[Body_Work] 205 Wide Arch / T16 Project

[bigearmuffs 9]

Hi all

 

I have jumped in at the deep end with a 205 project, the idea was to get a cheap car to play with and upgrade with a few mods. A local salvage place turned up a 205 zest that has light body damage (usually a bad description as I have seen listed light roll before now, how do you have a light roll?), anyway the damage was very light with a barely dented rear quarter and scuffed bumpers.

 

No MOT or TAX but as I am garaging it to play with I wasn’t bothered, absolutely no rust to speak of. After the car was purchased and delivered an evening in with a bottle of wine and ebay brought about the then good idea of purchasing a badly worn and battered fibre glass dimma body kit with a escort cosworth style front bumper.

 

Anyway will post pics as soon as I reach driver level as I am two weeks in and making progress.

Edited July 6, 2012 by bigearmuffs

[bigearmuffs 9]

 

Anyway will post pics as soon as I reach driver level as I am two weeks in and making progress.

 

Forgot to say, have a look at the profile pic for an idea of what I am up to, as soon as I can upload pics I will get them up

[Obey_R 23]

You can still post links at Passenger level can't you? Just upload to photobucket and post the link, no need to upload the actual photo.

[bigearmuffs 9]

You can still post links at Passenger level can't you? Just upload to photobucket and post the link, no need to upload the actual photo.

 

On the forum does it just show as a link rather than a picture

[bigearmuffs 9]

I will test this now.

 

 

Here is test picture.

[Obey_R 23]

If you just copy and paste the link it will show as a link, it doesn't automatically make it a photo. However if you wrap it in img tags eg... then it should work. Either that or click the yellow ish mountain icon when you click More Reply Options.

 

Saying all that, there is a topic on how to upload and link photos somewhere on the forum.

 

Worked it out for yourself!

[bigearmuffs 9]

This was how I bought the car:

 

 

 

Next, I bought a cheap battered bodykit off eBay:

 

[bigearmuffs 9]

Test fit, all not well out at every single point, bumper miles out!

 

 

Looks ok here but miles out at the bottom

 

[bigearmuffs 9]

Bit the bullet, chopped the top off and aimed for a wide arch 205, not inline with a true T16 or Dimma conversion but aiming for something different, chopped, riveted, fiber glassed on

 

 

Due to not wanting to cut the original rear arches out I have chosen to mount the fiber glass arches in a position that can be joined to the original arches, this will mean it will be lower than a dimma bodykit but I will take all references away from the mounting points(like the groove on the door,etc)

 

[bigearmuffs 9]

Fitted, still work to do in making this solid and part of the car

 

 

 

 

[bigearmuffs 9]

Will update again tomorrow, appreciate any comments, please keep in mind this is a limited spend build.

[Obey_R 23]

You say about not chopping the arches but have you thought about which wheels you would like to run? Anything over 14's (and even 14's when I drove it hard) would scrub on the arches.

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

You will definitely have to chop the rear arches if you want to run wheels that will suit the 'wide arch' look

[bigearmuffs 9]

I don't want particularly big wheels, so I am thinking about 14's max but perhaps with spacers and suspension as hard as possible to stop scuffing, any comments around this would help as I am no expert and really not wanting to cut the inner arch.

[calvinhorse 870]

You have 2 options, chop the arches out or raise the suspension up.

Even 14" wheels will rub on standard arches, a gti has it's arches cut out a dimma style kit with wheels fitting the arches properly at a good ride height will need the original arches cutting out.

Why don't you want to do it?

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

without cutting the arches at all you'll really struggle getting wheel to fill out the arches. If you think of it as normal, when you go over a large bump, the wheel tucks up into the arch. with a wider wheel it cant tuck up into the arch, so you have to cut it to make space for suspension travel.

 

have a look at that pic of my car with my wide wheels on before i've done any arch mods, thats standard gt ride height on the back (similar to what yours will be) and theres very little room between wheel and arch, and those tyres are a smaller diameter than standard. they didnt touch the arch like that, even when I pushed hard to see if they would, but any lower than that height and they would. badly. ive now got a gti beam thats a little lower and my arches will be cut before my fibreglass arches go on.

Edited July 7, 2012 by johnnyboy666

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

oh and thats 13's by the way, any more than that and youve no chance!

 

(sorry to be blunt, I'm also somebody who likes to find out the hard way but by all means, carry on, just try some wide wheels on there before you commit to paint etc)

[bigearmuffs 9]

oh and thats 13's by the way, any more than that and youve no chance!

 

(sorry to be blunt, I'm also somebody who likes to find out the hard way but by all means, carry on, just try some wide wheels on there before you commit to paint etc)

 

Thanks for the pic's and advice, I've not done any painting yet so really will have to scratch my head, my ride height looks high because it is a zest, will post some more pics so you can have a look, again thanks it is a help to get some thoughts on this

[bigearmuffs 9]

You have 2 options, chop the arches out or raise the suspension up.

Even 14" wheels will rub on standard arches, a gti has it's arches cut out a dimma style kit with wheels fitting the arches properly at a good ride height will need the original arches cutting out.

Why don't you want to do it?

 

Thanks for the reply, if I went for the latter "raise the suspension up" what wheel do you think I could get in, as I say it is a zest so it is really high anyway, but I would seriously have to firm the ride up, in the longer term the look will be wide arches, cage & buckets. The wheels do not need to be huge or total arch fillers and as I say I could fit spacers. Thanks for your help.

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

even with spacers you'll have the same affect as wider wheels as theyre siting out of the arch if that makes sence.

raising the suspension at the back will mean needing to match the front also to even the car out.

 

dont forget though raising it will lead to more body roll, and a higher centre of gravity, so it may feel precarious when tuning!

 

mind you having said that there was a 205 at pugfest that was raised front and back and weightted with lead at the front, as thats what they needed to do to get the power down (think it was a classic hill climb car?)

[Obey_R 23]

Problem is mate fitting spacers will leave you with the same sorts of problem, the wheel will still stick out past the edge of the metal arch, meaning any movement I'll result in it scrubbing.

 

Youre best of cutting the arches before you go too far with it!

[bigearmuffs 9]

Rear arch in etch primer

 

 

right, really need the ideas now as I have foamed, fiber glassed and filled the gap between the arches, need some 205 guru to come up with a wheel suspension solution

 

[bigearmuffs 9]

Here's the problem, ride height really high at present because I have took all the interior out

 

 

Answers on a postcard to

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

okie doke, if the arches are staying as is, then I suggest the following:

thicker torsion bars and anti roll bar and stiffer shocks for the rear (salvage from a gti)

that will prevent loads of movement

solid rear beam mounts will prevent any slopiness there also.

 

and (I'll get flamed for saying this again) maybe drop a tyre size on the back as i doesnt affect the gearing and speedo reading like it would on the front.

e.g instead of 195/50/15, go for 195 45 15

same width just 10mm extra clearance, and 10mm can be the difference between no scraping and ripping off your new bodykit!

[bigearmuffs 9]

Today's job, had bought £40 back box of ebay, was supposed to be 205 gti, looks right but when fitted none of the mounts lined up

 

 

Test fitted held in place with cable, had to order universal mounts of ebay couple of quid each, also ordered some matte black exhaust paint

 

 

flatted back to get rust off

 

 

Masked up and sprayed, really good paint(heat proof)

 

 

fitted in place with new mounts