New To Forum Bit Of Help Needed

[tonyb 1 1 Cars]

hi all new to the forum so il start by saying hello, had 4 205 gtis when i was younger (40 now), anyway been looking for a decent base model for a while now and viewed some really bad examples owned by dishonest sellers. anyway ive been to look at one this evening but could do with a bit of advise please, car is=white 89 g reg, 1.9gti, phase 1.5, 121000 miles, full service history (50% peugeot 50% local outfits), 12mths mot, all previous mots apart from 2, all standard apart from peco back box, body and paint is very tidy. there the good bits. theres a couple of issues though and thats where i need advise pls, 1 surface rust on sills near back arches. 2 water leaking into passenger foot well (quite bad). not to worried about points 1 and 2, its the next point thats worrying me, can anybody tell me if theyve ever come across a 1900 with drums on the rear, need help quick as i wanna go and buy it as the car feels right in every other way. he wants £1000. any suggestions will be greatly appreciated

[dave205 19]

My limited understanding was that 1.6 gti's had drum brakes and 1.9gtis discs. Irs probably more than likely the 1.6 beam has been fitted as the original had failed or needing rebuiling, which at 121 thousand is more than likely.

 

Im sure there are others on here who can comfirm this and shed some light on the rust and water leak issues for you.

 

 

[dcc 855]

I have fitted drums and removed the disks from my fast road project.

 

the rust is going to be hit and miss without photos. the G reg's usually are very good for rust.

 

check below the headlights on the front panel (take light out) and have a look right down behind it - can usually be a bad place. nothing is unfixable though!

 

as for water - could be heater matrix, could be bulk head gromit, window seal, door seal etc.. quite a few possibilities.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

First of all if it has FSH you should find why the beam has been swapped for the wrong one (If not then somethings amiss), It's worth buying the 205 buyers guide as there is so many things too look for the list would go on and on

[farmer 328 1 Cars]

check inner wings as well had a few rotters there is the water anti freeze or rain as that will narrow down things

[tonyb 1 1 Cars]

Thanks for the quick response guys, ok just phoned the seller to enquire about rear drums, he Says only reference is a reciept for £210 for "labour charge - remove rear beam and fit customers own replacement" says work was done before he owned the car, work was carried out 14 months ago so il try giving the garage a call tomorow. Is it poss the owner couldnt locate a 1.9 beam and settled for a 1.6.

[tonyb 1 1 Cars]

Its defo rain he was quite honest about it, also ive read up on here about leaks and its only passenger side

[farmer 328 1 Cars]

more than likely, some say the drums are better personally i prefer discs

 

as was stated check window / door seals be something silly and simple

Edited December 3, 2012 by farmer

[tonyb 1 1 Cars]

Thanks mate il see if the garage can shine any light on the drum situation tomorow and post back, apart from that car feels really nice so unless anything else come to light i think i might go for it.

[farmer 328 1 Cars]

also chck drain holes are free underneath the scuttle panel sure my friend had a diesel with a water leak and it was because they were choked up

[205kenny 7]

I wouldn't worry about the beam, drums are much better than discs imo. I can certainly understand why someone would want to swap.

[24seven 104]

Thanks for the quick response guys, ok just phoned the seller to enquire about rear drums, he Says only reference is a reciept for £210 for "labour charge - remove rear beam and fit customers own replacement" says work was done before he owned the car, work was carried out 14 months ago so il try giving the garage a call tomorow. Is it poss the owner couldnt locate a 1.9 beam and settled for a 1.6.

 

Sounds likely. That or they didn't know the difference/didn't care. Could it be that it's actually a 1.6 with a 1.9 engine fitted instead? That's not so uncommon to find these days either.

[calvinhorse 870]

I wouldn't buy a 205 with any signs of rot, it's still easy to find solid cars.

 

Once a rotter always a rotter. In my opinion.

[tartanbloke 35 1 Cars]

I wouldn't buy a 205 with any signs of rot, it's still easy to find solid cars.

 

Once a rotter always a rotter. In my opinion.

 

That is the fun part of a restoration job, removing the rust makes it much more fun and interesting. he he

[farmer 328 1 Cars]

i got rid of my rotter to a mint clean shell makes work ten times easier

[cRaig 273 1 Cars]

I wouldn't buy a 205 with any signs of rot, it's still easy to find solid cars.

 

Once a rotter always a rotter. In my opinion.

 

Once you’ve restored/worked on something made by British Leyland in the 60s-70s.. any rot on a 205 seems manageable in comparison Don’t scrap, repair, or we will run out of shells!!

[M@tt 77]

as the others have said i wouldn't be worried about it having a 1.6 beam if the service history mentions it.

 

you could always just put the reg into the DVLA website to confirm that its listed as a 1.9 and not a 1.6

 

https://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/app/enquiry?execution=e1s2

 

If youget it be sure to pop along to the Yorkshire PSC meets once a month, theres quite a few of us round here and we can can cast our <ahem>expert eyes over your new pride and joy

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Hello Tony,

Is the car local, if so I am sure either myself or one of the other local members with 205 experience would be happy to come and have a look over it with you?

Rear brakes wise it sounds like the rear beam had failed and has been replaced with a different model beam, personally I would be checking that it is a 1.6 GTI beam and not a base model drum braked beam as the base model beam will have softer torsion bars and anti roll bar. All this is of course easily rectified, and there are a couple of easy tell tale signs to see if it is a 1.9 or not both engine and body wise.

Regards

Tom

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

If it has a drum braked rear beam, check it is actually from a 1.6 GTI & not a base model, a scrapyard will sell you any 205 beam as the right one, just like a gearbox.

 

Unless the previous owner knows it came off a GTI, I wouldn't be surprised to find it isn't a GTI beam.

 

g

[calvinhorse 870]

 

 

Once you’ve restored/worked on something made by British Leyland in the 60s-70s.. any rot on a 205 seems manageable in comparison Don’t scrap, repair, or we will run out of shells!!

 

He has the option weather to buy a car with rotten sills or keep looking.

I'm not saying buy it and scrap it, I'm saying don't buy it!

Keep looking for a good one.

 

If you fix a rotten sill and paint the outside of it, it'll rot from the inside out within a few years no matter what you spray down the crevis!

 

And as for enjoying repairing rot, do you really mean that?

[welshpug 1,657]

And as for enjoying repairing rot, do you really mean that?

 

see his project thread...

[laldy875 6 1 Cars]

If I could go back in time I would:

 

not buy the first car you see- when you drive the gti for the first time in a while you will get carried away with how good it is to drive and forget all the crappy jobs.

 

Rules- no sunroof. no rust (particularly under back seats, wings), one that has had the beam done recently, full service history, original.

 

If you follow that your on to a good start. Everything else is pretty much easy enough jobs.

 

As for getting rid of rust for fun comment- that is just sick I've got a hillman imp project maybe you'd like to do all the work for tartanbloke One of the reasons I first thought about getting a 205 was galvanised panels!

 

At the end of the day it's down to how much space and time and monies you have to put into the car. sounds like 1k is too much for that car

[vtifan 26]

I wouldn't buy a 205 with any signs of rot, it's still easy to find solid cars.

 

Once a rotter always a rotter. In my opinion.

NOT ON THE REAR OF TH SILLS ANYWAY,my 205 had surface rust on sills and when poked it was rotten right through the 4 layers of steel at rear of sill right through to the tank.

the main bits to check are

1 sills,check right along join at bottom,if it is deformed or cracked/peeling it will probably mean rot in the sill to floor area

2 inner wings,behind washer bottle and around jack holder and engine mount area

3 boot floor,especially around edges

4 front panel below headlights

5 under rear seats

6 around windscreen rubber,especially at corners and along bottom edge which is pretty hard without removing wiper cowling,if not possible look for any bulges in rubber,if you take cowling off can be rot in here around drain holes and wiper motor area

7 rear bumper mounting bracket

8 join at sill to b pillar inside door aperture

have found welding or rot in varying degrees on most cars i have looked at in these areas with a lot less than 121k miles on them,rear of sills i wouls defineately avoid as it spreads right through the whole structure in that area and the rust is usually coming through from the inside out

[tartanbloke 35 1 Cars]

Afternoon,

 

I did indeed own a Sportspack (X401FBM) Mini, which was less than 5 years old when I decided to tackle the aforementioned rust bubbles on the paintwork. I thought as this one is 17 years newer that the last mini I owned (that had many welding jobs) it must be better for corrosion.

Oh, how wrong was I and the holes that appeared were beyond comprehension and the amount of work was just unbelievable However, once finished, repainted and back together the feeling of achievement and pride in my abilities just makes it all worthwhile.

 

I am fully aware of the task ahead of me with regards to the old girl but will relish in the challenge.

[tonyb 1 1 Cars]

Thanks for ur input guys , i did buy the car in the end, i got a good vibe about the old guy who sold her to me and the car just had a good feel to it not like some of sheds id driven since looking, i know theres the sill issue but im not that concerned about it and the seller agreed a £150 reduction in askin price, thanks again and il post some pics tomorow.