My Red 1990 1.9 With 87K On The Clock

[johnboy1984 5 1 Cars]

Evening all,

 

Just a brief hello from a fellow pug owner... The story of the car is as follows... My father bought it back in 02 with 87k on the clock, fast forward 13 years and now I own it, and its still got 87k on it.. I suppose you could say its a bit of a barn find. He put it in his garage and never drove it.

 

I have loved the 205 since my dad had one back in the day, a lovely white one that he bought damaged and repaired. Ive been torturing him to sell it to me for years and now I've owned it for 2 years im gonna start getting it up and running... I plan to restore it back to original, apart from the phase 2 lights as I like those so much more on them, though it is still oem..

 

anyway, enough blabbing from me, looking forward to being a part of this very knowledgeable community , no doubt ill have a ton of questions in the coming years.. heres a few pics i took at the weekend when i relieved it of a sticky front caliper..

 

[pugdamo 111 2 Cars]

Welcome to the forum, very nice looking car, im guessing it's going to be more of a mini resto as it looks really clean already or are you having a full strip down,paintwork done and everything? Look forward to following your progress, there's loads of info on here and some very knowledgeable people aswell.

[Andy_C 50]

That looks properly straight. Will be watching with interest.

[johnboy1984 5 1 Cars]

Welcome to the forum, very nice looking car, im guessing it's going to be more of a mini resto as it looks really clean already or are you having a full strip down,paintwork done and everything? Look forward to following your progress, there's loads of info on here and some very knowledgeable people aswell.

thanks mate, I just know once I start i wont be able to stop... looking at some of these restoration threads on here has got me thinking.... I want to do a full underside resto, engine bay repaint, full respray... I want it to be one of the best.... theres a few wee niggly problems I need to sort... the fan doesnt come on, there is something draining the battery (suspected sticking relay) and the sticky caliper... not the end of the world, would like to m.o.t it and drive it this summer and see how she goes....

 

I am considering getting terra clean to give it a blast to see if that helps the emissions ... my dad said he had a bit of bother at mot all them years ago...

 

That looks properly straight. Will be watching with interest.

cheers mate... it is a real nice one... worth making it right

[johnboy1984 5 1 Cars]

Well a bit of small update on the car.. Ive been busy the last while back so haven't really had much time to do anything with her. I'm a novice at best when it comes to mechanical weork on cars. I am enjoying doing wee bits and pieces though. First thing I did was a full brake overhaul on the front. New discs, pads, calipers and bolts with new braided hoses supplied by Miles on here.. I blasted and painted the carriers to match the new calipers.

[johnboy1984 5 1 Cars]

[johnboy1984 5 1 Cars]

Next up was the fitment of braided hoses and new calipers etc... I bought myself one of the handy wee breeders that operate from a spare tyre, great job... Hoses were a pig to get off and I lost a lot of fluid. But I kept the resevoir topped up and I wanted to flush the old stuff anyway so all was good... I'm getting confident doing more and more of this work myself.

 

[johnboy1984 5 1 Cars]

I degreased the area with g101 and powerwashed it all off to make sure no brake fluid was left on the body... I'm happy with how it went... And I'm learning all the mistakes which I didn't do on the other side...That's what it's all about I suppose... The radiator fan wasn't coming so after a bit of research on here I took a look at the switch, the connector came off in my hand, so I chopped it and fitted some space connectors, a new switch was sourced and fitted... Started the car and let it warm up, thinking I'm never this lucky, it won't work etc... And low and behold the fan came on and all was well

 

[johnboy1984 5 1 Cars]

I have ordered battery terminals to replace that stupid push on type thing it has. I'm going to order new bilstein shocks and drop the front subframe off for a full refurb. I intend to keep the car as complete as I can while the work is going on.. If I strip it to the bone it will likely never get rebuilt. Its a solid car, I doesn't need bareshelled, here's a pic of the rear arches which usually go on them

 

 

 

The only rust I've seen so far is the battery tray, which I tried to remove to blast and paint but the 2 big bolts are just spinning, it will be a grind off job I know but I'm at a loss to figure out what happens to the old bolts?... Do they just live in the chassis leg for all eternity?

 

[jackherer 543]

The bolts go into caged nuts clipped into the chassis leg so once you've got the tray off you can unclip then replace them.

 

Have you found the other two bolts underneath yet?

[johnboy1984 5 1 Cars]

I know about the other 2 mate, Ive just been holding off as I thought once I gring the head off, the thread of the bolt will drop into the chassis leg, never to be seen again... that's good to know. I know about having to lower the gearbox etc to get at the other 2