Fed Up, Lost Interest

[damien 22 1 Cars]

Fed up, lost interest, can’t be bothered with the 205

 

Once apon a time I used to love my 205, I went anywhere and everywhere in her, and I was proud to own a 205.

 

What went wrong???

 

Hands up the old 8v lump was starting to show its age but it was still going strong, much against my better judgment I decided to go for a gti6 conversion.

Since then its all gone wrong, I spend an arm and a leg to get the gti6 lump rebuild and fitted. I had a few days of happy motoring and got her to pugfest with no problems (well apart from the centre box blowing). I was told that I would need the cam timing looked at and to get the engine remapped. Now the head is tapping big time, the engine is running very poor, I done a compression test only to find that one of the cylinders is running 7 but the other 3 are at 13. As well as the engine not running right I think the manifold is blowing and the engine just sounds like a bag of bolts.

 

Now the tax/mot/insurance is out and i'm not shore what to do with it. I don’t want to keep ploughing money into her when i’m not having any fun driving her. I’ve had to take a pay cut at work so i’m now earning a lot less so I don’t have bags of money just to keep spending. I’m just fed up now and have lost interest in doing anything with her. I’ve had the 205 for over 10 years now and she has been great to me, she has done a number of euro trips and done me proud but now after spending so much and getting so little back I just can be bothered anymore.

 

Any ideas on what I should do?

[Baz 421]

Scrap it.

[blessed6383 0]

Scrap it.

 

dont do it mate most of us probably feel like this from time to time i've spent the last 6 months working on mine when i get time and haven't even drove it properly yet so i've had a few times where i've just felt fu*k it but you either need to bite the bullet and get rid of it or soldier on. I know i regret scrapping my old 205gti just cause i bought a 306gti6 but to be honest i've wished i never did as it ment im having to spend all the money on the same bits all over again

[damien 22 1 Cars]

Scrap it.

 

i have done a list of parts which i can break off it then scrap the shell

[Masekwm 2]

Take one look at it on those photos you posted yesterday from Pugfest irc, and then go back to it in a week or so.

[Pugleyrich 37 1 Cars]

Are the other 2 cars in your sig road worthy? If I were you I would just take the 205 off the road and come back to it when funds allow and once you have more interest. You will soon miss it if you get rid and there is no point selling it in it's current state

[Matt Holley 11]

Stick a decent 8v back in it.

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

If it's mainly down to funds maybe as a last ditch attempt you could put a standard 1.9 or 1.6 engine back in and use it like this for a while, it should be quite straight forward and pretty cheap. Then when you get back up to ok money at work you could concentrate on redoing your gti6 conversion.

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

i have done a list of parts which i can break off it then scrap the shell

 

 

What's wrong with the shell then mate?

[feb 47]

I have felt like this before, the 205 is a love-hate relationship but love was more than hate so we bought ours back after a year (luckily it was up for sale!)

Despite having various parts changed/reconditioned over their lives, being in the second decade of their lives now means some work would probably be needed, once that is done you can relax for another few years and enjoy the car.

As said above stick a 8V to it if that is the only problem.

I already miss the 205 again now but know it wouldn't be sensible to own one which results in spending money on the Forester!

[damien 22 1 Cars]

the 306 dt is the everyday car, i got it to replace the xsi which is going soon.

 

there was nothing really wrong with the old 8v lump so it makes me think why i bothered to get rid it.

 

my 205 was never a love-hate, it was always a love-love untill afew months ago when i changed the engine.

 

good 8v lumps are hard to get hold of now, and most need some form of re-build now.

 

i really just dont have the money to do anything with it now, i only have £200 spare now after paying bills compared to the £500 i used to have.

[cRaig 273 1 Cars]

Can you find somewhere cheap and safe to keep it? Mine has been in the bodyshop for a week or two shy of 12 months on a slow-motion respray done on the cheap on an as and when job, and is going straight into a garage lockup until next may at the earliest before I'll start putting it back together. I figure taking my time with it and doing it when Im completely in the mood is better than selling it and regretting getting rid, trying to find another one etc.

 

Chin up, just got to stay positive. I havent driven my 205 since last June, but am persevering, slowly

[swordfish210 20]

Chin up, I haven't driven mine since January. Before that it was off the road for 6 months for a load of work and i had it back on the road for one month before the electrics died and it came off the road again.

 

Mine spends more time off the road than it does on but i just put up with it because when i do drive it i love it, i'm sure that if you spend a bit of time getting yours sorted you'll take it for a good drive and fall in love all over again.

 

I allways think of a 205 as that girlfriend that annoyed the crap out of you most of the time but had the ability to shag your brains out, not perfect but you put up with her because no one else can make you feel that good.

[Iain-gti 6]

I allways think of a 205 as that girlfriend that annoyed the crap out of you most of the time but had the ability to shag your brains out, not perfect but you put up with her because no one else can make you feel that good.

 

Thats a brilliant quote!

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

I felt a bit like this with my 106 gti for a while.

 

It had been sat for a couple of years due to needing a fair amount of money spending on it, I got some money together and some enthusiasm, got 4 new tyres, new cat, new centre section of exhaust, a second hand rear beam that I rebuilt, two new headlights and a new rear window as some bastard smashed it as the stereo was stolen. All was now good so I Booked it in for the mot test and drove it there all full of excitement, went to work only to recieve a phone call to say the car had died before it even made it into the workshop. Turns out the woodruff key in the crank had broken up causing the pulley to slip thus bending the valves.

 

A few weeks passed before I decided to get on with fixing it again. This time I replaced all 16 valves and lapped them in, skimmed the head, new headset and bolts, new clutch, waterpump, all oil seals including all gearbox ones, I even painted the engine and the bay while I was at it. I then came to fit the new timing belt kit and discovered lots of endfloat in the crank, at this point I felt the way you do now.

 

If I can get my love back for a French pain in the ass then I'm sure you can

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

you know you will regret it Daim. mine was off the road for 5yrs and i still had the conviction to carry on even when i broke it after 2hrs of putting tax on it.

 

lay it up at your mums and take your time and get it sorted. i'll give you a hand if you need it.

 

we'll take the 16v out and the bodies and managment and sell them. which will free up some funds for a good 8v to go back in?

 

i wont cost you anything to store it so why bother scrapping it when you can make plenty of money back from just the above parts.

 

you know it makes sense

[Baz 421]

i have done a list of parts which i can break off it then scrap the shell

 

It was meant as a tongue-in cheek MTFU comment!

 

Seriously though, agreeing with others, perhaps give it a back seat until you can afford/have the time to sort it?

 

there really is something to be said for leaving them alone/ie. sticking with a trusty 8v...

[Toddy 7]

Park it in a garage, shut the door and forget about it for a while.

[Masekwm 2]

The wife tells me I'm not allowed to buy the shell I love the colour!

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Without knowing the full story, can you send it back to who-ever did the conversion? as if the engine was rebuilt it shouldn't pack up that soon along with tapping it seems something is amiss, Cam timing is set before the engine is run with a fine tweak depending on any uprated cam's so if this has been done wrong it could be the cause of the tapping.

 

the 6 engine install should make them pretty re-liable, Just as much as the 8v

[Batfink 201]

I never regret clearing out 4 205's and shutting the garage door on my mi16 for 4 years. Sadly time standing has taken its toll on the shell which probably will need a respray but I came back so enthused that I bought another which I pulled apart then ran out of time due to long work hours...

[MrG 3]

I'll agree with the others.

 

I'd tuck it away and then when I can, I'd have the 6 out and put the 8v back in. There's plenty on here who I'm sure would lend a hand swapping it back, a days work and it'll be back on 8v's. The hardest bit is finding a decent 8v however again someone must have one here that they removed to put a new lump in.

 

Chin up though.

[Stevo309 0]

Same thing happened to me with my 309. I spent a fortune on bodywork and an 8v turbo etc. After years of engine problems and several rebuilds I was thoroughly out of love with it. Had many nightmares where i woke up sweating because I had sold it in my dreams lol. In the end though I was so sick of it being off the road that I was easy to sell it.

 

The difference is that I went too far though and the mods couldn't have been reversed. The car won me many shows and mag covers but the times of glory were short compared to the downers. My advice would be to sell the gti6 or trade it for a decent reliable 8v and enjoy your car again. Take your time and don't do anything rash. These cars are magic but once you start doing heavy mods there's always the chance this will happen because nobody can love an unreliable car.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

I spent 9 years mechanically modifying a 205GTI only for it to be smashed up.

I spent 4 months of intense work reshelling the new one to get it up to the condition of the old one (still not there)

I then spent a very large amount of money on more exotic engine mods which left me with a car that is not a driveable as was previously, leaving me feeling like it may have been a bit of waste. I'm now slowly rectifying and getting around to ironing out all these newer issues to make the car much more driveable.

Allied to that a change in career direction with a 45% cut in salary will make this a drawn out affair.

The bug is still there and although there have been hiccups and disappointing outcomes I am endeavouring to finish this project.

 

Don't give up - stash it away. I sold two very good 8v engines each for less that £100, add another £50 max for engine loom and a with a few mates you can have all of that installed in a day.

If it takes longer well at least like me you have something else to drive.

 

ps. I haven't driven mine in nearly 4 weeks (wedding/honeymoon in the way) but if it is like the last time - basically on an early summers sunday morning trip (read - thrash/hack) down to Goodwood then it's definitely worth keeping for those special moments.

Edited August 25, 2010 by Simes

[Atari Boy 11]

Stick with it, as already said, stash it away for a while.

 

I am biased as I use one myself but you could consider putting a XU10J2 lump in it, 2.0 8v from a 306 XSi, newer engine, more readily available and probably less miles on the clock too. Everyone says how they are heavy and underpowered for what they are but mine is producing 142 bhp without silly mods.