'87 1.9 8V Project

[koti 7]

Hi,

 

I'm fairly new to the world of 205's so will be visiting/using this site fairly frequently (it's an absolutely fantastic resource!!)- I thought it was only right that I show you all my project.

 

I never really set out to get a 205- I was looking for a little hatchback to have a go at hill climbing with and this turned up through one of my brother's friends at a pretty good price, so I thought it was worth a punt and would be a fun little project. Long term plans are to hill climb it, hopefully later this year, but we'll see how funds/time allow- I'll be aiming for class 1B which is the road going modified class (keep dash and rear seats, same block and cylinder head, but everything else pretty much free).

 

When I got it, the car was (still is really...) completely standard bar having a 1.6 box on it fitted by the previous owner and has been sat in a dry shed for the past 18 months. Unfortunately, being the idiot that I am, I completely forgot to take any pictures of it when I got it so I can't show you what it was like in the beginning- it looked pretty tidy and seemed fairly solid, bar some pretty corroded front wings, and started no problem with a new battery (no blue smoke).

 

First thing I did when we got it back was take all of the interior out, ready to start modifying it- this is when I started to find some of the rust.....it looks like the heater matrix has been leaking all of the time it has been sat which resulted in a wet carpet and underlay which hasn't helped things. Basically, all of the usual spots have a bit of rot- rear seat area, floorpan/bulkhead join, inner sills behind fuel tank etc. it's amazing what seam sealer hides! Fortunately, I have access to a welder and the necessary equipment so we've set about chopping out all of the rot and putting in nice fresh metal- I don't mind welding actually, plus it saves another Pug from the scrap heap!!

 

We've just working through all the rust/patches now, next on the list is new fuel and brake lines, then a full on proper good service, then it'll be rollcage, suspension, seat, harness and racing! I've got boxes of bits ready to go on it, including new (pattern) wings and all the usual service stuff (pads, fan switch, cam belt kit, thermostat etc.), new gear rods and so on- you get the idea.

 

As mentioned I'm fairly new to the word of pugs so am finding my feet a bit with suppliers- however, I will say that I ordered some braided hoses and a few other bits from KAM Racing just before Christmas, spot on service and would thoroughly recommend them. I've got some hoses on order from Baker BM which I'm expecting any day now- hopefully I'll be able to say the same about them as well!

 

Anyway, less talking, more pictures! Here's just a few to give you an idea

 

Most complete pic I have (poor lighting and very dusty though!):

 

Pile of phase 1 interior bits (some to go back in as per regs):

 

Stripped interior:

 

Looking a bit sorry for herself!:

 

You get the idea anyway- hopefully will start to look better very soon!

 

Progress may be slow as boring things like work will get in the way- but I'll try to keep this thread updated as often as I can.

 

Cheers,

 

Tim

 

 

 

[koti 7]

First question (didn't take long!)- does anyone know if anyone produces a decent stainless exhaust system for these that doesn't have a massive exhaust tip? Initially just looking for down pipe back as funds won't quite stretch to a manifold as well- but ideally I'd like a system that I can easily slot a decent manifold into at a later date. Everyone seems to rave about the Magnex full systems, but it seems like they've been out of production for quite a while unfortunately....

[koti 7]

Well that escalated quickly!!

 

It somehow went from being a small project to pretty much changing every single thing on the car...got a little carried away with myself!! I'll try and do a couple of posts to bring things back up to speed....

 

First of all there was all the rust and rot which was chopped out and replaced with nice shiny new metal e.g.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[koti 7]

After I'd sorted the rust I installed a Safety Devices C44 cage (will get a decent pic at the weekend) and an OMP seat then gave the interior a quick blast with paint to tidy it up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[koti 7]

Then I decided the engine bay needed a bit of a spruce up, so this happened:

 

 

Which was followed shortly by:

 

 

 

 

A quaiffe quick rack was installed whilst it was easy to get to, along with BakerBM quickshift and bushes and new wishbone bushes. With the engine bay looking so nice, it seemed a shame to pu the scabby 8v back in, so this was acquired....

 

 

Which when coupled with a pair of 45's looked like this (ignore the fuel pipe routing- that's long gone now!)...

 

 

I stuck a Pro-alloy radiator on (bought off the forum), which I made some mounts for and mounted the mocal oil cooler to.....

 

 

Which has left the engine bay looking something like this:

 

 

 

Since that picture the carbs now have a bottom mount throttle linkage and a pressure regulator- it runs absolutely sweet as a nut!

 

Next job is to tidy up the wiring, which quite frankly is s*ite....!

 

The doors are sagging badly, so I'll stick some new pins in them; the wings are going to be painted black for the time being until I can afford to get the properley colour matched- gonna spray them this weekend; brakes need bleeding (all lines are run- will get some pics to show routing); bumper and bonnet et al. need putting back on; sort oil breathers into catch tank; dash needs to go back in and I need to install a rev limiter and that's about it I think.....

 

Stuff that you can't see in the pics are fuel and brake lines running in the car, underside stripped and grey schulzed (looks mint), braided brake hoses all round, silicon coolant hoses, suede steering wheel (need to invest in a snap off boss); mixture of Gaz/Spax suspension (just for the time being...), BBM engine mounts and solid rear beam mounts, maniflow manifold and pug sport exhaust....that's all I can think of off the top of my head- I'll get a load of detailed pics this weekend to bring things fully up to date

 

 

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

Nice progress! Keep us posted please .

 

P.S. How do you find pattern wings' fit? I'm after a pair myself, but not sure if they're any good?

[koti 7]

The wings are great to be honest- much better that I expected after hearing the horror stories some people have about pattern wings! I'm no panel beater but I've got them fitting with consistent panel gaps and all looking straight...I'm sure someone that is half decent with bodywork would have them fitting absolutely perfect no problem.

 

I'm not sure if there's a few companies knocking out pattern wings or not, but I sourced these from a local bodyshop that bought them from Imperial (at the time, Imperial wouldn't deliver them to my works address only my home so I had to go through someone else)

[Tallguy_2 7]

Looking good mate!

[johniban 59 1 Cars]

rad looks sweet, where can i get one?

[koti 7]

The rad is a pro-alloy one- I actually got it second hand from a bloke on the forum.

 

Would definitely recommend one, quality is brilliant and temp gauge never moves...not sure how much they are new though