Dear god thats a lot of text, someone help him lol

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TEAM Supercharged Rallye

We got a load of free monster at work last year from a lady driving that truck. I was bouncing off the walls for couple of days thanks to that stuff. Nice one

sure did many thanks mate, car looks great, just got mine out and taxed it last week, good fun driving them after they have been tucked up.

P.s the monster stuff goes well with vodka too

Carl

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C.G.Cars of Leicester, Peugeot/Citroen/Renault specialist Tel: 01162 624498/07799 405184 WWW.CGCARSLEICESTER.CO.UK
36 narborough road south, Leicester LE3 2fn

MOT station now open, tests £35 with a free retest.
Recovery available with a recovery unit, for those not so local jobs

Also offer the loan of a free courtesy car 306 dturbo

Hey guys, another small updated with the life and times of my Rallye. Mainly because at the end of last month it was our anniversary, so I thought I would treat her to a post on the forum.

Thinking back over my two years of having her (and my 9,000 miles), I am so impressed with what she has done. Gone on road trips to Devon/Cornwall with luggage and all, got me to work and back even in this winters snow, chased Caterhams on country roads, scared the life out of my Mrs, and all the mundane stuff in between like taking groups of friends bowling and Mum and Dad out for dinner. It really is such a usable performance car, a true "Hot Hatch".

A morning like every other - a grey morning & 8 hours at work ahead of me - I went out to my car, clicked the fob, walked round to the driver's side, and proceeded to pull the driver's door handle off. After getting over the shock, I got in (via the passenger side) and went to work. Has anyone else done this because I was amazed? It snapped the plastic runners that go into the door, and the whole handle came off in my hand.

After a week of having to get into the Rallye from the passenger I had a couple of packages arrive, one being my new handle, and the other being a new OE set of windscreen washers because the old ones were next to useless. I got the handle fitted in primer so it could go for its MOT.

IMAG0063 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

To get it through its MOT it needed: A rear number plate bulb, a new N/S/F CV boot, rear brake sliders unsiezing, a patch of welding, and a new O/S/F headlight because the adjuster was broken. So after all of that, it then went into the bodyshop and had its handle painted the correct colour.

With it all Cherry Red and a green MOT sheet I decided to give it a bit of a going over. I have been wanting to clay bar it for a while but with work and the bad weather I hadn't got round to it, but I decided to put a day aside and attack it. I've never clay bar'd a car so I wanted to give myself plenty of time.

I started off as usual with really good bath, Autoglym shampoo, two bucket technique, one wool mitt, one sponge, and plenty of warm water- and leather her off. Then I sat myself down, watched a couple of videos on YouTube, and read the instructions on how to clay bar. My product of choosing was the Autoglym Surface Detailing Clay Kit, which came with everything, and having used it I would recommend it to another novice like myself.

DSCF3094 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

DSCF3101 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

It was much easier than I thought, I kept the body really wet and started at the top of the car and worked down. It took a good deal of time, and with wet hands I dropped lots of the clay bar, or as I took to calling it ,f*cking bas**rd clay, which meant I used nearly all the stuff provided in the kit.

After that I did a 3 stage polish: 3M Finesse-It, to get rid of some of the marks on the body, then Autoglym Super Resin Polish, and then a top layer of Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection. As well I also did the obligatory glass clear, wheel/exhaust polish, tyre dress, and then a quick hoover.

DSCF3104 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr
DSCF3103 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr
DSCF3117 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr
DSCF3110 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr
DSCF3106 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

I am really pleased with the finish and how it removes all of those little bits of road tar, it gives a really smooth finish. If you haven't done it to your car it...do it...it's really satisfying, and makes such a difference.

After all that and feeling very proud of the old French slut I went to work the next day, and parked it in the corner of our car park nearest the road. Later on in the day we had one of our cars break down and it was recovered by an AA truck back to our dealership. I went round to the back to tell the guy where to unload it, and he said "Is that 306 anything to do with you guys?", and I said "yer, it's mine", and he said "That used to be my car! It was my first car".

After a bit of chatting (with Kevin) it turned out he was the owner of it before Luke-the guy I bought it from- and then sold it to him shortly after he changed jobs. He was amazed what good condition it was in, and said when he had it, he had white cyclones on it. Very interestingly as well he told me he knew the guy who owned it before him, who was a Peugeot technician, and confirmed what Luke told me when he sold it to me that it had been cam'd. Which I was sceptical about due to the lack of paperwork, but I knew it drove well. To what spec he wasn't sure, however it had been done but the guy hadn't kept any receipts. So I was well pleased, and blown away what a small place the world is that you can bump into someone who owned your car in a normal day at work.

Right, well this has been an embarrassingly long time between posts, over 4 years!

I have had a bit of a hiatus. I moved from my parents in the Midlands to work in London, and London being London I had nowhere to keep the Rallye. So it has been in storage for the past few years and has only come out at MOT time or the rare occasions it's nice weather.

Last year I think I had lost a bit of love for it, mainly through separation. So to motivate myself I bought a private reg, got a nice slim front number plate to fit the front recess (the overhang has always bugged me) and replaced one of the front door card speakers which had given up the fight.

20140329_1422531 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20140629_1617521 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

I had a great afternoon drive in it and then left if untouched for another 6 months.

The next time I came back I did an oil and filter (gearbox and engine) service on it and decided while doing it that I don't use it enough and I should do something about it. I played with the idea of selling it, but it's not worth a great deal and £1,500 isn't going to change my life or buy me a better car when I need it. I even went to see a couple E46 M3s, which I thought were awesome- with the idea of replacing the Rallye.

I eventually decided that if I did buy an M3 I would still be in the same position; with a car I don't use, is more expensive to run, insure and I would be £9,000 worse off. So intent on using the Rallye more I booked onto a track day at Brands Hatch with a friend.

10569042_10100296165641228_7644128119554129041_n by Nick Buxton, on Flickr
10801637_10100296165741028_2116566943529609846_n by Nick Buxton, on Flickr
10848008_10100296162457608_7260496669830665098_n by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

After fighting down my nerves and being shown around the track by my friend I had a fantastic day and fell completely in love with the Rallye again. I drive my girlfriends Mini a lot and forgot just how much better the Rallye is the more you ring its neck or push it's sublime!

10850286_10100296162826868_5172559257176518666_n by Nick Buxton, on Flickr
10846020_10100296162697128_5942568429675723395_n by Nick Buxton, on Flickr
10805713_10100296162487548_4273053876396264066_n by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

As first tracks go Brands Hatch is quite intimidating because it is basically an amphitheatre, one big bowl, lots of crests and dips; the first corner is a high speed, off camber drop. If you haven't been you have to go it is brilliant!

10647196_10100296162417688_6103399580441248884_n by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

As you will see in the pics my friend in his E36 M3 was pushing me along the straights but because it was greasy and wet it couldn't go any quicker through; and exiting corners, which was very satisfying.

After that the love was rekindled and I was set on keeping the Rallye; doing more track days and road trips and of course pouring more money into it.

Post track day washed and ready to be put away again.

Rallye by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

Since then it has been to Carl (mechanical repairs) to have its cambelt and water pump done. The last owner said he had done it but didn't have any paperwork so I wanted to get make sure. While Carl had the car I asked him to clean out my K&N style air filter because I don't have an airline.

Embarrassingly on collecting the Rallye Carl told me that I have a Max Power air filter! O, the shame. (I'll post a pic when I get chance)

So as soon as I got home I did some research and bought a second hand BMC CDA induction kit to replace my current air filter.

The BMC kit is going to take a bit of fiddling to route but because my battery is relocated to the boot it shouldn't be too hard. I got inspiration from Stephen (prism7guy) who was kind enough to PM me with how we worked it out - top bloke.

20150228_121240 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

So once the servicing kit arrived for the BMC I cracked on with cleaning, washing and re-oiling it which took a lot of patience. I was amazed at how much crap came off it, apparently it hadn't done many miles!

20150307_1742361 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr
20150308_1610421 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

Also I took the air intake snorkel off because I needed to trim the engine side for the new hoses. The bolt that holds it into the slam panel was a bugger to get out because it was so corroded so I thought I would try and clean it up. I had heard about how good vinegar was for cleaning off rust but had never tried it.

20150309_2104421 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

I left it in jar full of vinegar for 3 days and I was really impressed with the results.

20150314_1645101 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

Also I took the opportunity to order and fit a new rear wiper arm because mine is a phase 2 it had gone rusty and the paint had lifted.

20150310_2106111 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr
20150310_2106311 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

And the new one

20150329_170745 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

So lots of bits still to do and will try and keep this updated...

tight.as.a.drum!

Looks great on track

Have you got the bug ??

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Rallye build: 11 November 1998 - a Wednesday
Team rallye,built for track
----Click this if you like rallyes

Rallye dead
Secret Team Astor...

Just read through start to finish mate and very interesting
Car looks really well and the shine after the claybar and polish looks sweet! Glad ya have rekindled the love for the old girl

Good progress sir and I am loving the seats.
I was going to go for the same seats but more boost comes first.

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***Breaking*** Ph3 Silver GTI 6 High Boost

Ahh glad you got the snorkel before the weekend.

Didn't realise max power actually had their own branded filters.

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61k miles Ph.1 Diablo '6 Project Thread

Enjoying this thread.

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Cherry Rallye SOLD

Since moving into the new house the Rallye has had little attention paid to it; but I have managed to squeeze in some time the past few weekends.

20150605_193738 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

In it's new home....

20150605_194045 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

The freshly painted phase 3 rub strips went on and although not revolutionary, I'm really pleased with them.

20150627_163232 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20150627_184845 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

There was 17 years worth of grime behind the old ones.

20150627_163551 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

The front of the drivers side had an extra pair of holes under the rub strip which was weird!?

20150627_164422 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr



I don't have any other good pics of the Rallye from PugFest but I had a great day and a couple of sprints up the hill.
Of all the awesome cars there the below were my favourites.

20150712_122303 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20150712_111540 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

I've seen this on the forum before and the grey on grey looks fantastic.

20150712_113707 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

I've never seen this one before, does anyone know who's it is? Is it on the forum? I loved the Compomotives, they are such a great looking wheel and really suited the car. I've looked around but it's hard to find 16inch 306 fitment in this style (or flat face M05). Does anyone have any ideas or know of any for sale?

For the MOT it needed; front drop links (TRW), welding behind the front arches and new track rod ends. Which has made the front end feel much tighter.

IMG-20150727-WA0000 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

When I put it in at my new local garage to have the tracking and brake fluid changed they told me that the NSR brake calliper nipple was broken off. Given it was the end of the month (I was strapped for cash) I just asked them to replace the one calliper and change the brake fluid to dot 5.1 - I'll replace the other one at some point.

The next weekend I had a track day booked at Goodwood so I changed my gear knob for the one I got from bigbadbowden and gave it a good bath.

20150806_194315 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20150821_155156_HDR by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

The weather was great all day and the Rallye performed faultlessly - on the 5hr round trip and on track.

DSC_9639 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

received_10154048408822506 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20150808_143942 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

DSC_9129 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

I didn't really know what to expect of Goodwood but it really is very special and unlike any other track. We were there 4/5 weeks before the revival so they were painting, planting and getting everything ready.

Where at most tracks and motorsport venues you are always exposed to the elements, drinking s**t tea and eating horrifically overpriced rat burgers. Goodwood feels like a parallel universe, or a motorsport themed weekend retreat. I'm sure the weather helped but it was so civilised I almost forgot I was at a track day. It's normally a bit of a hardship...which is part of the fun, right!?

The track though really is a test of your nerves, 2 corners over 100mph, lots of early turn ins before you see the apex and hard braking. I thought the character of the track wouldn't really suit the Rallye but it was great fun and I can't wait to go back.

A very interesting mix of vehicles too.

20150808_105948 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20150808_111409 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20150808_132735 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20150808_131331 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20150808_123213 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

This weekend I managed to steal some time away and get my Miles linkages fitted I bought from Day666, thank you!
One of the smaller linkages broke while I was taking it out but they didn't put up too much of a fight.

20150815_114326 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

What I did notice was that one of the previous owners had fitted a very neat heat shield for the larger linkage where it sits close to the manifold. I was really impressed with the quality of the linkages (especially given they have been fitted to a car previously), they are a very good fit. I was a little concerned that they would rattle but I packed them full of grease and they are no louder than the originals.

20150815_114337 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20150815_114916 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

20150815_133252 by Nick Buxton, on Flickr

While I had the induction kit off I also changed the intake hose for a bigger 3.5inch diameter item that fitted the snorkel much better and removed the grotty looking under bonnet sound proofing.

So, still left to fit; Bilstein suspension (need stripping and painting), Recaro seats (booked in for the end of next month) and sill seals.