[car_restoration] My Sorrento Rebuild

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

Well i thought i may aswell put up some pictures of my sorrento project. The car was owned by a guy i went to school with and his family owned it for 7 years. It is a 1993 1.9 with the very late cat engine with plastic inlet. It was passed through various family members until my mate got it, used until the MOT ran out on day. The car was then left to rot on his dad's driveway underneath a sycamore tree which as you can imagine made a right mess of the bodywork.

 

 

 

I would drive past his house and see it every day for about a year until i plucked up the courage to knock on the door and ask them if I could put the car out of its misery and buy it. Chris (my mate) owed his dad some money so I bought it as a non runner for £400. Most of the top of the engine was in the boot as his dad was going to strip it all down and rebuild it although it didn't need it and he lost interest. So the sale had been agreed me and another mate picked it up on his trailer and took it down to his unit where it would be stored for 8 months while I was away in Australia and Thailand traveling. So while it was out we gave it a quick wash to remove most of the leaves and moss just to try and preserve the bodywork while i was away.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/green4.jpg

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The car had only covered 83k which in 205 terms is quite low. My plan was to completely strip it all down and rebuild it as a standard car. But while i was away i changed my mind after seeing Maxis GTi6 converted cab on the forum. So while I was in Thailand i emailed a few salvage companies and secured a GTi6 engine from a rear ended s plate 306 which had only covered 22k. The engine came with all the relevent parts manifolds, loom , ecu etc etc.. So by the time I came back from my travels I was really skint but had plenty to do on the 205. I had the car returned to my parents and I started work on it. I sorted the 8v engine so I could prove it was a good runner and sold that to forum member on here. Once back and ceaned up a bit the shell turned out to be in pretty good nick.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/green8.jpg

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Once I proved the engine was a good'un i stripped it out and began stripping the rest of the car.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/green12.jpg

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The interior is in really good condition with the rear leather seats like new. As its a sorrento it comes with the green carpet and late green door cards which look tasty.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/green17.jpg

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So with the car now basically stripped for a re-spray i could see how bad the lacquer peel and paint fade had become. Lacquer had peeled on the roof, the bonnet and the wing. It also needed a new passenger wing as the original had a nasty dent. There was also some rust under the bonnet which needed attention. Apart from that though unlike many phase 2 cars this had survived really well considering it hadn't been driven, washed or generally looked after for over 2 years.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/DSC00006.jpg

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I also needed to get some quotes for a re-spray and the cheapest I could find round my way was £1500 and that didn't include any work on the new wing. So I spoke to Andy (paintguy on here) He quoted me just over a grand including the wing so I thought as I was going to the expense of taking the car to Sheffield I may as well go the whole hog and have the engine bay sorted, rear panel smoothed, the boot floor painted and have the sunroof taken off and replaced with a peugeot non sunny roof skin

 

Andy, if you've never spoken to him is the most easy going fella you can meet. I first noticed him when he posted up his Topaz thread and showed what time and patience he gives to his trade. I hinted in my replys that i might one day use him for paint work. He quite happily took more work on as we spoke about the project. He talked me through the bodywork process and showed all the enthusiasm I needed to convince me to take the car all the way North! He even asked me to bring more parts such as a spare front and rear valence and a spare grill to be painted while he had the 'paint in the gun'. So on a rainy morning one winters day me and my 205 friendly neighbour drove her on the back of trailer up to sunny Sheffield.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/DSC00002.jpg

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Edited September 29, 2007 by Edp

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

So while the car was away over Christmas I decided to clean up the engine. Although it is pretty clean anyway after only covering 22k i stripped it down and decided after listening to advice that I would replace the cambelt kit and water pump and leave it at that until I felt I wanted more power. So I dismantled the engine, took both manifolds off, disconnected all the loom and gave it a quick clean off with Wurth engine cleaner.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/DSC00009.jpg

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Using silver engine enamel I sprayed the head and using gloss black I sprayed the cast block, i wanted it to look as original as possible.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/lumpY3.jpg

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With the engine clean I needed to decide which gearbox to use. I didn't want the six speed box as I felt I would be constantly changing gear so I went for a Mi box. The actual box I bought from Miles and it was from an S16. I gave this a clean off too but in the end had it powder coated as I couldn't clean it well enough by hand.

 

Meanwhile in Sheffield Andy had finished stripping the remaining parts and started the arduous job of changing the roof skin, rubbing down and priming amongst other things! All the work Andy carried out can be found here. .

 

http://ben.loaded.net/gallery/view_album.p...bumName=album76

 

Meanwhile I was spending plenty of hard earned on new parts. My thinking is if I go to all the trouble of having the shell made mint why stick all the old dirty crap back on? So the car was going to be treated to a set of re-furbed 15" speedlines wrapped in Eagle F1s, GTi6 brakes with new front and rear discs and Mintex pads, new 309 wishbones and driveshafts, new lights all round and plenty of bits from Peugeot.

 

I also decided to get nearly everything that was removed from the engine bay powder coated firstly to clean and make rust free but also to preserve.

 

The powder coated items can be seen here

 

http://ben.loaded.net/gallery/view_album.p...er-coated-items

 

I will be updating this shortly as I have loads of new pictures.

 

Ed

Edited September 30, 2007 by cybernck

[gti_al 1]

The green looks fantastic. Good luck with finishing it off - it looks like it will come together very nicely.

[huzzer 0]

Looks wicked Ed! That is going to look amazing. I love to see proper restorations going on.

 

Really want to get stuck into a project like that over here, but they're pretty thin on the ground! only seen one gti since i've been here. I think they are pretty strict with engine conversions too.

[Paintguy 0]

It's about time you got some pictures up!

 

Thanks for your kind words Ed, and it's good to see you're lavishing as much attention to detail on the rest of the car as I did on the bodywork That's going to be one minty 205 when it's finished

 

Looking forward to more updates.

[maxi 36 1 Cars]

Ed this looks fantatsic mate!!!!!! Seriously mint when its done, I remember when I first did the sla it was mint like this! How long until the engine goes on its mounts mate?

 

Maxi

[SAMSMITH 0]

looking good. i might be looking to get a sorrento myself!

[gerry 5]

how nice is that BIG respect ed:)

[Alastairh 47]

Awesome!

 

Look forward to seeing this in the flesh when its done!

[dale205mills 39 7 Cars]

Now thats a nive looking 205, thats what im doing to my 205 its nearly striped down to a bare shell. Have you got the inside roof lineing yet if so was it from peugeot cos iv got a late 205 and i want a none sun roof ineing but its hard finding a late one???

[Hilgie 16 2 Cars]

Looking very good Ed!! I like Sorrento non-sunroof cars

[Richie 32]

Very coolio.

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

Andy its been far too long! I've been writing this on and off now for ages but never posted it up. With doing up a flat holding down a job and trying to keep my other 205 running time has been hard to come by but i'm determined to make it as mint and reliable as possible. So I have even gone to the extreme measure of having all the original bolts taken to a platers to have them cleaned up, pics of those soon!

 

Maxi, cheers for the comments mate. All I need is a smaller top mount like Stew from BBM is planning on making and to replace the cambelt and to be honest the engine could go in. I have all the bits and recently got a unlocked ECU. I will give you and Dan a shout when it comes to the head scratching wiring

 

Dale205, I got really lucky and found a phase 2 non sunroof car in my local scrap yard. I spent a good hour carefully removing the head lining without ripping it. I noticed when removing it there was no sound deadening between the roof and the lining so I used some general purpose carpet glue and fixed that up.

 

Cheers for the kind comments guys I will try and keep the updates coming regularly. .

 

Ed

[Ben Allen 8]

Enjoyed reading the story and checking out the pics Ed, nicely done! I look forward to the next update

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

Cheers Ben for both the comments and the use of your gallery.

 

Well time for a quick update...

 

I thought as I was removing the rear beam and front suspension so I could undercoat and seal the under side of the car I may as well rebuild the beam with new parts and have the beam cleaned and powder coated. So once the beam was removed I set about breaking the beam down and inspecting for the dreaded corrosion and general solid rust that seems to happen so often with this suspension component.

 

 

Once I began to undo bolts it all seemed to come apart fairly easily which I took as a good sign. I started on the left hand side torsion bar removing the offset washer and the torsion bar came out freely after a few smacks of the sledge hammer. The arm seemed in good condition with no sign of rust and and grease still evident on the bearing. So onto the right side I wasn't so lucky. The screw just would not come out of the torsion bar and in the end it was damage limitation and I had to drill it out. The torsion bar is scrap but the arm again is in fine condition.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/arm1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/arm.jpg

 

Once the beam was apart I took it to the local sand blasters/ powder coaters and they made them good as new! I wanted the beam bright lairy yellow and I definitely got the desired effect! I also had the rear brake disc protectors and heat shields done at the same time.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/beam1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/arms3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP...heatshields.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP...eatshields2.jpg

 

More updates soon!

[Baz 421]

This is going to be one damn fine 205!! The repainted rolling shell looked ace, an absolute credit to Paintguy's work!

 

Cheers for the engine btw Ed, funnily enough, it went in another non sunny sorrento, although the guy blew it up 11k later!

 

Keep up the effort and us posted with progress!

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

wow, definately "projects forum worthy" therefore moved!

 

keep up the good work and keep us posted!

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

Cheers Nik, much appreciated.

 

 

Quick update time. After getting the car back and into my mums garage it was time to get down to some rebuilding. The problem being i'd never undertaken any thing like this before so it was difficult to know where to start with so much to do. I decided to rebuild the interior first with the rear quarter plastics, glass and carpet. The main issue I had was finding a non sunny head lining but as previously said I had a right result when finding one in a local scrappy. This meant I could continue with all the pillar plastics. I also re-installed the rear lights (after a good clean )

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/DSC00015.jpg

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So on that sunny day we had in the south this summer the car was treated and rolled outside. The gargae isnt huge I can tell you. I had to connect a battery to the mains loom so I could wind the windows up and down to refit the window sealsand refit the locks and handles. I also cracked on with the door-cards and carpet. I made my own sound deadening from materials bought from an acoustic shop. The rear seats went back in next but I fell short of putting the fronts back in just yet just in case I needed room inside the car when it comes to wiring the alarm and loom for the engine. . .

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP...09042007119.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/interior.jpg

 

The car was then back in the garage jacked up and supported. I had the front suspension removed and the rear beam so I could go over the under side of the car with various cleaning items and to check underneath for rot. Luckily for me the only slight rust was some surface corrosion on the boot floor so this was sanded back to bare metal, primed and painted before a liberal amount of underseal was caked on to preserve the underneath. Unfortunately i only have the pictures of the front arch as this was a pretty messy job and the missus wasn't best pleased to see my grubby mits all over her camera! You get the idea though So I went round the whole car on my hands and knees cleaning and spraying. It was hard work but hopefully it will preserve the underneath for a few more years yet. The arches proved to be a little more difficult as I needed to mask off the sorrento paint before splurging the thick black sticky stuff everywhere but it turned out ok in the end.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP...12052007153.jpg

 

I'm sure i've got some more photos around here somewhere but thats it for now, more updates soon

 

Ed

Edited October 2, 2007 by Edp

[Alastairh 47]

Excellent.

 

Seeing all this makes me wish i had gone the whole hog with my Sorrento now!

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

You've still got the car haven't you al?

 

Time for a quick update. While I had a couple of spare hours today I thought about cracking on with the alternator auxiliary belt tensioner. With the air conditioner compressor removed and sold the normal belt would've been too long so I bought a shorter belt from a local factors which was still long enough to go round the various rollers, alternator and power steering pump which I'm going to retain on this car. The problem I came up against was the belt was still too long but with the top bolt of the alternator unbolted and tilted down on the bottom fixing the belt tightened up. So the plan was to use a standard 8v tensioner (like others have) and make the bugger fit.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/7.jpg

 

So i was kindly donated a 8v tensioner (cheers Ian) and went about cutting it and drilling so I could still use the tensioner in the way it does on the 8v motor by tightening up the front nut. Once it was drilled I could temporarily fix the 'arm' onto the block where the alternator normally bolts in and see how well it would work. I was well pleased to see the 'arm' lined up with the alternator bolt hole so it would just mean drilling out the bolt part of the tensioner so I could use a much longer bolt with a spacer.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/3.jpg

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So with all the bits made and all the bolts gathered I trail fitted to how well it all worked. And to my surprise it worked really well. The belt tensioned up just right, not too loose, not too tight and i bolted it all through and turned the engine by hand to see everything working as it should. With it all built I broke the parts down and gave them a quick blast of black paint.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/13.jpg

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Ed

[TeCh2pe 0]

Inspiring project this! I makes me feel bad cause I've put my Sorrento up for sale.

Having to little time and fairly enough cars to lay my hands on. So I feel that someone with the time and enthusiasm should have it instead.

Keep up the good work Edp. Looking forward to see the progress on this one!

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

Quick update, after a long chat with my powder coater about the cost of new pug bolts he pushed me in the direction of a local zinc platers. I took several large bags of Peugeot bolts down to him and within a week i had them all back and they all look like new all for the sum of £30. I'm going to take my torsion bars down there too and have him clean them up too

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ewP205/bolts2.jpg

 

 

Meanwhile I mounted the fuel filter into its new location in the drivers side inner wing which will free up room around the servo. Still using the original fuel filter bracket i mounted it by drilling 2 bolts into the wing, rust proofing and fixing. I then re-routed the new braided fuel hose to it, i also bought some red hose finishers from thinkautomotive to tart it up a bit. Putting the filter here like many have before means its much easier to change in the future.

 

 

Edited October 18, 2007 by Edp

[GLPoomobile 958]

This has only just occurred to me - many people have mounted the filter in that position also out of paranoia of fuel leaks squirting on to the exhaust manifold and igniting. But if, for example, you developed a leak from the banjo on the filter would there be any possibility of the petrol igniting if it comes in to contact with some of the wiring in that area? I.e. if you have a bit of dodgy insulation. I'm not specifically referring to your car, more generalising for all those who have done this.

 

Looking good bye the way (very jealous )

 

 

Oh, I also saw pics of your white one a while back and was going to mention that pretty much everything about it matches how my own 205 currently looks or was planning to have it looking (GTi16 rear badge and PTS grill stripes for instance), so if I ever get it finished and you see pics please don't think I've nicked your ideas

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

So what your saying is your point blankly attempting to copy me but now you've written that you have some sort of disclaimer so i can't abuse you of the fact? you can do whatever to your car mate, if it looks like mine i'll be flattered

 

On the fuel filter thing i hadn't really thought about the wiring thing. I guess as i'm using new filter, hose, hose clips etc etc i'm assuming* it will be better than the original position for the reason of maintenance. Also seeing as i'm putting the GTi6 lump in its going to take up plenty of room and the inner wing seems like a superior location compared to where peugeot put it. Although saying that, peugeot designed the engine bay as a left hand drive which would have meant the brake servo being the other side, so the filter would have been on its own with sufficient space around it.

 

 

*assumption is the mother of all fu*k ups.

Edited October 19, 2007 by Edp

[Paintguy 0]

*assumption is the mother of all fu*k ups.

Never ASSUME, it just makes an ASS out of U & ME

 

 

I think you need to give me the contact details for your powdercoat and plate people - those prices are a bargain!