[trackday_prep] Cameron's Mi16 / Gti6 Hybrid

[Cameron 16]

I think its probably about time I started a project thread. I've been working on my current 205 since about October 2006, it started off as a P1.5 1.6 GTI that was a piece of garden furniture at somebody's farm. Pretty much everything was shot apart from the bodywork, which was great for me as I had all the parts I needed off my old 205 (which incidentally was a rot box). I swapped all the suspension over and most of the interior and then fitted and Mi16 engine. The whole build was a complete bargain, it only cost me about £550 (including buying the car and engine) to get it on the road.

 

This is the only picture I have unfortunately!

 

Then in the summer of 2007 (I think) I got some Euro Rallye arch moulds off ebay, so made and fitted a set of arches.

I ripped off the old GTI kit and filled in all the rivet holes, then gave it a coat of paint.

 

All done!

 

It stayed like that for a few months until I moved into my student house in the 2nd year and had a driveway! So that's kinda when the really big changes happened, I'll try and compress it as much as I can but if you want to see the whole story there's a thread in the projects section of FrenchSportsClub.com. I'm going to try and keep both of these threads updated after bringing this one up to speed. Stay tuned for many more posts!

Edited February 21, 2009 by Cameron

[Cameron 16]

Managed to find a pic of how it was when I bought it!

 

I started by stripping everything down, starting in the engine bay.

 

And then stripped the interior.

 

Then I set about removing the engine, I didn't have a crane so I just took it out in bits. Then I dismantled it all with the intention of giving it a full rebuild, only to find that the inlet valves had stretched around the collet grooves, making a nasty burr which then ruined the valve guides when I tried to get them out. So the head was basically scrap and I had a think about what to do. Around that time, James R was building an XU7 block with a GTi6 head and suggested that I get a donor GTi6 and nick all the bits off it. Which I did! I managed to find a 6 engine with a suspected bottom end failure on eBay and quickly snapped it up. I got a pretty good deal, complete engine with all manifolds and gearbox for £200.

I had to take it apart in the boot of my Mondeo since the thing weighed a bloody tonne!

 

So then I got a whole load of parts to rebuild the Mi bottom end and the GTi6 head, cleaned everything up (in my bath) and gave the engine some paint. I then set about putting everything together. The build consisted of: re-ground crank and new bearings, ARP rod bolts, new liners and piston rings and new seals everywhere. I needed 2 new inlet valves as the old ones were very slightly bent, the head got skimmed and new valve guides fitted by QEP.

 

Then I got some presents!

 

Some OMP Grip bucket seats and OMP 4-point harnesses.

 

Then I fitted the engine, with the GTi6 'box and a new clutch.

 

Then got some more presents!

 

A Safety devices C45 (I think) weld-in cage, which I got for an absolute bargain - £350!!

That was probably the biggest part of this project, I'd never fitted a cage before so was kinda jumping in at the deep end. I think there was something like 50 different bits of tube! I started fitting that, and I'll put the details in the next post.

[Cameron 16]

So after much head scratching, cutting and grinding I eventually had it all mocked up.

 

Only to rip it all back out again to be given a really good clean, then a coat of etch primer and finally some Ford Signal Yellow paint.

Then I hired a welder, which turned out to be an absolute bargain! I had the welder for about 2 weeks but they only charged me for one, they also didn't charge me for the wire or gas. I think the company was called Foster Industrial, based in Leicestershire, and I can't recommend them enough!

 

The toy!

 

Then I welded it all in.

 

 

 

 

Then I set about fitting the seats. I test fitted them with the original mounts and thought they were much too high and looked very untidy, so I decided to modify the floor. I cut a large section out of the exhaust tunnel and boxed it back in, then fitted some 25mm box section to bolt the seats to.

 

 

Seats fitted.

 

You can see that they are pretty low now, and the passenger seat is as far back as it will go.

 

A nice shot of the whole lot.

[trialster 0]

i like it!

 

especially those s2 rallye wheels. look the dogs

[Cameron 16]

With most of the mechanical stuff sorted, I turned to the electrics. Originally my plan was to just strip what I didn't need from my old loom but I decided to re-make the whole lot. I spent most of my evenings and time outside of uni with my multimeter finding out which wire went where, and eventually had a complete list of all the loom connections as well as a diagram for the fusebox. Armed with this, and a whole bunch of stuff from VWP I made the looms.

 

I also bought an Emerald M3DK ECU to run the hybrid engine, so I got some practise by making the loom for that first.

 

That turned out pretty nicely so I made the rest too.

 

Then I think the last thing was to make some braided brake lines.

 

I had a fair few problems with it though.. I bedded the rings in hard, then had 500 miles of normal driving before mapping. Then just a couple of days before my session I went to start it up and there was a massive backfire, afterwards the car just wouldn't start. I tried pretty much everything over 3 days and eventually gave up and had the AA tow it up to Dave Walker. After a lot of head scratching we eventually found the cause.

 

Oops!

We took the resonator off and Dave quickly made a blanking plate for the hole, then mapped it. It made 176bhp.

Dave reckoned that with the cam timing tweaked it would be good for roughly 185bhp! But I've left it as it is, just because mapping is expensive.

 

I gave it a little blast through a tunnel on the way back.

 

It didn't have a rev counter so I had to guess.

 

I also had 2 bolts fall out of the cambelt cover and they got really chewed up! They made a big hole in the belt but luckily it didn't break!

 

I had also made a GRP bonnet mould, and made myself a carbon / kevlar bonnet.

 

I bonded some flush Aerocatches to the underside..

 

So that they were flush to the top surface and there were no ugly bolts.

 

Then in August 2008 I took it back to the 'ring!

 

 

Unfortunately, I killed one of the driveshafts on the 3rd lap. DOH! So I had to stop driving it and then limp it all the way back home.

[Cameron 16]

Now on to the recent stuff. Since the seats were so low, the steering wheel was in a bit of an awkward position so I decided to make a new steering column. It was quite a lot of work but worth it. I started off by buying some goodies from 'Tweeks, a Lifeline QR boss and an OMP Corsica wheel.

 

Then I got some nice countersunk bolts and nylocs to join them together, £1.

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c302/sup...th_IMG_0147.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c302/sup...ff/IMG_0151.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c302/sup...ff/IMG_0149.jpg

 

And some nice UJs, which were actually pretty expensive - £45 each.

 

I got a great deal from work though, a couple of metres of 15CDV6 32mm tube for free! I had the UJs machined so that the tube would slip over them and also had the insides bored out to shave off a bit of weight.

I also got some brackets made up out of mild steel, they are only temporary ones as I needed the car back on the road to move house. The proper ones will be made from stainless steel. After a bit of cutting and bolting, it was ready to go in!

 

 

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c302/sup...th_IMG_0289.jpg

 

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c302/sup...or/IMG_0288.jpg

 

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c302/sup...or/IMG_0287.jpg

[James_R 3]

Looks like you've been busy with it Cam, think the next set up upgrades should be pretty good.

 

looking forward to getting back out to do some laps this year

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Great thread cam.

 

Good tunnel preparation too.

 

Toight!

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

PFFFTTT that steering rack is weak, it needs to be sold on to me.

 

Love this build, read the full thing over on FCS and it was a joy to read!

[Cameron 16]

Thanks very much.

 

Definitely looking forward to getting it on track again! Although I need to re-learn how to drive fast, since getting the Mondeo I've become Mr Efficiency.

[Cameron 16]

Ok so now to bring the thread up to date, this is what I got up to yesterday.

First up, I had to tackle the army of spiders that were infesting my garage. There were literally hundreds of the little bastards, mostly babies but some biggies too, all over the ceiling! So I went and got my mini blowtorch and a can of deodorant and let the little feckers have it!

Then after sweeping away the dead I set to work.

 

I bought a new set of bumper mounts (a good few months ago now) as mine were all shot to pieces. So all the old ones had to be removed, involving a lot of work with the grinder. While the bumpers are all off I'm going to give them a coat of paint as they look a little tired. I also took the boot lid off, which will be replaced with a GRP one, and took all the windows out as they will be replaced with some polycarbonate ones.

 

So the car is looking a bit sorry for itself now!

 

 

 

You can see why I removed the old mounts!

 

I removed one of the arch trims as it got damaged on my first trip to the 'ring. Karussell is bumpy!

 

So then I was left with quite a pile of bits.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c302/sup...ff/IMG_0317.jpg

 

I also fitted my new 1/4 panel badges a la Sarty.

 

 

As far as I know, they're the only set of yellow / black badges in existence.

 

I also removed the sunroof, which is definitely not a factory fitted one. You can see all the saw marks around the hole, god knows why anyone would want to do it but hey, its gone now! Im going to make a carbon panel with a lip that will then bond to the underside of the roof, making the top surface flush.

 

I was busy again today, went off to James' to pick up an electric water pump and associated gubbins and then did a little more work when I got back. I've decided to take the engine out as it'll make fitting the shorter cam belt and blanking off the water pump easier. While its out I'm going to give the engine bay a good clean and take off the subframe to take some measurements for my wishbone project.

 

More progress soon!

[SPGTi 2]

My favourite project this one, I have read the thread over on FSC more times than I can remember.

 

Steve

[Cameron 16]

Thanks Steve. I wish I could copy the whole lot over but at 40-odd pages its just far too much work.

[James_R 3]

Good work Cam, I'll have to pop up soon and have a mooch round the car, good to see it moving along so fast

[Craigo 0]

very very very nice! to say you had never welded a cage in before, you have certainly done a very good job of it!

[Cameron 16]

Thanks very much.

 

A bit more progress today, I borrowed my dad's engine crane to whip the engine out and make sorting the cambelt easier so got to work getting it out. Annoyingly I realised that I'd forgotten the balance bar and the chains so had to remember my scouting skillzz and use the only thing I had to hand - a bit of blue nylon rope.

 

 

Thankfully its actually bloody strong stuff! To be safe I dropped the engine and took the gearbox off before lifting it out, then put my engine stand back together and mounted the engine on that. Annoyingly I had to take the clutch and flywheel off but im pretty thankful I did as I noticed the crank oil seal was leaking! I guess that would explain why I've had the sump off 4 times but still not sorted the leak!

 

So now the car is nice and empty.

 

 

 

And the engine is on the stand, ready for work to start.

 

 

I had a little bit of time left so I took the water pump out so I can measure it for the blanking plates, I'll sort that out in the next couple of days. Now that the engine is out I'm going to take the sump off to be cleaned and painted, and also make a blanking plate for the vacuum pump on the side of the head. I'll also be giving the engine bay a really good clean and am thinking about dismantling the gearbox so I can clean the case properly. Might be biting off a bit more than I can chew there but we'll see.

[oli-pug 6 2 Cars]

Great work chap, really interested in your project.

 

Wouldn't mind having a nosey at the car sometime too, as you're only down the road from me aren't you?

[Cameron 16]

Thanks! Yeah feel free to come and have a look round, I don't actually live in Daventry but a little village between it and Banbury on the A361.

[miamichris 9]

Then after sweeping away the dead I set to work.

 

quote of the day for me right there! not even spiders can stop 205 work!

 

Nice project mate

[Cameron 16]

Been busy again today, but started off badly. Somehow I managed to spill 5 litres of used oil all over the floor.

Anywho, first job was to cut the lower crossmember out.

 

 

 

Then I quickly bolted the lower valence back on so I could see how low the radiator could go, then got the rad in position and took some measurements to make a new mounting bracket for it. This is about where it will sit, just above the bottom of the valence.

 

 

Then I took all the remaining bits and pieces out of the engine bay, and cut off the annoying threaded studs that seem to litter it. I think I might look into hiring a steam cleaner so I can give the bay and subframe a really good clean.

 

 

Next job was to mock-up the cambelt to see how it will fit without the water pump and the answer is.. it doesn't. Not surprising really.

Here's how it will look.

 

 

To see how much longer it is I cut the belt in half and then routed it around to see how much overlap there was. With the tensioners fully slackened it was about 4 teeth too long.

 

 

And then with the tensioners about half way it was roughly 3 teeth too long.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c302/sup...ff/IMG_0374.jpg

 

So I'm going to have to try and source a shorter belt. The Mi16 one I had on there is 133 teeth, so I need one that is either 129 or 130 teeth. Not really sure weather there are any 16V engines I can nick one off, most of the ones I've looked at are longer so I may have to try and get a custom one.

 

Then there is a bit of a clearance issue between the belt and the slot for the timing pin in the oil seal carrier, and also the bolt behind the belt.

 

 

So I'll grind off the back part of the timing pin slot as I don't think I'll really need it from now on, and I'll replace the offending bolt with a countersunk one.

I also took the sump off and then the No.1 main cap to get the oil seal out, it gave me a chance to see how the bearings are getting on and it all looks very good. So not much more I can do on the engine until I get the various parts I need, in the meantime I'll be doing lots of cleaning.

 

I think tomorrow I might get on with the door moulds as they've been standing idle for a while.

[Cameron 16]

Been at it again today, the car is looking very.. empty. I decided to take my seats out to stop them from getting filthy, and then gave the inside a sweep. I got busy with the grinder too, getting rid of more pointless threaded studs and the old dashboard mounts. So the inside is now completely empty ready for me to give it a good clean and a coat of black paint. I took the doors off too, I'll explain below, but it also gives good access. Its quite nice being able to stand up inside the car!

 

 

 

Then it got very cold and started hailing, so I moved inside to get on with preparing my doors. I bought these a few months ago for a pretty decent price, I'm going to be making some moulds from them so it was very important that the outer skins were very straight. These ones are in good nick, but they still need a lot of work. There's all sorts of little tiny nicks and scratches and some funny bubbly patches that all needed to be rubbed down, so I got busy with the wet & dry.

First up (I did this bit a while ago) was to mark all the imperfections.

 

 

Then start off with some 600 grit and rub them all down, and move on to 1200 grit to get a smooth surface.

 

 

While I was with the 1200 I also rubbed all the orange peel down so they are sssssilky smooth.

 

 

But while the outsides of these doors are very nice the insides are in a bit of a state, particularly around the mounting points. I had originally planned to grind it out and fill them, but that's far too much work! Thankfully the insides of my black doors (the ones I took off earlier) are perfect, so I'll be using them.

 

 

So that's one down anyway! It just needs a really good polish and it should be nice and shiny. I'll get the other door to that stage, and then the next step is to apply 10-15 coats of mould release wax. Fun!

[Henry 1.9GTi 36]

only just seen this thread, good work cameron. Lots of respect for doing the cage yourself. I could do with making myself a new engine loom as well after my recent debacle!

 

Henry.

[Cameron 16]

What happened? I'd recommend making your own loom, as long as you know where everything needs to go and at least have a very basic understanding of electronics you can't go far wrong.

 

A small update, I've just got myself a present!

 

 

Can't wait for it to arrive.

[Baz 421]

Nice!

[Cameron 16]

Yep! Looking forward to trying it out, I've got a few job lined up that I need it for.

 

Some news on the cambelt, after a LOT of searching I found that the Ford 2.0 Zetec engine has a 129 tooth belt with the same profile as an Mi16 one, so I ordered one off eBay hoping it would work. It arrived today and I quickly checked it against the water pump pulley at lunch and it didn't quite fit. It seemed that the tooth pitch was very very slightly different, like 0.05mm!

I thought that was a bit weird, why would a manufacturer make a belt that had such a strange dimension on the teeth? So I tried the belt out on the cam pulleys (since they are larger and would show the difference more) and it fit perfectly! So I promptly test fitted the belt.

 

 

Grrrreat success!!

 

Seems to fit perfectly, so I'm well happy! But there was still a bit of a mystery as to why it wouldn't fit the water pump pulley, so I decided to grab my old Mi belt quickly and try it out.

 

 

Exactly the same problem! So it seems its the water pump tooth pitch is very slightly out, which is strange as it was an OE part. Anyway, who cares! I won't be using it.