General Adding to my collection

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General Adding to my collection

This morning I've had a chat with the garage owner that motd the car, I explained the seriousness of the situation, excuses were made etc etc.
but, we came to a mutual agreement that meets both our needs and that will be then of the matter.
On closer inspection, the marea driveshaft although having a 36mm nut like the coupe version and a bolted flange to the gearbox isn't as large as the coupe one.
But the clutch slave cylinder is the same part number as the coupe.
The front roll bar differs to the coupe not only in the girth, but also the drop links. The marea having useless ball joint type long ones with too much give. And the coupe having, bushed stumpy jobbies.

I plan on building up a spare coupe sub frame with new arms, the coupe roll bar and drop links, and then using the coupe struts.
That should stop the thing handling like the titanic. Obviously the autotred ditch finder tyres won't be helping the situation, but they'll do till I get some decent wheels.

I'll be pulling the front off soon to have a good look at the oil leak / turbo situation and to see if I can get the coupe single pass inter cooler to sit where the original double pass effort lives. Also changing a couple of coolant hoses and maybe ditching the OE breather system in favour of something less leaky.
I'll also do an egr delete while I'm at it.

Then the fuel leak needs sorting. It's not the filter or housing which is the cheapest option. So could be the high pressure rail or the pump. Neither are cheap but needs must. If it's the high pressure pump I'll stick a new water pump and cam belt on it.

I've a feeling the dual mass flywheel didn't get changed when the clutch was done, so whenever the clutch goes again I'll do the coupe flywheel mod.
 
Having a look on eper, the OE jtd inter cooler looks to be a smidge smaller than the coupe version. And I'm sure it's holed somewhere as there's a lot of oil around the core.
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And the coupe version being a single pass will cool more effectively.
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I spent this morning on the marea weekend, I'd been supplied a new lower arm, CV joint and some other bits as part of my mutual agreement with other parties.

So this morning I got it in the air on the drive at home (coupe and brava taking up the workshop) and pulled off the near side driveshaft.
It appears that there aren't any relluctor rings on the driveshafts, and the new cv joint which has got a ring on it, sits nowhere near the sensor.
I took the other side shaft out too and that's the same, no abs ring.

Anyway, next job was to drop the subframe down to remove the weedy roll bar.
The marea front roll bar is only 18mm vs the coupes 24mm bar and has the long drop link with useless ball joints at each end.
Digging around last week turned up a coupe 20vt front roll bar, brackets and drop links.

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Below you can see this one uses a much shorter drop link that's bushed. Although I've not fitted it yet here.
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The coupe one doesn't have any give in it when you try and flex it by hand unlike the marea one.
It should help stop the wagon handling like a boat

Next I whipped off the wishbone from the drivers side, like everything else both bushes were creamed and the balljoint rubber was split all the way round.




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Then chucked the new arm on, you can see the coupe roll bar and drop link here

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Had to go out and do shopping and house stuff then. I need to work out the driveshaft situation before I fit them back together anyway. I'll need another outer cv joint boot as the drivers side one has a small hole it it.
 
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Kinda got to the bottom of the abs situation, being used to the coupe set up this marea uses the other type with the pick up on the back of the hub rather than the shaft.
I've been supplied a cv joint which fits the hub although has the abs ring on it.
Now I know I don't need that ring, I'm happy to go ahead and fit it. Although it may confuse the mot man next year lol.

So if cleaning up the pick up on the back of the hubs don work it looks like it will need a sensor or two perhaps.

I'm hoping the fuel leak isn't something major. Having run the engine for ten mins on the drive and seeing nothing dripping anywhere is concerning. The seller did say it only drips after a long journey.
And putting my investigative head on and using Google maps, looking where the car lived it's clear to see the extent of the leak
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It's fairly obvious lol.
 
I'll also be putting the coupe alloys on this car till the bravo needs them. Got four toyo proxes coming for them, I'm debating whether to give them a clean up and maybe change the colour to anthracite before they go on.
 
What size tyres are you going for? How will the gearing etc work out for all the different engine / gearbox / body combinations you're juggling?

At the minute with 205/50/16s are fine on the coupe with its big arches, it's a bit of a squeeze on the marea, so I'll be using 195/45/16s on the brava and marea if I get another set of coupe alloys.

The gearing is good at the minute with the higher profile and brings the speedo bang on for accuracy, going down to 45s will drop the speedo out again to over read and knock a little off the top end.
 
Coupes 205/50/16 fit the Marea fine
And on long rung uses about 10% less fuel


Anthracite goes with all colours and will be an awesome addition to the Marea
The coupe rims in my opinion was fitted to the wrong car
They suit the Marea/Bravo/Brava and Multipla better than the coupe lol hence most of my cars use them
 
They look too big on my Marea saloon, I think the suspension may be tired and sagging a little.
They look too small on my coupe though.
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I once ran an old 406 diesel with 196 60 15s on as stock. I was breaking a bmw 750 that had 225 60 15s on, I put those tyres on the peugeot and the difference was immense.
With stock tyres @2500rpm in fifth it pulled 70mph
With the 225 60s @2500rpm in fifth I got 83mph. So it enabled me to drop to 2000rpm to cruise at 70mph.
But the acceleration and handling suffered.

I then ran with 195 50 15s
Which handled really well and acceleration was much improved but lost out big time on motorways.
With 70mph 3000 rpm. Used loads more fuel.

But the brava isn't really going to be used on motorways. It may see some track action where acceleration and handling will be the key factors.

I could just keep the 15" stock alloys on the marea wagon when the brava is ready to rock, but with the stock suspension the handling was god awful.
I'll see what it's like with the coupe front roll bar before I decide.

Edit, I could always go up to 205 55 15s on the stock rims.
 
spent most of yesterday doing brava engine bay, but needed to do the driveshaft for the marea at the workshop.
So once I'd finished for the day there, got back home and fitted the driveshafts on the drive in the rain (not fun)
Anyway a quick road test round the block revealed a knock free, smooth comfortable ride. I can confirm the coupe front roll bar made a massive difference to the handling. Gone is the boat like wallow in the corners.
It was only a quick drive through the village and I'll report on the handling in the higher speed ranges later on in the week. It is still as flat as a fart, the turbo spools but there is no power. It doesn't bog down but it's definitely way down on power.


The "to do" list has got smaller but is still substantial.

Strip front end, replace soft water pipes
While the front is off retrofit coupe inter cooler, and re route pipe work.
Clean front of engine to find oil leak
Clean maf
EGR delete.
Replace broken air con pipe
Replace condenser
Replace air drier and get air con regassed
Replace fuel line hose clips and try and find fuel leak that only happens when hot
Sort abs fault(s)
Sort airbag light issue
Replace front fog lamp

I'm sure there's lots more.......
 
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Update.
Spent tonight after work having a look at the intake pipe / maf and bits n bobs.image.jpg
I knew the intake was split, but it's a bit more serious than that.
Decided to take it off for a temporary repair. I found that the breather pipe into the intake was loose, and the actual intake was loose on the turbo.

For now I just cleaned up the pipe ans duct taped it up, then got some decent hose clips for it and the breather. Next I cleaned the maf with some carb cleaner. Then put it back together, I also found a fuel pipe loose so replaced the dodgy clip with a new hose clip.
There was also cracks in the egr hoses, all I had was some blue silicone hose so chucked that on.

Took it for a road test, seemed much better but still flat. (n)

Then, the stupid halfords special rubber mat was driving me mad, catching my heal. So I ripped it out and found the throttle pedal went down another inch!

Holy Jesus!:slayer: it took off down the road:D
Following me was a gigantic black cloud, but it was flying, surging through every gear up to the red line.
By the time I'd got back it was smoking less and less and left me with a huge grin.
Torque monster!
 
Still LOTS to do.
The handling is very much improved, but still not great. My to do list gets bigger the more I drive it.
That five pot Diesel engine is so heavy, my marea saloon with the 1.6 engine feels so much better in the corners.
But on the whole it's already a far better car than it was when I picked it up. It's stopped smoking now under full throttle which is good. And I moved the plywood board from underneath when I park it on the drive and so far no sign of any oil or fuel since sorting out some loose pipe work.
I think I can hear a rattle over the annoying growl of the aux belt tensioner, which I'm hoping will be the vacuum pump rather than anything more serious.



On my list now are.

Sort out the dodgy welding that wasn't done for mot
Replace all filters and change engine and gearbox oil
Replace soft coolant pipes
Fit egr blanking plate
Fit coupe inter cooler and drilled air box
Replace air con condenser, broken pipe and air drier
Sort abs
Sort air bag light
Replace all dampers and springs with updated coupe versions
Replace rear subframe bushes with poly bushes
Replace aux belt tensioner
Replace bonnet
Replace front o/s fog lamp
Fit coupe rear roll bar
I think it's going to need a throttle pot too as it's got a flat spot at about half throttle.


Then I think the future for this is a 20valve jtdm conversion.
I do love it more every day though so It might end up having a full restoration on the roll over jig that the coupe is having.

The other thing is I also love the saloon and the brava. Got plenty of room on the drive for them all. Just need to talk the Mrs out of the Audi A6 she wants.
 
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Just a list of stuff I've done so far. Mainly so I can see what things have cost me, not including tax, fuel and insurance.

Car stood me at £280
Replace near side CV joint £0
Replace off side CV boot £0 had one already
Replace off side hub nut £1.99
Replace stock front roll bar & drop links for coupe ones £0 had spare coupe parts
Repaired exhaust down pipe support bracket bush £0
Replaced off side track control arm £0
Clean air mass meter £2.99 carb cleaner
Replace vacuum hoses £0 had some
Replaced leaking fuel supply pipe clip £3 pack of clips
Swap 15" alloys for 16" coupe wheels / Michelin primacy tyes £0
Egr valve blanking plate £8.99

I will continually update this post as and when I spend on it. :yum:
 
Fitted the egr blanking plate, reduced the smoke to an unnoticeable level so I'm pleased with that.
Went down to cadwell park today for the modified live event to see the time attack cars going at it. I'm happy with the handling, the coupe roll bar really makes the difference. One thing that's starting to become annoying is the dual mass flywheel, it wasn't replaced when the clutch was done sadly. I've got a spare coupe flywheel ready for when I've got the time to do it.
It does drive really well and is so torquey, had a look when I left cadwell and there was no sign of any fluid leaks so hopefully replacing some hose clips has sorted it.
Happy days
 
Been cracking on with the brava 20vt so not done much to the wagon, we had a weekend away in North Yorkshire and sadly there were drips of fuel left in a car park so rthat needs more investigation. I've now gotten used to the power and it's not enough.
But it will have to do till I've got the brava done.
The handling is really good now, the only let down is the soft back end. Looking on eper there are three different numbers for rear roll bar. And one of those is the same part number as the coupe one.
It looks like I'll be going coil overs on the brava so I'll fit the custom fccs springs on the wagon. Only a 30mm drop but get great reviews from other coupe owners.
 
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