German Metal Convert

[nick]

Hey,

Well, im Nick, (as should be obvious!)

Im 24 and have recently moved to Watford although im originally from Derbyshire.

Now, i have had alot of cars, and i do mean ALOT, since i got my hands on my driving licence.

Here is what i can remember...

1997 Renault Megane 1.4RN
1999 Suzuki Vitara 1.6 JLX
1998 Ford Escort 1.6 Si
1996 Citroen Xantia 1.8 16v LX
1995 Rover 620 SDI (cost me £25 roflmao)
1997 Renault Megane 1.6RN
1996 Peugeot 406 1.9td L
2002 Fiat Stilo 1.6 16v (least reliable car in all of history)
2001 Renault Laguna II 1.9DCI
1996 Peugeot 406 2.1 12v TD (leather, working climate control, and still got 57mpg :S first very low car i owned)
1995 Vauxhall Vectra 1.8 (car was free, worst car in all of history)
1994 Honda Civic 1.3DX (EG shape, polo gti bbs wheels, carbs, 25mpg!)
1973 Land Rover Series 3 88", 200tdi coversion (epic car, no road tax due to being "historic")
1997 Citroen ZX 1.9 td
1975 MG Midget 1275cc
2001 Peugeot 406 2.0 LX (spotted on the side of the road for £300, bought it, adjusted the handbrake cable, mot, someone gave me a grand for it!)
1992 BMW 316i (engine swapped for an m44 out of the car below, ran on LPG, very low)
1998 BMW 318is
1995 Vauxhall Corsa B Combo (engine swapped for a 1.7td from a vectra, well hidden intercooler, 22psi of boost, 3rd gear wheelspin sleeper fun)
1998 BMW 316i Touring (very low, very slow, looked awesome, bad on fuel!)


Now i currently have a 1999 BMW 323CI (which is listed on ebay as we speak, due to the move i have not needed to drive very often, maybe once every two weeks and when i do, its about a 3-400 mile round trip. So i have a bit of a hankering after some good french motorway cruising.

I have grown up around Citroens, the first car i remember was my parents Citroen BX 1.7 diesel, it was somewhere around a 1985 from memory! Then a Xantia, then a couple of ZX.

I have always loved the french diesel engines and my favorite car i have owned to this day is a Peugeot 406 2.1TD Executive. On this car i did a conversion that i cant really find a lot of info on the net about, but it involved retro fitting a pure mechanical pump on the XUD11BTE (one i stole from a 1.9TD Citroen Xantia) I did this to remove the Lucas EPIC system after my car decided it only wanted to do one thing, full throttle!

Excuse the cable ties it was a bit of a work in progress...



I would love to try something different to this though, in an ideal world from looking around, i would like to try and find a 2.1 TD XM.



So here i am to you lot! Just hoping to have a browse around, see what kind of car i can expect to get for my money, what to look out for etc! I have worked on a few Xantias in my time but thats the only hydropneumatic car i have ever dealt with, and i have seen examples of perticularly rotten XMs which worries me.

What do you recon my chances or finding a good one these days are and how expensive are they getting?! If im well out of my depth i will probably try and find another 2.1 406

Thanks in advance, if you have read through to this point you either must be very bored or very helpful


Nick.

[captainhaddock]

Not bored nor very helpful I am afraid but welcome nonetheless Impressive list of cars! How did that air filter on the pic improve performance? I currently just started driving a 2.1 td auto and it is probably the best car I ever had for what I use it for. I know the manuals are quite rare. You have to get lucky to find a good one on offer I think.

[nick]

Heyup

Haha dont worry i didnt kill any of the cars, but i did go through a bit of a phase of getting bored very quickly and selling on

The cone filter didnt really make any performance difference on its own, although it does make nice turbo whistle type noises... and did help with allowing a bit more airflow which made it easier to wind the boost up


I had it running about 18-19 psi of boost instead of the standard 13 when i bought it, on boost fueling turned up to match of course!

When i sold that car it had 186,000 miles and still ran sweet as a nut

[captainhaddock]

Don't miss this one But do get that price down
http://www.ooyyo.co.uk/detail/c=CDA51D7 ... 1652.html/

[nick]

40 grand!!!!

Wow. I dont think they actually want to sell that one...

[captainhaddock]

Can't find much for sale with google I must say And you don't want a LHD..

[nick]

Aye, i have been struggling, although i dont need to find one as soon as tonight, there is time yet

[captainhaddock]

I got an XM for free today but I did give the owner a bottle of whiskey:) It's not a diesel and it's a worn front and rear suspension, and a serious subframe issue (rust) but it's still quite nice, black with cream leather interior. It's a 2 liter TCT auto

[nick]

now thats just showing off!

[captainhaddock]

no no, it's true. I spent the bigger part of the day in a Volvo XJ 90 with trailer picking it up. The battery was shot but replaced it, starts right a way.
Wheel bearing is shot badly, spheres need replacing but not as bad as I thought it could have been after spending 2 years idle. It's a VSX as well.