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Hi folks, I'm looking to get a sense of the work I need to do in preparation for the respray. I understand that some of these questions will be best answered by the bodyshop that I choose to go with but before I approach anyone it would be really useful to get a consensus here from people who have experience of having their 205 resprayed please. At present the engine, gearbox and most of the interior are out of the car but the front subframe, rear beam, brake components, doors, windows, tailgate, fuel tank and lines, and bonnet are all in place. I will be removing all of these parts in due course anyway along with the sunroof and all exterior trim. There is significant blooming on the roof and bonnet so they will need to be taken back to bare metal. I have a few dings in the front wings and doors, there is a hole in the boot floor where rust has eaten through and there is rust on the front of the rear wheel arches. The driver’s side door has dropped and needs re-aligning, the checkstrap isn’t working on the passenger side door, and the tailgate has play in the hinges/latch. I have no intention of attempting any welding or rust repair myself. I am planning to contract one bodyshop to fix the dings, rust and do the respray in one go. On my shopping/to do list I have a pair of checkstrap mechanisms and a set of front door hinge pins and although I am expecting my bodyshop to want to do the final prep’ I am planning to do the majority of the paint removal myself to provide a rough prep’. The main question is “in what order should I attempt this work please?” This whole thing is starting to get on my pip as I can’t see the logical steps and where I need to concentrate my efforts now the weather’s getting better. My thoughts are. 1. Do I have to have the full weight of the car in situ and the car on its wheels to align the doors? If so, I can’t do the hinges and checkstraps until after the respray – will this be an issue? 2. If I can do the door/alignment work at any time am I best to do this now, before removing anything else (while the car’s on its wheels) and starting and further removal/my rough prep’? 3. Or, should I remove the subframe, rear beam and other stuff first and do my rough prep’ and alignment work with the shell on a dolly and/or stands? 4. Is it likely that the bodyshop will want the tailgate, bonnet and doors off the car? If so, this answers some of my other questions regarding the order in which I do the alignment stuff as I’ll just strip it all down and send everything that needs to be red to the bodyshop (including new hinge pins, checkstraps etc.) 5. Is the bodyshop’s their preferred approach to painting (one piece or separate pieces) any indicator of how good a shop they are? 6. I have to take the roof and bonnet back to bare metal – does this mean I should at least take all exterior surfaces back this far? I think so as I don’t want my fresh paint to be adhered to old paint in some places and on fresh metal in others as I think this will be asking for inconsistency woes in the future. 7. Paint removal will take me a while – how do I stop surface rust forming on the first sections while I work on the rest of the car or does it not matter if a bit of surface rust develops assuming the bodyshop will do the final prep’ before priming and painting? 8. Is there a preferred approach to removing the old paint? I quite like the look of chemical strippers as it seems as though I’m less likely to damage the surface of the metal than with a power sanding tool or blasting. However I don’t really want remove the front wings so I’m concerned I might get stripper somewhere I can’t access to rinse/neutralise it (inside a front wing) and end up creating an issue. 9. If I end up supplying the car to the bodyshop in pieces, how hard is it to refit doors, the tailgate, bonnet etc. without scratching or lifting any of my new paint when pushing hinge pins into place? Ian.

Hi all, I've got my MOT booked for April 23rd - the first one for three years on the 205! The last MOT had one advisiory along the lines of 'rear brake plates corroded' (I'm not sure what this means) and that was it. Given that the car hasn't really been anywhere since that MOT and I've been busy doing lots of stuff (making sure all the lights work, sorting idle issue, general cleaning and making sure she's running smooth and servicing) is there anything else I need to be checking before presenting her for MOT please? I'm planning to have a good few days on her over the long weekend to focus speifically on MOT prep' - my provisional list is as follows: - 1. play in track rod ends/ball joints (not sure how much is acceptable though) 2. any evidence of leaking brake fluid - the level never changes though so I think these are ok 3. any corrosion on the exhaust system 4. all seatbelts are working 5. I've got enough meat on the front brake pads (I know the discs are good) 6. any evidence of gaitors splitting/leaking 7. a run through of the Haynes manual MOT checklist The test station have already been advised I want/need four new tyres and that they need to set the idle mixture/C0 up before/whilst testing - is there anything else I need to check please? Cheers Ian.