[car_upgrade] 205 X-s16 Project Car

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

Get yourself a choke blank! Glad its going well, just the exterior now Reference the wheels why not run steel wheels? Some 106 Rallye steels would look great powdercoated silver on that!

 

Also welcome to the exclusive TU > XU club Its a arse of a conversion.

 

Edit: Just thought the GTI6 brakes won't fit under steelies, I use 1.9GTI brakes that I rebuilt and they are more than up to the job.

 

haha, it ain't too bad in the steel i think my photography, and (lack of) cleaning skills massively let it down... Yeh, it certainly is an erm, involved conversion! Theres hardly anything original left of the old thing! I think ill eventually replace the brakes with S16 stuff but i've only just got it on the road. The thought of ripping half the braking system out isn't really appealing to me at the minute haha!

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

Well, i got a battery box made up at a place i used to work. Took it home, trimmed it up and it fits nicely. I just need to make up a proper lid for it now as i am currently using a chopped up 306 battery box.

 

Also took the car down to a local trusted bodyshop and they will be reshaping the rear arches and painting my bonnet, more than likely over the easter period whilst I'm home from uni.

 

I've also decided that I'm going to be changing the springs on my Bilstein sprintline kit. I find them slightly to harsh and crashy on the roads around my way, so instead im going to try some eibach 7001's as everyone seems to approve of them!

Edited January 17, 2012 by BERTMAN

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I'm guessing you are at Lougborough uni, is the Students union motor club still going, I was involved with it from 1999 till 2002?

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

Yeah, the motor club is still going strong i believe although I'm not part of it as I can't afford the sign-up fee's! You often see old Cortina's and other interesting things around there garages.

[tom_xl 2]

Just read this thread, nice work looks good. I found this a pretty useful read as I'm in the middle of doing a TU to XU conversion and this has given me some ideas. Like you say this isn't the easiest conversion in the world but personally I think it's worth it!

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Yeah, the motor club is still going strong i believe although I'm not part of it as I can't afford the sign-up fee's! You often see old Cortina's and other interesting things around there garages.

 

Nice to hear, how much are the fees, I don't remember it being much when I was involved, I can't remember what post I held but I was on the commitee at one point.

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

The car has been very reliable so far on the whole, i was definitely expecting much more problems! Apparently the ECU had been messed around with, the HO emissions would suggest that it was running very rich and i was getting pretty horrific fuel consumption so i've put a standard MP3.2 ECU in from my other S16 engine and we'll see how that goes. I've given it a blast around the local B-roads and it dosen't feel any different other than a slightly better throttle response at low rev's but that could be a placebo effect its hard to tell!

I've had a very occasional starting problem, its happened 3 times when i turn the key and nothing happens; however leave the car 30 seconds and it'll start fine. The battery isn't brilliant so i'll change that and go from there. I also still haven't got round to doing any more wiring other than wiring in some Infinity Reference 5.25" speakers in the front so that needs to be done. The car is also booked into the body shop to have a tidy up hopefully in time for pugfest, and i've decided that about that time i'll be whipping the engine out to tidy up the engine bay, the wiring and maybe give it a clean and lick of paint!

 

Just read this thread, nice work looks good. I found this a pretty useful read as I'm in the middle of doing a TU to XU conversion and this has given me some ideas. Like you say this isn't the easiest conversion in the world but personally I think it's worth it!

 

cheers mate, its not that its particularly difficult to do there's just ALOT to do. If you need any help just give me a PM, ill be happy to give any advice i can.

 

Nice to hear, how much are the fees, I don't remember it being much when I was involved, I can't remember what post I held but I was on the commitee at one point.

 

I don't think its that much to be honest probably around the £100 mark, however i am very skint. Apparently all of the time too haha. I don't have anything to do with the club although i would have liked too. The only thing i do have links with is the Formula Student project, not through choice though its part of my course to suggest lightweight alternative parts for a few engine components.

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

I thought i would tackle a problem that has been annoying me for a while and that is that the oil filler was stuck underneath the inlet and was impossible to use. I dealt with this by removing the resonator box and using the old milk bottle top trick to fill the gap in the manifold until i can afford to do something a little less pikey. I then positioned the filler neck next to the ICV. The extra room is also greatly welcome and makes working on the engine so much easier. I also think it looks better too.

 

Also did a little more on the wiring side, including the central locking and electric window wiring, fitted some driving lights i had lying around and changed my gear gaitor for a red stitched item.

 

I also managed to get the number plate caught in my overall's as i went to grab my cup of tea and ripped it off! If any of you were wondering why it was missing!

http://i77.photobuck...06/IMAG0190.jpg

Edited April 11, 2012 by BERTMAN

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

Well, it's been a while since this has been updated. And what a fun while it was! This car has been great fun the past year or so that it's been on the road, but this was only ever a temporary arrangement and it's now time for it to give up it's mechanical goodies to the original project car! I'll be stripping it down whilst it's in its new resting place and storing the shell for a future project. If you're wondering why I don't just continue with this shell it's because it's starting to get to the point where it needs some rust removal/protection before it gets too bad. Keeping it on the road will inevitably mean that it won't get this treatment.

 

 

So the plan is to remove anything useful, sell some parts that I won't be needing and then get the shell stored away in my garage at home. Then i'll be moving the XS down to the lock up and continuing! Now I have a new job hopefully the progress will be a little quicker than when I was a student!

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

How's it's sitting at the moment:

 

Engine has been sold, front brakes and 406 master cylinder are on their way too along with the Bilstein sprintline kit. The seats will probably be going into the Diesel for now, and also the wheels too! Going to be stripping this down over the next few days or so and then building it up with some temp (read: old and seized) suspension for storage.

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

Well, it's time to get this thing back on the road .

 

 

Got GARF dragged to his new home and started assessing the rear end for rust first!

 

In general it looked pretty good actually. Just a general tidy up was in order:

 

Started with the easy stuff:

 

and next onto the single most enjoyable job in the world: boot floor underseal and rust removal...

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

and the boot floor... needs another coat, but all the grinding, sanding, rust removal, rust converters, priming and unsealing is done.

 

 

Starting on the inside...

 

Need to flat back, fill in a couple of spots and get some paint on it now!

[calvinhorse 870]

Bloody hell!! You're doing a bit! How's it going dude?

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

Yeah well this shell needed work 2 years ago when it came off the road so it's about time I did something with it!!

 

I'm not bad mate, how are you?

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

Boot floor treated, primed and painted.

 

Also stripped the interior and discovered there is a leak somewhere as the passenger side under-lay was soaked through. New door seals on the passenger side in order I think!

 

 

Also managed to get the donor car stripped and put the GTI rear axle on the back of this GT. Will be able to build the back of the car up soon!