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205 GTi Project Thread - PIC HEAVY!



  SG9 Forester STi
Welcome to my 205 GTi project thread...which I blame entirely on Daniel for posting pictures of his mint one! :evil:

The car is a ph1 205 gti 1.6 1986 model. This is our second project car atm and is taking priority over the Sierra which is more of a long term project.

The car was purchased in Jan 2011 with the intention, here comes the joke, to be used as a daily runabout, 'normal' cars are boring lol. It's an iconic french hot hatch and I've always wanted one!

Car history:

It's previous owner had owned the car for 5 years and in that time, it's fair to say, he didnt show it any mercy. The car was stripped and bucket seated up and spent it's entire career with him as a professional rallycross car (a very successful one at that i'm told) until the original 1.6 unit blew up on him. In his workshop it sat amongst other competition cars for a couple of years, an empty shell, until he decided to get it up and running again as a trackday car. For this he found an 80k later 1990 spec more powerful 1.6 engine to replace the dead lump. However after fitting he lost time and space for it as the bodywork was suffering so it went up for sale.

The car was bought for the low sum of £500 with four bald tyres and only the interior he could find, massively incomplete. But alas the drivers seat was bolted in and seatbelt fitted so I was able to drive it home at least.

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A nice surprise hiding behind this :dead::
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This will be a 'no messing' speed project with all available funds being thrown at it. It's taking priority over the Sierra, the green thing and the 197 until it's roadworthy and of presentable condition.

Engine Issues:

The car was run around in for a few days and it's evident there's a catastrophic coolant leak - dumping an entire systems worth in around 100 easy going miles.

The car was inspected for the leak and it was soon obvious the leak was coming from the head gasket on the right side of the block, bad times :dapprove:.

This was confirmed by this mess found in the oil filler neck:

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So the head gasket has blown! Before any work begun it was time to give the engine a full inspection to see what we were up against:

The jet washer was cracked out and the engine cleaned as best possible including a massively oil covered diff casing...

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Now shiny and clean:
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The oil leak was thanks to a leaking camshaft seal hidden behind the distributor, all the more reason to rip it out:

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Then it was time for some strippage :cool:...

Intake manifold removed
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To gain access to the lower section of the cambelt and the tensioner the wheel had to be removed and arch linings stripped down. Then two coolant hoses removed plus alot of plastic covering:

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The cambelt was finally removed:

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Back on top and an hour or so later:

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New head bolts, gasket and water pump were ordered from Peugeot..expensive! Whilst there it was decided to do a basic cylinder head rebuild consisting of stem seals and adjusting the tappets via the shim system.

Next the head:

The head is to be stripped down and rebuilt with new studs, seals and gaskets along with a skim as a precaution and to raise compression slighlty. No warping is evident.
It will then be reshimmed by a professional as Peugeot have seized production on the shims so they are as rare as gold dust and just as expensive.

We've also been toying with the idea of a fast road camshaft but trying to keep the majority standard and just recon'd. The head is of the later 1990 model so already incorporates the larger valves and better flowing ports, result!

Head retrieved from storage lol:
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Parts stripped off:
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Thermostat housing removed but the gasket refused to budge, requiring some good old graft to clean up:
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A lot of sandpaper and an hour later:
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Still too untidy though:
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Much better, halfords high temp paint FTW:
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Great finish:
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That's it so far...

Thanks for reading watch this space for more updates soon!!!

:cool:
 
  Turbo LY R27
Isnt this bens car? He posted the same thread on 197.net lol!!? Well...who ever the car belongs to, im sure this will be a fun project!! I used to love driving these cars, so much fun!! :) Good luck with it.
 
Put an mi16 in it please :) It completely changes the car and suprisingly they arent that bad on juice with a 1.9 in.
 
  SG9 Forester STi
Isnt this bens car? He posted the same thread on 197.net lol!!? Well...who ever the car belongs to, im sure this will be a fun project!! I used to love driving these cars, so much fun!! :) Good luck with it.

Everything has been split between the two of us. I'm enjoying it so far! For some reason I just want to throw money at it and get it up and running!

I've seen enough sandpaper, valves and cylinder head parts in the last few weeks than I think I ever will lol!
 
  Turbo LY R27
Everything has been split between the two of us. I'm enjoying it so far! For some reason I just want to throw money at it and get it up and running!

I've seen enough sandpaper, valves and cylinder head parts in the last few weeks than I think I ever will lol!


Aaaah fair enough, looking forward to more updates!! Looking good so far, they are great cars!!!
 

Scrooge

ClioSport Moderator
  E55 AMG
Ben was telling me about this at TDI sounds like its going to be a winner, I still think you should sell me the Sierra! lol
 
  172DD Cup
ah brings back memories, i use to have an '86 1.6 gti in black. sexy red interior and a rear spoiler from a citroen ax. lovely
 
  Clio
Be honest! Is it Ben who does all the work and you just hold the tools or do you know what you are on about? I didn't understand a word of it!
 

CIW

ClioSport Club Member
  Ph1 Track Car
That looks far too tidy to have ever been rallycrossed?!? You'll know when you jack the car up though, the underneath will be shot to s**t if it was!

Good luck with the project, if any more of these 205 project threads appear on here I'll be tempted to go get my Dad's original '86 GTi out of storage...
 
  SG9 Forester STi
LOL Mace! I'll have you know I enjoy getting involved. I am interested in mechanics so makes it easier and more enjoyable to learn. Just need some help from someone with guns here and there lol!

It has been rallycrossed and photos of it in action were featured in the for sale ad. Unfortunately the underneath does need work and there is the evident rust but it'll get there.

Don't worry Matt the plan is standard, I love the look and the standard wheels etc and it's not being restored as a fast road car just want it back to it's former glory and i know they sell very well too! :)
 
Nice project. I'm having to sell my rally 205 atm and it's heart breaking.

But I have to agree with the above. There is absolutely no way that shell was rallycrossed, and I spent a good few years in the sport. Got a link to the advert?
 
  AMV8, Mk1 Golf
nice, ive had 4 205s myslef :D

lovely colour.

lets be honest it wasnt a supprise under that tape... u knew exactly what would be there haha
 
  SG9 Forester STi
The car was bought on pistonheads but the link doesn't work as it's an old advert, bad times as there were pics of it in action which I wouldn't mind having.

Anyway, a quick update:

We've not had a huge amount of time to work on the pug in the last 2 weeks but here's what's been happening...

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Had to pick up one of these! £45 later and we were away!

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Valves removed from the head:
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The valves were, as predicted, absolutely caked with 80,000 miles of carbon. It only seemed polite to clean it off whilst there. If, however, it was a bit of a pain and took a lot of elbow grease!

This was a nightmare for 2 hours everynight for 7 days. Thank god its only an 8 valve!!!

Process consisted of bathing the valves in Hammerite rust remover for 2 days:

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We tried vinegar as there's an old wifes tale of cleaning knackered lambda sensors back into life with a vinegar bath, turned out to be a waste of good condiment:

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Then we went to town on them with different degrees of sandpaper, starting at 60 and finishing at 1200 for that smooth finish :D

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Each valve took about 2 hours of constant attention, but the results show. Here's a finished item next to an untouched valve:

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We managed to finish the complete set, i'm glad that jobs done:

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The valves were checked for wear on the stem to ensure they were good to go back in, new they measure 7.90mm and at 7.85mm they're considered worn out. They appeared in good condition for the mileage so will be reused:

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Ben thought it looked as though the head had maybe had some minor porting work in the past, although we've been assured its never been removed from the block:

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Thats all for now ladies and gents, thanks for reading :cool:

Next time: The head is getting packed up with all it's components this weekend and going away to a race engine builder who used to specialise in 205 gti autocross race engines, all the way down in dover area. There it will be pressure tested, skimmed, acid dipped, stage one porting of the inlet and exhaust sides, and full reconditioning of the camshaft (funds will not allow for an uprated item), bearings, seals, valve stems, valve stem seals and gaskets etc.​

:cool:
 
Last edited:
  ITB'd MK1
That head is standard, what you're seeing it machining from the valve seats being fitted.

Nice project, I miss my 205 loads. I've had 6 :D
 
  SG9 Forester STi
Great thanks for that Danny! Bit of wisdom is always appreciated :approve:.

6! Lol! They're awesome so I don't blame you!
 

davo172

ClioSport Club Member
  TCR'd 172
My mate just sold his 1.9 miami blue had it for years, I loved it , totally mint it was he is Already regreting it . Looks like a BIG project Vicky but cant fault ya :approve:,
 
  SG9 Forester STi
Crikey and I thought ours needed work lol! That's the way it's done though :)

Going to paint the inlet manifold when I get home from work tonight and then over the weekend I might give the boot a go...a few rust patches unfortunately so needs to be rubbed down and sprayed up to look presentable.
 

mikekean

ClioSport Club Member
  996 C4S, 135i, E30x2
Why not buy new valves?

Why waste money on new valves when the ones she has are perfectly useable, yeah its taken a few hours to clean them up but time costs nothing at the end of the day.
 
  Astra SRI/ Hornet
so you gonna keep that shell vicky? looks like alot of work to sort. just thinking as you have engine out and the interior is basically out so think about a later shell. theres loads about for less money/hassle than sorting that 1.
 
  172 Ph1, Lupo GTI
Not sure £500 was a good buy with that much work needed to the chassis, but its nice to see one being restored rather than scrapped.
danny I raise you by two. I've had 8 lol
Still got two but one has a new owner coming to collect in April; the other is a keeper - an 86 reg 1.9 GTi
205's should come with axle stands as standard
 
Not planning any atmbut we're still quite far from deciding on what to do with the suspension. :)
Ive got konis on the front and gti6 dampers on the rear and it handles well but the arse end is like every 205. Ive seen a few people mention that its a good set up for road and comfort.

Im going to have to take out my mi16 engine very soon because of the dreaded oil surge :( Im debating whether to clean up the engine like your are. Cant fault your efforts and I hope you enjoy it!

Ps. Adding a cam later on wont be hard because its only an 8v :)
 
  SG9 Forester STi
Ps. Adding a cam later on wont be hard because its only an 8v :)

Well the head went off to the specialist this weekend and we're adding the 1.9 cam :)

so you gonna keep that shell vicky? looks like alot of work to sort. just thinking as you have engine out and the interior is basically out so think about a later shell. theres loads about for less money/hassle than sorting that 1.

Not sure £500 was a good buy with that much work needed to the chassis, but its nice to see one being restored rather than scrapped.

It does need a LOT of work but I've spoken to a company that I've used before who said it will be possible for between £850-1100. That's a full respray and all repairs which I think is pretty good considering it will be in mint condition afterward. I'm going to have a go at removing the majority of the rust myself before handing it to them. Places like around the rear window and in the boot etc. We'll see :).

Another quick update...

The water pump is being changed, precautionary as it's run by the cambelt so makes sense to whilst it's stripped down. The gasket also made a mess of the sealing surface here too, so required a clean up.

Required alot of sandpaper muct have been through a trees worth since we started the project:
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Came up clean and smooth eventually though, no pre work pictures sorry:
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Should seal nicely now once a fresh gasket is made for it. Protected it from the elements until the time comes to put it back together:
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The crankshaft seal was also changed.

Old seal removed, note the oil pump behind:
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New seal fitted:
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Unfortunately with a little stress Ben managed to break the cambelt pulley whilst trying to lever it off...

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No biggie - £12 off ebay and another one to replace it is on it's way :D
 


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