Barn Find Laser Green 1.9 Gti.

[Leslie green 109]

Bought this in march this year only wanted it because it was laser green otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with a non runner but it was local and I hadn't seen a green one in many years over here so thought id take a chance.I know virtually nothing about gti's but had 2x 205 diesels many years ago .

A previous owners son had taken it apart as a project and lost interest as usually happens and it came with most of the engine bay electrical stuff stuff either broke lost or disconnected .It was a runner before this but hasn't turned a wheel in 10 years and would have likely been broken for parts soon.

The seats were in wrong and the boot and inside was full of boxes of bits and screws and some straw from the barn but it appeared to have been dry stored and had virtually no rust so a good starting point ! The front bumper was tied on and most of the kit was just sitting there not fixed on , fuel lines rotten ,breather hoses rotten ,rad ,fan and some coolant pipes missing ,water rail rotten etc.

 

On the plus side the leather is in decent shape ,its a 1.9 pre cat and had the very rare power steering and it's very green

 

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2017 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 109]

Jobs competed so far :

 

Replaced airflow meter as the adjusting screw was lost .

Replaced all breather hoses with silicon set

Replaced all coolant hoses with bakerbm set .

Made new hard fuel lines out of 8mm copper pipe which is actually quite easy folded ,cabled tied to original lines to help forming (saw that on here !)

Replaced rubber fuel hoses in engine bay ,could not get 7mm injection hose anywhere so used some 5.6mm from the filter for now .Put new fuel filter in .

Got 5 alloys and sent them for powder coating.

Collected lots of parts of here and ebay to replace the many missing /broken ones !

[Leslie green 109]

Tried to start it today ,getting fuel now , fuel pump only runs/get voltage when engine turns over and took a while to fill the lines and filter but no spark and it won't start .Had a plug tester on a lead but the leads are in bad shape so new ones ordered but that's not the issue , could be wiring or any of a dozen things ! It may have had an immobiliser at a time as wiring to coil looks to have been messed with .

 

Oil is pouring out of rocker cover even at cranking speed down back of engine so new gasget ordered .

 

The wheels are shiny now anyway, speedlines are not all the same some have rounded flanges and some flat :

 

Edited June 22, 2017 by Leslie green

[jackherer 543]

That looks pretty promising from what I can see.

 

IIRC the spare wire from the coil is for an optional interference suppressor to connect to. It definitely is on the Mi16 and 2.0 turbo etc and I think it is on the 8v too.

 

If you have fuel but no spark check the small signal wire plugged into the side of the distributor, it goes to a yellow plug (I think) that leads to the ignition amp. A bad connection here will prevent sparking entirely.

 

Also I see your ignition amp is not bolted down, was it loose when you got the car? Maybe it had an ignition fault when it was taken off the road?

[Leslie green 109]

Hi Jack ,It was supposed to be running fine before being taken offroad but its been though another buyer since then and 10 years in bits ! it does seem a decent base for a resto ,body is solid but very little was bolted down when i got it , the airflow meter was off ,ignition amp off ,throttle body just sitting on manifold all wiring off every sensor .will check that wire tomorrow .

On another note the stop light is illuminated but no battery light , can turn on wipers but not indicators or hazards ,may be linked and one relay slot is empty 2nd from left in fuse box not sure if its used , lights not on car yet but the light symbol illuminates on dash when stalk turned on.

 

There is a little black wire at either side of engine bay ,one on left is to that little relay box on bulkhead,one on right to ignition module screw not sure where it should actually go to ? looks like an earth that connects to strut top mount with a spade connect but there are no spade connections on my strut tops !

Edited June 22, 2017 by Leslie green

[ciarandeery1 22]

I nearly bought that car. Be good to see it sorted and on the road.

[Leslie green 109]

I nearly bought that car. Be good to see it sorted and on the road.

 

The one that got away ! yes be good to see it going would just settle for it running and moted for now ,drive it for a while fix whats broken then maybe a respray some time in the future ,would have been a real shame to break this , seen lots of 205 gti's at Kilbroney show last week but no laser ones ! seems all the other projects coming up on gumtree etc are snapped up and broken straight away over here as I was watching a few !

Edited June 22, 2017 by Leslie green

[ciarandeery1 22]

No never bothered to make a move pics I got sent weren't great at the time. I know of another laser that I could buy but with 4 in the shed I've enough on my plate lol yeah shame to break them these days

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Looks a good project to be getting on with.

 

I wonder what the "15" stamped on the slam panel is.

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

Good investment, How much do you pay for it may I ask?

 

 

BTW I think the ignition amp needs to be earthed. either way try bolting it back to the body.

 

The spade connectors on the strut tops are for the brake pad ware earth wire and are often missing / disconnected.

Edited June 23, 2017 by ALEX

[Anthony 1,003]

BTW I think the ignition amp needs to be earthed. either way try bolting it back to the body.

It doesn't need to be bolted to the shell for earthing - it's earthed through the loom.

[speno 239 2 Cars]

Nice that . I've been after a laser for a while now

[Leslie green 109]

Another laser, I thought mine was the only one local , the pictures did make it look worse than it was as the pics on ebay made it look ready to drive but were probably 10 years ago .

The "15" on the slam panel was one of many numbers marked everywhere to show how it all went back together even the rear lights were labelled .Unfortunately the piece of paper with what the numbers mean didn't come with the car though.

Don't think I have pad wear indicators anymore but will certainly need pads soon.Probably spent the price of it already

Found the hazard fuse was blown replaced it and still didnt work have got another hazard as my old one had stuck in and it will turn on hazards but won't stay in !

 

New copper lines in 8mm (outside diameter):

 

 

Not sure what this is on the panel maybe from an old alarm ?

 

 

Got these 2 brackets but cannot figure out where they go ?

 

Edited June 23, 2017 by Leslie green

[ciarandeery1 22]

I actually know of another laser aswell with 70k around 5miles away from me! You'd be very surprised to whats sitting around Northern Ireland lol id say that was an alarm fob thing or something.

[Leslie green 109]

Sounds good Ciaran that one wouldn't mind a running one !

 

Well I took the rocker cover off to change the gasket and glad I did as all the nuts holding the can bearings in were unscrewed, probably why the tightening the nuts on the cover that screw into the caps didn't slow the oil leak ! Tightened them all up again to 15nm ,noticed no1 has a crack in it when the rocker cover screw goes in, it had a helicoil already which didn't leave much metal so can't tighten the cover down there but it's not leaking hardly any now .Will need a new cap though unless I can chemical metal it and redrill .

 

Loose nuts could have been nasty .

 

No 1 cam bearing on the right side ,can;t see the crack but it's there ,helicoil has pulled out .

 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 109]

As I tightened up the cam bearings the stat housing sprung a leak that just got worse and worse until I could fill the expansion reservoir continuously and it's just flowing out the stat housing ,it's very hard to see in there to see where it's leaking I guess a gasket has gone at least hope its nothing worse ...

 

But with the fly lead swapped over( cheers lads ) after a bit of cranking it lives , smoke pouring of the exhaust manifold with all the spilt oil but it runs. It wouldn't idle at all but I then adjusted the idle up on the throttle body and it will run now . I couldn't run it for long due to the water leak but it does have 3/4 the gauge of oil pressure which is a good start . moved it up and down 5 metres of the drive a couple of times ,first time it's moved under its own power in a decade.

 

Bought new leads but due to some buyer /seller confusion they have came with the wrong ends on so had to use the rubbish ones for now .

 

Can see the water dripping here :

 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 109]

Well I think I have found the reason for the leak , 6 of the 7 bolts are not there but I'm only guessing ! Removed the stat housing to make way for a new gasket . I looked though the big bx of bits that seem to fit nothing I got with the car and amazingly I found all 6 .Think the water has got in the oil a bit due to the loose gasket as it looked milky under the rockers this time ,lucky I didn't bother changing the oil yet then . All cleaned up now waiting a new gasket .

 

 

Edited June 29, 2017 by Leslie green

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Some later cars didn't have a gasket there anyway. Good rtv silicone works fine.

[farmer 328 1 Cars]

From about 1991 from memory the gasket wasn't listed

[Leslie green 109]

Thanks lads ,I did wonder if later cars used a different gasket etc as the stat housings look different and the hoses to them are different,not knowing what else I will find I just ordered a head gasket set as it wasn't much more than the single gasket .

Is there any reason i couldn't swap out a cam bearing for a better one due to the mounting screw hole for the rocker cover being destroyed in mine ,they should in theory be all the same .Id need no 1 but would take a set if cheap !

Edited June 29, 2017 by Leslie green

[welshpug 1,657]

they are line bored in situ so only match that head.

[Leslie green 109]

they are line bored in situ so only match that head.

 

 

Thanke Mei ,well that's a bit of a pain then ! I may get out the chemical metal I guess ..

[welshpug 1,657]

if its just the thread then a helicoil will do the trick.

[Leslie green 109]

Its already had a helicoil which has pulled out and its left the wall too thin and has split will have another look and see .

[welshpug 1,657]

you can use another cap but it will need machine work and honing.