Steel Grey 205 V6 - Ongoing Project

[Goliath 94]

I thought I should get round to starting a thread about my 205 as I have done quite a lot to it and have a lot of plans for the future.

20130429_182804-1 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

 

I bought it in spring 2013 as a fairly standard 1.6 with just a few suspension upgrades, DCC offered to give me a lift to fetch it, the trouble was he was only free in the evening which would mean getting to the seller (taylorspug) at about midnight, he said that was absolutely fine so we set off and collected it, I eventually got back home to mine at around 4am. I then got up at about 8am to drive down to Chedder for the meet!

20130428_124016 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

Over the next few weeks I used it every day and had a lovely trip through wales with DCC, some awesome roads.

walestripbanner by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

Then a few weeks later the headgasket blew on the way up crickley hill so I decided to pull the engine out and go for a V6. It's a conversion I have done before so it wasn't too much of an issue, I had lots of help from Welshpug though! All in all it took about 3 weeks from start to finish.

 

Whilst changing the engine to a V6 I wanted to keep the outside looking as standard as possible, I just about managed to squeeze it all in behind the bumper, but it involved a lot of cutting and filing!

20130618_153255 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

There isn't much room around the radiator, but despite this I haven't had any issues with the alternator or exhaust touching the rad.... yet.

20130613_151007 by Goliath -, on Flickr

Loads of room!

20130610_204600 by Goliath -, on Flickr

I had to cut a slot in the alternator for the lip on the end tank to fit.

20130610_204521 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

I bought some new wheels and r888 tyres in anticipation of understeer and this is how it looked after the conversion, you can just about see the radiator at the bottom of the valance but I'm happy with how standard it looks

20130722_191051 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

 

About a week after the conversion was done I went on the Nurburgring Retro Run which was immense fun and a great success, we had no breakdowns, the only issue we had was it got quite hot towards the end of a lap of the 'ring, hence relocating the numberplate to try and aid cooling. It doesn't overheat at all on the road so it's not an issue I have addressed yet, I will do before it next goes on track.

 

Later in the summer I went with Welshpug on the Dolomiti drive, it was a weekend of driving in the dolomites arranged by a chap I met on the 2009 Eurotrip and have kept in contact with. We travelled down to Austria a couple of days early and stayed with Thomas until the saturday when we headed *somewhere* (can't remember where) for the start of the drive.

Thomas likes his Gutmanns, this is the one he normally drives.

 

The trip was awesome, so good I made a video about it! (I made a video of the Nurburgring trip too but haven't finished editing it yet)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MlhgN8RJAc

 

After having it cleaned and polished by iplod999.... (theres a video for that too, yes really! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9pcdr_F-qs)

... it made an appearance at pugfest this year....

 

... and RetroRides Gathering.

 

I have also managed to track down a mint interior for it and persuaded my ladyfriend to help me fit it.

 

Before:

 

During:

 

After:

 

I have also managed to source some later style check doorcards, trouble is they are in Austria and I couldn't make it out there this year for the Dolomiti Drive so I might have to wait until next summer to get them!

 

 

 

That pretty much brings us up to date I think. I've had an issue with it not running quite right intermittently but have managed to track down the issue to an airlock appearing around the green engine temperature sensor, no idea how the air is getting into the system as yet.

 

I have lots of plans for the near future, some realistic and other not so, but we will see how it pans out!

 

In the mean time I'm just enjoying driving it, it's an absolute beast to drive, completely different to the 1.6 it was before. It handles really well despite the extra weight, I suspect that is largely down to the r888's, I absolutely love those tyres! I need to get a new set soon though as these are nearing there limit, they have lasted over a year and a few thousand miles though!

 

Future plans include

 

Buy some top mounts to enable me to...

Fit the new suspension.

Solid mount the engine.

Sort the gearstick out so I can put a normal gearknob on.

Remove all the brackets I made to mount the radiator etc and send of for powder coating.

Find and buy a plate diff.

Redesign radiator mounting and location to enable fitting of an aircon rad.

Then fit aircon.

 

I also have plans to increase the power of the engine, but no idea when I will actually get round to doing any of that.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Goliath

[dcc 855]

That nurburgring shot - how close is the engine to the floor!? seriously! haha

 

Remember the first one which we 'drove off' the axle stands, and it had lowered springs? Bottom end just sat on the floor! hahaha

[Anthony 1,003]

Later in the summer I went with Welshpug on the Dolomiti drive, it was a weekend of driving in the dolomites arranged by a chap I met on the 2009 Eurotrip and have kept in contact with. We travelled down to Austria a couple of days early and stayed with Thomas until the saturday when we headed *somewhere* (can't remember where) for the start of the drive.

The start point was Lienz in Southern Austria, or more specifically, the car park of Der Dolomitenhof in Tristach where most of us were staying the night before

[allye 530 3 Cars]

About time George!

[iPlod999 143 1 Cars]

Hope it is still shiny shiny, with 2 buckets.

[Goliath 94]

That nurburgring shot - how close is the engine to the floor!? seriously! haha

 

Remember the first one which we 'drove off' the axle stands, and it had lowered springs? Bottom end just sat on the floor! hahaha

The sump is quite low but not too bad, I think it's about 10cm from the ground.

 

I remember the first one (miami) being so low the sump was almost touching the ground, I certainly don't remember driving it off any axle stands though!

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Bled mine through a couple times through the coolant temp bleed pipe, hot starting is spot on! Forgot how good it sounds too!

 

Still love those wheel too. Down pipes are lower than the sumps. Mines not a problem with near standard right height.

[Goliath 94]

Bled mine through a couple times through the coolant temp bleed pipe, hot starting is spot on! Forgot how good it sounds too!

 

Still love those wheel too. Down pipes are lower than the sumps. Mines not a problem with near standard right height.

 

I'm having an issue with bleeding mine atm, will try again tomorrow but I gave up yesterday. Never had an issue before when it was running without a thermostat but now I've fitted one I just seem to get no end of airlocks. Bit odd.

 

My exhaust is modified so the downpipes are higher than the sump. I've only had an issue with my sump on some roads in austria/italy which were particularly bad.

[caballino 11]

wow!!! very nice!

[Goliath 94]

Finally got round to doing another big job on this, I spent the weekend fitting the new suspension which has been waiting to go on for a while.

 

I got all the bits together and put them in the car and went down to the unit, got it up on the ramp and took the old stuff off.

 

20150522_225906 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

The I trial fitted the BBM top mounts and cut out a hole for bolt clearance, as well as cutting out a slot for the reservoir oil pipe to go through. (I wanted to run the remote reservoirs in the engine bay as it is a road car, I didn't want them getting caked in mud and water). I do plan to put strengthening plates on the strut tops and make a proper strut brace for it in the not too distant future.

 

20150522_225844 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

Then I got the top mounts and struts all fitted up. I had to cut down the shim that goes under the bearing as it was too long and didn't allow the top hat nut to screw down far enough. I also set the camber to zero degrees, again as it is a road car that is fine for me for now. If I want to run negative camber in the future I will have to look at changing the ARB droplink mounting on the strut as with 1.5 degrees of negative camber it fouls on the chassis leg.

 

20150523_000010 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

20150523_000025 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

Then onto the rears, these were fairly simple to fit, only a little cut out on the trailing arm to fit the damper body, plus cutting down the spacers for the lower bolt as they were 60mm but needed to be 40mm. (I was told these shocks came off a 206, so that is probably why).

 

 

20150523_192329 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

20150523_192345 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

The cable ties are only a very temporary measure. I will be getting or making some proper tube clips to hold the reservoirs in place.

 

20150523_192339 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

I am very happy with how it sits now, I haven't changed the rear height but have raised it a touch at the front as I thought it was a tiny bit low.

 

20150523_193516 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

I had a bit of a puzzling moment after fitting the front struts as I couldn't get the suspension to move at all, not even one millimetre by trying to bounce the front corner by hand. This was despite having all the settings on the softest and 'only' having 275lb springs. After taking it out for a ride though it drives very well and is a whole load better then the previous setup. I don't know a lot about suspension but I assume the inability to move the suspension by hand is down the the struts being good quality, it'd be interesting to know.

 

Anyway, all round a good weekends work. Hopefully it won't be as long until the next update!

Edited November 14, 2017 by Goliath

[estland 3]

Nice wheels. Car looks awesome

[johniban 59 1 Cars]

Them shocks look expensive!?

[welshpug 1,666]

they would have been when bought new yes!

[johniban 59 1 Cars]

love the colour of it, whats the v6 go like?

[rallyeash 155]

Lovely

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

A V6 engine under the bonnet of a 205 is such an awesome sight.

[Goliath 94]

Nice wheels. Car looks awesome

Thanks, quite pleased with it, although there is plenty more I want to do to it.

 

 

Them shocks look expensive!?

They were very expensive, but good value.

 

 

they would have been when bought new yes!

They were chuffing expensive when I bought them, but agreed, not as pricey as when new.

 

love the colour of it, whats the v6 go like?

I too love steel grey, I have always preferred the more unusual colours though. The V6 goes very well, it will go even better with a few power upgrades which are in the pipeline, hopefully to be completed this year.

 

Lovely

Thanks!

 

A V6 engine under the bonnet of a 205 is such an awesome sight.

I think so too, but then I would! When doing the conversion it was important to me to keep the standard bonnet and not to have bonnet pins. I do need to remake the bonnet catch though as the one I did looks pretty messy.

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

Glad to see my old seats have gone to a good home! looks well!

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

Is that a 406 rad?

[Goliath 94]

Very pleased with the seats The Radiator is from a mk3 Golf VR6. I want to change the radiator setup so it isn't all so crammed together at the front so I have a couple to try when I get some time.

[Reebmit 51 4 Cars]

Must admit I'd quite like a 205 with a V6 dropped in! great for touring, great looking car, quite inspiring

[Goliath 94]

Must admit I'd quite like a 205 with a V6 dropped in! great for touring, great looking car, quite inspiring

 

Thanks, I have done a couple of long trips abroad in it and on the way back from Austria I managed 40mpg too so perfect for touring!

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Is the gap between the head light panels smaller on 205's than 309's? As my 406 rad is trimmed slightly to even fit in the 309!

 

Edited June 2, 2015 by allye

[welshpug 1,666]

yes though not by much, no chance the 406 rad will fit though, too tall.

[Goliath 94]

The main issue is there is much less room between the headlight panels and the front bumper. It's front to rear room that I am lacking mostly!