[Car_Overhaul] 205 1.6 Gti Overhaul And Rebuild

[Mac Crash 78 1 Cars]

I'd second that with the welder, it's surprising what can be achieved if your careful and depending how bad they are...

 

I'll look out for some back plates for you anyway... don't suppose you know in what order the rear oil seal goes back together do you?

 

Rebuilt the back brakes (Girling drums) yesterday but was so long ago I dismantled them that can't remember exactly how the oil seal goes back together.

 

Seems to be in 3 parts, the bronze coloured ring, the rubber oil seal and a flat fibre/plastic, possibly metal washer type disc.

 

There is a thin groove on the fat part/shoulder of the stub axle, does the rubber oil seal locate on here? and are the other parts pressed into the drum against the bearing? That's the way I have put them together anyway... haven't fully torqued both drums up yet but there is play on both sides, I have 2 sets of washers that sit behind the hub nuts, large and small, can't remember which one is 1.6 or 1.9... definitely 1.6 stub axles though, I checked...

[culreoch 0]

Hi Tom, I'd been advised to get them blasted but "I'll chip the worst off, then get the knotted brush on them"... 5min later.... I've put holes in both.

At that point, I thought, stop before I make it worse!

 

Will have a look in the cold light of day.

 

 

Colin we did the rear bearings ourselves last year. I can't for the life of me remember adding parts 1 and 2 to the drum, must have been left on the stub axle.

 

Here's the best record pic I have, see if you can make anything out in the gloom?

 

The drums themselves are up at Andy's so it'll be the weekend before I can refresh my memory. I just brought the guts of them down the road.

 

drum internals

Damn iPhone has decided to start taking pics at 840x480 resolution. Maybe time to delete a few.

[Mac Crash 78 1 Cars]

If that is the thin lip of the rubber seal I can see in the centre of the back plate then I know what I have done wrong and it makes sense now... I had the back plates off the axle and that is where the seals have originated from... I think.

 

Think the service box photo isn't relevant either as the later drum has a 2 piece bearing... your photo is more helpful, cheers...

[culreoch 0]

So, the boot floor is repaired, painted and we got the shiny refurbed beam on (thanks Tom - it's the best thing on the car now).

As advised above, the drum backplates were cleaned up by Andy and roughly inch-square plates were welded in to repair the rotten bits.

 

Building the drum brakes up was a bit of a nightmare - think it took us two full days, partly by having stuff on the wrong side, and partly because the wheel bearings were a very tight fit on the stub axle. Nevertheless, we got all that resolved and it's back on 4 wheels.

 

New copper-alloy brake lines were made up (though as you can maybe see below, I made a balls of the route and will probably re-do them) and the tank refitted. It had been a struggle to remove the filler neck and pipe work, so of course "refitting is the reverse of removal" and another bit of a fight. The tank was on and back off many times. Afraid I lost my sense of humour with it at one point!!

 

Meanwhile as a bit of light relief couple of holes in the NSR arch and inner arch got welded up - more things ticked off the list.

 

So the back end's just about done

 

 

NSR (before)

 

then...

 

NSR (after)

 

A couple of loose ends to tidy up there and then we need to switch to the front end, plan is to take the engine out over the winter for some degree of rebuild. That puts the fear into me, but then again, what could possibly go wrong??

[Anthony 1,003]

Looks miles better under there now, but how come you've routed the rear brake flexi hose how you have?

[culreoch 0]

Looks miles better under there now, but how come you've routed the rear brake flexi hose how you have?

Purely through error Anthony,

 

I misremembered the arrangement when replacing the hard lines - they do need re-routing as the flexis are at risk of damage as they currently sit.

 

Easily fixed

[buchanan84 1]

Good work ????

Mine had reached the stage where all that stuff has been removed from the rear end... need to get wire brushing...

[culreoch 0]

Turning now to the front of the car, we have to look at an engine billowing smoke, tired suspension and more of our favourite stuff: rust.

 

The Christmas break gave us time to rig up a borrowed gantry to lift out the engine, and take the front apart. To give us a remote chance of putting it all together correctly again a fair few photos were taken to record the layout and routing of all the engine bay gubbins.

 

Disconnect some wires and pipes, couple of bolts and up and out comes the engine:

P1050831

 

Yep. Crusty. More pics to record, then that subframe, suspension and various ancillaries came out.

P1050836

 

The chassis rail was scaly, but cleaned up nicely. Holes in the inner wing, low down at the bulkhead were found on both sides and now awaits welding.

 

That brake compensator is another part of this car that looks like it's been deep in the mid-Atlantic for years. The internals seem sound though. Each end was labelled as otherwise there's a 99% chance I'd put it back the wrong way around! Even now I might get it wrong...

IMG_1989

 

Both the engine and lighting etc looms are in pretty poor state - both corrosion and past bodgery. I got to this stage in trying to remove the lighting loom and called it a day. Looks like much of the dash needs taken apart to get at it

IMG_1996

 

Tangled mess... and there's a bit of bodgery in there too - maybe the remnants of an alarm install. At about the same time as I was getting tired by this metallic spaghetti, Andy got slightly bitten by the wire brush and angle grinder when cleaning up some of the front suspension parts - again a sign that it's time to call a halt.

 

Next up, I think we'll be welding the inner wings and then building up the front suspension.

[culreoch 0]

Time for a catchup of where we are.

 

Firstly, a milestone: no more welding! None too pretty with the silver jotamastic paint, but a subsequent squirt of aerosol body colour over the top (where visible) improved things.

shell

 

The last major component still in situ - the dashboard - was disassembled to release the engine and ancillary looms. Both were very much worse for wear and have come home with me to refurbish and repair them. Taking the dash out was a hateful exercise in finding the invisible fasteners and sh*te falling our faces and eyes.

dash

 

More excitingly though, it was finally time to bite the bullet and pull the engine apart. Scary stuff from my point of view, I'm well into the unknown here.

 

Despite the general condition of the car, there were encouraging signs of the engine having been looked after. Belt, tensioner and waterpump were in good nick and quality items. Shame about the spark plug substituting for a sump oil temperature gauge though!

 

Inside, nothing really worrying us too much so far:

head

head off

worn liner

 

There was a bit of a wear lip that could be felt on the liners, but no immediately apparent corrosion problems. But I don't want to speak too soon.

 

After a bit of measuring and cleaning in its present state, we'll disassemble a bit further then order up the appropriate parts to start nailing it back together.

 

Feels like we're getting somewhere

[Leslie green 110]

The scottish weather has been very sore on that car , great work you have done saving it .

[culreoch 0]

Cheers Leslie... it had a pretty comprehensive history file with it - which shows it spent a lot of time in (rainy) Wales before coming northwards via the (rainy) West of Scotland, so it's had a hard life in that respect.

 

Hopefully it will have a more sheltered time in future.

[culreoch 0]

Managed to find a couple of days to continue work on the engine of the old Pug this weekend, stripped down the bottom end to find nothing particularly worrying.

 

Cylinder liner wear kinda meant we had to play the Russian roulette of removing the liners for replacement, with the risk of finding liner seat corrosion; but happily all seems well in that regard. The crank was measured up and seems to be in-spec - so far so good. So we can go ahead and order the parts to put it all back together.

 

Up top, all's not quite as rosy at the cylinder head. The valves measure up as undersize, possibly through wear. More significantly there's some alloy corrosion worryingly close to the gasket at the top of cylinder liners 1 and 4, and we don't yet know about valve guide wear. Think in all likelihood the head will be going to an engine shop for a once-over.

 

We also have a spare head, but it's swings and roundabouts. It appears to be a different variant, possibly XU5J vs XU5JA, and while the head casting looks to be spot on, there's a few flaws on the cam. Our current thinking is to try and retain the original head if possible.

 

It's all good fun, even if progress is pretty glacial at the moment!

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

Very good progress! Any new updates as yet?

[culreoch 0]

Hi Nikica, sadly not much of late while other things have got in the way. We did spend a day finishing off replacing all the brake lines (including fixing my first attempt at routing the pipes around the beam) but that's really it since July .

 

So the car will now stop... just need to get it going again next

 

I think the next thing will be for me to get cracking with the wiring looms over the Xmas break, one job that doesn't involve cold rusty metal and lying on a cold concrete floor!

[GusRallye 0]

Looks like you had your work cut out for you there, good progress!

[Grenouille 4 1 Cars]

An update! Engine rebuild is slowly getting there.

 

took the head and crank to AGRA Engineering in Dundee for skim/rebuild and dimensional check/polish respectively. Great service there.

 

Meanwhile we purchased a rebuild set from Pug1Off and I’ve set about the bottom end and block. So far I’ve got the pistons in and got the crank just about in. Next I need to check the end float to ensure the thrust washers are suitable. However I believe I’ll have to disconnect the big end bearings in order to accurately measure the float. Correct me if I’m wrong...

 

Any tips or advice welcome. 

 

 

[Grenouille 4 1 Cars]

So I’ve disconnected the big end bearings, torqued the main bearing caps to 46 Nm and found a reliable means of measuring the float (dial gauge directly onto the con rod end). This gives me a float of 0.06 mm when levered with a large crow bar.

 

As I lever it I get a higher reading of 0.1 mm approximately, however the needle settles back to 0.06 mm or so.

 

The specification that I’ve read quotes 0.07 to 0.27 mm tolerance.

 

Is this an acceptable end float?

[Grenouille 4 1 Cars]

With the increased time off with the new job, I'm pleased to report we've continued to progress the engine build.

 

Oil pump split, inspected and rebuilt, crank end plate and seal fitted, sump fitted and head fitted with new gasket of course.

 

 

 

 

Writing it down here, it seems like very little was achieved, however when you've never built an engine before and with varying opinions and versions (damn you Peugeot!) of the engine, you can take about four days to complete one half hour activity...

 

The head torqueing was particularly confusing with many methods mentioned. I wasn't particularly keen on the angle version myself, so opted for Damir's method:

 

1. 30Nm

2. 55Nm

3. Loosen each bolt one at a time 1/8th turn and retighten to 55Nm

4. 80Nm

5. 95Nm

 

I made sure to run an old bolt down each of the threads in turn with plenty of WD40 (flushing as I went), cleaning the bolt thread with a rag each time, which seemed to free up a couple of the threads. I also oiled the new bolts; both the threads and between the washer and underside of the bolt cap with engine oil.

 

I then took a big boy pill and went at it. Left it over night and re-checked the torques.

 

No snaps, a fair few creaks, a bit of whimpering from me and thankfully no 'buttery' softness on any of the bolts.

 

For sealant on the metal to metal surfaces etc, I used Loctite 5922 which will hopefully do the business.

 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by Grenouille
Can't upload photographs for toffee!

[Grenouille 4 1 Cars]

To say there's been a delay in updating this is a bit of an understatement.

 

So a lot has happened; I've changed jobs again, the zombie apocalypse Covid-19 has ravage the planet...and the engine has been installed into our 205!

 

This was followed up by the rebuilt loom (thanks J). Which, after a bit of headscratching was mostly connected at the engine side and even at the fuse box side *shudder*.

 

We've even got the interior carpet and driver's seat in. Next up is the passenger seat, seatbelts and start putting the dash back together...pics to follow!

[culreoch 0]

Time ticks on, but finally the old Pug might be inching towards the road.  The forum seems a lot quieter these days but the knowledge recorded over the years has helped us immeasurably.  So the least we can do is give back - maybe these photos will be of help or inspiration to others battling away at their own projects.

 

So the last pics were whilst Andy was rebuilding the engine.

 

Engine bay prepared, repaired loom poked though the bulkhead.  Top tip - label the wires with a sharpie, not a pencil.  If the project stalls, the pencil marks fade away and wiring becomes hell...  Here the shonky engine hoist is in place ready to lift the engine into the bay.  Let's gloss over the fun that ensued when the mechanism jammed with the engine and box half in, half out!

 

In place:

 

And a start was made on building it up:

 

 

... Some time elapses ...

 

Interior goes back in.  Dash in, dash out, dash in, dash out as the wiring gets tested and corrected.

 

Fusebox.  My personal hell.  Could Peugeot not have given an extra 50mm on the wires, to give a bit of play in here?!

 

And pleasingly up front we can start putting a 'face' back on the car.  Makes it seem far less of a basket case, a wee boost to our morale.

 

That's about us up to date.  Cooling system in progress at the moment and then we'll start testing all the engine systems with a view to a first start maybe around Easter time??

 

[pugfrank 14 1 Cars]

Great to read your story, keep up the good work.  My project is 6months in and seem to be stumbling at every opportunity I get to work on the car! Ill second how useful the the forum is with all its historic information would be lost without this place.