)
New cambelt (belt only....whole kit got done 5 years ago but the car has only covered approx 2k since, so pump and tensioner were still fine, but I didn't trust a 5yr old belt)
Rehung the exhaust as I think I'd disturbed it swapping out the beam)
MOT
Swapped out a couple of other bits and fitted a couple of missing parts

Very excited, but had our friends baby shower to go to so Carl left the car in an accessible place for me to pick up. Shot over mid afternoon Sunday and drove it home.

I took it easy but the difference was noticeable straight away. The car was softer, more pliable, didn't try to either snap your spine or shake the teeth out of your head when going over the slightest bump. Being spoiled by the BMWs lazy auto box, I'd forgotten just what a work out driving one of these can be, especially with a lightened flywheel, which will catch you unawares and stall the car very easily indeed....I learned that lesson again pretty quickly! Otherwise, the drive home was uneventful buy hugely enjoyable.

Treated her to a wash and quick detail wipe down when home.







So the car is now absolutely standard, aside from the flywheel and scorpion exhaust. There is a minor electrical issue yet to resolve and there is still the paintwork to sort, the mechanicals and other unexpected bits swallowed more of the budget than expected, so the paint will wait for now.

At some point, I think I will be selling this car. It's lovely, certainly been well looked after, has a pile of history and still looks great but....I don't really fit in it. Being a sunroof model, the headliner must be lower as I fit in my Rallye fine but the 6, I've my head on the ceiling or in the sunroof cutout. For those who've met me, you'll know I'm not the smallest fella.....

________________________________________

Cherry Red Rallye .... On going OEM spec resto

China Blue GTi6 .... Weekend toy

Black 208 GTi .... Wife's car now

Silver BMW 550i.... The executive missile

Thanks Russ......the joys of getting old with the hands afraid. First op is 22nd of this month, it can't come soon enough. Other hand a couple of months after.

I got them via my parts guy but I believe they are still available yes.

________________________________________

Cherry Red Rallye .... On going OEM spec resto

China Blue GTi6 .... Weekend toy

Black 208 GTi .... Wife's car now

Silver BMW 550i.... The executive missile

Looking very clean Ben, good job. What kind of mats are those with the 306 logo on them....aftermarket or genuine pug ones?

________________________________________

1999 GTi-6 (china blue)
1999 Rallye (black)

In other news, I managed to find the correct 306 badge for the rear, just needing the Peugeot script now, still available new it seems for £20. I'll wait until I've had the paintwork underneath the o/s rear light sorted, as undoubtedly they'd have to come off for that.



But surgery stops play. First of two carpal tunnel ops happened Tuesday. Not the most comfortable of things to have done under a local anesthetic at a local medical centre, but 25 mins from getting out of the car to getting back into it, and avoided a 12 month wait......so despite having to look the other way and the sensations that properly made my toes wiggle....the right hand is done. Left scheduled for late May so I won't be doing any detailing.for a while.

________________________________________

Cherry Red Rallye .... On going OEM spec resto

China Blue GTi6 .... Weekend toy

Black 208 GTi .... Wife's car now

Silver BMW 550i.... The executive missile