[Car_Upgrade] 205 1.9 Gti Project: Respray & Rebuild!

[Philpooma 30]

Its a shame that you are not happy with where you are after all the work that you have put into it.

I know how you feel though, I have done that before ie. go back and re finish something that you have done because you have thought of a  way of doing it better.

Nothing wrong with that, better than falling out with your project 

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

The last 10% of finishing off takes 90% of the effort.

 

As you are so close to it being useable, I would forget about perfection and get it on the road. Very soon once you are using it you will be able to decide what needs to be done to it, whether its a few minor bits or a full strip down again. Too many folk get sidetracked with the strive to achieve the "perfect" spec, this leads to cars trapped in garages for many years when they could be out there being used instead!

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Hear hear! Get it on the road - iterative process etc..

Edited May 29, 2019 by DrSarty

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Almost a year later, the Gti6 was removed and sold, thanks for the advice guys it would've been the sensible thing to do but I'm not very sensible 

I bought back an old 205 gti that had a rebuilt 1.9 8v that we had done a few years ago and set about prepping it for paint here's before - 

And after - 

I'm planning buying some jenvey tbs but not sure where to start with all the associated bits I'll also need - any advice please? 

[Telf 224 2 Cars]

First time I've read this post, can't help with the throttle body question but I'm with Tom and the others as far as just get it finished and back running goes. When i built mine last year i started to get obsessed with every detail then it got to the point where it felt like it was never going to be right/finished. Then i thought 'f*** it' and just finished it, I'm still doing little bits but its nice to have the car back.

 

Mines an 8V but i went with standard induction/ injection on an Emerald system. works well although it only makes 130bhp. No mad monster power but fun to drive when i feel like it.

 

good luck and keep at it.

[Mikeymck 1]

Is this car still on the go? 
 

I used to own it back when I was 17. Bloody loved it. Stuck the half leather in it, put the 1.9 engine in but we left the 1.6 box on it and it had a piggyback mapped ecu. God it could move. 
 

would love to hear where it is now 

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Cheers Telf, I was thinking about putting a new boot floor in it but I'm gonna take your guys advice and get it on the road, I bought new jenvey itbs, ecu, everything I need to get it running a couple weeks ago from pug1off, just need some time off to get everything fitted I've been working 12 hours 7 days a week for ages 

 

Yeah @Mikeymck I've still got it, hopefully get it finished next month  have you any pictures of it from when you had it? 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Dundy53

[Atlaskrukvaxt 5]

Lovely colors, I got a semi from seeing the orange on the engine and miami blue car...

 

I agree with the guys that say you should get it on the road.

The boot floor is among the least visible things on a car, especially if you put some insulation and a carpet over it nobody will ever notice it.

 

Looking forward to seeing it finished.

 

 

 

[Mikeymck 1]

5 hours ago, Dundy53 said:

Cheers Telf, I was thinking about putting a new boot floor in it but I'm gonna take your guys advice and get it on the road, I bought new jenvey itbs, ecu, everything I need to get it running a couple weeks ago from pug1off, just need some time off to get everything fitted I've been working 12 hours 7 days a week for ages 

 

Yeah @Mikeymck I've still got it, hopefully get it finished next month  have you any pictures of it from when you had it? 

I’ve got a few somewhere yeah. I’ll need to dig them out. This one still sits in my spare room. Spent a lot of time on that car all them years ago, caused me some heartache but it was a great wee car!! Woulda loved it back but got myself a ph2 now awaiting the soda blasters 

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Cheers atlas, yeah thought the ph1. 5 lights & all my orange bits would look good against the blue 

 

That's awesome Mikey be good to see more photos of it, I'll pm ya 

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Time for an update! The past couple years I've been busy with working abroad etc, I'm home now with some time off so it's time to crack on with this and get it on the road. 

 

After giving the engine a tidy up I started looking into itbs and contacted pug1off who were very helpful and supplied pretty much everything I needed for the build - emerald k6 ecu with loom spliced into my 205 one with all lengths set, extra wires for coil, crank sensor, air temp sensor, coolant temp sensor, tacho amp etc. Jenvey 45mm itbs with fuel rail, regulator, trumpets, tps, air filter and backplate. 

 

I sourced my own weber inlet manifold, tidied that up and re-tapped the holes, fitted two barbed fittings into it for vacuum. 

 

I also purchased a freshly rebuilt be3 1.9 gti box, fired my quaife atb into it

 

Put a 215mm/mi16 lightened flywheel onto the engine for crank sensor, new clutch kit and installed engine/box into the car!

 

Put the new itbs on for some inspiration, seeing it at this stage was very exciting!

 

Realised a fair bit had to be trimmed off the alternator bracket for the inlet manifold to fit on so fired them back in the box and carried on the build. I should have test fitted the backplate and air filter at this stage but forgot to, I don't think they will clear the alternator so will have to do some research on that.

 

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Carrying on from that I started to piece the front end together, new nissens rad, black silicon hose set from bakerbm, tidied up the fan and put one of bakerbms oe style oil coolers in, then on went the front bumper/valance and it was time to get the trims on and make it look like a gti again! Albeit with fixed rear quarter windows (what was I thinking? - they'll be getting changed at some point). During the respray my plan was to fit rallye style arches so all of the rivets that hold the trims on were ground off 

 

It was just a case of using the arch holes to get the arch trims lined up then marking the centre of the clip recess for new rivets and measuring down for the anti rattle clips. Went pretty straight forward, the door trims we just went for the middle of the door and marked the centres again.

 

As for the red trims, the front and rear ones are okay but most of the side ones are bent and buckled. I had a set of chrome ones from an old STDT being steel they're in a better condition so I sanded them down and etch primed then fired some red hammerite on as a tester and they actually came out a really good match with some satin lacquer

 

Its starting to look like a car now!

 

Front bumper gap needs sorting, think I've mounted the horn wrong which is restricting it will have to investigate 

 

 

[drj545 5]

Car’s looking good - I’m pretty sure I’ve seen your van parked up…I’m down near Clashmore busy putting together my 1.9! 
 

If you’ve any bits for sale let me know!

 

 

 

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Yeah probably that's my daily atm sent you a pm 

 

Next I moved on to refurbing the seats, the rears were in good condition so they just got a wet vac and some leather conditioner. As for the fronts, the drivers bolster needed replacing so I pulled all the hog rings off, removed old bolster with a hack saw and put new one on with contact adhesive. 

 

Now to tidy them up a bit - I bought some products from gliptone and sent them my headrest to get the leather dye colour matched, started off by using the intensive cleaner then degreasing it with panel wipe, applying a few light coats of the leather dye - I actually sanded the worst areas a little bit to smooth them out first, after that put around 4 coats of conditioner on it fair soaked it up!

 

Then set about repairing the burst stitching, I remembered reading a while back about using a curved needle with carpet thread so gave it a shot - worked my way through the old holes using a pair of pliers as the leather is quite tough. Left a tail at both ends of the seam so it can be pulled tight once complete and tied off, once tied off I cut the tails short then pulled it down into the seam using the needle rather than trying to trim the thread short

 

And finally after all that they are looking a bit more presentable! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Leslie green 110]

Starting to look like a Gti again keep at it 

[Anthony 1,003]

While they're clearly not perfect, considering how tatty that seat looked before that's come up pretty well I'd say and certainly much more presentable than they were.  Good tip about the curved needle and carpet thread too

 

Which colour from Gliptone was it that you used, as I can't quite make it out on the bottle - or did you just say that it was for the grey leather in a pre-1991 Peugeot 205 GTI?

 

As an aside - is that a 309 beam with SL434's?  If so, I fear you're going to have problems with the tyres clouting the arch plastics on compression - it's tight enough (i.e. the inner lip of the plastic arch rubs and gets worn away) with standard 1.9 alloys.  Certainly make sure that the bump stops are present and not heavily cut down, otherwise hitting a sizeable bump at speed you run the risk of tearing the arch trim off completely and making a mess of the rear quarter which would be a huge shame after all the time and effort you've put in.

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

@Anthony I sent them my headrest cover and they matched the dye to that - they never gave me a colour code and its just got 'headrest' written on the bottle. 

 

Yes it is a 309 axle with sl434s, I've put on some of bakerbms stainless bumper cups with new powerflex bump stops on, maybe I should test load it see how it looks fully compressed on the stops? Cheers for the advice, don't want to make a mess of it now 

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Back to the engine bay, next job was to run my new loom, I've split the loom as it comes into the engine bay with the wiring for brown multiplug sensor loom, reverse switch, coolant sensor, crank sensor and coil over to the gearbox side and clipped it on with the wiper wiring - looks quite tidy. The rest of the wiring has ran over the timing end of the engine similar to original engine loom, going to try and get a bit more length and get it over the engine mount rather than the cam cover as in the pic.

 

Sourced a ph2 distributor housing from an automatic 205 to bolt my coilpack onto, remember to remove the allen bolt on the inside of the cam housing before you try and batter it off 

 

I haven't yet bolted the oil filler to anything but did move it to the other side of the coolant hose and he seems pretty happy there. Any thoughts on breather filters? I removed the metal gauze as it was pretty rotten

 

I've bolted the fpr to the old ignition coil bracket and p clipped the return hose underneath the brakelines, looks decent but an after thought would be running it back under the throttlebodies and mounting the fpr near the fuel filter would be neater

 

Managed to get the back plate and air filter on, had to adjust the alternator and put a shorter belt on - 4pk 668mm long if anyones interested 

 

As for the vacuum hose I've ordered some proper braided stuff and going to run it with the throttle cable/fuel supply hose and under the inlet and up to the t piece

 

Had it running for a minute or two looking for leaks, had to reseal thermostat housing but all looks good now so will drop the water out and fill up with fresh coolant

 

 

getting there 

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Mot passed last week, delighted. All going well so far - Anthony was right about the sl434s with 309 axle, have caught the back arches a couple times and pushed them out in the centre. Question is do I try and trim the arch return and see if that makes any difference or just put 1.9 speedlines back on for peace of mind 

 

Going to run the engine in on some millers cro 10w40 for ~150 miles then swap for some 10w40 cfs and go for mapping !

 

Heres some pics of her out and about

 

[jord294 92]

Why don't you just put a 205 gti axle back on

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

That is another option Jord!

[BoxGTi 6 1 Cars]

Superb Rob. Looks awesome!

[Reebmit 51 4 Cars]

Looking good Rob

[jord294 92]

On 8/10/2022 at 9:45 PM, Dundy53 said:

That is another option Jord!

I'll do you a deal on a fresh 205 axle gore the 309 one

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Going to stick with the 309 axle Jord, thanks for the offer. Love the look of it and the wheels are making their own clearance the more I use it