[Car_Overhaul] My Reshell Project

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Some of you may have read this thread.

 

Another 205 was offered to me at a fair price, it hadn't moved for 18 dry stored months and I was finally able to buy back the salvage of G692EPC.

I was initially looking for a Sorrento or Laser green but I was contacted and offered this car,

I found the new car like this

 

A quick check over of the normal rust spots was all I needed - this car was in good condition and only a totally standard 85k miles old. There were a couple of little issues but to be honest I wasn't too bothered as those bits were going to be removed.
It hadn't started in over a year so we removed the plugs, stuck in a battery and cranked her over. Well that all worked nicely. Put the plugs in tried again and she fired within about 2 seconds. Success - so my plan of driving it back as opposed to trailer was looking good.



I returned a week later and drove it back the 20 odd miles or so to my house. I'd not driven an 8v for about 4 years so it was quite amusing (spelt:stalling). Got quite a few looks as I'd not cleaned the car at all and it was really covered in a lot of cement dust. One thing I did come to identify was that the brakes were not all that hot. Perhaps I was used to my old HDI calipers or the rear brakes weren't working.
The MOT I had booked it in for that day comfirmed that the rear brakes were not really doing much - I suspect the compensators needed changing.

Anyway safely home and no MOT - well I was hoping to get the car ready to chip over to France the following week. My plan initially was to fix her up and drive the 8v around for a bit of fun. But then I realised I should just get on with the reshell. So, I took the next few day of work and started.....

 

 

I hired in a crane for the week and started by removing the 8v engine from H961.

 

So into my garage for a week of spanner wielding - my girlfriend had also gone away so I was able to get on with quite a bit of car work.

I actually found something of use in the Haynes manual too....get some old 4mm gauge steel rod and make a pair of U-shaped brackets to keep the bonnet propped up. Amazing in 9 years of ownership I never new this existed!!

 

I decided to strip the ancilleries from the 8v block just so I could get it out easily. Inlet & exhaust manifolds were off along with the starter and alternator. Driveshafts and mounts all came off pretty easily - scarily a few nuts and bolts were a little too easy to undo.

 

 

Bye bye 8v


Next installment to follow.....

Edited June 19, 2013 by Simes

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

The engine and gearbox came out as one after I'd removed the battery tray which came out a lot easier than expected.
I'm now left with this



The loom is still in there, I in my haste hacksawed this up and removed it. I then set about degreasing the engine bay.

Spent a couple of hours in there and really should have spent longer, knowing what I know now I wished I'd taken the m/c and servo out.

I also noticed that over the years the battery had leaked and stripped a lot of the paint off the inner wing. I had to strip this all back and I primed it with red oxide. I'm going to have to revisit this area in the winter, I simply don't have thr time to wait for paint to dry!



Whilst that lot was going on I set about removing the alarm from H961. This was a terrible drain on the battery and I was going to replace it with a Toad Ai606. Well this alarm could have been factory fitted. The Ignition amp was near to the cam cover and the integration of it into the rest of the car was very very good. It took me a while to get this out.



End of day 2.

Next day began with stripping G692 ready to remove the Mi lump. I wanted to do this with minimum disturbance to the engine and ancilleries, my plan was to try and remove as little as possible. I had to remove the exhaust, radiator and a few other coolant pipes and with the drive shafts disconnected and gear rods too all I had to do was disconnect the electronics. G692 had originally been converted to Mi16 power by Miles, for me, back in 2004. The loom was one of Miles so all it involved was disconnecting the two multiplugs from under the dash, disconnecting the ECU and feeding it all through the bulkhead. (and a phone call to Miles or 5)





Believe it or not, it all fitted nicely through the hole in the bulkhead, ready to be hoisted out.
Well not that easy really, the XU9JA came out using a sling and I had plently of clearance all around. However this had everything attached to it and to boot the Maniflow manifold had come away from the block nicely but unfortunately welded itself together so was in the way a touch.
I had to pop out and get a 'load balance' bar - it allowed me to lift the engine out but also to be able to tilt it and clear all the bodywork. Almost the best £30 odd quid spent so far.


Note coolant pipes still attached.

Whilst the engine was out I decided it would be a good idea to change the cambelt. I did think about the tensioners and water pump but to be honest, they are genuine parts and were changed only 30k ago when the lump was stripped and rebuilt.
I saw that it's advisible to use the 'special dowels' to lock the cam pulleys in place prior to changing the belt which obviously I didn't have. I toyed with the idea of using a substitute (spelt:old drill bit) but a quick phone call later I had managed to get a friend machine up the correct dowels as described in the Haynes. Sweet! I had removed the alternator at this point as the 8v engine had come with a new one....more on this.


Ready now to go in to H961, I replaced cam side engine mount, removed the battery tray and got the engine in.

 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2012 by Simes

[Baz 421]

Nice work Simon, you're not hanging around!

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Gotta love Meta Alarm's, faily high spec one too

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

So engine in and loom all plugged up, new oils and coolant - went to fire her up and what happened?

Well the starter motor stayed on all the time and it didn't fire up. After a little swearing and thinking (it is late on day 6 of 6 consecutive days working 9am - 7pm) I figured there was something wrong! A quick call to Miles and he knew what it was straight away.
My old car was a phase 1.5 and this is a 2. Peugeot changed switched live and permanent over - I just had to switch these over which was pretty simple. Hey presto she fired up albeit very loudly as I'd got not much exhaust connected.



Back to work now so most of my time has vanished but I've connected the driveshafts, gear link rods, new clutch and throttle cable and the car moves under its own power. Sadly the master cylinder has failed - not a problem as I'm swapping my old one over.

For some reason I decided to start installing the Toad Alarm - I've identified most of the wires required and hope to get this in over the weekend.





I'm also hoping to get hold of an adaptor pipe to join these two things up. I've sold my old Magnex - it was getting a bit too loud for me so I've gone for a nice stealth standard rear section.



Jobs this coming weekend.

Swap beam over
Swap front suspension over
Make brakes work
Make the alarm work
Prep for the MOT

Not much then - I'm also doing up our house and training for a Triathlon!

then loads more.....

[j_turnell 137 3 Cars]

Nice work, much easier with it just being a straight swap! What triathlon you training for out of interest?

[DaveW 6]

Working quickly Simon!

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

I actually found something of use in the Haynes manual too....get some old 4mm gauge steel rod and make a pair of U-shaped brackets to keep the bonnet propped up. Amazing in 9 years of ownership I never new this existed!!
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q753/simes205/H961%20build/15_600x400.jpg

this i pretty cool, how clever. least i havent got to bother getting hold of a bonnet stay

[Alastairh 47]

Nice work Simon!

 

Brings back memories of swapping an ex Miles Mi conversion for Ben back in the day!

 

Al

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Nice work, much easier with it just being a straight swap! What triathlon you training for out of interest?

 

Yep, a little easier.

 

http://www.theblenheimtriathlon.com/

[welshpug 1,661]

not having to fight with wiring is great even better when the engine isn't an oil mess too !

[timb1046 1]

wow super quick work, you must have a fair amount of time to play with! i wish i had that much spare time! works looking like a great standard too!

[jimistdt 1]

Really enjoyed reading this Simon, I like your style, but for some reason all the pics have disappeared since yesterday

[hman205 1]

Well done on getting it done so Quick think if my pride and joy took a bash like that I wouldn't be able to bounce back so well

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

wow super quick work, you must have a fair amount of time to play with!

 

I took a week off work - and spent every minute of it in the garage. I'm also renovating our house, training and working pretty hard. I often work away often abroad so it's been great having so much time at home.

 

As for clean - I've been used to a clean engine bay for ages and removing that 8v was the most amount of muck I'd seen for a while. Putting the Mi back in was pretty much a clean affair. The block had been stripped, cleaned snd painted 30k miles ago - still pretty clean.

[tezza 0]

nice work simes. Was sad to see the pictures of the old one you showed me. But this looks like its going to be a minter.

[steve@cornwall 100]

Good work. Out of interest, why not drop the engine / box out on the complete subframe/ susp to swap it all at the same time?

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Good work. Out of interest, why not drop the engine / box out on the complete subframe/ susp to swap it all at the same time?

 

Crossed my mind briefly, on a 4 poster it would have worked nicely.

[Baz 421]

I personally can't stand doing it that way, much easier with a crane for the engine/box, but yes complete subframe for the susp. etc. Just to add on a 4 poster it's a royal PITA, with a 2 poster however...

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

So Saturday starts with removing the beam from the old car



and leaving the shell resting on some old tyres. I did make up a large dolly for this to sit and roll around on, but realised that the castor wheels only can take 75kg each, so I'll need to get hold of some more

 

Beam came off pretty easily and then I forgot how heavy they are!
. It was rebuilt about 30,000miles ago and I know the shafts were replaced. It has been lowered, has rebuilt calipers (bleed nipples not seized, I twiddle them every couple of months and has Skip Brown dampers.

Beam also came off H961 pretty easily, this was rebuilt 3000miles ago and is completely standard (for sale soon) however the brake lines will need replacing back to the compensators. Not a problem as I've got new bits to replace with, just boring as I'll have to remove the fuel tank.

 

Refitting my old beam was a pain as I was doing it on my own. Heavy and awkward to even jack into position on my own. After some swearing I managed to get it up there and tightened and torqued correctly. Yippee.

Some hours later I removed the complete subframe from G692, that was enough work for the day!



Bilstein Streetline dampers
Eibach springs
HDI brakes

I remember when I bought all these parts new. I toyed with the idea of cleaning them all up but I'll do that at another time - probably in the winter.
All I want to do is drive the car.



A couple hours later and I've swapped over the struts and brakes. I've kept H961's hub carriers and driveshafts for the time being to avoid too much mix and matching. Should any driveline issues/vibrations occur I can track them down easier.

No longer looks like a 4x4. Need to put in new brake lines as they had decayed (brass nuts rounded off!)

 

 

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Nice work Simon, but is it my eyes or is there positive camber on the front wheel of your 205?

 

Keep all the nuts/bolts/screws/brackets off the old shell too, you'll be surprised how handy they can be!

Edited May 8, 2009 by Alan_M

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Nice work Simon, but is it my eyes or is there positive camber on the front wheel of your 205?

Keep all the nuts/bolts/screws/brackets off the old shell too, you'll be surprised how handy they can be!

 

I think it is your eyes.

Yep - I've kept most things so far.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Update:

 

Yesterday was spent connecting the brakes. Unfortunately most of the unions were hard rusted and I think a compensator had failed. I ended up replacing the brake lines from the compensator back to the rear calipers.

Had to remove the fuel tank which was then I found that one of the brake lines had been replaced before and the old pipe was still there as evidence.

Had to replace the front nearside line also as it had decided to get too friendly with the flexi hose.

All my flexi - hoses were braided so I've reused those so connected everything up and called it a day.

 

Today I refilled the system with fluid, bleed it and tweaked the handbrake. That was enough!

 

Got a couple of days off work this week so I'm aiming to swap carpet and seats, finish the alarm, connect the exhaust up and make the lights work!

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Update:

 

Yesterday was spent connecting the brakes. Unfortunately most of the unions were hard rusted and I think a compensator had failed. I ended up replacing the brake lines from the compensator back to the rear calipers.

Had to remove the fuel tank which was then I found that one of the brake lines had been replaced before and the old pipe was still there as evidence.

Had to replace the front nearside line also as it had decided to get too friendly with the flexi hose.

All my flexi - hoses were braided so I've reused those so connected everything up and called it a day.

 

Today I refilled the system with fluid, bleed it and tweaked the handbrake. That was enough!

 

Got a couple of days off work this week so I'm aiming to swap carpet and seats, finish the alarm, connect the exhaust up and make the lights work!

 

Forgot to add also fitted a new master cylinder.

[j_turnell 137 3 Cars]

Good work, its not far off now!