[car_overhaul] Yet Another Laser Green 1.9! Photo Heavy

[AndyCrom 64]

Well if any of you have come across my first few posts or not, then if that's the case, then you will now know that I'm an ex nova convert or will do by now, this started when I used to work for Vauxhall's before I moved onto Trim in Bentley.

 

In brief many many years ago I saw a Laser 1.9 for sale so that night I went for a test drive and was that happy with the 205 I said to the seller i'll be back the next day with the cash, but someone else apparently came with the money later on that eve and took it before I had the chance, several years on, several novas and an evo later I saw this car and thought, its about time to find out what I missed on.

 

In brief when I turned up to view it, the guy who was selling it was sat outside his house in the rain with his old man trying to get it started, determined they were gonna start it from a motorbike battery, I gave him half an hour and in the end he decided top tow it up the road to bump start it and with a snap of the tow rope and still failing to start I thought I should have walked away at that point.

 

Eventually it came to life and to be honest it really didn’t measure up to how I remembered, but I like a challenge I checked the engine code, underside etc etc and parted with the cash, only to get to the in-laws to not have it start again except for from a bump, then proceeded with a 80 mile drive home where it got worse and worse only to find that the oil filler was crammed with mayo (something I forgot to check)

 

Anyway they say a photo is a thousand words or whatever so I’ll let them do the talking!

 

how she looked when I got her

 

and then I started to discover just how good the wiring is in a 205

 

and lots of little trim parts missing

 

and thought I was on for a winner with good rear seals...

 

it was either missing trim or the wrong colour!

 

 

and a leaky aerial

[AndyCrom 64]

yet more missing trim

 

bolsters and seats look very tired!

 

steering wheel is also on its way out

 

 

 

and the amazing care continues...

 

 

and then i discovered that the rear seals dont meet!

 

and the seat frame needed replacing as it was like a sea-saw

 

and that was when I noticed that the seals were the least of my worries in that the whole carpet and underlay was soaking wet, so I spent a nice hot day and took it all out and threw out the underlay as it was never going to come back good again!

[AndyCrom 64]

 

 

 

then i found a heater matrix leak

 

so after cleaning it all down, removing the old underlay, rust etc etc I welded some plates and a dog in..

 

and blasted the floor with rust killer

 

 

Im very organised as you'll come to see..

 

so the next day i gave the carpet a full on shampoo several times before storing it away for a later date

 

Edited August 13, 2012 by AndyCrom

[AndyCrom 64]

so then I made a start with the wiring

 

and kept constantly coming across the tape joint warrior

 

then the dash came out to fix the annoying rattle and sanded down each side of the cracks on the mounts

 

and then liberally added araldite and strips of abs plastic

 

a new tilt switch and wiper motor from a 306

 

and a new relay and wiring loom also from a 306

 

and then I discovered this in the rear wash tank

 

Titanic would have been proud

 

Ive also decided to re-trim the seats steering wheel etc with black leather and this cloth for the centre panels

 

 

and then fitted this with the same cloth, the stick was used as the strut died on me at the same time

Edited August 13, 2012 by AndyCrom

[AndyCrom 64]

using some numberplate tape that was warmed in the oven, I refixed the side badges also using a heat gun on low to ensure they stuck well

 

i then proceeded by wirebrushing the entire floor ready for paint

 

and then a nice liberal coating of primer

 

then some new sound dampening matting

 

and cut a groove for the amp wire to keep the carpet flat

 

nice and thick

 

and then the interior went back in

 

Thanks to BT, I'll add the engine bay on later as my internet is very temperamental today!

[Anthony 1,003]

Where did you get the sound deadening from out of interest? That looks quite good compared to other generic stuff that I've seen.

 

Looks like you're making good progress in making good the ineviable bodges, neglect and problems that you tend to find on these cars, and I'm sure many of the issues you've found will be all too familiar to people on here.

 

I did have to laugh at the wheel brace being stored in the rear washer bottle - a real "WTF?!" moment I'm sure

[AndyCrom 64]

so my next stage was for the headgasket replacement, and thanks to this amazing british summer were having, i dumped it in a barn and made a start

 

 

 

 

 

 

so then my parts came back from the powdercoaters

 

 

 

Spot the difference - dont you just love how gentle royal fail are with parcels!

[AndyCrom 64]

Where did you get the sound deadening from out of interest?

 

erm, its the same stuff they use in the aerospace industry to stop vibration and foreign objects puncturing fuel tanks etc, I also found out that the manufacturer for this also sells the same stuff for use in train flooring and even in horseboxes!

 

I did have to laugh at the wheel brace being stored in the rear washer bottle - a real "WTF?!" moment I'm sure

 

I sure thought the same, I bet the guy who put it in there forgot where he'd put it a day later, and altho cillit bang has been my friend with this car, there was not a chance in hell it has gonna clean that brace up to factory fresh lol!

[AndyCrom 64]

after a good clean down and a polish of the mating surfaces with an engineers block, the gasket was back on

 

 

 

 

 

and then went to re-wire the loom of doom on the brown multiplug and low behold there was no pin on the oil temp sender!

 

so as I couldn't source a new one from anywhere I flattened off the terminal, drilled a 2mm hole in the brass tip centre and tapped and threaded a bolt in with an eyelet loop connector which works a charm

 

that nervy moment when the key is turned.... and it lives!

[AndyCrom 64]

next is to source a load of new hoses etc and maybe an original intake system just to finish off the block then whip the whole lot out and respray the engine bay, over the winter, plans are to set about the re-trim work during the Christmas shut-down from work

Edited August 13, 2012 by AndyCrom

[AndyCrom 64]

 

 

 

[Baz 421]

Good work! Seems like you've unfortunately started with a largely bogged example, which I'm sure is very annoying, but you'll get there!

 

I have some new oil temp sensors btw!!

[AndyCrom 64]

Good work! Seems like you've unfortunately started with a largely bogged example, which I'm sure is very annoying, but you'll get there!

 

I have some new oil temp sensors btw!!

 

cheers, it does seem like it will be worth it in the end as when I got her on the road after changing the head gasket it probably gained 100bhp again lol, but even the missus agrees its fun to drive, possibly moreso than my old evo, which for a woman is an outragous statement to make lmao

 

oh and Oil temp senders with the M16 threads? pm us a price posted please, may have to source that the same time as this new dizzy i need!

Edited August 13, 2012 by AndyCrom

[Tesstuff 222]

Good work! Seems like you've unfortunately started with a largely bogged example.

 

 

Damn them bogged cars, usually retrieved from the bottom of bogs I hear.

 

But it does look like a bodged example for sure.

 

I have an as new steering wheel spare if you are in need

[AndyCrom 64]

Damn them bogged cars, usually retrieved from the bottom of bogs I hear.

 

But it does look like a bodged example for sure.

 

I have an as new steering wheel spare if you are in need

 

lol, *wish i was paying attention* thanks for the offer but I'll be using said skills from my time at Bentley and be re-trimming the wheel along with the interior later on this year and may even colour code the stitching on the wheel and cross-stitch the seats, just subtle changes tho as I dont want to annoy the "as is" fraternity too much yet as Im still a newbie!

Edited August 13, 2012 by AndyCrom

[AndyCrom 64]

this is the re-stitch I did on my last car's steering wheel same to that I have in mind for the 205, but not in orange of course because thats stupid lol

[cybernck 403 1 Cars]

Good work and funny commentary .

[BlueBolt 156]

Lots and lots of progress!! God I wish I had the time and skills to be making progress like that!! Impressive work!!!

Like the engine bay colour choice!!

[Baz 421]

Damn them bogged cars, usually retrieved from the bottom of bogs I hear.

 

Obviously i meant 'bodged'! Silly auto-correct!

[Baz 421]

oh and Oil temp senders with the M16 threads? pm us a price posted please, may have to source that the same time as this new dizzy i need!

 

No worries, yep, i'll reply to your PM!.

[AndyCrom 64]

Lots and lots of progress!! God I wish I had the time and skills to be making progress like that!! Impressive work!!!

Like the engine bay colour choice!!

 

to be honest I don't really have the spare time... or so the wife would say, at the end of the day she said the vows and shes stuck with me!

 

I, the Wife to be,

take you my daft 80's/90's loving guy,

to be my husband,

to have and to hold just my own car keys from this day forward,

for concourse condition or for failed MOT,

for new parts, for scrap yard seconds,

in breakdown and in health,

to love and to autoglym;

from this day forward until scrap do us part.

Forever and ever, Amen

[AndyCrom 64]

A slight update as I felt like Ive not posted anything recently but alas the joys of 205 ownership have been keeping me busy.

 

So anyway my dizzy decided to start leaking oil internally via the labyrinth seal, so I got this through the post, but alas the springs for the bob weights inside were goosed and in several bits...

 

 

 

so whilst waiting for a replacement dizzy, mr postman delivered me some goodies

 

along with this..

 

shiny new!

 

that'll keep me busy for a while lol

 

So it was out with the grey and in with the black

 

looks much better and note the LED has gone by the hazzard switch, I hate having LED's showing everywhere that I can see whilst driving, looks better au-natural IMO

 

and out went this panel full of holes to...

much better!

[AndyCrom 64]

then I noticed a small oil leak which proved tricky to locate on the back side of the dizzy mount

 

so after sorting that out I set about changing the wishbone bushes, ive noticed that there is a few methods ppl use to swap them out, but I thought about trying something I once saw on the discovery channel..

 

so anyway I clamped it up as per...

 

got my heat gun out and set it to max...

 

...and started burning out the old bushes

 

once the inner insert was hot enough it just slit right out using a flat blade

 

once the insert was out I set about removing the rest of the rubber..

 

 

Edited September 18, 2012 by AndyCrom

[AndyCrom 64]

once all the rubber was out this is where I decided to be a smart a**e and applied my TV learnings, I then took it inside out of the wind and clamped it back up again and poured some of this on the inner lip of each mount ...

 

 

set fire to the fuel wait a moment and hey presto! the outer collar just pushes out as the heat causes the metal to contract away from the flame and reduces the ring size fractionally!

 

 

 

voila!, both removed without cutting them out!

 

clean!

 

 

New bushes pressed in, all in all it took me just under 20 mins to remove and replace all 4 bushes on both wishbones!

 

I have also changed over the speedo cable, fitted the new dizzy etc etc, I just left the CV boots for another day when its not so cold!

[Tom Fenton 1,561]

Hate to say it but I have removed and binned 3 sets of those orange bushes from various 205's to replace them with OE Peugeot bushes, sadly they are anything but an upgrade, Peugeot got it spot on with the standard bushes and it is hard to better them.