Thanks All

[kilauea 7]

After more than 2 years (I thought it been laid up 18 months till I checked the tax disc!) my 205 is purring like a kitten outside with absolutely everything, bar a snapped handbrake cable, working. Not so much as a bulb out or a drip of oil from it. MOT tomorrow and I am feeling quietly confident - maybe the discs are too far gone (will get new anyway), but other than that I'm hoping it will be legal this week.

 

It would have been a lot harder to bring it back to life without the help from here, answering my daft questions or aleady asking / answering them in old threads. I've changed starter motors, coils, tachy relays, various electrical connections, moved wildlife from it, got shut of mold, cleaned and resealed headlamps, treated bits of rust and a fair bit more. Just waiting for the missus to get home as she's promised to paint the badges for me (steady hand, doesn't drink!).

 

So cheers all. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

 

[BlueBolt 156]

Fingers are crossed for you!!

 

I can pretty much guarantee I haven't been of any help to you, but I can appreciate how helpful the forum as a whole has been to you!!

Good luck!! And get your handbrake cable sorted before you get it tested!!

[Anthony 1,003]

Feel the love

[kilauea 7]

Didn't have time to sort the handbrake unfortunatly, I can't see it passing first time anyway I'm just wanting a list of stuff to do to make it safe for a rolling resto.

 

It's in there now. Bit worried actually I've not used this garage before and didn't get good vibes off them. I suppose it's just another heap of metal to them, but he could have pretended to give a s*it when I was telling him what the score was with it.

[mowflow 67]

Good luck. I'll hopefully be in the same position in a year or so with the collective guidance of the forum.

[kilauea 7]

O.K, not bad I suppose. But one or two issues niggling me...

 

Handbrake cable shot - fair enough I knew, easy to sort.

Some rust on outer sill - yeah o.k. It's not gone through though I've hammed a screwdriver onto it and its deffo surface only. But fair enough needs doing.

 

Now the annoying stuff...

 

Coil spring cracked/snapped - less than 1000 miles of road driving on autofive springs. Shall I take them back?...on wait no.

Centre seat belt missing - odd one, its never had one and never been picked up before.

Drivers seat insecure - ?? I asked he said there was a bolt missing. I've just looked and I can't see it?

Passenger seat insecure - ?? Same as. I cannot see what the issue is here. They "wiggle" a bit, maybe I'm missing something?

CO2 - read 4.2 should be <= 3.5 - probably just needs a good blast?

 

Advisory items.

Both suspension arms have slight play in ball joint, offside also in a "pin/push".

Brake discs corroded but still met braking efficiency test.

 

So it could have been a lot worse after 2 years+ of standing outside. And the good news is it ran really well on the way to the station and back.

 

Just not sure whether to do some quick fixes now or whether to go for it and replace the whole lot.

[Tom Fenton 1,547]

Sounds like a steady days work to do everything mentioned there and then you are on the road. Personally I find it much easier to get motivated to do work on a car I can drive rather than the never ending project. Emissions wise that is a bit on the rich side, if I need to adjust mixture I usually do it at the MOT station whilst its on the gas analyser, simple job on an 8v 205 just need an allen key to adjust the mixture pot which is down a hole on the air flow meter.

[kilauea 7]

A steady day for you Tom. With the amount of procrasination and brew drinking in my approach to mechanics, that could be a weeks work there!

 

I was intending to go to standard suspension anyway. So I'm sort of thinking, why buy replacement lowered springs to get through MOT? Might as well replace with standard items and replace the grp N top mounts while they are off. And then I suppose while there might as well sort the wishbones/bushes out too.

 

And then if I'm doing that I'll have to adjust the rear beam to suit, in which case I may as well replace the grpA stuff off the back for standard too.

 

I've got a backstreet garage who like old motors who'd do it at a decent price, if it's looks like I don't have the time. Easier for them on a ramp with airtools.