Barn Find Laser Green 1.9 Gti.

[Tom Fenton 1,539]

Well done for getting to the bottom of it.

[Leslie green 107]

Head bolt spacers taken from another engine and sent for plating as the originals cannot be found . Decided id push on with one thing I was dreading the sunroof frame , I managed to buy a couple of new genuine rivets just to find the correct size , these are listed for the rubber strip at the back of the sunroof and do not use the tophat spacers the rest of the sunroof uses. (Phase 2 cars and some earlier cars use the rivets instead of the torx screws used till 1989 approx . The genuine Rivets are 4.8mm wide  by 14mm deep , I suspect the top had one might be longer but I struggled to get the proper blind rivets any longer than 14.5mm  ,can get open ones ok but you need sealed ones for this job . The tophats cannot be bought and as mine were all manged by careless removal I had to get new ones machined up which was a pain but no way round it .

        Put them all in first after fitted the tape , the Peugeot museum sells the tape cheap if you are getting other stuff  , its only sticky on one side and one roll is just enough there won't be any spare so be careful or get 2 rolls , I cut 2 little triangle pieces to help the front sealing behind the tape it might help might not  ,  and overlapped the joins as this is the way mine was when i removed it . I think if you don't overlap it may leak if the tape shrinks. 

      The rivet gun I used was far too light duty and could one cope with 4.8mm max and the  amount of force needed was crazy and with 33 rivets I was wrecked after , get a long handle one as some of them I thought id not get them snapped off .

 

20240723_144718 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20240723_141859 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20240723_141912 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20240723_150658 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20240723_161030 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited July 23 by Leslie green

[Tom Fenton 1,539]

I'm not surprised you struggled, those are machine blind rivets and need a powered riveter to set them usually!

[Leslie green 107]

I think a long arm rivet gun would be perfect ,ordered one now 18 inch as its handy to have and cheap enough if too late this time ,didn't plan this job for now so wasn't fully prepared and once I started it was getting it done in one go.

Edited July 25 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 107]

Glass for the sunroof is in , The little lug for the sunroof handle that pulls the cable was broken of removing it so trying to fix that . I bought another handle but it was split on the rear part and the button and spring had fallen out which I didn't realise and one rubber bumpstop for the left side runner on the roof was missing so may have to try and make one., the metal bit was there . The bases of the rear seats ,both zips were broken before I got it and totally siezed so I cut them out and sewed new zips in , its an ok repair for now but the cloth underneath is a bit fragile with old age and sewing leather by hand isn't much fun for such a long run .about 3 metres in total ! The cost of new seats is a bit too much for now . Dark spots are my faulty camera .

 

20240804_174742 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited August 4 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 107]

Got a bit more done , fitted the cylinder head , tighten studs  to 60 Nm , slacken , tighten to 20 Nm then angle tighten to 300 degrees which is a lot and felt a lot , I did the angle bit 90/90 /120 to give the block an easier time instead of all in one go. I had oiled and ran the studs up and down the holes a few times to make sure then ran freely and it paid off everything went fine, don't forget the 23 mm extra spacer above water pump . I dunno what the nm torque of the last bit would be  but it seems a lot !  I did put a Sharpy mark on every stud after doing the 20 Nm bit before the angle sequence so I would see they are all pointing roughly the same was as the final stages were done as it would be easy to mess up. The Headgasket can only go one way as the dowel holes are bigger .

      Timing belt and pulleys and covers fitted ,had to make a rough tool to hold the  cam pulley to torque to 40 Nm . Finding all the right screws was a pain and 2 engine mount bolts still are missing but will turn up sometime . After taking the head spacers off another engine and getting them plated I found the originals , id used them to hold the liners in but the engine was sump up so walked past then a 100 times and didn't see them . Got the stat housing cleaned up a bit and fitted too I've had to tap to clean quite a few threads as bolts were tight . Bits of the head really need painting as it looks a bit shabby compared to the block . I got a very decent set of timing covers of a spare 1.6 engine and that engine really has paid for itself as I've robbed loads of it including  that nice crank belt pulley which is unchipped  and the dipstick as I stepped on mine moving stuff a long time ago and split it .  You have to fit the dipstick before the exhaust manifold otherwise it won't fit as I found out before .

Unfortunately the camcover powdercoating isn't great and has quite a few pock marks in the finish, I didn't notice till today as it was wrapped up but will do for now .

 

 

20240809_130402 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20240814_170449 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited August 14 by Leslie green

[welshpug 1,650]

looks great, Autodoc have the dipsticks, possibly the museum too.

[Leslie green 107]

Thanks Mei, its actually the dipstick tube I split as it fell out of a box in storage and got stepped on luckily the 1.6 one is the same length as I though it might be different.I might get it welded  later but could be tricky  ,there is a little hole where it goes inside the block and its cracked across that . I may get a new dipstick later but they seem to be  listed as fitting all and I doubt they do .

[Leslie green 107]

Was removing the exhaust manifold nuts and nearly had a disaster , one flipped out of my fingers and into the port , I turned the engine upside down on the stand and shook it about a bit and luckily it fell back out again..phew !  Ports were blanked with rags after that . 

     I had 2  grommet holes behind the master cylinder and tried for about an hour to fit the sunroof vacuum hose grommet in the upper smaller one , checking pics later it goes in the lower one ,strangely only the top one has a hole in the sound deadening behind it which threw me off a bit . Inlet manifold had been agua blasted but had got very dirty over a winter so cleaned it up and fitted the fuel rail etc , will change the o rings on the injectors when new ones arrive  although they look fine . gave the black bit of injectors a spray paint .

         The crank seal I fitted but its only 7mm thick and the original was 10mm so it sits further in , I was going to buy an original but hope this is ok as without bottoming it out its difficult to keep it flat , I had a chip on the block here anyway where the seal goes that a previous owner did  so it had to be  in past that . Flywheel fitted and bolts locktited  and clutch on.

     Tried to fit a new clutch cable but can't decide how it goes on behind the pedal  as there doesn't seem to be a guide to run on so will need more research and its been years since it came out .

      I got the little flywheel locking tool and its been brilliant for torguing the flywheel bolts to 49nm  and crank pulley to 109nm ,made it a doddle .

 I'm waiting on a gasket for the gearbox input shaft , I only found out earlier cars with machined seal housings need one so waiting in that . My car had yellow bushes on the release arm but I was going to fit a new arm and it came with white bushes I think and the new  release bearing doesn't seem to fit securely with the yellow ones  so I guess bushes depend on the arm fitted not the year etc . I got a topran arm and lever and the pin goes right though the lever the cable goes on with no resistance at all , surely this isn't right ???? and the release arm is so tight you would never get the pin through it . Bought a few things topran for other cars and I think some of their stuff is very poor fit .

 

 

20240826_151654 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20240826_162501 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited August 26 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 107]

Got the gearbox sealed up The older style input shaft housing needed a gasket , torqued the new gearbox shaft nuts to 54 nm the earlier haynes gives  a spec, later one doesn't and had some fun fitting the pin in the clutch arm, the pin was new and could not be fitted and started to mushroom the end so I took the shaft back of and in to the vice and press the splinned  pin in with a socket on the other side then pressed it back out again , it was then possible to fit it in situ without too much trouble using a Nailbar and a hammer . I have fitted the yellow bushes and the original shaft as it had minimal wear . Waiting some engine mount bolts to come back before I can try fitting the engine.Made an adaptor to bring the load leveller closer to the engine as it was too wide on the pickup points so used a piece of scrap angle with 2 end plates ,works good so far.Had to give the cam cap I had welded a run with the powerfile as it wasn't letting the oil spraybar sit flat on that cap .Engine and gearbox reunited after being apart last 7 years lol

 

20240828_171250 by Leslie, on Flickr

     

Edited August 28 by Leslie green

[DamirGTI 342]

22 hours ago, Leslie green said:

torqued the new gearbox shaft nuts to 54 nm    

 

Do them up to at least 80Nm , even 100/120Nm ..

 

4 out of 5 gearboxes i've taken apart had loose shaft nuts - specifically input shaft ones , they are notorious for loosening off on older BE1 and BE3 boxes .

 

D

[Leslie green 107]

The nuts are  staked now Damir so they shouldn't really be able to undo but I understand what you are saying and you are right one was loose when I first opened the box which is why I bought new nuts  although I don't know if someone was in there before or not . 

On a separate note does anyone know if the dipstick tube has an o ring where it goes in the block as I suspect it should have something to seal it  ??

Edited August 29 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 107]

Bit more progress on the interior , found that a bunch of wires from the ecu should have went up behind the dash but were just handing on the floor  so had to remove a lot of the dash to sort this which was a right pain , had to remove the lower pillar side  trims again to to fit the drain tubes properly . I got the sunroof vac tube and aerial fitted down the A pillar by taping then to the sunroof tube and fitting it each time as it was impossible otherwise and got the  centre console fitted at last after regluing some of the carpet and found 3 of the 4 little vents so far .  Have all the dash trims now installed , looks in the pic the ashtray is grey but hope its actually black ,its dark and did have a grey one too. The coin tray spring is gone long ago and the little piece of plastic that held it but the latch still works and the triangle piece was glued already and is broke anyway . I forgot about the screw under the coin tray and damaged that hole a bit . The storage tray in centre console is it supposed to pop up when you press the button as it doesn't either lol . The gaitor and gearknob will be getting changed just wanted to fit them for now .

      I refitted the steering wheel and broke the indicator cancel on my new stalk after previously having it fitted and working fine , fitted my new genuine aerial with old mast I found to day after about 5 years lost , was sitting in passenger seat lol . 

       Cleaned the leather on the passenger seat and loosely fitted it , looked underneath and the little crossbar is broken on one side  , looked on drivers seat and it has a straight bar fitted so both must have been broke at a time. Can't decide if bar should loop up or down as its hitting the slider bar when you move the seat ? Spend ages trying to remove pins from a connector for cigarette lighter  only to find 205 connectors open up and pins lift out .

      Also dyed the dash black with wurth plastic dye as it was too light /faded looking compared to my original one and waiting a latch so the glovebox will close  . Current mood everything I touch is breaking   lol  Oh and stapped the little plastic studs of the tackymetric relay but was able to knock them out and rivet them again after opening the relay to check for clearance behind the rivets . Been a busy few days with not a lot to show for it but progress is progress .

 

20240912_162030 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

Aerial by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20240912_180031 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited September 12 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 107]

Well the ashtray is neither black nor grey but somewhere in between !  Made some progress the 2 bolts I needed to fit the right hand engine mounting bracket are back so got those fitted and put 2 wheels on the rear to help keep the car from tipping when I put the engine in as its on axle stands. The right engine mount was tightened up ,despite having a few "C" spanners these are no use mostly as there isn't enough room to allow it in , was going to to make a tool up to catch the slots in the mount but it would take too long so knocked it round with a blunt chisel . Took the battery tray of to let the engine in , the bottom 2 bolts are tricky to fit after again . The load leveller on the crane with the angle mount I made worked perfect and I had enough clearance without raising the bonnet up higher. Got the inlet fitted , injectors have new "o" rings and end caps and sprayed the black bits black again and a few coolant hoses on .

     Silly question... does it matter when plug goes to what injector as any marks have long since disappeared and on these I'm not sure if it matters or not ? If it does not sure how I would find which one goes where now ,

 

20240924_120231 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20240924_130526 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20240924_174701 by Leslie, on Flickr

[Tom Fenton 1,539]

The injectors on these are batch fire eg all fire at once, the plugs can go in any order, it doesn't matter. 

 

An oil filter strap wrench works OK on the engine mount to tighten it.

[Leslie green 107]

On 2/13/2023 at 7:35 PM, Reebmit said:

 

Cheers Tom good to know

Edited September 25 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 107]

Got a bit more done , Throttle body cleaned, throttle position sensor swapped as the housing was cracked  then fitted , airflow meter buffed and fitted , all oil and most water and sad valve pipes on . Oil cooler cleaned and fitted , the oil pipes were blasted and replated and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out though they are still 30 year old rubber but can't be got new at the minute.

   I then tried to fit and repainted ( drab olive green colour ) pas steel pipe and its a right pain to fit with the engine in and inlet manifold on , the 2 small steel pipes on the rack had to come off as well . The pas reservoir a replacement I got, I thought was just dirty but has been burned by battery acid on one side by the look of it and isn't in the best of shape but l will do for now. Alternator given a cleanup ready for fitting, not taking it apart as its probably better to buy new as its old and likely worn .

    The exhaust ,I got a long phase 2 system to join to a new walker back box I got a few years back and it was all painted high temp silver today .

The 3rd pic shows the clipping and routing of the phase 2 pas pipe something I struggled to find anything on despite trauling the internet so thought it was worth showing , I guess pass is pretty rare on Gti's. I haven't the near right angle bracket for the gearbox earth so used a brass "P" clip not shown for now , bracket looks the same as one on subframe that holds pas pipe so may make one later .

     Have a new rad somewhere but can't find it and beginning to doubt I bought it now lol will need it soon.

 

20241009_182158 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20241009_182204 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

20241009_142341 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited October 10 by Leslie green

[Tom Fenton 1,539]

Leslie please take this in the spirit intended as you've clearly worked really hard on this so far

 

But those rubber hoses and the convoluted sleeve on the wiring loom in the photos are letting it down compared to the rest of the hard work you have done.

 

The rubber hoses scrub with hot water and fairy liquid and a scrubbing brush, then get some Armor All "Son of a gun" which is a matt finish rubber dressing.

 

The convoluted sleeve for the wiring loom can be bought from lots of places in different sizes at a few £ per metre. It never cleans up quite right.

 

Keep at it nearly there

 

[Leslie green 107]

Tom that's a fair point and I agree ,those are silicon hoses and were brand new mostly Bakerbm ones before it was taken apart , not the one from the one to the oil cooler as it wasn't available then  which I may change later so never bothered with and I gave them a clean and whatever has happened them sitting in storage boxes will oil /grease, abrasion  etc they don't seem to want to clean up , I use  autoglym rubber and plastic trim spray usually .I will certainly have another go soon. The sleeving I was actually looking at this week and its a mess , I got it cleaned a bit and will be changed but wasn't sure if it needed to be a certain heat range etc .It's worn ragged in quite a few places including the battery pos lead which is important as it runs right at that pas pipe near the starter so its a matter of measuring and getting it sorted.

     At the minute I just want it up together on its wheels and making good progress before winter sets in and its too cold , see if the engine is ok etc then I can work on the finer details . The sensor loom is a mess too but will cobble it back together to get it running for now as its about 80 quid for a new one when I was looking. buying cable myself it wouldn't be much cheaper if I want the right colours etc as they are all different.

Nearly there is all is that's keeping me going lol 

 

In other news I found the new rad I bought in 2018 after 2 days searching in lofts ,I was beginning to wonder if it was bought or not and I got another ashtray which is no blacker than the last one ..nightmare ! 

     

Edited Saturday at 01:19 PM by Leslie green

[Leslie green 107]

Having some exhaust issues , looks to me like the the downpipe flange isnt at quite the right angle..Its tight to the manifold at the bottom plus the flange is thicker so my new bolts are too short.

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 06:14 PM by Leslie green