[car_overhaul] What's This? A Road Car!?

[Cameron 16]

For those who don't know about my track car project, it may not be such a surprise that I've decided to try and build a nice concourse road car.. but those who know me will know that gleaming paintwork and keeping things OEM isn't really my thing. However, with my other 205 being taken off the road in order to become really quite hardcore over the coming months I thought it would be great to have something in between that my daily drive Mondeo Diesel estate!

 

I bought this Miami Blue 1.6 off another forum member a couple of months back, and drove it a couple of times before having a bit of an Armco encounter on my way back over to Essex late one night. I haven't driven it since, mainly because I didn't want to drive it round with scratches in the trims as it looks crap and may attract unwanted attention from the po-po, but also due to the fairly large amount of mechanical work it needed! Namely a gearbox swap; sorting the wonky rear ride height; a new alternator, battery and starter motor; and removing the piece of crap aftermarket alarm.

 

Anyway, I got started on the mechanical work today, readying the car for the gearbox swap. As ever with a car that has never been taken apart before, there were a whole load of issues - mainly corroded fasteners shearing or rounding off! I had to push the car into the garage as I suspect the tachymetric relay is nackered (no fuel pump, ever!) then parked my black one up behind it.

 

 

Then I started taking bits off it, and noticing more and more things that need attention! This is some wing damage that was hidden under the arch trim that took the brunt of my Armco impact.

 

 

I suspected the bumper irons were nackered as one side of the bumper was tucked back further than the other, and making the headlights look weird.. this was confirmed after removing the bumper!

 

 

Just a little bent then!

 

So I managed to get about this far after about 3 hours of sweat and swearing at corroded fasteners, and eventually resorting to the grinder on a few of them! There's some pretty poor quality repairs behind the headlights that I think I'm going to address while I have the thing apart, and also a couple of bits of rust that will develop into MOT fails over the next few years so it would be wise to tackle them too!

 

 

I also managed to give myself a pretty interesting new scar.. a perfect imprint of a 13mm hex on my upper arm! I had cut the head off a troublesome bolt, and thought it had rolled in a different direction, but turned out it rolled right under my arm so when I went to push myself up off the floor I put my arm right down on it! Made a nice fizzing noise and everything!

 

[Baz 421]

As i said earlier on facerape, looks good! Though i thought you knew 'small' projects always turn into laaaarge!!

 

Nice scar!

[Cameron 16]

Well, I'm determined not to let this one turn into a huge project, I want to get it back on the road for mid-late July for my birthday!

 

My list of jobs looks something like:

 

Replace headlights

Replace front indicators

Remove s*ite aftermarket alarm

Replace gearbox

Replace exhaust

Replace alternator, starter & battery

Replace / remove tachy relay

Check rear brakes as one of them isn't working!

Fix the HORRIFIC bodging of the headlight wiring!

Fix the poor rust repair behind the headlight

Replace OSF wing

Replace windscreen (insurance job)

Replace GTI trim - gonna replace the lot as it's difficult to match them

Replace front & rear bumpers

Replace front & rear bumper mounts

Fix small tear in driver's seat

Replace heater vents with ones that don't resemble Swiss cheese

Replace OSF wheel bearing

Set rear ride height back to standard, or at least level

 

I'm sure more problems will appear as I continue taking it apart too! I also really want to replace the engine as this one has been painted red in-situ (they even painted over the head bolts!?) and I HATE red engines! Not sure if I can be arsed with that scale of work, but I'll be most of the way there anyway through replacing the box.. will give it more thought.

Edited June 8, 2011 by Cameron

[Cameron 16]

More pulling things apart!

 

Started off by removing the rest of the gubbins around the front end, which is going to be necessary to address rust but also makes working on and around the engine much much easier.

 

 

Then got to removing the offside front wing.. it's the first time I've done one and it's a right bastard job I tell thee!

Did manage to get it off without damaging anything, which was nice. Then I started to have a little poke round with my screwdriver, which anyone who's ever had a poke round with a screwdriver knows is a very bad thing to do! It's a bit like Pringles: once you pop, you can't stop! A little patch of rust quickly turns into quite a big hole!

 

 

You can see the rust patch I want to repair, this bit seems to have been missed out when the bit on the inner wing was patched up.. I think the best thing to do is replace this whole corner with a donor part, as the joint behind the headlight is very complex to re-create!

 

 

The part behind the headlight has been replaced and is a bit of a bodge so it'll be going, the second shot shows the state of the repair welding on the underside which has already rusted out!

 

 

 

Thankfully the other side is quite good in comparison, but still needs some attention.

 

 

Finally, an example of the f***-awful headlight loom bodges! How this hasn't shorted out and melted the loom yet I don't know.. the screws in this terminal block are completely exposed so I guess it's just luck that they haven't grounded out!

 

 

 

I think I'll need to be visiting a donor vehicle with my angle grinder and cutting off the bits I need, colour isn't a problem really as it'll all need to be painted after welding. While I'm at that I'll see if I can grab a headlight loom and various other bits and bobs I need. Lots of nuts and bolts have sheared in the process of taking things apart, I forget how difficult it is taking a car apart for the first time!

Edited June 8, 2011 by Cameron

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

That's shocking ^ insulations there for a reason.

 

Bit rusty!

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Haha, thats just lovely! Cars looks real nice, before you'd taken it apart

[Cameron 16]

Yeah it's really nice and clean on the outside!

 

The only things letting the car down are the handful of mechanical / electrical faults and this little patch of rust behind the headlights, the rest of it is pretty nice!

 

What's really funny is the insulation over the screws has actually been cut right back, I guess because they didn't have the right screwdriver at some point.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Cameron

[Baz 421]

D!ckheads!! Scotch-blocks should be nuked from orbit.

[Cameron 16]

Yep! Got any shells with headlight looms in them?

[Baz 421]

Erm yes, but i might miss them!!

 

I have headlight looms on their own tho!

Edited June 9, 2011 by Baz

[Cameron 16]

Damn! What happened to all the random shells you had kicking about?

 

Ah cool, can I nab one of them off you then? Would probably be a good idea to come over to yours and have a graze round for parts, I've got quite a long shopping list!

[feb 47]

I will be watching this with interest how you tackle the rusty corner as most cars will need this doing at some point.

I guess the headache will be to find a non rusty 205

[Cameron 16]

I'm pretty confident about finding a non-rusty one, but then it's been a while since I last went to the scrap yard to look for bits, 205's may be a bit few and far between now! I think finding a pre-1991 model is the key, as every 205 I've had post-'91 has had rust issues.

 

I think the best way forward is to chop this corner off a donor shell and graft it in, rather than have to go through the pain of shaping lots of little bits to get the intricate shape right.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

every 205 I've had post-'91 has had rust issues.

 

My Rallye only had one small hole behind the n/s head light and one hole in the floor (from brake line mounts) Both sorted now I think I got lucky, or mabe it was a ph 1.5 shell as it was only registered late 92'!?

[feb 47]

You are probably right there, but having no experience with bodywork I have no idea how you can get the piece you need in the exact same dimensions as it is an awkward shape.

I guess with trial and error starting with a bigger than required piece and trimming/cutting to shape as you go along to make it fit in the gap you have created?

Is this a post '91 car then?

Edited June 9, 2011 by feb

[Cameron 16]

Yeah it's a H reg so '91 I think.. It's not so bad really, I've got a pretty decent amount of metalwork experience but I'd rather not go through the process of making tonnes of little patches and grafting them all in! If I can get this whole corner bit off a solid car then I can just cut whatever bits I need out of it and weld them in, rather than having to cut and shape them myself.

[welshpug 1,661]

Don't count on it, my 89 car has issues there, not quite as bad as yours but still needs doing soon.

 

I think Tom Fenton has documented this either on his red or white 205.

[Baz 421]

Agreed, added to mileage, it doesn't seem to matter what year they are these days it seems!

 

Ohh bugger! Just remembered, i do actually have the red 77k phase one donor, it's pretty tidy (rear ended, it was actually sam1312's first one if you remember!) so may yield what you need, the only problem is, i've forgotton where i left it! I really ought to go find it and strip it...

 

Edited June 9, 2011 by Baz

[welshpug 1,661]

can you not figure out where it is by the picture?

[Baz 421]

Why, can you?

 

It's probably been moved, it's been a while since i last saw it!

[Cameron 16]

How can you lose a car?

 

Yeah that looks nice and tidy actually, can I come up and nick bits off it once you've tracked it down?

[Flozman 4]

lol, Baz is about the most disorganised person ive ever meet. I'm not suprised hes lost entire cars!

[Ludi 2 2 Cars]

Haha, thats just lovely! Cars looks real nice, before you'd taken it apart

 

+1

 

 

:lol: :lol:

[Baz 421]

How can you lose a car?

 

Yeah that looks nice and tidy actually, can I come up and nick bits off it once you've tracked it down?

 

Yes of course, i know (roughly) where it is really, it just gets moved about a bit from time to time! I just need to get to a point where i can go and get it and bring it back to somewhere i can do what i want to do to it!

 

lol, Baz is about the most disorganised person ive ever meet. I'm not suprised hes lost entire cars!

 

Who are you? When was that? I'd call it; 'busy'.

[Cameron 16]

lol, Baz is about the most disorganised person ive ever meet. I'm not suprised hes lost entire cars!

 

Clearly never met me then.. When I was on placement the guys used to make songs about me constantly 'losing' my tools.