[car_overhaul] Project Jalopy

[SurGie 54]

I still have the grey with red button remote fob and wondering if its possible to have the gibbins from inside this and have it inside the key type or get it coded for it ?

[Anthony 1,003]

Having pulled the seats and carpet out once again, I set about sorting the rotten plug in the rear footwell.

 

 

It's not particular clear why one of them has completely rusted away, yet the other plug along with the rest of the floorpan is unblemished, but it is what it is. The rusty one was held in place, and indeed together, just by the underseal as was very obvious once removed...

 

 

I'm not sure whether you can still get the plugs new from Peugeot, but one of them was immaculate on the Sorrento so I removed that, cleaned off the old seam-sealant and fitted it, applying fresh seam-sealant to make it watertight and hold it in place.

 

 

Whilst there, I took the opportunity to replace one of the missing plugs under the rear seats - not quite sure why it is missing as there's no evidence of it having been deliberately removed nor any evidence that it rusted away. I can only assume that it fell out at some point, as there is a complete lack of seam-sealant in that area when usually the plug is completely smoothered in it.

 

Indeed, the slightly curious thing is that seam sealant in general seems to be suprisingly sparse on the inside of the car - I can only assume that the seam sealant guy in the factory was sleeping off a glass too many cheap plonk when this car was getting made, but it doesn't seem to had any obvious ill-effect.

 

 

I did discover that someone has been a little over-exuberant with the handbrake at some point and the spot welds have begun to pull through, so I'll need to get that welded back in place at some point when the car is on the road and I can take it over to someone with a welder. Strange, as the floorpan is otherwise in good nick and hasn't suffered around the seat mounts like usual.

 

Given that I'm going to keep the car for myself, I moved over the extended gear lever setup from my other 205. People always look a bit dubious at it, but it works very well indeed, putting the gear lever to hand right next to the steering wheel, allowing you to bang through the gears in the blink of an eye. Together with a full set of new bushes and some uprated gear linkage rods from Miles, it's free of usual 205 gearchange slop and being extended both top and bottom means that it's short-throw as well. It's no MX5-like rifle-bolt change, but it works well.

 

 

Next it was time to start putting the car together again, starting with a full set of underlay that hasn't got wet and disintegrated like most. The rear part was beginning to crack, so that was duly sorted with some black nasty tape which should keep it from getting any worse.

 

 

A cleaned and spotless green carpet and center console came next, having had my usual treatment of being hosed down and scrubbed clean in the shower, batchellor-stylee. The camera makes it look a bit faded and patchy for some reason, but it's not

 

 

Completing the days work was an immaculate set of green half-leather rear seats, freshly cleaned and treated with Glyptone liquid leather conditioner to keep them that good. The fronts will follow in due course once I've finished sorting the bolsters out them, which is the job for evenings this week.

[Anthony 1,003]

I still have the grey with red button remote fob and wondering if its possible to have the gibbins from inside this and have it inside the key type or get it coded for it ?

You won't be able to use the internals from the 205 / early 405 style remote fob inside the later 405 style keyfob, as it's a complete different shape and fit.

 

As far as I'm aware, the early remote central locking system used on 205, 309, and 405 models can't be re-coded unlike the later system used on 106 and 306 models. From what I can work out, there is only four wires running to the RCL receiver module - 12v, ground, lock, and unlock

[GLPoomobile 958]

Those big floorpan plugs, what are they for then? Is it just something to do with the way the panel was made, that they had a couple of big holes in 'em (maybe where the panel was supported during the forming process) and they just had to plug them up afterwards? Or are they there for a purpose?

[monkee87 2]

No worries Anthony!

 

I got something similar in the post yesterday, I finially got some original Peugeot 205 rubber mats!! Been after a set for flipping ages!

 

For some reason something so trivial like that is so rewarding...

[feb 47]

I coudn't imagine how this car would totally transform like this and what a good shell was hiding underneath.

Fantastic turnaround in a short timeframe

[monkee87 2]

From what I can work out, there is only four wires running to the RCL receiver module - 12v, ground, lock, and unlock

 

 

Do you know how they make the indicators flash then?? Because the original factory RCL on a 405 makes the indicators flash when locked and unlocked. Just wondered if it would be possible on a 205.

[Anthony 1,003]

Do you know how they make the indicators flash then?? Because the original factory RCL on a 405 makes the indicators flash when locked and unlocked. Just wondered if it would be possible on a 205.

I've not looked closely at the 405 system, but I'd assume that it's not controlled by the RCL receiver, but instead either by the lockling control module or by an alarm if there is one fitted (assuming the two aren't integrated with one another). Even with my fairly modest electronics knowledge it would only take a few componants to make the indicators light up for a second or two when the system locks, although I personally don't really see the point - the central locking motors are loud enough on a 205 that you can hear them when the system locks/unlocks, especially seeing as the older IR remotes (like the 205/405 system) don't tend to work from the distances that newer RF remotes do.

[welshpug 1,661]

405's indicators flash when the alarm arms

[Anthony 1,003]

Whilst waiting for the front seats, I set about creating more work for myself in sorting out the current mismatched front-rear ride height and wheels which had been bugging me for a while, even if in theory it wouldn't matter one iota for the MOT.

 

The mismatched ride height was down to the fact that Joe (Longun) had replaced the suspension during his ownership but seemingly never having gotten around to finishing it properly. It had Bilstein B4 front shocks with Eibach 7001 springs which lowered it 30mm or so, and on the back it had a 309 GTi rear beam that was still set to around standard height - looked odd and I'm sure it can't have handled properly like that either.

 

Not wanting to open the potential can of worms that lowering the beam would involve, I decided that the easiest thing was to put the front back to standard height, and whilst there, swap the front and rear Bilstein dampers back to standard to allow me to sell them on as I wouldn't be needing them. Having not long put the front end together and copper greased everything up, it all came apart easily and an hour or so later it was back on the ground sitting level.

 

A quick tweak of the tracking so that it looked roughly right to the eye, and swapping the wheels over to a refurbished set with the ever-dreadful Pirelli P6000's (!!) I'd taken off the Sorrento and it was ready to go

 

 

Ready that is until I took a look around and re-checked everything for the MOT, and in usual infuriating 205 fashion had managed to break something that had been working fine last time I worked on the car - in this particularly case, the washer pump that I'd only replaced earlier this month. Quite how when it hadn't been touched I have no idea, but wiring, stalk and everything else were fine, just the pump was dead. Grrrrr.

 

I've stuck another in for the moment, but I'll just buy a new one I think as I'm intending this to be a car that once built I can just enjoy without it needing constant tinkering, and for the few quid that a new pump costs it's almost false economy in the grand scheme of things not to really.

[Anthony 1,003]

Now that I've decided to keep the car for myself and will be building this one up with all the Skip Brown GTi-S parts that I've got, I decided to start buying all the parts that I'd need for the inevitable full stripdown and overhaul that it will get at the same time. A trip to my local friendly Motaquip dealer resulted in this pile of goodies...

 

 

• VTT140 - 113 tooth 8v XU timing belt kit with spring-loaded tensioner
  
• VFB309 - Alternator and PAS drive belt
  
• VMC232 - 20.6mm 4-port master cylinder
  
• VVB314 - 205 1.9 GTi LH handbrake cable
  
• VVB315 - 205 1.9 GTi RH handbrake cable
  
• VBD359 - 205/309 1.9 GTi rear disks (x2)
  
• VTR282 - Track rod end (x2)
  
• VVC367 - 205/309 BE3 clutch cable
  
• VFL208 - Oil filter
  
• VFF152 - Fuel filter

Plenty more to buy of course, but that's a fair chunk of the service and essential replacement parts sorted and yet more to add to the ever-growing collection that's destined for the car.

 

I've been asked why I'm bothering to put the car together in its current form to MOT it if I'm only going to pull it apart again in the not too distant future, which on the face of it is a very good question seeing as I'm undoubtedly duplicating work for myself. The reason is that I'd already started and done most of the work already before I decided that I was going to keep the car for myself, and atleast this way, I'll have a running road-legal car as a starting point and I'll have confidence that all of the parts on the car are good to either keep for spares or to sell on as appropriate.

[Anthony 1,003]

Attention turned to the front seats and readying them for fitting into the car.

 

Overall the front seats were in good condition, but as with any 20 year old seat, time was beginning to take its toll and they needed a little TLC. The leather was in good condition with no notable wear or marks, but was beginning to dry out in places, and the stitching was all good with the exception of whether the fabric joins the quartet material on the rear of one of the seat base where it was starting to split. As with 99% of other 205 GTi front seats out there, the lower outer bolster was starting to collapse as well.

 

I'm sure that there's no doubt a professional, by-the-book way of addressing the issue of collapsing bolsters, but here's my quick and dirty method for fixing the issue which while I'm sure enough to give a professional upholsterer nightmares, has proven to work on my other 205 that I've had for years.

 

Firstly, the untouched passenger seat where you can see the outer bolster is beginning to sag

 

Removing the subframe followed by the hog ring clips from the underside of the seat, pulling back the leather from the bolster reveals exactly what happens. The foam begins to wear and splits where the top is constantly pulled away from the inside section with people getting into and out of the car, and progressively gets worse as the split foam is effectively ground away to dust.

 

I'd kept the inner bolster from the old drivers seat that came with the car that was in much better condition, so I'll use that bolster in this seat instead. First step is to remove the damaged bolster, using a sharp knife to cut along the join and removing it as shown.

 

Fit the new bolster foam in place, and as I personally like to do, reinforce the material using some heavy duty tape - this helps to prevent the foam from pulling apart and splitting in the first place, so the bolster will last much longer before sagging. This wasn't my tidiest job ever with the tape, but you won't feel it underneath the leather.

 

The other bolster was in very good condition and doesn't need replacing.

 

However, it made sense to reinforce that bolster as well while I was there, so I did just that, making a bit neater job of it this time - not that it really matters seeing as it'll be hidden from view anyway.

 

Last thing to do is refit and secure the cover. I find hog rings horrible, fiddly things and keep telling myself that I'll just buy some proper hog ring pliers to make the job easier, but inevitably forget all about it until I do another seat and then once again curse not having any. That said, I've found that the 205 owners best friend - cable ties - do a sterling job and as a bonus are easy to remove in future should you need to for any reason.

 

With the bolsters sorted, I fixed the stitching that was beginning to split - no pictures I'm afraid as me with a needle and thread isn't a pretty sight, although I'm sure that it must do wonders for my blood pressure... not because it's relaxing in the slightest, but because I end up stabbing myself so frequently like a crude form of DIY acupuncture that I can't have much blood left to give me any pressure

 

With my hands resembling a sieve but the sitching fixed, last thing to do was to give them a couple of treatments of Gliptone Liquid Leather to restore some softness to the leather and hopefully help protect it from drying out any further. The other great thing is the "fresh leather" aroma it leaves which beats any air freshener scent hands down.

[Anthony 1,003]

Et volia, the finished product fitted to the car...

 

 

Still need to sort the doorcards and the roof lining, but the interior is coming along nicely I'd say.

 

Pretty much at the stage now where since it has some seats again I can book it in for the MOT.

[Longun 1]

Wow she's come up good. I was so happy when you showed interest in the car as I knew it would get a second chance at life in the right hands.

 

I had every faith this car was a good one. It had been very well looked after before my family life took hold and put the fun car on the back burner. Before I started to work on it I gave it one last coat of wax. Maybe deep down I knew it would be a while before it lived again.

 

So happy to see it breathing again, being used and most of all being cared for

 

Do I regret not spending the time on................ Yes now I've been reminded how good it was.......

Edited May 13, 2011 by Longun

[Baz 421]

Door cards and roof-lining??

[Anthony 1,003]

Thanks to Baz's parts emporium, I finally picked up the bits that I needed to finish off the interior last weekend, namely a set of doorcards and more importantly, the internal sunroof slider rails and brace bar parts that the sunroof cover slides in and that the headlining is attached to.

 

 

I knew that I had to be missing something as the headlining and cover that I'd bought a while back clearly weren't going to fit my car as it stood, but having never stripped a factory sunroof down I wasn't quite sure exactly how much I was missing. Steve (GLPoomobile) came to the rescue however and kindly sent me some pictures of his car which he was in the middle of swapping the headlining in, and all became clear.

 

The parts that I needed were unique to 205's with the factory fitted vacuum sunroof, which posed a problem for finding one locally as both the Sorrento that I broke for parts and the various 205's at the scrappy all had dealer fitted (aftermarket) sunroofs on them that are based on non-sunroof cars. Thankfully Baz still had OOJ's shell in his workshop awaiting collection by the scrap man, so he kindly chopped the roof off and put it to one side for me to strip the parts I needed off.

 

Removing the parts was easy, fitting them back on was somewhat more tricky thanks to Peugeot cleverly designing it so that two of the four mounting screws can only be accessed with the sunroof glass pushed right back past the end of the runners, which in turn requires the sunroof handle to be removed, and the sunroof trims to be removed so that you can get to the bolts that attach the stops to the end of the runners.

 

This of course should have been easy if time-consuming, but unfortuntly it appears that a previous owner has had the roof partly apart previously presumeably to fix a leak, and had seen fit to round off a few screws and dollop glue everywhere to reattach one of the broken sunroof trims including filling the head of the torx bolt I needed to undo.

 

After drilling out a couple of the rounded screws and managing to remove the glue-covered bolt, things got even worse when I realised that I'd somehow managed to lose the box of bolts that I'd kept from the sunroof I'd stripped at Baz's - bolts that I now needed so as not to leave holes in the roof that the ever-darkening clouds in the sky were threatening to dump their contents though. Search as I might though, the box of bolts proved elusive - clearly I'd put them somewhere "safe" and in the process managed to do exactly what I was trying not to and lost them. Infuriating.

 

 

With the sunroof glass pushed back, you can see the screw holes where the screws to attach the rails below go in each corner of the sunroof appature. You can also see how the sunroof is locked in place when the release handle is closed, and how when you open the handle it pulls the cable, turns the drum in the center, and pulls the two locking pins inwards and away from the sunroof. I took the opportunity to clean everything up and apply a touch of lube whilst it was accessable, and then fixed the rails in place and refitted the rest of the sunroof as best as I could with the missing fixings, temporarily covering the open holes with gaffer tape until I can get some replacements.

 

 

With the rails fitted you can see how the sunroof cover works and how the headlining is glued to it - without those rails installed, the headlining would have just flapped around in the middle and left a large unsightly gap around the sunroof appature.

 

Whilst it was all easily accessible I took the opportunity to fix the vacuum sunroof so that it worked properly, as it had never properly sucked the seal in previously - this turned out to be nothing more than the valve having moved slightly on its mounting so that the handle never fully depressed the plunger on it and thus the seal wasn't ever subjected to full vacuum. Easy fix and it works spot on now.

 

 

Headlining was fitted next, along with most of the remainder of the trim. I didn't notice until after I'd taken this picture that I'd somehow managed to install a mismatched set of grab handles, so I'll sort that out next time I work on the car - I have already replaced the missing drivers side blank that I'd managed to misplace at the time.

 

OOJ also donated its doorcards, as the doorcards that I'd removed from the Sorrento had tweeters that had been cut into them, and I wanted some that were unmolested. Fitting in a way that I'd put alot of work into OOJ over the years when it was owned by Ben (Bonzai), and following its rust-induced death it gave something back that I needed.

 

 

Thankfully, these were much more straight forward to fit and went on without a glitch - although I did take the opportunity to replace the lazy central locking motor on the passenger side, so the car now locks with a much more satisfying whirr-clunk compared to the pitiful whirring and whining noise that it made previously.

 

Once again, thanks to Steve for taking the time to identify which bits I was missing, and to Baz for supplying them

[monkee87 2]

Your seats are on the wrong way around aren't they?? Or do you have 2 passengers seats??

[Anthony 1,003]

Your seats are on the wrong way around aren't they?? Or do you have 2 passengers seats??

Well spotted. I've used two passenger seats, as they're inevitably in far better condition than drivers seats these days.

 

Clearly I could remove the seat coverings and foam and transplant them onto a drivers seat frame, but that's alot of work just to have the adjuster knob on the correct side and be able to reattach the plastic trim to the side of the seat - worthwhile if you're doing concours or something, but hardly an issue otherwise given it looks fine without the trim and I never feel the need to adjust the seat once I've set it in the right place.

[GLPoomobile 958]

Fitting in a way that I'd put alot of work into OOJ over the years when it was owned by Ben (Bonzai), and following its rust-induced death it gave something back that I needed.

 

Karma

 

And on that subject, you have also helped me (and I may call on you for more advice) because I still haven't got around to removing my sunroof yet. And whilst I've got some notes garnered from previous topics, I was slightly dreading the job.

[feb 47]

Very informative about how a sunroof works

[matty_gti 20]

Still interested in the fuel pipes Anthony?, would be perfect for this little project

[Andy_C 50]

Nice project mate. Hopefully it will inspire me into doing something meaningful with mine as it's been sat on a SORN since October....been too busy to even thing about it but MOT due next month so good excuse to decide what to do with it. I take it the white car is no more?

 

If you want this one given a going over shout - no charge, just leave it here for a day.

Edited May 23, 2011 by Andy_C

[Obey_R 23]

Anthony, I've also got a passenger seat fitted where the drivers is, as like you say, they're much better condition. Only I find I can't have the round adjuster 'grip' on, because it fouls the lever to lift the seats forward. I notice you've still got these on...?

[Baz 421]

Yes, bend it outwards slightly Ross.

[Anthony 1,003]

I now once again have a watertight car with many thanks to Moby, who kindly sent me the sunroof parts that I was missing and which were no longer manufactured by Peugeot.

 

 

I bought a new pair of sunroof handle seals from Peugeot for the grand sum of 70p, as it's frankly silly not to replace them given how often they leak. The original seals were rubber which perishes and eventually leaks, but the new ones are fibre washers as you can see and should comfortably outlast the rest of the car. Coupled with a freshly plasticare'd handle to overcome the years of bleaching by the sun, and a couple of new screws, it was all put together and stayed bone dry in the rain that followed a couple of days later.... which is always a good start.

 

Nice project mate. Hopefully it will inspire me into doing something meaningful with mine as it's been sat on a SORN since October....been too busy to even thing about it but MOT due next month so good excuse to decide what to do with it. I take it the white car is no more?

 

If you want this one given a going over shout - no charge, just leave it here for a day.

Thanks Andy - that's a very kind offer and one that I might well take you up on, as there's no doubt that the paintwork would benefit from a man of your talents working his magic

 

The white 205 is still here and very much alive and kicking, but its years in my ownership are coming to an end as this black one will be replacing it. The white one will live on however and be better than ever once I've finished building it for the new owner - a former owner of your car no less - and ironically very close to the spec that I had intended to build it for myself.

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and if I knew then what I knew now, I'd have never sold HTU to you and would have kept it for myself. The cost of the respray it needed was the main thing that put me off, but the sheer number of hours I've ended up putting into the white one and that will have gone into this one by the time I'm done will easily have outweighed the cost of a full-respray. Still, c'est le vie and all that, and I'm sure the end result will be worth it when this one is finished.