24/04/16

There are always surprises with used cars and this one is no different.

It doesn't look as nice in the flesh as it does in the photo that’s for certain.

Only three stamps in the service book but loads of receipts for servicing from independent garages.

Have all the previous MOT's to.

I fitted the O/S handbrake cable today (24/04/16) as I had some spare in the garage, I will fit the other once I get it home.

I've ordered a cat and Lambda sensor from ECP.

Anyone know if the NGK Lambda sensors ECP sell are any good? (bought it but returned it when I found the proper Bosch unit)

The car failed on carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle, could this be down to the cat not being hot enough? (I replaced the cat)

I'm thinking of running some cataclean through it before the test and hope that might sort it. If it fails again replace it with the lambda. (I didn't bother as I replaced the cat and lambda)

There are signs of the car being jacked by the chassis and there is a lot of rust there so I'll be stripping that back and reseal it before it gets worse.

You can see here how much the plate has bent. You would think once it starts to cave in they would stop jacking the car by that place. It's the same the other side to :-(

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Plans at the moment are to get it to pass it's MOT get it home then get it up to scratch for the summer.

Original plan was to fix it and keep it for the summer then sell in the autumn but not sure at the minute.

I need to replace the suspension bushes front and back could do with replacing to (ordered P bushes in case it fails for them), cambelt according to the paperwork was replaced around 30k ago but it's been on 8 years (ordered cambelt kit and water pump), rear wiper arm is broken (one on order) and number plate (only got advisory but I wouldn't have passed it so that's on order to).

The car is very original, it's still got the original induction piping and airbox, radio and auto changer was included in the sale. If I keep it I'd like to keep it as original as possible.

Just can't wait to get it home, the seller is a really nice guy and has been very accommodating to allow me to repair the car at his so I can get it through the MOT.

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28/04/16

Cambelt kit and water pump turned up today.

Water pump looks like a toy one, that'll be going back.

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Got lots of bits to put on and the v5 came today just need the car now lol

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30/04/16

This morning I had a right nightmare at ECP. Ordered a couple of bits for collect, got a call to say they're ready, turned up four staff behind the desk all kids that know f all about cars, two chatting about gaming the other two chatting about trainers. Had to wait for them to finish talking about there s**t before getting served. Then get told the parts haven't been picked, so what the hell was the call about? They seem to do that a lot, call to say they're ready when they're not even picked. Think I was there around 30 minutes. One guy came in asking for struts and they didn't have a clue what struts were. I would have loved a job in a parts place when I was a kid and these s**ts are not the slightest bit interest in cars or what they're selling. Think I'll be using GSF more as the parts at ECP seem to be getting worse on the quality side.

Anyway sorry for my little rant there.

When I got to the car I managed to;

Fit the rear number plate as the old one had a crack through the middle.


Fitted the spare wheel on the car as the OSF failed the MOT. I will be replacing all the tires soon as they're all budget tyres at the moment.

Fitted the cat and new lambda. Didn't realise the manifold to cat fittings were bolts on this and not like the HDI studs so scared the s**t out of me when it was turning and not coming undone lol. Next it took me a couple of minutes to work out that you could get access to the drivers side bolt from in front of the sub frame, that really confused me at first.

Almost fitted the wrong cat.

Random cat came and had a nosy. Kept jumping on the car to, had to pick it off the roof a couple of times.


The old cat is a bit smaller then the s**t one I've fitted.


The clearance between the heat shield wasn't great ether.


That and the midsection seem an inch or two too short so the whole alignment of the exhaust system isn't great. The exit is almost not visible from the back. Things like this really p**s me off.

The lambda connector doesn't click in the plug on the car so had to cable tie them together to stop them coming apart or moisture getting in.


Bloody exhaust sections didn't seal ether when I clamped them and I didn't bring any exhaust paste with me so I'll need to go back Monday to sort that.

On one of the previous MOT sheets the car failed because of that red cable being loose so they chopped it short. I've pulled it back through in to the cabin for now. Need to reseat the rubber bung though. It's really s**t way of routing the power lead the edge of the body was really digging in to the cable.

The passenger door handle surround kept popping off, this was due to the screw under the handle being missing. Swapped the one in from the front end of the door, got spare one at home so that'll be sorted soon. Surround all sorted now.


I would have thought the GTI spec to have tweeters in the A sail (mirror covers)?

Feels like I've had to bodge a bit today as I didn't have stuff I needed but I'll be sorting it out properly once I get the car home.

The gearstick didn't feel nice selecting gears so lube up the ball on the selector under the car with some silicone grease. It's all nice and smooth now and I almost punched the centre console when going in to 3rd gear lol.

Looks like some idiot has broken the clips that hold the coolant pipe that runs along the chassis leg, one clip was rubbing on an idler.


The tensioner seems to have a bit broken to.


Do these AC pipes look standard? (I found out they aren't standard) Thought they were going to be like the HDI ones with the ally runs but these are mainly rubber. So hopefully change the condenser, regas and it'll have working AC.


Most the tires needed air so went to fill them using the compressor out my car and found no power, the 20amp fuse was blown for the cigarette lighter plug. Replaced it and inflated tires. Spare had 5psi in it lol and it’s a new tire though.

Spoken to my dad about the car today and he says I can park it up around his in the winter so I think I'll be keeping this now instead of selling it on in 6 months.

Saying that my love for this is dying a bit, loads to do to get it good and I hope the MOT doesn't fail it on something I've missed.

I just hope that first drive to the MOT station knocks my socks off but I doubt it will with its dodgy bushes and crap tires.

26/05/16

So p**sed off, wanted to take the car to work tomorrow so put a replacement rad on this evening. It took a while but I was getting there.

Then the bloody stat bleed screw sheared its head. Thought f*ck but got it out and put a replacement in thought great back on track then went bleeding the system of air with the motor running and getting the last bit out the stat opened load of air came out. Two seconds later I hear a snap. The stat housing had broken. I'll stick photos up tomorrow.

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27/05/16

Looks like the brakes are binding a little, I'll be ordering a rebuild kit for the calipers.
http://vid984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/Dee_306/Cars/GTI6/VID_20160526_193336_zpskyo9tyop.mp4

I got some bits from the breakers.

Third brake light, tab was broken on the one on the car.


Jack was missing so got one of them and the red slide of the lambda connector.


Red slide fitted.


Got some brackets for the autochanger, not sure if I'll be fitting it at the moment. I'll be cleaning the rust off these and painting them if I do.


Good job I've got a new pulley, this one doesn't look to great. Hopefully with the new seals and a clean up the block will be nice and dry.


Bloody bleed screw, I'm not the type of person that over tightens thing. I felt the screw starting to tighten up on the threads and not on the flat before the head came off.


Drilled a hole and got a stud extractor in there.


Removed.


Replaced it with a stainless cap head and dowty washer I had, but I've bought the proper brass bleed screw and copper sealing washer today.


Then after finally bleeding all the air out I heard a snap and the thermostat housing p**sed out a load of water.


The old rad was badly corroded at the bottom and I've got a feeling it might have been crap put in there to stop it leaking e.g. rad weld or the like.

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04/06/16

A couple of weeks back I changed the rad,

The fins all rotted out.


Looks like someone used radweld to plug the leak.


Bought a little bit ratchet and ground down a T30 bit to get to the bolt that's under the master cylinder on the cover over the plugs.




I've not had chance to do much on the car because of other things going on and the wet weather but on Sunday I had the chance to replace the cambelt and aux belt items.

These are the new aux rollers with the HDI rollers, it's no wonder the 6' weighs so much with big silly parts like these.


Pulleys pinned.


New water pump is in.


Good job I bought a new crank pulley as you can see how much the old one had slipped.


Got a Dayco kit and they've sent a wrong bolt. It was missing the M8 bolt that holds the tensioner.


Also glad I got new rollers on the aux side as the old ones were dry and rattly.


Pulley, rollers and belt on.


The old water pump looked and felt good but I wasn't going to risk it.


I was surprised to see it was the original.


I changed the rad clips to.




Hopefully this week in the evenings I'll be rebuilding the front calipers and on the weekend I'll be changing the clutch.

For some reason I'm not feeling the love for this car. I was more excited about working on the dog rough estate then this. Talking of the estate, this week it passed another MOT with now advisories.

I found the cambelt a pain to do on this. After taking the pegs out and turning the engine over by hand one of the cams didn't line up and also the inlet cam kept springing back. It says it's a three hour job in Autodata. Looking at it I thought I'd get it done in two but I started at 11 and I didn't get in till 9 that evening lol.

I hope the clutch isn't going to be that bad a job.

20/07/16

So after I left the gauges on the car over night and...


The system held a vacuum for 12hrs. I think the slight change was due to temperature change.

The system looks to be sealed and air tight. I just hope the other components related to the aircon are working as I'll be getting the system gassed up in the next few days.

The condenser that I bought will stay in the garage for now as a spare.

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22/07/16

The car now has working aircon, let see how long it works for.

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22/07/16

I thought I'd make a to do list to clear my mind and make sure I have an idea what to be getting on with.

Cat and lambda

Handbrake cable

Rear number plate

rear wiper

Grease gear selector ball

Remote locking key fix

Cam belt water pump

Aux belt, crank pulley, idler and tensioner

Radiator replace

Cooling system flush

Thermostat housing replace

Radiator clips replaced

Fit wiper arm nut cover

Front caliper refurbish

Fit new clutch cable holder

Air conditioning check and gas

Fit GTI lower bumper trim (for some reason it's not got one) 24/07/16

Replace driver mirror with a china blue one 24/07/16

Replace drivers door handle with a china blue one

Wishbone bushes

Front brake lines replace

Replace heater panel

Rear axle rebuild

Rear caliper rebuild

Rear brake lines replace

NSF corner fix scrape

Polish inlet manifold

Fit PTFE manifold gasket

Replace clutch, cable, bushes, input shaft oil seal and crank seals

Replace drive shaft oil seals

Replace rear axle bushes

Replace engine mounts

Get front seat reupholstered

Service engine - oil change, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs

Fix rust on chassis leg

Fix rust on chassis tire fitters jacking point

Remove engine and box to fix rust in engine bay

Fix rust under boot

Remove exhaust shields and clean up

Remove dents via dent remover type company

The windscreen is going cloudy so could do with replacing

Replace tires with better match set

Get alloys refurbished

There is probably a load more to add but that it for now.

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24/07/16

Today I was hoping to do the clutch but had another crap night and got up late so thought I'd do something else.

I started with the front bumper lip.

The one I got wasn't in the best condition but it looks better then I thought it would once on.





While under the car I noticed the aircon pipe that goes to the passenger side of the condenser was leaking. I'll be getting the gas out as soon as I can, hopefully in the morning.



I tried tightening the large union, it tightened slightly but the leak looks like it's coming from the joint between the condenser connection and the ally pipe. Normally there is a stud on the condenser the pipe connects to but there is a bolt on this. I tried tightening the bolt but it felt like it was twisting and going to snap. I'll see how it is in the morning, if leaking I'll get the gas out and I'll have to have a look the these joints.

Also while under the car I took a moment to admire my clean calipers.



I went to fit a power steering pulley guard that I got but access to the bottom bolt hole wasn't great. I managed to clean the top hole with a tap but I couldn't get a tap to the bottom one. These guards were on the phase 2 engines and I like the way the engine bay looks with them.



When I take the inlet manifold off I'll clean out the bottom thread so it'll be a lot easier to get a bolt in and I'll leave it off for now.


The driver mirror had nile blue cap on so I thought I'd swap the mirror unit with one I was sent but the mirror was off a cabby so was different. I removed the cap and just swapped them but unfortunately I broke the mirror on the spare cabby unit.

You can see the difference here, the connector and shape of the base are not the same.

Not much difference in the colour.


While the cap was off I took this opportunity to lube the pivot mechanism of the mirror. I used some chain spray, the stuff I have is runny when it comes out then congeals into a grease/gel.

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01/08/16

After this weekend I can say that the GTI is definitely more of a pain to work on then the HDI.

I took me from 9am to 6pm on Saturday and then 9am the Sunday to 2AM Monday morning to replace the clutch, engine mounts, transmission oil seals, crank oil seal with the hockey seals.

The dirty gearbox


The whole car could have done with a soak in oil, loads of seized nuts, bolts and lot of surface rust on the chassis.

First, I removed the battery and then the air box, on which only the one of the three fixings undid the other two broke off.






With the airbox out the way I thought I'd take a look at the AC leak. The bolt holding the clamp also was seized and snapped off.



On with the gearbox removal, I went to take the bolts that hold the power steering pipes off so I could keep it out the way when dropping the box but the one on the front snapped.



The box, note the oil.


How I remove the bottom ball joints.



I found the O/S outer CV boot needs replacing soon. I had a spare boot but didn't get chance to change it this time.



Throttle body next, all but one of the bottom bolts came out, that one was a pig. I sprayed it with oil and used an allen bit on a ratchet to get it undone, I was so careful not the round it or snap it.



Is this much oil normal in the inlet?



Gasket ripped on removal, but I had bought a spare.





Back to the box, I missed there was another bolt right next to the one on the block. I had my socket over it in this photo.



Also missed the second earth, don't know why they have two earth points next to each other.



Next the air duct for the battery, this stud also broke. I know what you're thinking "bloody heavy handed twat" but I was very careful not to break them I tried the twist back and forth method with oil but no luck.



Box off and a very dusty clutch revealed. The pin in the arm was also seized in so I had to bend the arm up to let the fork disengage.



Bay without box.


A very dusty bell housing. You can see where the chain spay made it up when I sprayed it the other week.



A very worn clutch.



Fly wheel in good condition.



That was it for Saturday.

21/08/16

I didn't feel like doing much this weekend but the clutch pedal didn't feel right still so I thought I'd take a look at it.

The throw on the pedal seemed too long and it seemed really high.



It looks like someone did a bit of a bodge, they bent the bracket the stop and the clutch switch usually goes on. Also there was a bolt with a bit of rubber on.



I took the pedal and bracket off to straighten and grease the pivot.



I left the bolt on as I thought the pedal would be at the same height after straightening the bracket.



The pedal back on and it feels so much better now.



I also replaced the fuel pump relay as the casing was broken on the one on the car.



That's it for today.

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06/09/16

Been doing a couple more bits on the car, exhaust and seats.

Bought a full set of seats from a chap off the forum. The seats are in great condition apart from the drivers, the back isn't too bad but the base is bad.

I saw them and thought I could try swapping the base covers from the passenger to the drivers. The bases them selves are completely different because of the height adjust.

The seats I bought.








A bit of staining on the passenger base from storage.


The two seats apart


You can see the difference in the base here.


Old out the car next to the replacement.


£3.20 and a hair clip found at the side of the seat


New seat is in after a quick vacuum.


It was a pain in the arse to do and not the best but it is passable.

I bought a mid box off ebay so I can fit the rear box I bought a while back also the mid box that was on the car looked like it was the wrong model for this car, it was too short and as I've just found out the silencer is also too small. That'll explain why it was a lot louder than I expected.

The exit pipe from the rear box to the tip on the old box went down to 45mm, where the rest of the system is 50mm.



New box good to see 50mm.


The difference in centre sections.


I noticed a couple of issues with the new back box, one of the inlet flanges is not welded on at the correct angle.

The centre just about sealed on the flange.



The angle new and old.



The worrying bit the hanger isn't welded right, the weld on the box has come away and the hanger is partially broken.


Also there is a crack where the steel has been folded.


I took the box back to Peugeot, I wanted to change it for the other they have but they said I had to order a new one the same then they'd take it back or book the car in to the service department for them to take a look at it. So the car is booked in for tomorrow. If the mechanic say it's ok I'll be charged £80 p/h lol.

I told the guy that the box it not fit for purpose and I'm allowed a refund because of this but he said it's there procedure.

I'm going to show the mechanic the photos before he takes the car on the remaps, if he say he needs to take a look himself I'm think of just taking it off myself and giving it him. I really don't want to be stuck with this dodgy box and have to pay another £80 on top.

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20/09/16
Well I went and spoke to the service manager, showed him photos then argued with him for 10 mins. Then he said what I wanted to here, it wasn't his responsibility.

I took the back box off there and then and took the still hot exhaust to the parts department where the service manager was talking to the parts manager. The crack in the skin now had signs of the exhaust gasses leaking.

Took another 45 minutes of arguing with them saying I had damaged the box and them saying because it was fitted they wouldn't take it back and me stating it wasn't fit for purpose for them to find the other back box I ordered a while back (the one without the chrome tip) and you could clearly see the flange was on the p**s. At the start the Parts manager also said the flange couldn't be welded wrong, I said that yes it would have been in a jig but it still could have been in the jig wrong.

After them getting the other box out the managers manner changed and was being more reasonable, I was happy with a swap for the better quality OE unit.

The new back box has been fitted now and the car sounds awesome under load. Not as boomy on the motorway.

I took the car up to Wolverhampton the other week to see my new niece and the got up there fine but while up there when I took my nephew out in it the clutch started feeling scratchy and heavier.

When I got back I took the pedal apart and greased the moving parts but made no difference. I then thought it must be the cable as I didn't replace it when doing the clutch. I changed that tonight and now the clutch is so light, could be lighter than the 206 clutch.

You can see here the plastic coating on the inner has come away so the scratchy feeling was the metal inner and outer were wearing on each other.



Working in the dark again


It's no wonder the cable drys out, the cable is closer to the exhaust then on the HDI. I might have to make a heat shield to help.



The car is going to be off the road for winter and I'm thinking of parking it up next week Really going to miss driving it over the next 6 months.

It would be nice if I could take the engine out over this time but I can't on the drive because of the slope

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08/04/17

Got started on this to today.

There were some creaks and squeaks coming from the dash and a couple of bulbs out.

I stripped down the centre console.


Replaced the bulbs in the heater panel and cig light. I swapped the heater panel front with the one from the estate as the one on the '6 had a bit missing from the AC button and there were cracks in the black vinyl that allowed light to come through when the lights were on. So the only good part that came on the estate got swapped out on to this car.

The back of the silver panels I attached some foam tape and cloth tape to stop the plastic creaking noises. I also re-positioned the passenger airbag as that would creak to. There was a bolt missing from the passenger side of the dash that allowed the dash to move about a little so fixed that and the dash was better fixed.






Bloody N/S/F spring broke when moving the car off the drive. Gutted, but I've got some Eibach springs and Bilstein B8 to go on but I would have liked to have back to back them with the standard setup.

You can't really see anything here but I took a photo anyway.




I also got around to fitting the OEM centre section of the exhaust.
The OEM next to the Klarus. The OEM box has a slightly smaller box.


Little shied on the OEM box


No welding on the connection piece to the back box on the OEM. I normally see the pattern systems fail here when that weld rots out.




Can't wait to hear how it sounds once the car is back on the road.

Hopefully sort the suspension out this week in the evenings once I have all the parts.

Great write-up, really enjoyed reading it. A lot of hard work there.

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Cherry Rallye SOLD

Thanks guys.

There's lots more to do this year so expect lots more updates.

I dropped the car off at the MOT station yesterday and I'm about to go collect it. The only thing I'm worried about is a chip in the windscreen that's in the field of view but it's not more than 10mm so it should pass.

Mik, I hope that radio stalk is still working good for you and is your car on the road now?

Oliver, have you had chance to fit the exhaust yet? The centre section does sound nicer than the Peugeot OEM unit. I might have to go back to that model.

I got the car back this morning, it's passed but now has an advisory on corrosion. It's the usual chassis leg business. I'll hopefully get that done this year sometime.



I've only done less than 2k in the car since replacing the cat and all journeys have been in its favour i.e. car got up to temp, driven over half hour each time.

So basically I can't really give a good review on the longevity of it. Have you tried using a product called cataclean? I understand that it might not work on an old cat that has depleted it's exotic materials that make the thing work but a blast through with it in might help a little?

If you do find a good replacement to OEM please let me know.

Loving the white on blue look amazing attention to detail!

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98 Blaze 6 - Current

I've been working away and the car was laid up for almost a year but in Sep I finally managed to fit the stalk and it is all good, thank you. Still need to fix all the broken pics in my project thread. Not looking forward to that.

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Cherry Rallye SOLD

Car went in for it's MOT, I did my normal checks and I was confident it would pass with no issues but unfortunately things didn't go to plan and while waiting outside the test station I heard the guy proding about checking around the crusty bit and I heard the horrid sound of rust caving in.

Both the N/S/F and O/S/F chassis stiffeners had rusted through.