Brilliant thread Owain, I only wish I had the time, patience, space, skills and £££ to do the same!

Great effort and keep the updates coming!

Cheers matey, although I really don't feel your excuses stand up to much

Time - just stop doing something else
Patience - not an issue, just hit stuff if it doesn't work
Space - throw stuff out
Skills - you'll pick it up as you go along
Money - Credit cards

I look forward to seeing your project thread soon

Dave - I've got a form to take to the DVLA tomorrow which'll request ownership goes to me - they said it takes four weeks, I'm pretty sure they'll write to you. It seems simpler because I do have the green slip.

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Ah, tax all sorted. Arrived at the DVLA half an hour before it opened, by nine there were about fifteen people all queuing up to get stuff sorted.

Ridiculous.

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Goes well = "nothing falls off", here's hoping.

Cheers matey, glad it passed some time

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Yes

also some zipties and a mini lump hammer

I love the idea that the DVLA worked out that I no longer owned it, however didn't attach a new owner to the car.

I've told them about the change of owner twice and they still managed to only half transfer it.

I guess, awesomely, any speeding tickets/parking fines etc from the last three months will have vanished into space

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You didn't see anything. Right?

Right, so all taxed and legal it was time for the next problem.

The evening before Brands I find out my brake lights aren't working, which isn't really ideal. Logically, there are only a few things that can be wrong here as it's about as simple a system as you'll find anywhere on the car; power goes to switch, switch closes circuit, lights come on. How hard can it be?

Well, hard enough to not get fixed that night. Whilst I would never condone driving illegally, there was no way in hell that I was missing my last trackday of the year for something so minor, so decided to have another look the next morning once I'd got to Brands.

I'd found and read through oecken's handy FAQ about changing the switch which explained beautifully what to do, and having checked there was no power getting to the rear lights and that all fuses were fine, it could only be the switch.

Sit in traffic around closed M25, turn up late, miss briefing, go through world of pain, eventually get on about 10am. Do trackday, pub dinner, get home, lovely. Next day order up a new switch from Pug, everyone's happy.

So, came to fit this switch today - it's pretty cold outside and by all accounts I was about to experience yet again the joys of scraping skin off fingers in the bitter outdoors. Can't wait!

So, steering column needs to be lowered, and we're not talking about with that little lever thing. 13mm spanner, get on your back and find the four nuts that are holding it up. These are the top two, there are two similar ones further down:



Obviously if you've still got all the cowling and suchlike in place that'll need to come off first, but for once having the cold noisy rattling track car is actually the preferred option.

Once those four are off, the entire column should drop down, leaving the four studs to which it was attached and showing a rectangular hole (in the centre of this image) with lovely razor-sharp edges:



The column will probably end up handing from the ignition and indicator wires, so I went for detatching them fully and bringing the seat forward to rest it all on.



The brake light switch is inside that hole, just to the bottom right. It seems to be just wedged in the hole, so wasn't too much bother to pull out.

Once I'd gotten the switch from its receptacle (excellent word) the reason for the failure soon became clear. The switch was in good-as-new condition, but the connector simply wasn't attached. I have no idea how long this has been the case, but it does seem to be an issue. Pop the connector back on, spend a few minutes cutting up your fingers trying to push it back in, you should be golden. If you have a left-handed five-year-old knocking about whose hands you don't mind destroying then that'd be handy, as the hole appears to have been designed to be just slightly too small to be comfortable. I can count no less than eight fresh-looking cuts to my hands right about now.

Next job'll probably be to fit that oil cooler I've had for ages but have never gotten around to fitting. I've always tried to be careful on trackdays to let the car cool off plenty, but as my sump-based under-reading oil temperature guage has been going over 110 degrees I think it's best I get it on before next year's season. I was planning on fitting it this year, but having free time never really coincided with an oil change. The car's probably due an oil change, so that'll be done soon.

Oh, and it needs the timing belt doing as well, but I'll let Peugeot do that.

Time for pizza and Top Gear repeats on Dave methinks.

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Yeah, sorry about that. Got the timing belt changed by Peugeot yesterday (well day before actually, but the silly fools managed to order the wrong parts).

Two unexpected but slightly amusing points of the process:

1. Him: "I'll just come and do a visual inspection of the car before we start, sir".

Me: "Well, if it comes back in showroom condition I will be royally p*ssed off"

Wasn't long before he gave up marking points on his little chart where the car wasn't standard.

2. Him: (having finished the belt) "There is only one problem, we didn't have time to valet the car for you".

Me: "That's really not a concern"

Impressively, especially considering how much the mechanic was raving about the '6, they'd only put four of five miles on it by the time I got back. I was expecting significantly more than that.

Don't really know what to do to the car next, winter is an evil and cold time to be outside.

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They initially wanted £250 plus the vat, but I thought I'd better get the water pump done at the time. Agreed £350+vat with the guy over the phone, he wrote it on the form which, alas, the guy who took payment took to mean £350 *including* vat, thus giving me 17.5% off the bill. Nice. £350 all in, genuine parts, new belt and water pump.

Annoying amount to have to spend, but a weight off my mind.

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i have probably asked you already but who cares. where did you get the helmet hammock?

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306 rallye reproduction decals (full sets/individual decals) | 306 b-pillar textured vinyl weatherstrips
306 slam panel esso stickers | 306 yellow / orange / pension fund red side door badges
gti6 inlet manifold badges | 306 rear boot badges (p2/p3)
winner of Extraction of toys from prams with outstanding vigour award 2009 [source: gti6 owners club]

Rally boys drill & tap a hole through the slider & window to put a plastic number plate bolt through from the inside to lock the sliders

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Get used to seeing the yellow one !!!
Team 330™
Team "no front end or engine"
Team "LIMITED EDITION" I live for the 306 sticker
Team 0-60 in 6.44 & standing qtr in 14.808 @ 94.55mph all with std engine
203bhp Corolla T-Sport daily driver stealthier than Kwai Chang Caine

Priceless thread Owain, really enjoyed reading it. You have a sense of the inevitable and the will to overcome it, with a sense of style, panache and perseverance.

Or, in other words, top bodging fella! (high praise indeed).

-=F=-