Wish I had the time to post more Jim lol it's been pretty hectic even with all the lockdown and faffing with that virus... SW has been sold now as we didn't have the time, space or funds to do what we wanted with it when we wanted to. Got it thrown together and running again but obviously the HG wasn't happy on #1 hole.
With that gone for a few weeks, we've just wound up with another 306. This one is a '97 1.6 XS with 97k & had been sat for nearly 13 years. It was bought from a facebook post sight unseen on the basis of 2 photos taken in the dark and rain, and delivery arranged the next day (which was yesterday).
when the car arrived at about 11am, first impressions were relief that the shell looks remarkably solid and straight, and the brakes weren't stuck solid. However, the engine was another thing... Locked up utterly solid, trying to turn the crank pulley just tightened the bolt and rocking it in gear didn't move it an inch either. After pulling the plugs out we filled the cylinders with diesel/ATF mixture, let it sit while we had a brew and looked over the rest of the car & then got a big bar on the crank bolt and started rocking back and forth until the bolt nearly turned. After a while of doing this, it suddenly broke loose and next time turning the key yielded a fountain from the spark plug holes.
Next issue was the electrics, from some of the paperwork inside and partially dismantled interior it seems that someone had either replaced (or started to!) the heater core & I think they've either forgotten to reattach earth point E4 or it's loose since most of the dash/instruments etc were acting strange. Things like the instrument illumination, fog lamp telltale etc lighting dimly with ignition on. Hazards not working with the ignition on or any lights on and suchlike. In the course of diagnosing that, temporarily attached a jump lead between battery - and the fag lighter housing and everything magically came to life.
No fuel pump prime or spark still though, in the process of diagnosing that fault I'd determined that the coil pack wasn't getting it's 12v+ and decided to backfeed it with a jumper wire at which point the fuel pump primed & on turning the key the engine actually started, picked up all 4 cylinders after a moment and proceeded to idle away merrily on 1/8th tank of teenage petrol! Really couldn't believe it, I'd got a gallon of fresh unleaded and a bottle of fuel system cleaner ready to go in but wasn't expecting to be starting the car 8 hours after it arrived siezed up... I'm guessing that the reason for it "waking up" when the coil was backfed is likely a sticky or slightly dirty EFi relay on the back of the battery box, whatever it was, it's worked OK ever since so likely just sleepy from it's 13 year hibernation...
Didn't do all that much today with it. Epoxied up the cracked heater hose connector, put the intake system back together, filled the cooling system and did a little reassembly on the interior while the kids washed the moss and algae off the outside. Then started the engine again and allowed it to come up to temperature, thermostat opened OK, fan cut in and out as it should with no overheating issue and as a nice bonus it would seem that the heater matrix replacement had been completed by the previous owner. Heater worked brilliantly and doesn't appear to be steaming up the windows so fingers crossed on that one...
Anyway enough of an essay haha, will add the 2 photos that we bought the car after seeing... What price would you have gambled, having seen only these pics & the seller's description of "not even looked underneath, could be mint could be rough as ar**holes"?
Got some tidying up to do, finish interior swap, add a cooling fan/s and sort the electronic issues, then it can be put officially on the road from next month to save paying for a few days tax.
In all honesty, I'd have paid scrap price for it but Daniel has wanted a 3 door for a while now and when this one came up with an asking price of £600 a deal was worked out... He paid £500 for the car!
