[car_restoration] Project Shades Of Grey, A Complete Overhaul Modifica

[SurGie 54]

Hi member's,

 

After the long wait, taking my time, finally here is my project thread, i hope you enjoy

 

I bought this car back in 2007, before buying it i checked it over with a fine tooth comb, to make sure it wont cost too much work/money to get it in the condition i wanted back then. Its been over 4.5 years to get it where it is today, almost brand new, which wasn't my original plan.

 

Ive had a few other 205's and gti's in the past, this is by far the best example ive had. This 205 gti came with the engine and carbs already fitted, it wasn't a bad job, none of the tilting of engine and such like. However since ive been on here i have seen far better engine conversions. This is what gave me the motivation to do what's been done.

 

I was originally going to pay someone to fit a VTS/GTI6 engine in, i got a few quotes/reviews and decided to try and do it myself. Since then my plans changed quite a bit, from just wanting a new well working engine to a complete overhaul restoration.

 

I bought the car which already had the old 405 2.0 engine with Dellorto carbs fitted, after some money spent on it i got it tuned at the rolling road and got them to sort the carbs out. It originally came around the 123 bhp with 143 torque, all in all it felt it had around the same sort of power as the original GTI engine would. It got tuned and managed to get 166 bhp with 171 torque, the engine's speed felt vastly improved

 

With this tuning, i went to Santa pod and tested my 1/4 mile times, i managed to get 15.8, first go. I then did another run that was slower, the first run was my first ever try at it BTW. After the second run there was a knocking sound and found the shells had gone awry. I replaced these shells with new ones and all was fine for a while until they went again. So with this engine all pretty much knackered, i decided to just get another engine and get fitted, oh how plans have changed since then It took two more years till i found the one i wanted.

 

Here is the car just before it was sorned off the road at the end of May 2007 >

 

 

 

Here are the scanned rolling road data sheets. Also a picture of my best Santa pod 1/4 mile time, i thought it was 15.4 not 15.8, oh well i know now Not the best quality but enough to see the results >

 

 

Even though i thought it best to join the photobucket pro for £1.92 one month, it made loading a little easier but i still kept getting problems, took ages to sort this out today

 

The project has taken a looong time, mostly due to funds, time, collecting information/research and the parts i wanted for this project, as well as the family commitments etc. I wanted to do it as well as i possibly could. I had to buy a lot of tools and parts etc. Its been on and off during this time. At first it was very slow progress due to the amount of work that was planned, which was a bit daunting due to this being my first full project. I went for the VTS engine and box which i read was the better box, much like the ratios of the MI16, i sold the 1.9 one the old engine had to Miles. I also sold the engine back in 2007 for around £100 on ebay.

 

I know some may say all that overhauling and im not fitting an original engine in, well thats what i want, a newer more powerful engine where parts are easily available for it (maybe ITB's or high boost super charger, in time). This car will mostly be used as a semi track toy/fast road car, maybe the occasional show. I will be getting coil-overs with the right settings to cope with the extra 20kg this engine has compared to the 1.9 engine.

 

I did make a few mistakes along the way, i have learned a hell of a lot too during this time, i only use to just fix my cars for use, basic stuff really. This car will have as much originality as i can fit even with this engine as it's heart.

 

I shall update this thread as soon as i can, i hope you enjoy it and thanks for looking

 

George.

[matty_gti 20]

Nice right up there, great title . Always have problems with photobucket so your not the only one

[SurGie 54]

Thanks matty

 

Apologies, i got the dates wrong, the first two pictures of the 205 gti were a few days after i bought it, just been polished up. The last but one was just before it got sorned after the engine had some money spent on it after the Santa pod trip. The last engine one was when i started to strip it.

 

I drove the car for a year before the complete overhaul started, after an MOT as well. Here is a few more pictures, first one again when it got polished after just buying it, the interior after a good clean too. It has the usual broken glovebox, all down to the lock jamming but i have recently bought a full interior to replace it with.

 

 

The picture quality isn't the best because i had to take pictures of pictures due to not having a digital camera back then.

 

Updates are on their way

[SurGie 54]

Here are a few pictures to show the strip down of the engine and bay, absolutely filthy and rusty engine bay but all solid compared to a lot ive seen >

 

 

 

 

The above photos show the engine bay after a quick going over, thats what went on with the whole car really, a quick derusting to get the hard rough rust out and see what needs welding, then later on within a few months go over the surface rust before priming and painting. This was done mostly due to time, all done in sections etc.

[SurGie 54]

Here is the usual master cylinder leaking brake fluid problem with these RHD 205's, plus a few other engine bay derusting etc >

 

 

 

 

At first i used a hired welder so due to time etc i did rush a bit and at the start didnt quite do great with the welds compared to some ive seen but better then others.

[SurGie 54]

 

This car is a pre cat non-sunroof 1992 car, only just by a month or there abouts iirc, it had 119k on the clock when sorned.

 

I am aiming to try and do an indepth project thread as i can, giving all the details on what /how to do with this type of conversion, giving tips etc.

 

George.

[kyepan 291]

177ft lbs of torque! That's very very impressive. 93 ft lbs per litre if it's a 1.9!

[cheesegrater 43 1 Cars]

177ft lbs of torque! That's very very impressive. 93 ft lbs per litre if it's a 1.9!

I think its Nm Justin

[SurGie 54]

Yes Nm, 2.0 ltr engine, not sure if it was the MI16 2.0 or S16 2.0 ??

 

The black top mount arm gives it away.

 

The company is no longer with us, i was impressed with the results, roller numbers or not, there was a big difference in the power when driving it.

 

I had fitted Magnicore ignition leads and many other new bits, lets not forget that the crank was probably on its way out then, so i think with this they did well to get the results they did.

 

Once i've organised some more of the old pictures, i shall update this thread.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Looking forward to this unfolding Surgie, I know you have done a extremely thorough job, as we went on this journey together! (although mine wasn't quite as in-depth as yours)

[welshpug 1,656]

Rather poor torque tbh, my standard 2.0 MI/s16 (same thing) was 180 Nm, but you get that with compromised inlet lengths from off the shelf inlets.

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

I'll look forward to reading the rest. With a bit of luck, it might show some of us that some of your (sometimes strong) opinions are founded by your own direct experience.

 

n.b. I dont mean that in a nasty way, just that in a few topics you've had some flack for voicing your opinion, but nothing to point people to to say 'look at this, this is how Ive done it'

[SurGie 54]

No worries John.

 

Since the car was off the road from May, come Sept 2008 i needed something with more poke than the 1.4 gt i was daily driving. So i decided to get myself a good condition GTI6, i was going to use the engine but the car was too good to break and found a much better engine in 2009.

 

Here is the car, of which doesn't have the same set of alloys on it now. This was after a good polish using some black hole product.

 

 

It was all original and low mileage, 62k iirc, the condition of the car and engine compression tests show this to be good. The cost of this also held back the project a good amount.

[SurGie 54]

I got a day off due to having a 10am appointment at the hearing to get a hearing test for my new BaHa 'digital; hearing aid version, instead of using the analog one. Wow what a difference it makes, i can hear a whisper clear as day, should help with noisy social functions with it being digital that can block out background sound. I have trouble with hearing certain letter sounds when people talk, even with my old aid.

 

Anyway, with this time i shall update this thread some more.

 

 

I shall do all the before and after pictures of the engine bay first, then start the rest of the car section at a time.

 

 

Strut top prep with weld through etch primer.

 

 

 

Here is the Satchell made strut brace, using the smaller strut fixing brackets which i think matches the 205 look compared to some ive seen where they are quite big. Its not for strength just stiffness, the car could do with as much stiffness as i can get, so i have stitch welded around the inner wings in and out.

 

 

The strut brace fixing brackets needed a little grinding for a perfect fit on both sides.

 

The inner wing rotten areas on mine was in good condition, just a bit of metal ended up gone but no need to weld a new piece as the corner edge was stitch welded. This was both sides too so was luck on that score. The last pic shows the inner wing near the bumper bracket fixing point, this had to be re-plated with fresh steel. Some of the welds at the start were lap welds which are easier, later on i did but welds.

 

 

 

[SurGie 54]

Here is the A pillar rust section, this is how it looked a year after some rust converter was applied. I used some etch filler primer after all the rust was eliminated then a few coats of etch at the finish. >

 

 

Some more before pictures >

 

 

Found some more engine pictures from another computer >

 

 

Another one of the car at dusk >

 

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

At the first stage's of the project, i used the good quality zinc Bilt Hamber primer for its anti rust ability, of which does have the ability to etch itself into the steel due to the zinc i'm told. Used some on the inner wings and engine bay. Once the engine bay and inner wings were sorted i found a much better anti rust/water/salt 2k primer which was used on the complete floor pan and inside the rear quarters and boot areas. As well as all the brackets and any steel work using a selection of car 2k epoxy primer and paints.

 

George.

[vtifan 26]

good work mate,giving me inspiration to get on with mine

[SurGie 54]

Thanks Peter, good luck with it all.

 

Here is the other side (OS) of the inner wing headlight area, which isn't as bad as the other side but good for a 92 model >

 

 

More inner wing rot areas sorted >

 

 

No matter how well i removed the sealant, there was still some inside the panel seams, this meant the welding in a lot of the inner wings to gain some stiffness are a mess, but then its only for stiffness.

 

Here the slam panel sections had a good amount of rotted pits on them from the movement of the brackets water getting behind them.

 

 

Here are the etch filler primer pictures >

 

[SurGie 54]

Here is the scuttle panel area to the inner wing section where rust was growing inbetween the panels, all derusted and zinc primed, then both were fibre-glassed filled together. I didnt bother taking the wings off this car because i checked inside of them them using one of those long cable video cameras and all seemed fine, i might spray some cavity wax at some point.

 

 

Here is the old engine loom hole all welded up and primed >

 

 

This was before i realised you can get a hole bung from the diesel 205 iirc. I made a hole on the other side away from the manifold, so the original engine loom bung can be fitted to Miles engine conversion loom and stop any water from ever getting into the cabin.

[SurGie 54]

Some more inner wing stitch welding pictures, zinc primer and stonechip etc.

 

 

 

Back then when it was done, most of the inner wings were not that rusty after 20 or so years, so i'd say about half of them each were zinc primed then stonechipped all over. I gave a good key to it all and tested its adhesion using a screw driver and it seems to have stuck well.

 

 

Any visible rust found on this car anywhere was removed to prevent it coming back. Even if the stonechip did let water in somewhere, then it would have to get through the zinc primer.

 

More to follow soon.

 

George.

[JRL 14 1 Cars]

Nice work Surgie, outstanding rust protection.

[SurGie 54]

Thanks JRL

 

Here is the exhaust bulkhead area of rust and treatment, i think this was down to the old floppy engine mounts the car had when i first purchased it. The exhaust was flopping around hitting it which resulted in the rust >

 

 

Here i did use some Bilt Hamber rust converter because i could not remove every last bit of rust here, i did make sure it was surgically clean before it was applied. Then i used some more Bilt Hamber zinc primer then fiberglassed the panels together >

 

 

More to follow

[SurGie 54]

Here is the full engine bay primed, i did around the windscreen as well, there was quite a bit of rust inside the frame. Once the car gets a respray next year sometime i shall put some silicone grease around the frame when the windscreen get refitted.

 

 

The scuttle panel was quite rusty, there was a small hole in around the middle underneath the dash area. All was zinc primer treated then filled the hole with fiberglass.

 

 

George.

[SurGie 54]

Whoops i forgot to add these pictures before the engine bay primed up.

 

Here is the bonnet gas strut fixing points welded in with the top plate and strut brace brackets, they had to be welded in as the wing section was not strong enough for constant bonnet opening and shutting etc. It took a fair bit of fetling to get them to fit right, although one side of the bonnet is a little high but then the bonnet frame needs to be welded or stuck back to the bonnet plate so it sits level with the wing.

 

 

Here is the gearstick area, full or the usual steel cancer >

 

 

George

[pip470 61]

Really impressed with your work surgie, Respect mate.

[vtifan 26]

looking at your pics i see you have welded plates over your strut tops,is this like a mk2 escort style strut top strengthening thing,seems a good plan as i have seen a few rather domeshaped 205 strut tops on cars that have been run low and hard,and as i am going to be running coilovers on the front i think i might just do the same as the car i took them off had a bit of dome shaping going on