[Car_Restoration] My 1989 205 1.9 Gti Restoration Project

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

The experience of owning one of these cars 20 years ago has long lived with me, so have finally given into the urge and found a reasonably rust free example for restoration. For the past 2 months I have been trawling the forums and ebay on a nightly basis. I decided this was probably the best forum, so hence this post.

 

My plans are a total strip down, respray and rebuild.

 

I have built several kit cars before but never undertaken a restoration project.

 

So as to my first post I would like to ask for any advice/tips/ important suppliers etc etc... (please be gentle with me). I have started to strip the car down.

 

As soon as I have downloaded my camera I will post some pics.

 

I am sure this is the first of many posts.

 

thanks

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

some photos...

 

sorry having trouble UL photos....

Edited October 4, 2013 by mrfirepro

[PeterGriffin 20 1 Cars]

pin them to mediafire or photobucket or summat mate, then use the address of the photo in the Image tool...

 

What type of Pug? Age?

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

it's a 1989 205 Gti with 121K. Looked around for a while, this wasn't the best example but seemed to have the least rust and was an OK price.

 

Am uploading all photos to Photobucket, as soon as it's done I'll post the library link here.

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Link to photos below

 

http://s1238.photobucket.com/user/mrfirepro/library/205%20projects

Edited October 4, 2013 by mrfirepro

[Alan77 78 1 Cars]

Get some grey plasticare off ebay for your trim plastics, it transforms them...

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

I looked at some of the before and after for plasticare it looks amazing stuff.

 

However I only wish I was at that point, a full strip out and respray is needed first.

 

I plan to fully strip the car; engine, running gear, interior the works, then recondition/renew as much as I can to try and fully restore the car.

 

Think it's going to be a long job

 

updated link for slide show http://s1238.photobucket.com/user/mrfirepro/slideshow/205%20projects

Edited October 4, 2013 by mrfirepro

[Kane 34]

Seconded for plasticare! But don't bother getting it off fleabay the nice guys here on the forum sell it at a reduced price

 

Here>>

http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?showtopic=136077&hl=

 

Car is looking good though, a little bit of work and it should come up a treat.

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Tried filling in the order form but it does not seem to work, will try again later

[Kane 34]

If you can't get it to work contact cybernck I'm sure he'll be able to sort you out

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

This is the message I get

 

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@bakerbm.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

 

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Apache/1.3.42 Server at www.bakerbm.com Port 80

Edited October 5, 2013 by mrfirepro

[jord294 92]

Good luck with your resto

 

Anyone who plans on doing a resto on 20 odd year old cars should do their homework first on availability of parts.

 

If you want genuine parts that are nla, be prepared to pay.

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Good luck with your resto

 

Anyone who plans on doing a resto on 20 odd year old cars should do their homework first on availability of parts.

 

If you want genuine parts that are nla, be prepared to pay.

 

starting to find that out.

 

Having stripped the interior and dash out now, have found that at least half need replacing, do you know of any resource for getting part numbers together?

 

Finished the sunroof, which was a bit of a pain, just got onto the engine bay.

 

I cant post pics here but I have updated the photobucket slide show with the weekends pics and put them as lower res so they will load quicker.

 

The new album is here...

 

http://s1238.photobucket.com/user/mrfirepro/slideshow/205%20project%20low%20res

Edited October 7, 2013 by mrfirepro

[Kane 34]

You can find part numbers on here

 

http://public.servicebox.peugeot.com

 

You have to register then you can look up part numbers and it also indicates whether parts are still in production

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Thanks Kane,

 

just noticed it can be in English as well.

 

Thanks

Edited October 7, 2013 by mrfirepro

[Anthony 1,003]

You can select English on the first page

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

My next job is to remove the engine which raises a few questions as to what my plans are, any comments would be well recieved

 

The current engine has done 121K and has had at least two head skims (that I know off) it is quite noisy on the top end but seemed very responsive.

 

 

I certainly am going to make it look good (degrease, strip and repray) replace/refurbish brackets etc etc...

 

Questions...

 

1. Can the current engine be reconditioned by a reasonably technically minded person? (never rebuilt engine before, but Haynes does seem to cover a lot of it))

2. Are there any special tools involved?

3.To fully recondition the engine what parts are needed and whats the cost?

4. Is it a better option to drop in an already reconditioned engine (I have found one at just over £1000)

5. Not massively interested in extra performance but If I was going to rebuild one would extra performance come at a large extra cost?

 

Sorry for so many questions

Edited October 8, 2013 by mrfirepro

[Kane 34]

I'm sure some of the more experienced members on here could provide further detailed info on some things but here is my 2 cents.

 

1. Yes these engines are relatively straight forward to work on from what I have experienced. I'm in the middle of a rebuild myself having very limited (only other car I've worked on was a classic mini) previous experience and things are going ok. This forum and the members on it is an excellent resource to have as a beginner undertaking a rebuild.

 

2. There isn't any major (expensive) specialised tools that spring to mind, just your usual suspects such as spanners, allan keys, torque wrench, socket set etc etc. What I would say though is that it is worth while investing in a few measuring gauges (dial gauge, digital calipers/micrometer, feeler gauge) as when you go to put everything back together you want to ensure that everything is bang on so that you don't have to end up stripping it all down again.

 

I have a friend who just recently rebuilt a renault 5 gt turbo and within the first half hour of driving heard a knock coming from the bottom end, turned out he bought standard sized bearings assuming the crank had no previous work on it but it had and as a result had to strip the bottom end replacing not only the bearings but the crank itself.

 

3/4. Recommended rebuild parts would include, top and bottom gasket set, various seals, water pump, cambelt kit, main bearings, big end bearings, piston rings, clutch, head bolts, spark plugs, leads and then all fluids. This list might be bigger dependant on the condition of some other parts, the only way to tell is to strip it all down and inspect everything. Due to the age of the cars nowadays rebuilt parts are becoming more and more expensive but are still available, just make sure you do your research as some suppliers charge through the roof for some things.

 

You could easily rebuilt an engine for less than £1000 but it all depends on whether you want to spend the time acquiring parts and doing the actual work, which believe me can take a bit of time , or just get the rebuild out of the way quickly.

 

5. It really depends on how much extra performance you would be looking for. For instance my engine I'm rebuilding has just been away at a machinists getting the bottom end balanced, a bit of head work, liner seats re-cut and faced slightly to up compression and some other things and all in all came to around £600. This work, although not all essential to up give extra power should see a smoother running engine which is a good place to start when tuning I believe. Then you could talk about adding throttle bodies and aftermarket management etc etc which would add on another wod of cash. As I say it is a matter of what you want out of your engine.

 

Hope this helps

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Thanks Kane,

 

are you doing the 1.9 (which engine)? whats your timescale? are you running a thread on the build?

 

Good info, I guess your story about your friend is why I am a bit hesitant, because you can't test it along the way you only know when you get to the end.

 

I am guessing most parts are not available OEM by now, can these be purchased from standard motor factors or can anyone suggest suppliers?

 

I am going to give it a go so keep an eye out on ebay, may be a lot of nearly new bits for sale in about 6 weeks time

[Kane 34]

I'm rebuilding a 1.9 Mi16 (xu9j4) and as yet I don't really have a timescale, sooner rather than later would be good though . I've got a thread open yeah, slowly updating it as it is in real time but have a look here. It's really just updates on body work at the moment as I'm awaiting my engine bits being delivered back from the engineers, hopefully should be here by the end of the week and then the progress should move along at a better pace.

 

You will see in my thread I f**ked up my 1.9 engine while doing a headgasket change (missed the big spacer under the headbolt, tightened it down and was left with a lovely hole in the block! DON'T DO THIS!!) which prompted me to buy an Mi and drop that in. Absolutely stupid mistake on my part, mainly down to rushing as I had only had the car a few weeks before the gasket went and wanted it back on the road asap. This has now made me VERY VERY cautious about how things are put together, don't want to f**k up another engine

 

Most rebuild parts are available in OEM quality, its just the prices have inflated really. You can get the majority of things from any motor factor or websites like aepdirect etc. You could also put a wanted ad up on the forum, that usually works.

 

Just make sure you do enough research beforehand. Have a look of Justin's (Kypan) engine rebuild, it is an mi16 but has really in depth detail about everything involved.

 

Best of luck

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Kane,

 

can I borrow your spay booth...proper job

 

On a serious note Kypan's thread is excellent, but it does also put me off a bit as following the Haynes guide seems much more straight forward.

Edited October 9, 2013 by mrfirepro

[Kane 34]

Of course you can

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

latest update...

 

Engine out, front subframe out, all wiring out, rear beam out, nearly ready to start on bodywork

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Update...

 

Rear beam and front subframe removed

Fuel tank removed

 

Shell now totally stripped

 

Was going to acid dip and treat, but now going to look at Soda blasting

 

Whilst the shell is away going to...

 

Rebuild engine. gearbox, ream beam & front subframe

 

Send parts off to be powder coated or plated

Edited November 2, 2013 by mrfirepro

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Rear brakes stripped, found problem with the bolts, left side was different to the right side and the bolts were very different, same thread but different lengths and head size...wierd

 

You can see the short one here in the picture