James Pickering
Our resident diesel head... whether it’s old school indirect injection, or modern commonrail – he has probably tried (and no doubt failed) with them in the past. James is currently building a Peugeot 306 Diesel (indirect injection) track car. Follow his exploits each month in the staff cars section of the mag.
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Small update
OK... A little update for you.
The car has been through some serious changes over the last few months - and while I could list all of them here in the blog, I decided to kill two birds with one stone (needed to learn how to video edit for work) and do a video blog (or vblog to those cyber geeks!)
You should spot a few of the updates through the pictures as they run by... but keep your eyes peeled in the magazine over the coming months for more indepth updates!
Cheers,
JP
not a mechanic by trade
James is not a mechanic by trade, but through buying various naff cars has picked things up by dabbling. James works in the IT industry, but has fairly good problem solving skills and the patience of a saint – perfect when working with old, rusty, cheap cars. James got heavily involved in diesel engines, and diesel tuning when he got bitten by the bug with his first car, a fiesta TDCi. It was from there he started the Turbo Diesel Owners Club (www.TDOCUK.com) and the rest, they say, is history. James is currently working on building a track prepared Peugeot 306 1.9 Diesel Turbo track car... watch this space.
The Peugeot 306 started life as a relatively high spec “Dturbo” model, running the 1.9 litre indirect injection XUD turbo engine making 92hp. Looking at its history, it spent many years being a reliable run around for someone before being bought by a boy racer and modified, horrifically – with lexus lights and straight through exhaust. As well as this, when James bought the car it came complete with plenty of go faster bits strapped to it.... and more speakers than a concert arena. Much of this was quickly sold off, interior stripped and lightening work carried out. With the money regained from selling half of Halfords, it also received some trick suspension and full track preparation. The totally bone stock engine received a big turbo, big fuel pump, ported and polished head and currently makes a healthy 182hp and 280lb/ft of torque. James is convinced this engine won’t last long, so is in the midst of building a low compression, bulletproof lump so he can use it on track in anger.
