1993 Pug 306 - veg-burning beigemobile

[THE_Liam]

Thought I'd stick some photos of my daily smoker seeing as I'm planning some long-awaited mods this weekend







I had a Skoda Octavia vRS before this, I convinced myself that a modern, reliable, sporty, roomy cruiser was the way to go. After 6 months of expensive repairs, 20mpg, £150 a month insurance and complete boredom (which you wouldn't have thought would be a problem with 210bhp), I'd had enough. The Skoda was hurriedly shifted and I happened upon this green machine at a Volvo dealer the same day, I've had 4 of these all with the 1.9 XUD turbo diesel engine and they've always been great for me

It was up for £425 with 5 months tax and test, but me being cheeky I pointed out the leaky radiator and beige interior and got it for £250 cash! It's since managed 2500 miles in the last 6 weeks including a fully-loaded Leeds to Cornwall and back trip needing nothing more than a new rad (£31 brand new!) and a door seal repairing after it turned the passenger footwell into a lake while I was in work. It's been running on 100% veg oil as it has the Bosch pump, it's hard not to like a car that does 500 miles round town on £50 worth of veg oil!

I wasn't going to mod it, I was just gonna smoke about in it while I found a nice 3-door D-Turbo or phase 1 405 diesel, but I've been given some D-Turbo "Harrier" alloys and some 60mm springs, so it'd be rude not to really...

Lows to follow

[Brian Damaged]

I like 306's, when the Benz has gone I'll be in the market for something like this to smoke around in daily while I save my pennies for another Tin Snail.

Looking forward to seeing it a bit closer to the ground.

[crazymonkey]

those 306s are good cars. ours (1.9 non turbo diesel) just did a 400 mile journey (literally 2 days ago) on just over half a tank and it aint no spring chicken (beaten up 140k miles on the clock but never missed a beat once. and surprisingly nice ride.

[THE_Liam]

I love these cars to be honest and I've had a few, they always keep me smiling. Sweet handling, plenty of power to be had with a tweak of the pump and wastegate, comfy, they never seem to rot and parts cost nothing! Still hasn't been lowered though, I really need to rectify this...

[omega]

do these have a heavey clutch as i tested one and the bloke said they all have

[THE_Liam]

Yeah mate they do. Due to an inspired piece of French design, the clutch cable runs right next to the exhaust downpipe and turbo, which causes the grease in the cable to dry out and makes the clutch stiff. This one isn't too bad really, but there's not a lot you can do besides re-routing the cable or changing it every 6 months

[kieram]

Love these cars so simple and so reliable.

[leigh]

One of the best I ever owned, drove it like I was late for mass and it never stopped through rivers over mountains etc etc! The heater rad went and leaked fluid into the vents but apart from a smell like men cutting kerbstones I loved that car. What are the plans?

[reanimation]

I learnt to drive in a new D Turbo back in 1995, It felt nice it felt right, little did I know that this was a modern as I ever wanted to go with cars - for now at least. I now own a non turbo Xantia mk1 and it's been frankly brilliant if slowish. what I like about 306/Xantia type cars is they are spacious and not small cars but drive like nimble light cars, and Pug seemed to know how to make fairly good cars then.
PS my clutch is heavy too and its been almost gone for about 2 years!

I'm sort of surprised that teh Octavia was dull for you, as I read in PPC about the 4x4 VRS things and sounded like a sensible but fun car option but maybe it's just too big heavy chunky and sanitised to be fun right?

[THE_Liam]

Oct 24, 2012 11:15:11 GMT leigh said:

One of the best I ever owned, drove it like I was late for mass and it never stopped through rivers over mountains etc etc! The heater rad went and leaked fluid into the vents but apart from a smell like men cutting kerbstones I loved that car. What are the plans?

Well it was gonna get lowered on some nicer wheels and given a nice smokey tune but I might be swapping it for another piece of interesting French scrap now...

[THE_Liam]

Oct 24, 2012 13:01:23 GMT reanimation said:

I'm sort of surprised that teh Octavia was dull for you, as I read in PPC about the 4x4 VRS things and sounded like a sensible but fun car option but maybe it's just too big heavy chunky and sanitised to be fun right?

I think that's the problem. Mine had a Revo remap and was dyno proven at 210bhp, it could really shift but it just felt too heavy and "insulated" if that makes sense?

[reanimation]

I think to me that makes absolute sense. I'm already thinking about another smaller retroer fun car than my Mondeo Si and thats still kinda retro at heart!

[THE_Liam]

I personally think cars peaked from the early 80's to mid 90's. We gained electronic ignition, electronic fuel injection, made huge steps forward in reliability and economy, but it was before ECUs, traction control, zillions of pointless heavy airbags and the need to have a stupid touchscreen computer in the dash came about. Those are my kind of retros, not really interested in owning anything older or newer without a lottery win

[reanimation]

Yes I agree from my experience anyway, keep it simple, I've driven a few modern moderns and really don't enjoy the drive, arguably I've driven all the wrong ones but still I'm in no rush to get new.

Oct 24, 2012 13:01:23 GMT reanimation said:

PS my clutch is heavy too and its been almost gone for about 2 years!

Ahhh, spoke too soon, guess what happened this morning?? Cable snapped out of pedal! on the floor there is a broken plastic bobbin shaped little thing and a sort of square circlip thing! So I'm going to attack the situation with a fork and zipties at break time..., if anyone has any wisdom on this one please PM me. Thanks
Edit: plenty 'info' online will have to trust in zipties and luck...

[phillipm]

If you saw me laughing for 10 minutes straight at the last S.Yorks meet, it was at this Beige interior.

[THE_Liam]

Oct 25, 2012 11:10:43 GMT phillipm said:

If you saw me laughing for 10 minutes straight at the last S.Yorks meet, it was at this Beige interior.

It's ok mate, I've been laughing at your 3-pot "engine" for years

[VND]

Oct 25, 2012 8:43:19 GMT reanimation said:

Ahhh, spoke too soon, guess what happened this morning?? Cable snapped out of pedal! on the floor there is a broken plastic bobbin shaped little thing and a sort of square circlip thing! So I'm going to attack the situation with a fork and zipties at break time..., if anyone has any wisdom on this one please PM me. Thanks
Edit: plenty 'info' online will have to trust in zipties and luck...

My last Dturbo did this over and over again. Had toatally forgotten about my 306 clutch woes.
Replacing the cable didnt help (there was free movement by hand from the bay end anyway) and I had to eventually change the whole clutch. The pressure plate had collapsed. No amount of cable changes or zip ties will help if youve got the same (common) issue man.

And am I the ONLY person in the world that digs beige interiors???! ;D

[THE_Liam]

Funny, I've never heard of a pressure plate collapsing and there's a guy on a 306 forum I go on running a supercharged twin-turbo on that clutch...

Mapped HDIs eat clutches though

[VND]

I hadn't either. So I googled it, and it seems common. No idea why it would only effect 306s though. They surely share clutch parts with other cars.
Reanimation, check for tension in the cable from the bay end. If it moves freely, then it's probably not a cable issue.

[phillipm]

Sometimes happens from debris in the box, I've got one up here if you want to see one that's broken

The bushes on the bearing fork can go stiff too with time.