What to do with Poppy...?
Discussion
My Mum had a grey XS when I was learning to drive 20 years ago, it was the first quickish car I drove and I absolutely loved it. I made up excuses constantly to drive it and used to say I was going to the driving range but in reality I was out driving it as much as possible.
Good memories.
Good memories.
MadRob6 said:
There are two cans, one is the paint and one is a spray cleaner to prep the plastic. I gave it a good clean with some decent car shampoo and a stiff brush before that though as mine was a bit mossy too since it had been laid up for a couple of years outside.
Cheers, I think I've got the right stuff.Didn't expect such a large response actually.. I've searched the net for nigh on an hour and a half and I cannot find a single unmolested XS for sale anywhere. I need a place to start work on this little project, so where better than the appalling plastic bits ay?
Steve_W said:
are they? Didn't know that. I think they're the same as on the 205DTurbo I'm thinking of scrapping!
I wouldn't have thought they would have been from new (could be wrong) so worth checking, but yeah a guy who works for us has a 1.1 205 and reckons the XS steelies are like hens teeth. He could be talking s
t of course!LOW4LYFE said:
RE performance upgrades I'd recommend selling it and buying a Mk2 Golf 16v instead.
On a twisty road one of these would give a Golf a seriously hard time. Not so much on the straights, granted, but through the bends I would have thought a Golf would struggle. In fact, I've seen a Golf GTi 8v struggle with one of these full stop.I had one of these as my 2nd car (see my garage) although it was dolled up to look like a Rallye. In actual fact the XS was a better car than the UK Rallye, 10bhp more, an ally engine instead of iron and a shorter 'box.
I fitted brakes from a 306 which were a worthwhile upgrade and also polybushed the bottom arms which made the already sharp steering razor sharp. I would try and keep it as OEM intended as much as possible, these must be extremely rare now and alot have been turned into rally cars, which is what happened to mine after I sold it. I wouldn't bother with GTi alloys, mine came with 1.6 pepperpots but I quickly replaced them with 106 Rallye steel wheels.
I would give it a damn good service, and replace as much of the old bits with new (they must be cheap enough). One thing I always wanted to do to mine but never got round to would be to have the carb rebuilt and set up correctly on a rolling road. Its a cracking little engine and when that twin choke carb kicks in its like a mini vtec! There used to be a chap on 205gtiforums called Sandy who was THE oracle on these engines and had a 120+bhp TU3 back when I had mine in 2007.
I fitted brakes from a 306 which were a worthwhile upgrade and also polybushed the bottom arms which made the already sharp steering razor sharp. I would try and keep it as OEM intended as much as possible, these must be extremely rare now and alot have been turned into rally cars, which is what happened to mine after I sold it. I wouldn't bother with GTi alloys, mine came with 1.6 pepperpots but I quickly replaced them with 106 Rallye steel wheels.
I would give it a damn good service, and replace as much of the old bits with new (they must be cheap enough). One thing I always wanted to do to mine but never got round to would be to have the carb rebuilt and set up correctly on a rolling road. Its a cracking little engine and when that twin choke carb kicks in its like a mini vtec! There used to be a chap on 205gtiforums called Sandy who was THE oracle on these engines and had a 120+bhp TU3 back when I had mine in 2007.
The XS, Turbo diesel and Rallye were all really cool cars.
They must be getting very rare now. I'd keep Poppy or whatever you want to call it totally standard.
The gains from upgrading won't be much.
Just replace what needs replaced and freshen it up. Take it to a few shows, you may even make a few quid when you want to chop it in.
They must be getting very rare now. I'd keep Poppy or whatever you want to call it totally standard.
The gains from upgrading won't be much.
Just replace what needs replaced and freshen it up. Take it to a few shows, you may even make a few quid when you want to chop it in.
l354uge said:
Steve_W said:
are they? Didn't know that. I think they're the same as on the 205DTurbo I'm thinking of scrapping!
Woah..woah...woah.Why are you scraping it?
I may be interested in acquiring one in the near future.
Out of interest, caused by this thread, I put some diesel in the Pug and started it up yesterday. If I had the room etc. it would make a nice project but I have too many as it is.
OP - I'd vote for keeping Poppy as standard as possible and enjoying her for what she is - a nippy little buzzbox fun car that harks back to the days before electric everything.
What a great project! I've fond memories of my XS from about 10 years ago. I competed in quite a few road rallies, as well as driving it to the South of France on year (that was intering with a gearbox that does about 18mph per 1krpm IIRC!). The car before and the car after was a 20 Dturbo, which were equally good fun. Happy days!!
Based on my XS ownership I'd consider upgrading to 1.6 GTI brakes (although that might not he possible with 13" steelies, so at least use upgraded pads/fluid) and maybe do something with the Solex carb, like chuck it away and fit twin webers! Aesthetically I just think a spruce up of the plastics will see it looking much much better.
I look forward to seeing some progress!
Based on my XS ownership I'd consider upgrading to 1.6 GTI brakes (although that might not he possible with 13" steelies, so at least use upgraded pads/fluid) and maybe do something with the Solex carb, like chuck it away and fit twin webers! Aesthetically I just think a spruce up of the plastics will see it looking much much better.
I look forward to seeing some progress!
Edited by CarlosV8 on Thursday 27th March 19:39
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff