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For some time my brother and I have been meaning to write a blog of our 1991 J reg Peugeot 205 GTi 1.6 which we co-own. What with storm Frank continuing to batter the North East of Scotland and with some time on my hands before heading back to work I thought I’d make a start. After I bought my house in April 2013, with a built in, and rather narrow, single garage, I knew that I had to fill it with something cool rather than become a dumping ground. My brother, Jamie, who is also a member of this forum decided to get involved with my early mid-life crisis and we started hunting for a toy. Originally we aimed towards old front engined Porsches; I even test drove a 2.5 944. I fancied an MX5, Jamie wasn’t so keen, sighting rust issues (ah the irony). Eventually we both agreed that we loved the looks of Peugeot 205s. We then pretty much jumped into buying (online) a 205 GTi sight unseen from an auction in Dundee. Having never sat in one, let alone driven one, I set off one miserable April evening from Aberdeen to the outskirts of Dundee to pick up our new acquisition – a Graphite Grey 1.6 Peugeot 205 GTi with a 1.9 half leather interior and 149,000 miles on the clock. Collection from Dundee by Andy, on Flickr The car looked decent enough, tucked in the back of the car park. It came with a fairly thick wad of history and a couple of keys. I paid my dues and it started first time, surely a good start! A relatively uneventful drive home, however much excitement for me nonetheless; checking the lights before setting off, marvelling at the throttle response, the rasp of the exhaust, and wondering if I’d make it home! I did make it home and sent a few phone pics to my brother of our latest acquisition, describing to him the heavy (non-power assisted) steering, the ‘chuckability’ and feedback from the steering wheel. Our first task was to sort out an MOT as we had bought it without long to go. I booked it into our local Halfords and predictably it failed on several items; Headlamps incorrectly set – minor issue, easily solved. Excessive play on offside ARB – bit bigger. Offside front wheel bearing shot – bit bigger. We repaired these immediate issues ourselves, having been given a quote of over £300. Issues resolved the MOT was duly passed. What followed was a fairly trouble free year of occasional blasts about the roads of the North East. In this time we replaced both drive shafts with SKF replacements, changed the grotty transmission fluid, changed the front lights, fixed various leaks with varying success (this is a non-sunroof model so no issues there thankfully). We’ve also fitted a new cheapo (no stainless steel unfortunately) exhaust. The rear wheel bearings were also replaced ahead of it’s second MOT in our ownership. These had been advisories previously and thought it wise to be ahead of the game. 205 at Cairn O Mount by Andy, on Flickr A run up Cairn O' Mount, Aberdeenshire Banchory car park by Andy, on Flickr Couldn't resist! IMG_0837 by Andy, on Flickr However our confidence that the majority of the issues were sorted ahead of the MOT was shattered when I took it to our local garage (wasn’t greatly impressed with Halfords) and received the dreaded phone call. The issues were: rust to the nearside inner sill near seatbelt mounting points, excessive play to both rear bearings (?!) and a very unhealthy emissions test with high CO and hydrocarbons. There did seem to be a fair amount of grey smoke out the back thinking about it… MOT fail 2015 by Andy, on Flickr MOT 2015 emissions by Andy, on Flickr At this point we had a bit of soul searching to do, keep and fix these fairly large issues or scrap it? We decided to keep, as we were committed and wouldn’t get any more than scrap value for the car in any case. Not a fun discussion to have. That MOT test was on the 29th of May 2015. From that point on we have been finding and attempting to repair some fairly serious corrosion on all the usual 205 spots – inner front wings, inner and outer sills, boot floor and rear passenger floor. IMG_1723 by Andy, on Flickr Nearside sill by Andy, on Flickr Boot floor by Andy, on Flickr Front end by Andy, on Flickr We have since decided that the engine needs a rebuild – the emissions may be from something fairly minor such as valve stem seals, but with such a high mileage it’s probably a matter of time. As for those rear wheel bearings, after a bit of a closer inspection, the rear beam was found to be shot – witness marks on the inner arches at the top being a give away. So far we have been concentrating on the rust, having dug out an old MIG welder from our dad we’ve repaired the boot floor but a fair bit to go! This thread will be a way of recording the work on the car and hopefully be a source of information for us and for others in the future…what not to do possibly! The overall plan is a slight OEM+ 205, with good quality repairs and components used throughout. Whilst the car has been sat in the garage looking sorry for itself we’ve picked up some wishbones, Bilstein B4 front dampers and Eibach springs, sach rear shock absorbers and a short shift kit courtesy of Kam Racing. These will be fitted as we go along and our exploits recorded on here. Feel free to give any advice as we go and point out any mistakes. With us both being fairly new to this then there’s definite scope for improvement!