Another 306 in my garage - 2001 XSi

Gorgeous!

Wonder if this is my old girl. I traded one in 2011 for a Golf GTI. If the timing belt cover has ‘liquid paper’ on it with date/kms (to track timing belt change), I’d say it’s highly likely. [emoji1305]


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lowpugV2 said:
Bit of a general health check on my newly acquired XSi - it all seems positive. Timing belt and water pump is done. I chickened out and got PQ automotive to do it. Probably something I should learn to do DIY but time restraints etc. and it's good to have to the car by checked over by a professional. Overall they said the car was great and well worth doing the few bits and keep it going.

The usual suspects will need doing over time. Lower control arms - I'll upgrade the bushings at the same time. What's the forum approved solution these days? Just buy new arms whole or re-bush with Poly bushes and upgraded P-bushings?

Will need new front discs eventually and brake lines. Will go braided for this - again - what should I look for here?

Other than that I will need to replace the cat ( i could here it rattling) and maybe look at the diff -hmm, quaiffe lSD :)?
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With the control arms (someone will correct me if I’m wrong) you want a spare set of XSi arms. Or refer to the bush alignment of your existing arms. The reason being is it will give you the correct alignment of the p bushes which will be different to the stock higher ride height arms. Otherwise the p bushes will be stressed from the start.

There are berlingo p bushes which are more robust than the stock ones but need a larger bolt per bush to fit. (M8 I think). These are a bit cheaper than the flash polybush ones but better than the stock ones.

If you want to perk it up - replace the O2 sensor if not done, replace the cat (which I think you’re doing) and as I’ve discovered recently, feed it BP 98 RON exclusively - the difference between the BP and the others (Peak etc) has been impressive for a 18yo car with 215k km on it. Felt like I’d changed the O2 sensor again. Apparently they refine the fuel to 98 octane rather than boosting the octane rating. I fitted a K&N filter element with negligible improvement.


These are an awesome car in their own right... love to get a GTI6...
 
Right. Control arms replaced and new ball joints. Woo, what a difference. The car feels tight, not all floppy like like a knackered old camry.

Next, the catalytic converter and O2 sensor - they are all fitted up and again, WOW, what an improvement. Engine now idles smoothly and revs very cleanly with zero exhaust stink wafting around. The magnaflow was apparently a bit tricky to fit and they made up a new downpipe and flanges. Whatever they did it works a treat. I can totally recommend.

The main issue is now I've opened that pandoras box and can see with a few more fixes and more money thrown at it the car will be a great second car in the longer term - may have to revise my initial plans!

The clutch is still shuddering a little but it's so easy to drive around the issue that it's now last on the list. New tyres are next even though the current ones are technically OK. The rears are some Diamondback cheapies and the fronts are hard old dunlops.

I think I've tracked down some Michelin Pilot 3 to get fitted up. Just waiting to see if the supplier can confirm their age - don't want to fit a new but old tyre...

After that I might give PeterT's suggestion of braided brake lines a go.
 
Oh yeah, I also need a rear wiper relay. Anyone have one that functions?
 
Bluey said:
Then there is the Xsara VTS with all the fruit yet a smaller 23mm ARB but 1mm larger torsion bars.
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How nice to read this, exactly what I plan for my 'new' acquisition and will follow the advice on front suspension. O2 already done last weekend.
 
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