[engine_work] Well I've Started My Sorrento Gti6 Project

[Peetypug 5]

Part 1, how I got my baby

 

I’m not sure how to start this as its going to be a bit of a labour of love, so I’ll start from the beginning

 

When I first saw it, it was in my wife’s parents farmyard looking a bit worse for wear. My brother in-law had just bought it for £450. It was filthy and covered in dents, grime, lacquer peel and had a big scrape down the passenger side . It had been stood for the best part of 8 months

 

He messed about with it and got it running properly, but wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it, as he already had a cherry red 1.9. Anyway my modified 205 XS failed its mot so I was desperate for a car and needed one quickly. I had £2K to spend but couldn’t find anything suitable (well i could find loads of modified things but nothing that grabbed me) Then my thoughts turned to the black thing in the yard. I’d never looked at it properly, I just jokingly picked fun at it from afar . This one morning the sun was shining and that’s when I noticed that it wasn’t black. It was a greeny purpley pearly colour, it had full leather and didn’t look that bad

 

I rang him up and asked if I could take it for a spin he said yes and came up, compared to my XS it was like driving a boat, but it went well and didn’t have any problems. So I told him I would have it if it passed its mot.

Well it only went and passed without any problems! I couldn’t believe it

 

So I ask how much he wanted for it (I know I should have asked first but hey ho) when he said £500 I snapped his hand arm shoulder and part of his chest off. I’d just bought my first 205 GTI it was February 2004

 

It stayed in this state for 12 months without any modifications, I loved it! Then I bought a piperX air filter, a fse fuel regulator and a magnex full stainless with 4 branch manifold. Then I was happy again, apart from trying to fit the manifold……what a pain in the ar*e that was!

 

Just typical if I hadn’t messed with it, it would have been fine. The exhaust manifold wouldn’t stay tight to the head and it started to lose the securing nuts. Then the starter motor packed up! I wasn’t impressed! As the car has power steering I couldn’t get to it and had to take the inlet manifold off. I put the new starter on and refitted the inlet with a gasket from a GTI head set that I was given.

 

All wasn’t well and I couldn’t find the problem . It was using £80 worth of fuel in about 200 miles . After about 2 months of this I took it off the road and bought an escort for £250, off the brother in-law again. That was in November 2005 and its not been driven since.

[Peetypug 5]

Part 2, the start of a long journey

 

Well me and the wife got married and moved into our new house with a garage (for my 205)

I wasn’t going to get rid of it, its my baby. I then started to think about getting it back on the road and getting it fully re-sprayed. So up went the bonnet and work began.

 

kit and bumpers off

 

Off came the inlet manifold, that’s when I saw the first error of amateur mechanics…… I’d put the gasket for a carbed XU engine on it and it was blocking the injectors, how could I be so stupid? By this time I’d already decided to modify the engine with the Kent PT27 cam that was sat in the garage, so out came the engine.

 

manifold off

 

engine out

 

I left that to one side and started to strip the rest of the car, its cheaper and quicker to strip the car yourself then take it like that to the body shop for the re-spray (that still hasn’t happened yet though) So there it sits right now on the drive stripped with no engine, no wings (dented and peeled), no bonnet, no grill and no front suspension or interior.

 

nearly stripped bay

 

The only big bad points have been a hole under the rear seats, above the fuel tank and 2 large humps in the front foot wells (looks to be from jacking it up in the wrong place ). So I’ll have to get them sorted when I get it re-sprayed

 

I then started to hear about R1 carb conversions and thought I’ll have a bit of that. I rang the Bogg Brothers and got a manifold ordered than started to look for other parts for the 8v rebuild. I bought some carbs off ebay and a few other bits and bobs that I thought I would need. That was when I came across 205GTIDrivers, what a place. Its like Santa’s grotto for 205 lovers. This place is my second biggest addiction, the wife hates it when I’m on here as I ignore her constantly. I can see it now at the divorce courts, he’s turned into a cyber geek! He loves them more than me. But I’ll still have this place I suppose.

[Peetypug 5]

Part 3, what do I do?

I started to have doubts about what I wanted to do with the engine, should I stick with the 8v or go bigger. V6= too big and too much work, MI16= too old and done too many times, 406 SRI= don’t like the idea of my turbo killing the engine through lack of oil (2 of my mate’s Scooby‘s did this and it scared me). So that left 2 options S16 and GTI6, so I tossed a coin and a GTI6 it was.

 

So just to make sure I followed up my decision, I put all my 1.9 modifying parts on eBay

 

After putting them on I started to search high and low for a gti6, I wasn’t bothered if it had been in a crash or was in one piece, just as long as it was running. I’ve never been on ebay so much, or the auto trader for that matter. I’d been searching for a couple of weeks and nearly changed my mind and bought a turbo engine off here, but it was near London. Then I saw a GTI6 engine on here, that was also near London and had high miles so that was a no. Then the wife shouted me, she’d found a written off 1998 GTI6 on eBay with 70.000 miles on the clock. How I hadn’t seen it is beyond me, so I mailed him and rang him, I offered £500 for the engine, box and front brakes. Well when he told me I could have the whole car for £600 I snapped his hand arm shoulder and part of his chest off. (de ja voo anybody?)

 

first pic of the car i saw

[Peetypug 5]

Part 4, lets get the car!!

 

I have a good friend who’s mate owns a body shop in stoke, he also owns a recovery truck.

So after a few phone calls he says I can borrow it for the weekend. Its not the most modern truck and only has 4 gears, but it got us to Bristol, then to Stockport then back to Stoke in one piece

 

It was a pretty un-eventful drive down. Then when we got there the car was parked on a busy road that had quite bit of camber towards the kerb. This wasn’t ideal as when we tried to get it on it kept trying to slide off. Well I moved the truck and

we put dolly wheels under the front wheels of the car. We spun it through 180 degrees, blocking the road in the process, then wheeled it to a side street that was flat. this time it went straight onto the wagon with no messing about.

So after getting there at 7.30 a and messing about getting it on we left Bristol at 9.45!

 

how i found it

 

on the truck

 

my recovery crew

 

We got onto the M5 with a quarter of a tank of fuel, went 3 miles and the fuel light came on! I wasn’t impressed as I didn’t know where the next services were…. Well luckily they are 9 miles from junction 15 where I got on, so £65 later we back on the road (motorway fuel is bloody expensive!). The journey back was pretty un-eventful as well, apart from when we pulled over for something to eat at the services near junction 3 of the M5. My god daughters boyfriend stayed with the truck and car while my brother in-law and myself went for food. On the way back we saw 2 women in florescent jackets talking to the lad in the truck. We were expecting to be told we were parked in the wrong area, but no not services police…… it was blood Jehovah’s witnesses handing out watchtower! I was bloody gob smacked and told them to go away in no uncertain terms.

 

Sorry to anybody on here that’s religious but if I wanted to find god I’d go and look for him! So I’d rather them not come knocking on my door, talking to me in the street or and I still cant believe it, trying to covert me on a motorway services car park!!!!!

 

The car came off the truck so much easier than it went on and was put in place for easy stripping for all the parts to go onto my little baby!

 

on stands waiting to be gutted

[Peetypug 5]

i suppose i should really say what i'm planning to do with the car really

i always loved the eccosse ruggeri kit and a few other kitted 205's, but i seem to have grown out of them now.

so its going to be an ultra clean completely standard looking sorrento green 205 after its had its full respray

but with a gti6 lump and brakes and depending on money maybe add a little bit of something to it at a later date

 

its not going to be a trackday monster, just a pampered sunny day drive to shows and weekends out. i may even follow the ford lads and trailer it everywhere

 

only joking, it will be driven on the public highway

 

i will try to do a step by step write up of where i'm up to and i will, where possible take photo's of every problem i come across

 

also, any help will be recieved greatfully

[Peetypug 5]

Part 5, lets gut this baby

Apart from the guy I had the car off nicking all the badges and interior the car was pretty much in one piece….

Apart from both front shockers being bent, the drivers bottom ball joint was snapped off at the ball, the passengers wishbone was snapped in 2 the drivers alloy has a massive bend in it, the passengers steel wheel is bent beyond belief, the passengers door was wrecked as was the passenger wing and the steering wrack being bent into a U shape it wasn’t too bad

 

Oh forgot to add that the top engine mount had ripped straight out of the wing taking a chunk of it with it!!!! and there is a big split below the whole width of the windscreen and another between the inner wing and the door hinges!

 

The main thing is that the engine and box survived pretty much unscathed, well that’s if you don’t count the gearbox mount snapping off. The engine runs really well with no smoke or rattles, it had a cambelt 10.000 miles ago (its got full service history, but I will still be replacing it)

 

I unplugged the ecu at 7pm on Easter Sunday, had some ciders then went to bed happy. But after a poor nights sleep I got up at 6.30am. I got my warm clothes on and went out in the snow showers to the 306.

I didn’t know where to start…. So I took the rest of the crumple zone behind the bumper off then the radiators and fans. I then thought its not going to be that hard. Everything was pretty straight forward and not much harder than taking the 1.9 out of the 205. It took me 5 hours to get the engine and gearbox out, the brakes and front suspension off and the rear beam off. Needless to say I was a very very happy bunny

 

will add more pics when i get chance

[Peetypug 5]

some piccys

 

almost ready to come out

 

its out

 

inlet side

 

isnt the gti6 exhaust manifold a thing of beauty

 

a little bonus that i found behind the wheels

Edited March 26, 2008 by sorrentopete

[jackherer 543]

2 large humps in the front foot wells (looks to be from jacking it up in the wrong place ).

 

The floor is meant to be humped under the seats, if its the same both sides its nothing to worry about.

[maturin23 10]

Nice one Pete - keep the posts coming...

 

Just made me even more determined to get mine GTI6'd

[Peetypug 5]

The floor is meant to be humped under the seats, if its the same both sides its nothing to worry about.

 

they are at the front of the foot wells and when i've looked underneith it there is a mess of jacking marks, i think they might just bash out, i'll have a look at the 205 at the farm then decide what to do

 

Nice one Pete - keep the posts coming...

 

Just made me even more determined to get mine GTI6'd

 

i cant believe i'm doing it myself, just hope to get it done by the end of summer

Edited March 26, 2008 by sorrentopete

[Peetypug 5]

just been looking through the history

fully stamped up service book

the disks are 10 months old and cost £157, they are red dot 6 slot discs

its got brand new ferodo ds2500 pads

 

then the rolling road print out, 171 bhp @ 6400, 138bhp @ the wheels with 149 ft/lb's of torque

[Bakes100 20 1 Cars]

Mine had slight lumps in the floor where someone clever had jacked it up, doesnt take much to get them flat again

[Peetypug 5]

well just a quick update

 

i bought the engine back to the house with me at the weekend and started to take bits off to clean them up

all the alloy parts are really grimey and covered with like a white powder

whats the best way of getting it all off?

i dont really want to go at it with a stiff wire brush if there's another way of doing it

the main parts i want to sort are the inlet, head and rocker covers

the rest of it will just be degreased as its not going to be a show car

also, i'm keeping the power steering.

has anybody else kept it? if so how have you tensioned it (was thinking of using the standard 6 tensioner) and what size belt have you used?

[djinuk 2]

Really enjoying this project, nicely set out and ill be following it keen eyed as i plan the gti6 conversion also

[Peetypug 5]

the only problem with the whole thing is that i've not got a massive amount of time to do anything to the bloody thing! Right now i'm getting all the bits to fit it, ready in the garage. Will update on what parts i'm getting in the week

[craig f90 0]

the only problem with the whole thing is that i've not got a massive amount of time to do anything to the bloody thing! Right now i'm getting all the bits to fit it, ready in the garage. Will update on what parts i'm getting in the week

Thats the best way to do it. Collect all of your bits and when you have time to work on it you aren't sitting around wishing for a pile of parts. Its amazing how quickly those bits will find their way onto your car. i just had an hour or so on mine at night and a few weekend and then she was complete.

But as always a project is never finished. You'll get there soon enough. Never worth rushing a job.

[Peetypug 5]

here's a few bits that i've collected till now

 

8v thermostat housing adapter

 

rev counter loom from Spiky

 

RS2000 engine mount

just need to find out what size and how many washers to use and how many to lower the box with

 

oil pressure sensor

 

i'm gona start putting bits back on the car this weekend i'm feeling a little bit nervous

[jamiej 0]

Hey buddy,

 

for my head work project, i have found the best way to clean the ally parts are with a shot blaster or sand blaster. expecially the rocker cover, mine came up lovely, leaves a matt finish but can be easily polished up. MAKE SURE YOU MASK EVERYTHING OFF HOWEVER THOUGH, THE SAND CAN/WILL GET EVERYWHERE !!!!!

 

Hope this helps.

Jamie

[Peetypug 5]

thanks for the tip. I think blasting will be going a bit far. I'm gona try brillo pads first then if that doesnt work i'll be sending them off for some polishing action

[taylorspug 7]

If you want to keep the power steering setup then you need a tensioner setup off a 306 Rallye, which has PAS but no aircon.

[djinuk 2]

i dont mean to sound silly but why do you use a rs2000 engine mount, and also where abouts did you get the thermostat adapter from. Sorry i am looking at doing this conversion and just want to get all the info first.

[Peetypug 5]

If you want to keep the power steering setup then you need a tensioner setup off a 306 Rallye, which has PAS but no aircon.

 

yeah i was told i'd need those parts, i priced them up on service box (£100 iirc )

 

i dont mean to sound silly but why do you use a rs2000 engine mount, and also where abouts did you get the thermostat adapter from. Sorry i am looking at doing this conversion and just want to get all the info first.

 

the rs2000 mount is to lower the engine so that i dont get the master cylinder fouling problems

i got the thermostat adapter off here, there was a group buy not long ago, i'm pretty sure there is some of them left

clicky for the topic

[djinuk 2]

all makes sence that does , out of interest did you have any trouble with the unlocking of the ecu etc?, how did you go about with that part of it, I really do wish you the best of luck with it, great interesting read

[Peetypug 5]

all makes sence that does , out of interest did you have any trouble with the unlocking of the ecu etc?, how did you go about with that part of it, I really do wish you the best of luck with it, great interesting read

i bought the whole car to do my conversion. So i turned the ignition to 2nd click (one before turning over) then unplugged the ecu. But you can also do it with the engine running just unplug it, the car will stop and the ecu is then unlocked.

[Spiky 37]

i'll keep an eye on this

 

best of luck, you'll be fine, just takes time to do it neatly

 

for the gearbox side, just addsome washer, making sure you still have enough thread for the nyloc nut