KiWiMeTaLmAnIaC says "hey"

[kiwimetalmaniac]

Hey guys, joined up yesterday, will do pics at some stage. I'm a proud recent owner of a 1997 Peugeot 306 XRD(iesel)T(urbo) 1905cc (5 door, 5 speed manual) in a colour pretty close to British Racing Green. It's the style/"mark" before the last 306 model. I'm loving it after an initial hiccup of a bad gasket/seal on the top of the diesel pump. Looking at options for modding it, never really modded a car before except for ICE. Which was a steep learning curve when I started cutting up my old car and drilling holes in it (was a shitty 1991 Honda Civic 1.5L Sedan so was certainly no great loss).
So, anyone got any easy mods worth doing to one of these beasts?
Might troll back through the forum at some stage 
Anyway, enough about me & I'll endeavor to post pics later 

[Griffe]

Welcome along, what kind of thing are you after in regards to modding your car?  increased handling?  Better acceleration? etc?

How did you find out about the site?

Looking forward to seeing some pics!

[kiwimetalmaniac]

Hi, thanks Griffe. I actually found the address in the comments section of a trademe auction! So there you go... although they got the address wrong and typed www.fastfrog.co.nz... but I managed to track yas down 
I'm interested in any mod which will "better" my wee pug Nothing major to start with, and any increase in performance or aesthetics will be considered 
Wow, now that I can see all the other sections of the forum, I can see I've got a bit of reading to do. Interested in the Pug Projects section... might pop over there now.

[Carpentry]

Hey bro, welcome

You'll find that most things from other 306's (brakes/suspension/bumpers/anti-roll bars) will fit on yours, it's just a matter of finding a donor!

I reckon some XSi/S16 brakes and front legs would be a cool mod. There's a BX diesel wagon on the Citroen projects thread that hauls ass, the engines are pretty similar

What's your favourite metal band?

[kiwimetalmaniac]

Pretty sure mine is the 95 style. If I've got it right, the easiest way to tell is looking at the front "grill". Mine has multiple "bars" instead of just one. Does this make sense/sound right? Wikipedia + looking at a few google image search results tells me that makes it a "phase 1"/mkI model... i think (can someone confirm?)
Man... I think I'm going to have HEAPS of questions
But I might wait and put all of them down in a "my questions" thread I think

And my fav. metal band is... Slayer  cliche, but I love 'em (new stuff a bit iffy, but next album out is set to be a killer I'd say, even better than CI). I'm going to see them in Melbourne in Oct 4 the first time! Can't wait \m/_o.o_\m/
Also into Iron Maiden, Amon Amarth, Pantera, Sepultura, early Metallica, 8 Foot Sativa, Children of Bodom, Death, Deicide, Machine Head etc etc
black metal like Marduk, Emperor, early Cradle of Filth
power metal like Dragonforce, Rhapsody, Bal-Sagoth, Dimmu Borgir
eternal classics like Hendrix, Led Zep, Sabbath, Judas Priest, The Doors, G'n'R
and a hole heap of other stuff!!

[Griffe]

Sounds like you need to roll some alternative kareoke

[kiwimetalmaniac]

Hi, thanks for the comments. I like the idea of bolt & go mods! The front end of my 306 doesn't match either of those pics, but look more like the top one.
Here's a pic which shows exactly(? i think) what mine looks like:
http://www.click-cars.co.uk/1544/images/car_id_75_1.jpg

[kiwimetalmaniac]

Okay, here are some pix 
Thanks for the offer of springs DRTDVL! But I'm in Dunedin. Forming a (BIG!) list of questions which I'll post after pix.

[kiwimetalmaniac]

Thanks for the tip. Okay, question time, there are a few here and they may not all make total sense 
First, just to let you guys know, I'm not very knowledgeable about cars in general, my automotive prowess is fairly lacking. To give you an idea of where I'm "at", a while back I thought I had a small oil leak, but it wasn't oil it was diesel... I thought it looked a bit light in colour and a little "thin" So yeah, I'm pretty n00b, but I love tinkering and projects, so if I seem a bit thick when I ask about stuff, it's cause I am! But you guys all seem very patient 

EGR Valve - I've read a bit about disabling this. Basically it recirculates the exhaust gas to recombust it, so by disabling it, emissions increase, but so does performance? club-306.com says: "# improves pick up from low revs - very small improvement # improves engine noise (quietens it) bigest factor # improves smokeyness" anything to add?

Air Intake/Induction Kit - sounds like I could benefit from one of these. what kind of setup would work well? Would any Saxo kits fit? Will using one of these make my diesel unbearably noisy? I'm already used to the "purr", but will this make it stupid loud? I've read if I shorten the ducting/tubing, then the air hitting the engine will be cooler = better. But, I also read shortening the length can adversely effect idle. Comments please 

Diesel Mod Chips/Change ECU - Is it worth bothering? Is this possible if I don't have a common rail diesel (I don't do I?). I see some of the Diesel Mod Chips are pretty cheap, but that's probably cause they do SFA? Reading what the people selling them have to say, they're doing a good job of marketing them  But basically my question is: is it worth it?

"De-catting" - removing Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) from exhaust. Is this likely to make my pug way too smokey? It's supposed to increase performance a little right? My pug's fairly "clean" running at the moment, only a bit of smoke on start-up, but virtually none when heavy acceleration etc. Comments?

Leaking green fluid (radiator coolant?) just below glove-box. only a few drips, can't tell exactly where it's coming from. seems like it's coming from behind glove box. Presumably something to do with the heater. Is this something I can fix without pulling the dash off? I've heard there are some radiator additives which can plug leaks, but I've heard they can adversely effect the radiator system? Comments?

Bonnet scoop - I've always wanted one, and having one right above the intercooler will make a difference, right? OR I could re-locate the intercooler to the front of the car? But this would be a shite-load more work than just cutting the bonnet open and sticking a scoop on right?

Discs - DRTDVL mentioned "upgrades", my front discs are showing signs of wear (possibly?) as there is a pronounced lip on the outer edge of the discs. If I had my pick of replacement discs, what should I aim for?

Okay, that's it... for now  I realise these are newb questions, and if there's a good FAQ somewhere, or anyone knows of some good links, then that would be much appreciated too. chur.

[kiwimetalmaniac]

Thanks for all the info. Much appreciated, very helpful.

I'd have a think about what you want from the car... Do you want it to be a performance model or just a good runner that handles well... Your not really going to get stellar performance from the diesel but you can get good performance and good gas millage... If your after a faster car, i'd say save your money and buy an s16 or gti-6...

I'm not looking at having a really "racy" car or whatever. I'm just interested in tinkering with what I've got. Squeezing out cheap & easy performance gains here and there. That sort of thing.

you will spend a fair bit of cash getting the car to the same performance of something you could just buy...

Aha! But that's the whole point 

[Carpentry]

There are 'smoke'(fuel) and 'boost' screws in there somewhere that are adjustable. Generally, giving it more of either of these will make it go faster.

Excuse the lamens terms. Ask Bazwad for details, he's Dr. Diesel.