Righty, I'm sort of on a bit of a roll with this at the moment, which is nice.
So last time I updated it was basically a rolling 4 stud shell with the engine and the gearbox physically in place and I'd started on the wiring.
As it stands currently, it's pretty much a runner. I've got a few bits to sort yet which I'll run through but it's not far off shakedown time. It's MOT'd, taxed and insured so it's road legal as soon as I'm happy with it really. The mods are all declared, and I've attempted to declare the engine swap with the DVLA, but I need to get it running first, and take it to an independent garage to get a letter on headed paper confirming the new engine number and my chassis number to send them, so that's the last bit of the puzzle there to sort when it's rolling.
Got my plate assigned to it and the new tax disc, MOT and log book through for that, so that's sorted at least.
On Friday night I set to on fitting the new rear brake setup and bleeding the brakes up. Finished at 1am, but the pedal feels great. Rear setup consists of new rear calipers, pad fitting kit, discs and pads, braided lines and new handbrake cables. All new really, so it should all work nicely. The front brake setup is Bosch 54 266mm's to sit under 14" rallye steels should I choose.
With that, on Saturday I triumphantly drove it out of the garage under it's own power for the first time in 7 months. Good times! I drove it about 100 yards down the back lane and back to see if there was any glaring problems with brakes etc, and then parked it in front of the house to do a garage tidy.
I've fitted the new alternator I got from Dean, and popped the aux belt back on and tensioned it.
New problem however. Although the car started and ran fine, when you popped the lights on with the keys in your pocket, it set the ignition live and primed the fuel pump. Impressive in itself now I think about it because it was somehow bypassing the immobiliser. Anyway, thanks to some problem solving from some of you fine chaps on here, and Beaniemoo, who were really really awesome, I traced it back to a short in the rear drivers side light wiring.
With that resolved, it was time to put it back in the garage for some more finishing touches. Sadly, this was when the next issue struck. It cut out while reversing, and refused to start. Annoyed didn't cover it, 7 months and it had driven under it's own power, and now it was dead as a donut with a merrily flashing immobiliser light.
After doing basically nothing but trying to start it, 30 minutes later it sprang into life. I'd been reading up on unlocking the ECU by unplugging the immobiliser, so I reached over to unplug it, and literally as my hand touched the box it cut out dead again. It refused to start for the rest of Saturday.
Sunday morning it was the same story, I called it names, trawled forums, checked the wiring, everything seemed fine. It basically pointed to either the ECU locking itself, the transponder pickup being fucked again, or some short somewhere. I went to check the dials for warning lights, and as I put the keys in, the fuel pump primed. It fired up immediately, and I whipped the immobiliser box off as fast as I could. It's started every time since on the key.
There are 2 possible causes from what I can see. I think the immobiliser was potentially on it's way out. Perhaps the wiring short to the lights hadn't done it any favours, I don't know, but it's not missed a beat since I ditched it.
I also moved and cleaned the 2 gearbox earths and wire brushed the one behind the battery tray for good measure, again. I doubt this did anything as I've checked the earths so much recently, but it's running, so I'm happy.
The rest of Sunday I spent splicing the VTS loom into 106 rear light plugs, and splicing the front lights and side repeaters. The car now starts on the key, and I've got no nasty warning lights on the dash, happy days indeed. The central locking and alarm work correctly as well now too.
I've got a list of about 21 important things that need sorted before I can really drive it on the road, but it's nearly nearly there now.
I've removed another 3.5kg of interior tat today as well, it feels very light, I'm looking forward to getting it weighed and seeing what it actually comes in at. I'd be really happy with 830kg or under tbh, the original car is 810 according to the handbook I have for it, and I've stripped a good chunk out, but I've also obviously added weight with the heavier engine, chunkier beam, larger wheels etc etc.
It's many lightz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Mt...ature=youtu.be
Rough spec as it stands currently is:
1994 48K miles 3dr non-sunroof 106 XN shell
2003 Citroen Saxo VTS 3-plug engine and loom transplant
PAS Delete
ABS Delete
Radio Delete
Electric Windows Delete
Airbag / Pre-tensioner Delete
New IM Beam, polybushes, Bilstein B8 dampers, 23mm torsion bars, 24mm RARB.
New Rear Calipers / Discs / Pads / Handbrake Cables / Rear Exact Braided Lines
VTS Fuel Tank / Pump / Return Lines
Interior Stripped, all interior bar front carpet and basic dashboard deleted
Sound Deadening Foam Delete
Interior Tar Delete
Door Card Delete
Recaro Reclining Seats with Custom Subframes and drivers slider.
Sabelt Harnesses
VTS Dials incorporated into 106 Dash
Satchshift
2" Pug Sport Decat System
4-1 Manifold
Vibra Technic's Engine and Gearbox Mounts
Polybushed rear gearbox mount
VTS Airbox with K&N Panel Filter insert
106 Rallye Gearbox
Bilstein B8 Front Struts
New wheel bearings
266mm Front Brake Setup / Braided Exact Lines
PAS Rack with Manual Conversion
VTS Clutch and Throttle Cables
VTS Radiator
VTS TU5J4 Engine
VT/GTi Bottom Arm Brace Joints
VTS Shafts / Intermediate Bearing
Front ARB delete
Kam Lambda Sleeve
OMP Upper Brace
Charcoal Canister Delete
VTS Alloys / Yokohama Parada Spec 2's
Rallye Steels / Will have A048's
Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2's / Another set of either road or track rubber.
I'll likely fit a front ARB at some point, however there's no huge point as I simply want to get some shakedown miles on the car driving steady and see what niggles crop up that will inevitably need sorting.
Plans for the front suspension setup will be custom faulkner springs, gaz adjustables, solid top mounts, top mount strengthening plates. I'll be replacing the rear Bilsteins with Gaz adjustables also.
I have a set of diesel bottom arms I've been building up with new ball joints, poly bushes and Vibra Technic rear mounts, so these will be fitted then as well, and likely a colin satchell lower brace.
Mick 'Big Duck' Swan
Linear Mode
