Search the Community

Hi guys and gals. Hope this is the right place to post this and I apologies if it’s been asked before but to save me strolling through thousands of search matches and countless pop up adds my question is as follows. I have a GTI and want to replace the REAR valance. Searching through eBay I can find a number of them, some say GTi some say standard. Is there actually a difference between the GTi and standard ones? I know the bumper is but what about the valance? Thanks for reading.

Hello all, It's been a while since I posted here and sadly since my 205 was last on the road. I haven't lost touch though and I've been keeping up with a few threads, especially since the East Midlands meet disbanded. Having sat in the garage for a number of years I have decided, with a lot of inspiration from Michael's thread and Paul's thread that this is the year I need to crack on and get the car back on the road so this is my refurb' thread. These are the last couple of decent photos I have going back to 2011 and 2013. I'm not going for a full restoration or respray as the car is basically sound and I want to keep some of the original character but I need to clean her up and do her justice. My mantra is "the devil's in the detail" and no square centimetre will be left untouched by way of being cleaned, treated and protected :-) I've had a few Saturday afternoons and evenings on her so far and today she looks like this. As is visible, there's rust bubbling through at the front of both rear wheel arches, underneath the cover there's a substantial amount of blooming on the roof and bonnet and the trim has faded. There's also a fair amount of surface corrosion in the usual places around the engine bay such as under the headlights and around the battery tray so I'm prioritising getting the engine and gearbox out so I can assess the damage properly. The radiator core is shot it and there's a crack in the exhaust manifold but I'm yet to see how bad this is. Internally all of the seats have holes in the cloth, the foams are pretty crappy and the bracket that holds the driver's seat outer bolster in place has snapped. It's a real shame I've let her get into this condition :-( Good news is that the last time she was on the road I did some work on the interior by way of replacing dashboard bulbs, fitting a Toad Ai606, fixing the standard retro-fitted central locking and I know the carpet is in good nick. All the glass is fine and the sunroof is in good working order (tested when I backed her onto the drive last month) and the only advisory on her last MOT was that the front coil springs have surface corrosion. So, for a DIYer I don't think there's anything that will stop me getting the car back on the road and MOT'd but I want to do a good job of refurbishing her fully so I'm going beyond the minimum required - planned list of jobs as follows: Remove the bonnet. Get on all the stuck fixings and finish clearing the engine bay ready for engine removal. I'm currently struggling with; a destroyed screw head holding the washer bottle into the inner wing, not being able to get onto the rearmost battery tray bolt head, four round nuts on the exhaust manifold, and figuring out if I can detach the exhaust manifold from the down-pipe and lift it out with the engine for splitting later. Remove front bumper and valance. Remove engine and gearbox and put to one side for a bit. Remove brake servo and anything else I can from the firewall. Remove front sub frame and put to one side for a bit. I am not planning to fully remove the wiring looms but I will be cleaning every single connector and doing as much testing as I can while I have the engine out and everything unplugged. De-grease, pressure wash and rub down the entire engine bay and front end and assess just how far the corrosion may have gone. Treat any corrosion, prime and respray any bits that need it. I'm not going to respray the whole engine bay as I want to keep the original stickers and I don't want to have to mask these off etc. so I'll be feathering what painting I need to do into the original paint. By the looks of it, I'll only be painting in areas that won't be visible once I've re-assembled anyway. The entire engine bay will then get a fresh coat of lacquer and protection (whatever that may be) and I am planning to do some nice bits such as polish the VIN plate and I think I'll lacquer over the stickers to help preserve them further. The front sub frame will be next - checking of all the usual parts and of course replacing the springs along with anything that looks like it needs to be replaced. I'll also be painting/treating (with Waxoyl, Hammerite or similar) everything that can be so it all looks really smart and is protected. The same will happen to the engine and gearbox. I don't want to take the head off as I'm not that that confident and the head gasket has never leaked. The engine also runs really well with a good idle and it's really spritley (it still kicks my wife's 206 115 HDI FAP's ass and our new 2008 115 e-HDi!) so if it ain't broke I'm not gonna fix it. However, I will replace the obvious bits (timing belt, water pump, tensioner) and no doubt I'll uncover some stuff I'll need help with that may lead to me taking the head off but we'll see. I also have a new alternator ready to fit as the previous one is really old and from a 306 DTurbo so it's over-rated and I want to go standard as I won't be re-fitting the boy-racer ICE I once had in the boot. I'll get the crack welded up in the exhaust manifold and all external surfaces on the engine, gearbox and exhaust manifold will be prepped and painted with whatever's suitable/tasteful before being put back in along with the sub-frame. It will then be a case of repeat at the rear. While I've got the wheels off I'll also be rubbing them down and freshening up the lacquer, refurbing brakes etc. and just getting her really clean and well protected. I am planning to go off piste a bit and fit a nice set of silicone hoses and I'm thinking about stiffer suspension bushes, just to liven her up a bit but I won't be lowering or messing with the standard geometry. I'm also going to to investigate radiators as I need one anyway so I might go for a smarter looking ally one but haven't decided yet. It's likely I'll need a professional to refurb the seats and deal with the rear wheel arch rust - these will be the finishing touches. I believe I'll be able to correct the blooming by rubbing back the lacquer which will release the trapped moisture and I will be able to re-lacquer the roof and bonnet and cut the fresh lacquer to blend it in with the old. A good clean up and treatment will see the trims right along with some new finishers from the classic spares list. I've already purchased some new front indicators and yellow Denji driving lamps. They won't get fitted for about a year but they look lovely in the boxes! So plenty to do - this weekend I'll be getting her up on stands (I needed them last weekend when doing my wife's brakes ahead of MOT on Saturday morning) and I'll be removing the driveshafts from the gearbox and getting on those stubborn fixings so I can hoist the engine and gearbox out over the next Bank Holiday. One mistake I have made, that I don't mind sharing, is parking the car in gear and subsequently removing all the gear linkages meaning I can't roll her around on the drive now until I've removed the driveshafts from the gearbox so it will be a tight squeeze this weekend but I should be able to manage :-) Plenty of updates and more mistakes to come. Wish me luck. Ian.

Hello all, Back in 1998 when I bought my 205 it had odd highlights. One side had an H4 bulb and the other a 65W round bulb. I soon got them matched up and have had H4’s in both sides since. As part of my restoration I want to replace both headlights as one is broken and they both look a bit tired but I’m having a job identifying which type it should have. I’ve put my VIN into Servicebox to save me having to try and identify which brand I might need and it returns only the Marchal type; but, the attached diagram shows both the H4 (09) and the older style round bulb (02). To my reckoning I’m better off trying to source a couple of new headlights that take H4 bulbs as I’m assuming they’ll be brighter/whiter and consume less power (45W) but all of the decent looking online replacements (such as the Lucas ones on Ebay) require a 65W round bulb. There is an H4 variant listed on the Peugeot Museum website but they only supply one side and it’s not all entirely clear if it’s for RHD or LHD! To add to the mix; the attached diagram says that the 65W round bulb is for clear glass and the H4 is for yellow glass. As mine’s a RHD UK car it has clear glass – the description next to the Headlight Assembly (01) just lists with or without H4 but doesn’t say anything like ‘except GTI’ so there’s no clues there either. From the info’ available I **think** I perhaps should have the older style 65W round bulb units and I’ve been driving around with the wrong headlights all this time, but my common sense tells me I should fit lights with the more modern H4 bulb that should be brighter and draw less current. Should I have gone the other way 22 years ago and ditched the H4 or is it just a case of going my own way with this? Any opinions on how different the two bulbs might be when driving and which are likely to have been fitted as standard would be welcome please. As always – thanks all. Ian.

sorry if this in the wrong topic but i seem to be missing the white writing on the air filter housing now its powdercoated and ive seen these:- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121199214887?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l26 what you think? or does anyone have a better suggestion?