Hi all,
After doing 4 races in the 24 Hour of Lemons in the French Fried R21 and a couple of track days in my 306, I have been bitten by the racing bug... and bitten hard!
I have decided to retire the 306 from the road and start doing it up for racing.

Cage is easy, can get a kit from CHCH for $300 for a half cage all CNC bent and I can fit that easy as.
Seats and belts are pretty much the same.
The hard bit I'm finding is brakes and suspension.
I've been looking round on-line for spring and shock kits but there seems to be nothing local, it's all UK stuff and the freight is a bit of a killer.  I'm wanting to go fully adjustable so I can dial in the camber.

Brakes is a little easier, I've already got a set of 283mm rotors and calipers I've fitted but trying to find a decent set of pads that aren't over $300 a set is difficult.
I grabbed some Roadhouse heavy duty pads which seem ok but the car lacks the stopping power that the R21 has on small rotors.
Once I get these sorted I can look at engine improvements.

The Car runs the 1.8 16v engine which has a few go faster goodies available but that will be once I'v got the most out of the rest of it.
Any ideas or advise would much appreciated.

Another one for team HDi? The subversive underbelly of Fast Frogs is alive and well.

I got the car started, pulled the ECU apart, had totally fried inside. Sourced new s/h ecu and bcm from UK. In the meantime, I've also bought and in the process of dismantling a 206CC, 2 litre manual.  So if anyone needs parts I'm keen to get rid of some cheap. And cos I'm a pug nutter, have added a 307 HDi into the fleet.

The factory tyres were Pirelli P7000's and they had a pretty strong sidewall. Mine are weak and they felt weak so I run about 75-80% of max because the car's so light. After a little interior removal it's less than a ton, unless it's on the track I keep it high and have got far better grip from that.

I know heaps of guys in the UK run Peugeot or Citroen 16" wheels for track use, cheap and easy. Interesting to see if a 45 gives any clearance issues out the back under load, there seems to be more than enough room though the thing is jacked. Apparently you can get 18" on them, don't know why though.
Also i'm pretty sure the offset is 25? And getting tyres balanced on the factory wheels is a huge bitch, you need to find a tyre fitter that has what they call a 'Citroen cap'. They have no centre hole,  and can't be balanced normally. The only place that can do it in the whole of the Wellington region is Upper Hutt tyres, as for anywhere else, no clue.

I actually run 35psi all round. Never had trouble with grip at all, and the tyres the car came on aren't nice.

Wheels won't be from NZ.

17" I think Fifteen52 Turbomac if they'll give me the right offset (+20, not the Ford Fiesta +42)
16" I'm going to go with OZ/Sparco 'Terra' or Speedline Corse in a 16X7 or 7.5

If I need new tyres before I change wheels, I'm gonna go for a 205/45 as those are common in stuff like the Achilles ATR Sport ($163 semi-sport tyre)

The suspension is stock though i'm sure there are a couple of fancy bushes in the back, trailing arm ones look like they might be blue lol. Got a fresh set of tyres up front and run them at 40psi with 42 out back. The fitters set them at 32psi and holy moley the ride was shot to hell, I was losing grip all over the place. Got to servo and checked the max pres. which is stated as 50psi. 50 bloody psi and the idiots had put 32psi in them. Luckily the rubber bands didn't tear themselves to shreds. The ride is just naturally hard, most reviews talk about it and I didn't mind, but over a year with a daily 100km commute, yeah, it's too much to deal with lol.

Keen to see what the larger sidewall of a 50 profile will do to the handling, though it all depends on the kind of tyre I guess.

Just a quick edit: good luck with wheels lol. The PCD is weird and I couldn't find anyone that can get hold of decent wheels in NZ, like anywhere. It's the same PCD as old Escorts and BMW's but of course the wrong offset, also the centre hole size is different to everything else lol, it's a mess. All I could find were blanks that you can get drilled, but blanks are usually cheap and heavy. OZ make wheels that fit and I think the Ultraleggera was a factory option, but there's no benefit except for looks as they're actually heavier than the stock wheels. The stock wheels come in under 8 and a half kgs, they're super light and reasonably strong. Just a shame they look boring. If you find any i'd be keen to know lol, i'd be keen to go up to a 7.5 width, I don't think there's be any clearance issues and that extra width would allow for a far greater tyre choice, 205/40's are few and far between. A 215 would be easier, cheaper and that extra grip would be madness lol.

Quote from: mookstix on April 28, 2019, 12:41:22 PM
Keen to hear the results if you try out the 205/50. I brought my 180 as a track day car only to have my daily die on me, so the 180 is now the daily and after a year of it the harshness of the ride is absolutely killing me lol.

Will do! I don't find it too bad in normal driving actually - what tyre pressure do you run and how are the bushes?

This is on stock suspension. Hopefully I can afford wheels and tyres around late September.

Keen to hear the results if you try out the 205/50. I brought my 180 as a track day car only to have my daily die on me, so the 180 is now the daily and after a year of it the harshness of the ride is absolutely killing me lol.

Mmm @Pee Dubbaya, bit of tune on that baby does really appeal... :-)

Welcome, great car. Lots of potential to tune diesels if you're so inclined!