1.6 Ph 1.5 Graphite Grey Gti Back To Somewhere Near Its Original Glory

[Maccer 0]

Having owned my little 205 for about 6 years, it has now been sitting in a garage for 15 months waiting for me to get round to sorting it out. My excuses have been numerous but mainly house renovations!

I went out today for my 6 weekly ritual; to fire her up and give her a quick run up and down the private road the garage is on, and then tuck her back into hibernation. Today though I stepped back and admired the little beauty sitting in the sunshine, exhaust burbling away, and I thought right – I’m going to get on this now! I thought a little resto thread might help me maintain the motivation to nail it in the next few months!

 

The car is a fairly original low miler (now 81k, was 62k when I got it) but has spent years of its life prior to me in suburban London and there are little dings and dents in pretty much every panel.

 

Mechanically she’s pretty good, I’ve done a lot of work in the past including a total brake overhaul, clutch/gearbox, cooling pipes & rad, engine mounts and more recently in 2012 I overhauled the front subframe, suspension and steering rack and all associated bushes etc. I also went a bit crazy in 2012 and retrofitted remote central locking and electric windows!

 

Here's a few pics of the car in my ownership;

Car in 2008

 

Looking a bit better in 2010 - you can see the dings in the 3/4. The roof was repainted due to lacquer peel and they re-lacquered the 3/4s as part of the job, hence the comparatively shiny 3/4!

 

Repainted subframe and ARB

 

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New brakes and steering bits in 2012

 

And here she is today....

 

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Ding in the o/s 3/4 and boot

 

Lacquer on the way out on the bonnet!

 

Under the hood

 

The interior is pretty good so my plan is to focus on the rear end, and the bodywork to get her looking lovely again. It will be standard apart from a few minor bits already fitted like silicone hoses, a shortshift bar and better linkages and greenstuff front pads.

 

TO-DO

 

Rear beam refurb

 

Straighten bodywork & Respray – the degree to which I’m not sure yet

 

New Bilstein B4s all round

 

1.6 Pepperpots refurbed

 

Replace front bumper (been repaired in the past)

 

Repaint red trims and freshen up the plastics

 

Clean up engine bay

 

The first main thing on my list is getting the rear beam done. But with fading light on a Sunday afternoon and no power in the garage I thought I'd tackle a little job first, so onto... cleaning up a scabby spare cage!

 

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[Tom Fenton 1,542]

It looks a nice genuine car. Personally I think I would get a good dent man to get out the dents he could, then just have the bits such as the bonnet re lacquered.

I find posting a blog thread keeps me motivated somehow, so maybe it will do the same for you!

As for the spare wheel cage, it's a thankless task, I took my last one to my powder coating man, he blasted it then coated it in zinc undercoat for me, I then sprayed it in body colour. Cost me £15 but better than tedious sanding for hours!

[Ramigojag 19 1 Cars]

Looks brilliant, about the same stage I'm at with mine (just tidying and freshening up)

[Maccer 0]

Thanks for the posts and comments guys. Tom I'm definitely going respray route as although it'll never be concourse I'd really like it to be minty fresh and straight. Although it looks OK in the pictures when you see the car and walk round it you can really see all the little imperfections and it would be awesome to have it looking as good body wise as it will be mechanically.

 

Managed to get a couple of hours in today preparing to get the rear beam off. Removed the exhaust, bled the rear brakes, removed the hubs & brake shoes and disconnected the solid brake lines (really wish I'd greased the ends of the brake pipes/unions when I did those a few years back.)

Had to stop there as I couldn't persuade the handbrake cable ends out of the hub backing plates - only had a rubber mallet with me and I reckon they'll need a bit of a whacking with a lump hammer/screwdriver to free them off! Hopefully have the beam removed tomorrow if I have time.

 

Tom Re: the wheel basket - definitely a thankless task! I spent about 45 mins on it just getting it to look like in the picture!

Thinking ahead (and cost wise) as I will have a few bits to strip and paint I looked at getting a home shot blaster but by the time you have bought a compressor and blaster and the shot it is quite expensive, then I read about wet blasting. It's a pressure washer attachment which adds sand to the output, the advantages being that you can use building sand, you don't need respirators and you don't cover the whole street in shot. Obviously the disadvantage being you get your metal parts wet! I think with proper drying it should be OK so I'm going to give it a go..

[Maccer 0]

Got the rear beam removed from the car last Sunday

 

 

and cracked on with stripping it today.

 

 

Everything was going swimmingly, no trouble with any bolts. The anti-roll bar arms came off without hitch and the nearside torsion bar released just by unwinding the stud screw. At this point I was wondering if it was going to be worth stripping the thing at all!

 

Having released the trailing arm though I found the outer edge of the shaft was quite badly pitted – so at least I wasn’t wasting my time!

 

 

The offside took a little more persuasion, once removed the shaft was not as bad but again still quite pitted where the outer bearing sits. The rain had then arrived and I packed away, off inside to try and find a new set of shafts and post a couple of photos.

 

 

All in all though pretty pleased with the job, I read Wurzel's guide on the main site and by the sounds of it some beams can be a nightmare, glad that's not the case with mine.

[Maccer 0]

Bit of an update. Started to wire brush the underside of the car ready for a bit of paint..

 

 

Noticed some more scabs under the tanks so dropped that off and remove the fuel filler and started cleaning the rear arches...

 

What looked like a rusty n/s/r bumper bracket turned into a big hole with a small amount of poking!

 

 

The rot has also crept back out of the drivers sill, so got a bit of welding to be done!

 

 

Next jobs are going to be removing the rear bumper to get a decent look at the corrosion under the taillight, get the welding done, paint the underside upto the front of the tank and finish off the beam.

 

 

[Maccer 0]

A bit more progress; I’ve got the rear bumper off and ground away the seam sealer from the rear bumper bracket panel. Almost the entire panel is gone, but luckily I’ve caught it just before it started to eat the outer ¾ panel.

 

 

Back home I have collected nearly all of the shinies for the rear beam;

 

 

Spent a few hours on the weekend wire brushing the rear beam back trying to remove as much of the muck and rust as possible. (I tried the wet blasting and my machine with 1935psi doesn’t have the guts for the job! It doesn’t create enough vacuum to draw a meaningful amount of sand up through the hose, everyone online who has it working seems to have about 3000psi so only a home petrol washer or commercial unit will do. Mine did clean the patio up OK though!)

 

 

I removed the upper mounting bushes from the beam. Having read the guide on the main site I did mine a slightly different way, which I think is easier. I firstly cut off the protruding Y of rubber from the face of the bush, but leaving the metal outer lip intact.

 

The rubber parts of the bushes have two internal cutouts in line with the alignment notch (on the vertical plane as fitted to the beam) as seen in this pic of the back of an old one:

 

 

With the outer Y piece of a bush removed, from the front of the bush you can hammer a flathead screwdriver into these voids and simply lever against the central metal sleeve within the bush. Working from the top and bottom void you can crack the inner rubber free from the metal outer and draw the whole thing out in one piece. Having levered one of the rubbers out I found I could hammer the other out from behind, so no cutting needed for the second one.

 

With both central rubber bits of the bushes removed I used an angle grinder to remove a small piece of the outer face of the casing – so I could see the metal of the beam underneath and would know how far to cut down.

 

 

Then in the same method as described in the guide use a hacksaw to put a cut through the remaining casing and then beat it out. The bonus of leaving the outer lips alone is that you can strike against the edge of the lip – less potential of damaging the beam itself.

 

And that’s up to date. Off now to a mate’s workshop to press the shafts out of the trailing arms!

[Maccer 0]

So, practically 6 months is more than long enough for an update.. Thankfully I have done a few things in the meantime, so although the car is still without rear wheels progress towards replacing them has been made!

 

When I last posted the beam had been removed from the car and I was starting to uncover a bit of welding required, I knew the nearside rear bumper hanger was shot and that the offside sill had gone at the rear;

 

 

Some grinding revealed it had also taken the bottom of the inner wing, and the jacking point was on the way;

 

 

So I had to get a bit more busy with the grinder than I'd planned

 

 

And also try my hand at a bit of fabrication

 

 

*Many thanks to The Metal SuperMarket in Southampton who let me in twice on Saturdays (once as they were literally trying to leave the building) and gave me free offcuts to weld into the old 205 - even cutting my new jack point to size for me! - absolute legends*

 

 

 

With the inner wing and jacking point in I was able to break out the repair sill..

 

At which point I realised my amateur fabrication needed a little 'fettling' to fit

 

 

 

 

The sill just now requiring a skim of filler I turned attention to the bumper hanger, again requiring my awesome fabrication skills to come into play;

 

 

Old mank cut out, some masking tape and a cereal box later;

 

 

Struggled for ages trying to make the big hole with normal drill bits and a saw then discovered step drills - they're the tits!

 

 

Pretty sure after posting this I'm going to need to quit my job in accounts to take up a lucrative position restoring priceless hand built classics for the rich and famous!

 

Jokes aside this was all done with basic hand tools and a Fisher Price 4" metal vice, so I'm very happy considering

 

 

 

New n/s/r bumper hanger welded in, seam sealed and painted with epoxy. Whilst at it I removed all the old cracked sealer from the same panel on the offside, caught it just before it had started to corrode badly so rust converted, re-sealed and painted that side too.

 

The boot floor on the inside had started to corrode in a few places, mainly around the carpet fixing holes and along the edges where it meets the inner wing;

 

 

Underneath between the rear of the inner wing, boot floor and the something something panel the sealer had begun to break up

 

 

 

So I ground back as best I could using a wood drill bit extension and power drill wire brush attachments as it's quite a difficult nook to get into. Rust treat, seal and paint.

 

I also painted the boot floor

 

 

using rust treatment and 2 part epoxy from Rustbuster. I deliberated for a while about what to use and their products came out top on a Practical Classics test so I went with them.

 

And finally off the car I've refurbed the rear beam

 

 

Here you can see the various parts drying out in my spray booth (loft!)

[Pugleyrich 37 1 Cars]

Great work. I'm impressed with the rear bumper mount considering the tools available!

[ciarandeery1 22]

looking good! im in the process of doing this myself, pretty much a pain but will get through it. great work!

[Maccer 0]

Thanks for the comments guys, it really does help with the motivation levels!

 

I've been making a bit more time for the car lately and have got a bit more done;

 

 

The repaired sill is filled and sanded, and I put a very heavy coat of the 2 part epoxy paint on using a roller to try and match the texture of the original sill covering

 

 

In the above pic you can see the texture where I've sanded off a couple of high spots - it's quite close to the original finish so I'm hoping it will be hard to see once painted.

 

The tunnel in the floor pan had lots of little bubbles and scabs which needed attention, as well as a spots on the floorpan

 

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I've finished painting the boot floor, started painting the floor pan and body coloured the rear arches.

 

The rear beam is resplendent with fresh bearings, rubbers and seals

 

 

I didn't take any pictures at the time but think it's worth mentioning the inner bearing replacement is very easily done using an old trailing arm shaft rather than the puller setup suggested in the guide. Firstly I took the old shaft fat end first and dropped it into the tube resting on the inner bearing. I scored the side of the old shaft level with the top of the tube to indicate the correct seating depth of the bearing in the tube. Using a lump hammer on the old shaft the inner bearing can then be knocked into the tube, and removed from the other end.

Fitting of the new bearings is done exactly the same way, drop the new greased bearing in and using the fat end of the old shaft gently tap it home until the score mark on the shaft is level with the top of the tube. Hopefully that makes sense!

 

I reassembled the beam on the car as I thought it would be an easier way to get it all back on by myself;

 

 

 

The one oversight of this method was the garage wasn't wide enough to be able to slide the ARB back into the beam!

 

 

The interior is totally stripped bar the dash

 

 

..and Henry gave me a hand freshening up the carpet (much to the delight of the missus who had a front room and kitchen full of 205 interior!)

 

 

When I removed the sound deadening from the front it was damp on the drivers side, lifting up the firewall covering the seam sealer over the top of the exhaust had baked and flaked away.

 

I proceeded to remove all the sealer across the floorpan/bulkhead seam.

 

 

It was at this point I discovered an additional footwell air vent

 

 

This little hole corresponds to a manky looking area of the bulkhead above the drivers side chassis leg... luckily I'm already reconciled with the idea that the engine is coming out so this wasn't too disheartening!

 

Back on all four she briefly made it out into the sun...

 

 

...but not for long!

 

 

And onwards with the front end strip

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Well done looks a good job. For the sill get yourself some proper stonechip. Assuming you have a compressor you can get the orange peel texture on the sill repair spot on.

[Maccer 0]

...So another few months pass and a bit more has been done!

 

Last time I checked-in the front end was just coming apart and I needed to get the engine out and tackle the hole that was underneath the accelerator pedal.

 

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The engine came out and I even roped in my brother to help (my brother in mucky gear - a rare sight!)

 

With engine out I set about the strip. It's definitely a case of seek and ye shall find when it comes to the rot;

 

 

 

I even found it creeping back out of the impenetrable Kurust and Hammerite Kure-all barrier I applied to the subframe in 2012;

 

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To be fair the above is actually what it looked like after a power drill wire brush then a first dip in some 40% phosphoric acid... It was way worse beforehand.

 

I've learnt a lesson along the way - any product that claims to 'cover rust' is going to be absolute bullsh!t, it means it will buy you a year or two at best before re-emergence.

I have found that a paint strip followed by soaking in strong phosphoric is an excellent way of getting rid of the worm. I bought some BiltHamber Deox gel as it was recommended for vertical surfaces: It did work, but as the active ingredient is the same schizzle but much less concentrated then it's just a more expensive and time consuming way of doing the same job as painting on some water borne HP3O4 and watching it fizz.

 

Anyhoo, onwards - I cut out the offending rotten section from the bulkhead;

 

 

Then set about some more Heath Robinson fabrication

 

 

Was a total PITA to weld in

 

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Then filled and seam sealed, it will be OK once it's all painted up I'm sure;

 

 

I finished grinding back all the failed paint/rust in the engine bay and brought the epoxy paint up to the front of the car;

 

 

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I was momentarily getting a little depressed looking back through the pictures and not really seeing anything amazing happening since the last post. Few, if any shiny fresh bits going on and after thinking back, the reason is a lot of the time I've spent since last post has been simply cleaning or grinding bits. I've spent so many hours underneath the thing with a steam cleaner getting covered in mud, sh!t and tar. Many hours were spent in the engine bay with a grinder/sander getting rid of all the scabbing, then constantly finding another bit of blown paint here there and everywhere. Welding too. Then the paint.

At this point I just kick back to the start of the thread and think, yeah - it's loads better now, even though it is in a zillion pieces. (yep you read correct - a zillion, and that's true because when I was young my mum told me a quadrillion times to never ever exaggerate...ever)

 

On reflection I'm actually really thankful, I've been looking at some other project cars that have much worse tin worm than mine. Even ciaran's 64k minter (lovely car btw!) turns out to have it's issues.

 

Although I think if I had my time again, knowing what I know now, I would probably have stumped up and got the whole car dipped, fixed it and had a total respray. I guess they're all getting to that age now where no matter how good they look on the outside, if they've been driven on the road, there is definitely going to be something(s) rotten somewhere(s).

 

I'm going to end with some semi-shiny bits - the heatshields came up OK with a bit of green and a cotton wheel;

 

 

[ciarandeery1 22]

Haha thanks for the mention, im guessing that ciaran you talked about is me! great work by the way, i need to get the finger out! if you look at the rust issues on other cars within the same era, this is pretty minimal in my eyes. keep it up!

[Maccer 0]

Indeed it was! I agree the old Pugs are very good for the era, something 80s from Ford would have nearly fallen in half by now - you don't see unrestored MR2s knocking around any more, but there's still a fair few 205s. They're just at the age where sealer and paint have started to fail on even the good ones.

Still, I am thankful, I think the old girl is still in great nick, just need to get her done so I can drive again!

[ciarandeery1 22]

Yes you are right, ae86 corollas are another rot box.

Indeed it is just getting to a stage were most need some tlc. I don't think it's a big deal, better to preserve the original shell than do a Mickey Mouse job.

Looks a great great and am sure it'll turn out beautiful! I know I need mine done as I just bought another yesterday! It's on the road though phase 2 steel grey, keep me entertained a while!