309 Rear Beam Onto 205 Is It A Straight Swap?

[Guest alb]

My 205 rear beam is knackered but I have found a 309 GTI at my local scrap yard. Do they fit straight on? Don't want to take it off & find that it doesn't fit.

Many Thanks

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

it will fit straight on but the track is slightly wider . you may find that the tyres foul the arches slightly . on a standard car i think it should be ok but obviously the lower your car and the bigger the wheels you may find you need to start trimming back plastic and/or fitting stronger shocks .

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

They fit straight on as long as you turn the rear mounts 180' so they fit the 205 body.

 

AFAIK the standard 1900 alloys don't catch after fitting it only if you change the wheels.

 

Graham.

Edited September 13, 2003 by pugtorque

[Guest smckeown]

is there any advantage to this conversion ? i've heard of people with 205 Widetrack front and rear, but what does it do for the car's handling ?

Sean

[jackherer 543]

I've just fitted 309 front driveshafts, wishbones, anti roll bar and PAS rack to my mate Bonds 205 and a 309 beam to the rear of my mate Mings pug.

 

Mings car needs an MOT and Bonds need tax so I haven't had a proper go in either yet but both seem improved from the limited drives I've had so far...

 

If all goes well I have a complete 309 front subframe to go on Mings car and a 309 rear beam for Bonds to complete them, I'll post again once I've given both cars a good seeing to

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

quite stiffer rear end, especially body-roll wise .

 

dials in a bit of extra oversteer imho .

[Guest Kev-G]

I had a 309 beam on the my track car - It is a straight fit, but I didn't really find much diff. in stiffness, and serious probs. with tyres scrubbing (lowered approx. 30 mm with 185/55 Colway moulded slicks on 1.9 alloys, Bilstein shocks + Grp. N rear bushes) - I went back to a 205 beam.

 

Cheers,

 

Kev-G

[Wurzel 16]

Kev-G, Was that fitted to a GTi shell though??

 

p.s. Where's that scrap yard Alb so I can go and have a look

[Guest Kev-G]

Big Nick,

 

Yes.

 

Kev-G.

[Wurzel 16]

Kev-G,

That's quite interesting as not very many people have mentioned scrubbing before.

 

It does look a tight fit though given the amount that the rear beam increases the track.

 

Was the scrubbing from the inside/outside or tread part of the tyre?

 

This will be my last question, I don't want to take over the thread!

Cheers

[Guest Kev-G]

Nick,

 

Not many people will have mentioned scrubbing as not many people will have actually done it (a comment which could apply to most replies to threads on the internet - all other sites, and not just 205 GTi Drivers) - Too many theoretical mechanics!!

 

Last year I fitted a re-built 309 rear beam to my track car. This previously ran a 1.9 beam with std. 1.9 wheels and 195/50 15 Yoko A520's with no probs. When switching to the 309 beam with 1.9 wheels and 185/55 15 Colway moulded slicks which are obviously narrower (although significantly heavier BTW), I had major probs. with scrubbing on the outside - even after cutting away alot of metal work under the plastic arches - I also found that the metal came down 'on top' of the outer tread under the compression of hard cornering. Both were fitted with Grp. N rear 'sandwich' bushes + Grp. N Bilstein's.

 

The theory of the conversion is sound enough (wider track and thicker torsion bars for a stiffer rear (oo err!!)), but in my experience the benefit was not significant, and did not outweight the disadvantages.

 

I also know of @least 1 car which this was done on which went very well on track, but I never had the chance to get a close look @ any probs. which he may have had.

 

FYI we run full 309 front end's on all of our 205's - The benefit is hard to quantify, but I do feel that this is a worthwhile mod. for the -ve camber + stiffer anti-roll bar.

 

Cheers,

 

Kev-G.