[car_overhaul] 1992 1.6 Gti Rebuild

[Rob Thomson 6]

The time has come to give my nice little Miami Blue 1.6 GTi a rebuild...

 

I bought this in November 2006, when I thought I had lots and lots of money and could afford another car in addition to the Mondeo and the 106 rally car. I've always been a sucker for non-sunroof Miami Blue 205s, so when I saw this on eBay I wasted no time in dragging my brother along with me to have a look. It wasn't perfect; the suspension felt buggered, the gearshift was awful, the clutch was heavy, the shell was dented, but in the sunshine that winter afternoon it looked beautiful and I just couldn't resist.

 

I was so proud to have a nice shiny 205 parked on the drive, to make me smile in the morning when I left for work, and again when I got home at night...

 

 

 

Until April last year she barely did any miles; just the occasional thrash down the local lanes. Then some daft bint wrote off my trusty Mondeo, and after a few weeks of courtesy car the 205 became my only means of commuting down the M5 to North Somerset where I work. The thought of 100 miles/day in the noisy rattle-box filled me with dread, but I loved every minute. I met my girlfriend around that time too, and now look back on happy memories of buzzing around with her in the 205 feeling like a right tit, but being amazed that she loved the 205 too.

 

I'd always been a 309 man at heart, but I finally began to understand the magic of the 205. The handling may be a little less polished than a 309, but it's so much more fun. My old 309 was fairly well developed with Mi16 power and decent suspension, but this standard (and knackered) 205 is in a different league in terms of driver enjoyment.

 

Here it is, 'on-site' on Weston-super-Mare beach during a tough working day sometime last June...

 

 

 

 

The MOT ran out at the beginning of July, a couple of weeks after I'd bought a replacement Mondeo and had begun to remember what refinement was all about. The 205 was never going to pass another MOT without a lot of work, so the poor thing has sat neglected on the drive for the past six months. I've been meaning to pull my finger out and get her going for ages, but I've finally got around to it. My housemate has decided he wants to move out of our nice spacious house in the country and move into a posh flat in the centre of Cheltenham where he can entice young (but legal) girls. I've decided to move closer to work, so I'm moving out and the clock is ticking. I've got a couple of months to get her back on the road, and to make a good job of doing so while I've got decent facilities.

 

The front suspension's knackered, the rear brakes don't work. The headgasket's starting to go, and the gearbox doesn't like it when I ask for third gear. The shell's showing signs of corrosion around the engine mountings and inner wings, and a lot of the wiring's completely f*cked. It doesn't make sense to change the headgasket without fitting a new cambelt, and while the cambelt's off I might as well change the tensioner and waterpump. While the gearbox is off it might as well get a new clutch, and while the rear brakes are being sorted I'd be silly not to pull the beam off and give it a precautionary rebuild, etc etc. The list goes on and on, and the price adds up and up... but I figure it's worth spending the money; this little car is special to me and I have no plans to sell.

 

I started work on Saturday. After a few hours over the weekend and couple of hours this evening the car's on axle stands in the garage, the engine's on its stand, and the front suspension is off and disassembled. I've given the shell a good going over, and the corrosion I've worried about is merely surface rust that should be easy enough to sort out. Structurally the shell seems perfect, with barely a mark on anything behind the A-pillars. Nice; I'm ok with a spanner but anything to do with repairing bodywork scares the s*it out of me.

 

Poor thing (as of Saturday evening)...

 

 

Look out for regular updates. I can't wait to get her going again...

[Super Josh 4]

Nice write up Rob. shows just why we love our PITA 205s

 

 

 

Josh

[Richie 32]

Looks good man, almost as pug intended, wheres the pepperpots

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Nice story, I'll look forward to updates.

[205007 12]

when i go and look at 205`s to buy i always find glaringly obvious faults which totally spoil the way the car behaves/drives and i think no wonder your selling this car!

 

but then i have to remind myself that at the end of the day its a 15-20 year old car and not everyone has the same mentality so you have to forgive people not spending their cash on the little things

 

looks like she is worth saving, good luck with all the effort your putting in

[Rob Thomson 6]

wheres the pepperpots

The pepperpots are where they belong; stacked up behind the garage!

 

I like to think of myself as the least vain person ever. I currently have a beard; not because it suits me but because the lack of facial maintenance saves me a couple of minutes every morning. I wear a tie for only the most important meetings, and only ever wear the jacket of my suit when someone dies. I drive a Mk2 Mondeo, I'm getting fat, I snear at men who drive Audi TTs, and when the girlfriend suggests I should moisturize I roll my eyes and point out that I'm a real man and not one of these metrosexual freaks. How something looks is never a factor.

 

But I think GTI's look hideous on the Pepperpots; so much so that I'm even willing to over-look the handling benefits of the smaller wheels...

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I have to say Rob that I've always hated the Pepperpots too, the 1900 alloys just look so much better. But with the 1600 I have at the moment I am trying really hard to resist the temptation to bolt the bigger wheels on it, I have owned loads of 205s and they have all had the 1900 alloys on, so I am sticking with the pepperpots to be different and keep the car as it was supposed to be.........even though I have 3 complete sets of 1900 alloys in the garage.

 

The only thing I will say against 1900 wheels on a 1600 is that I think they look silly on the rear of the car, they look too inset. If I were to put 1900 wheels on my 1600 I'd have to get some 10mm or so spacers to move them out to where they sit on a 1900.

[DaveW 6]

Pepper pots are gash, love miami blue looks good

[Baz 421]

Good work! Will this be turning into a project thread hopefully then Rob??

 

Trying to do the same with my Miami 1.6 atm, when i can find the time!

[Rob Thomson 6]

The only thing I will say against 1900 wheels on a 1600 is that I think they look silly on the rear of the car, they look too inset. If I were to put 1900 wheels on my 1600 I'd have to get some 10mm or so spacers to move them out to where they sit on a 1900.

Every other aspect of this car is going to be standard, so it does seem wrong to fit the 1900 wheels...

 

So what's the story with the track widths, then? The 1.6 has a wider front end and a narrower back end?

 

Good work! Will this be turning into a project thread hopefully then Rob??

That's the idea. More than anything it'll keep me taking the photos and allow me to look back on my progress. And if it helps or inspires anyone else then so much the better.

[Baz 421]

Well it's making me want to get mine done, definitely inspiration!

 

So what's the story with the track widths, then? The 1.6 has a wider front end and a narrower back end?

 

Correct, and the 1.9 the other way round, only marginal though really.

Edited January 15, 2008 by BazGTMi

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Go on, put it back to looking standard, you know you want to!

 

Look how mine looks on its Pepperpots, all innocent and naive, unlike the big bad 1.9!!!!

 

http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a221/tom...=Photo-0077.jpg

 

Keep the pictures coming bud.

[MrG 3]

Go on, put it back to looking standard, you know you want to!

 

Look how mine looks on its Pepperpots, all innocent and naive, unlike the big bad 1.9!!!!

 

http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a221/tom...=Photo-0077.jpg

 

Keep the pictures coming bud.

 

 

looks good Tom and it stands out amongst the sea of 1.9 shod 205's! Soon the 1.6 in std form will be quite rare all unmodified and innocent like that

[Dino 3]

Sort those wonky front lights out!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rob Thomson 6]

I've spent a few more hours taking the 205 apart...

 

 

I had a few problems getting the rear beam off because the brake lines were all seized solid and that weird strap thing wouldn't come off, but now that's done it's nearing being as far apart as it's going to be.

 

I've been distracted a few times by the wiring, trying to unpick the mess that is the alarm and immobilisor wiring under the steering column and the slightly unorthodox wiring for the stereo and multi-changer. I was a bit worried about the wiring as it had a few faults last time on the road, but it's actually far less f***ed-with than I expected to find with most damage limited to sections that are easy to replace or repair. The engine instrument loom is properly knackered though, so I'll be making a nice new one to replace that.

 

Poking around in the engine-less engine bay reveals a bit more corrosion than I thought there was when I bought the car, but thankfully none of it's serious.

 

This is the worst below the pedal box...

 

 

Then there's the usual on the inner wing and front panel...

 

 

 

None of it's anything worse than surface rust where the paint's peeled away, so it should be easy enough to sort out. I was going to work out how to do bodywork myself, but I know a lad who works in the paintshop at Morgan who's going to pop over and sort it out for me.

 

I've got the engine on its stand and have started taking it apart. I think there's about 115,000 miles on the clock but it sounded sweet until the headgasket started puffing slightly, and the cam and valve gear looks brand new so I'm hoping there's plenty of life left in it yet. I'm torn as to whether or not to take the bottom end apart while it's out of the car; since it had good oil pressure, didn't use any oil and screamed quite nicely I'm inclined to leave well alone.

 

 

This is an example of something I shouldn't have tampered with. For some unknown reason I removed the water disribution housing from the back of the block. I didn't need to do it, but I was enjoying taking things apart and it seemed wrong to leave it. Any ideas how I'm going to remove this broken bolt.....???????

 

 

More updates soon.

[pip470 61]

If you have a welder, it looks like you could screw a nut onto the remaining thread, and weld the nut to the thread. Hit it a few times with a hammer and then just to aid it that little bit more a small amount of heat to the ally to let it expand just a little. Should fly out. Good luck with the project. Phill

[M@tt 77]

get some plug gas on it and then get a blow torch on the block should around the bolt should hopefully free it up sufficiently to be able to get some mole grips on it really tighly and un screw it

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

I stripped my bay a little more than that and towed it down the road to get the engigine bay respayed (put the struts back on obviously but had to use the Handbrake to stop! )

Is there a Powder coaters anywhere near you. It's actually cheaper it you take a bunch of stuff down.

Some places even do Nickle or Zinc coating too quite cheap, for the factory finish.

Edited January 23, 2008 by ALEX

[pip470 61]

Warning do not tow your car with the engine out. It will need to be trailered. You need the driveshafts in the hubs to keep the wheel bearing and hub together and obviosly if theres nothing to plug the other end of the drive shaft into as the gearbox is out the ends will flop about and cause damage. Im just replying to the post above. Cheers Phill

[Rob Thomson 6]

Is there a Powder coaters anywhere near you. It's actually cheaper it you take a bunch of stuff down.

Yeah, the plan is to take a load of stuff to the local powder-coaters. Subframe, battery tray, rear suspension outriggers, random brackets etc... Might as well do it properly while it's all apart.

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

Warning do not tow your car with the engine out. It will need to be trailered. You need the driveshafts in the hubs to keep the wheel bearing and hub together and obviosly if theres nothing to plug the other end of the drive shaft into as the gearbox is out the ends will flop about and cause damage. Im just replying to the post above. Cheers Phill

 

There's a circlip that holds the bearing in the hub and it usually takes a press to split a bearing so I think you'll be O.K

But with todays sociaty all hooked up on writing method statements and Safety, then maybe you should PAY! for the trailer.

Don't forget the hard hat and High Vis Jacket too!

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

This is how I towed mine back from the painters.

 

 

 

Use a tow bar (they cost about £10) rather than a rope.

As I siad it was only down the road for me

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

I'm pro pepperpot myself on a standard looking car as a nice set with the original polished centres looks well, especially on the phase 2. 1.9 wheels were an optional extra if you asked for them as I know someone who had them on a 1.6 from new.

 

Good luck with the project

[pip470 61]

There's a circlip that holds the bearing in the hub and it usually takes a press to split a bearing so I think you'll be O.K

But with todays sociaty all hooked up on writing method statements and Safety, then maybe you should PAY! for the trailer.

Don't forget the hard hat and High Vis Jacket too!

 

The circlip holds the outer bearing race into the stub axle carrier, The hub wich is pressed into the bearing inner race right at the end of the job is held in with friction ad then held all together by the drive shaft. If the driveshaft is removed al thats holding it in is friction. It will come out nd the bearing will fall apart. Do not take this lightly,This could kill some body.

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

This could kill some body.

 

That's very unlikely But if you're that worried that the hub will easily pull out of a bearing, and when Im changing bearings, I really wish they would.

You could always clamp the bearing together with a nut & bolt if you can find one big enough.