Impulse buy: Peugeot 205 GTi 16v

[Kitchski]

CarlosV8 said:

If you're ever anywhere near the south coast give us a shout and we'll do a comparison

We have a weighbridge at work, so at some point I will find out how heavy it is. I have the boat anchor version of the 16v engine (iron block), so it will certainly be a fair bit more than the original 850kg.

Does your weighbridge man accept little drinks in exchange for weighing Hillman Imps....?

[CarlosV8]

Kitchski said:

Does your weighbridge man accept little drinks in exchange for weighing Hillman Imps....?

Unfortunately not, security is quite tight and the Imp isn't exactly inconspicuous

Would be good to see it in the metal though

[CarlosV8]

Few more jobs sorted over the last few weekends. Last year the rear brake pads were an advisory on the MOT, so thought I might has well get them sorted whilst the wheels were off for bleeding. Glad I did as the pads were pretty much corroded in place (as well as being a bit on the thin side). Thought I better check the fronts too, and again the pads were corroded to the calipers. With everything stripped down, cleaned up and put back together with some copper grease I'm hoping the brakes will work better and feel better!

With that all done it was time for some bleeding. A couple of years ago I got an easy-bleed kit, and I'm so glad I did. I have many happy memories of pumping brake pedals when helping out my dad as a kid, but being able to do it by yourself is much more convenient. Not to mention the ease of having a constant pressure pushing the fluid through the system. Everything connected:

20180429_151158 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

And working my way round each corner, the air was easily pushed out of the system:

20180429_150342 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

Nice and easy!

Whilst I was stripping the front brakes I noticed one of the ARB drop links was looking a bit worse for wear. Luckily I had one in the spares stash so that was also changed out. Definitely passed it's best:

20180429_160718 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

Not quite enough time to button everything up today, so the poor old Pug is still looking a bit sorry for itself:

20180421_115134 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

But next time I should be able to get the oil/filter changed and then back on the ground, out the garage for a final checkover, a wash and then get an MOT booked

[Kitchski]

CarlosV8 said:

Kitchski said:

Does your weighbridge man accept little drinks in exchange for weighing Hillman Imps....?

Unfortunately not, security is quite tight and the Imp isn't exactly inconspicuous

Would be good to see it in the metal though

Bummer! But yeah happy to take you out for a spin sometime.

[CarlosV8]

Oil and filter change went without a hitch. Decided to pull the spark plugs and check them to ensure it was running as well as it could be, and this happened:

20180505_214224 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

That would be the no.4 lead. Lesson learnt, don't pull on the lead next time - use some long nosed pliers to pull the cap! After some research one set of 406 SRi leads were ordered which would fit the plugs and non-standard coil.

With the leads done I did one final check of the car, and I find this:

20180505_174008 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

Nothing major, just a gearbox mounting bolt. Did it back up, and checked all the others which weren't particularly tight either. Is the gearbox falling out an MOT failure??

And finally the 205 emerges from the garage for the first time since last summer:

2018-05-14_07-49-29 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

With the final few jobs done, today was MOT day. I wasn't particularly confident - a chip on the windscreen, a nasty misfire on the way to the test, and the fact that it's a 25 year old Pug didn't fill me with hope. However:

2018-05-25_05-54-57 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

Woohoo!
And on the way home the misfire finally cleared itself too. After much popping and banging through rush hour traffic! Happy days.

Now tucked back up in the garage whilst I'm away for a week, but when I'm back it'll time for a wash then we can put a few miles on the clock

[CarlosV8]

A few more miles have now gone onto the clock and the 205 is running better than ever.
Out and about one evening:

2018-06-25_10-26-54 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

After buying a not-so-reliable-daily-driver last month the 205 got pushed into daily service for a few days and coped very well. Only slight issue is that I don't think the first fan is coming on at full speed, but luckily the 2nd fan took care of things during rush hour traffic. Will have a look at that at some point.

For now i decided to start tarting up the aesthetics and ticking off some jobs. First up is a very exciting picture:

20180730_205528 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

I finally have parcel shelf straps! These were taken off the 205 scrapper I bought last year. Also fitted in this pic is the boot mat clips and rear washer pump from the same car, so I can now wash the rear window too.

I've also swapped over the drivers seat for my spare as the base was starting to fray (spare on left, original on right):
20180624_212142 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

The spare seat isn't perfect but definitely looks better:
20180624_201046 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

I have also acquired some replica Green Quintet material to redo the seats but I can't decide if the pattern is close enough to the original:

20180624_195650 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

For now it's stashed away in the garage until I decide what to do.

[CarlosV8]

The 205 has made it through the summer with no real issues, which has been nice. Last outing was to the Goodwood Breakfast Club a few weeks back. So lets start with a photo very similar to this time last year:
20181104_095149 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

Someone caught us on the way out too:
https://youtu.be/gc7A5PR_lQI?t=97

Thought it was about time I got some more jobs done, so today I've started with the locks. After 3 years with 2 keys operating only two thirds of the locks it was time to get it sorted! Ebay to the rescue with a full set:
20181122_192752 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

First of all the drivers door. Not particularly difficult, just a case of removing the door card and insulation to access the back of the lock:
20180730_190621 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

20180730_200112 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

That'll be it in the middle of the picture, covered in wax oil. Removal is just a case of removing the retaining clip, popping off the locking rod then out it comes and the new one can go back in.

Next was the ignition lock. First all the trim has to come off around the steering column, then the lock can be removed:

20181122_200242 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

The lock is then separated and the wiring can be removed and swapped over to the new one. A bit fiddly, but it's now all done and back together.

Four more to go! But even now, having the same key for the door and ignition will be a step forwards!

Edited by CarlosV8 on Thursday 22 November 23:20

[CarlosV8]

I finished the locks off before Christmas, so finally I'm left with one key to the fit them all:

20181221_110444 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

Much better!

I took to the 205 out to our local supermarket a few days before Christmas. The traffic was terrible, as I probably should have expected. The car thanked me for this by trapping me inside when we got home - couldn't get my seatbelt off. After a few minutes wiggling/hitting the seatbelt clasp it finally let me out. Fortunately, after many years of Peugeot ownership, I have a few boxes such as the one below:

20181221_124120 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

Which is where I found a new seatbelt plug clasp, and 5 minutes later the issue was fixed. Years of hoarding does occasionally pay off!

With the sun out today I thought a nice drive across the New Forest was in order:

IMG-20190203-WA0000 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

A very pleasant drive out, during which the 205 ticked over 156,000 miles. Not bad for an old girl!!

[shalmaneser]

Sorrento green is such a great colour when it's got some sun on it... Miami blue still my overall favorite though I think.

This makes me miss my old graphite grey 205 gti 16v! Converted it myself with a vts engine, would have loved to put throttle bodies on it too, must make such a great noise!

[CarlosV8]

Yeah, Sorrento green is great colour. In lower light it can look black, but the sun brings the true colour out. I'm a sucker for a Miami blue 309 GTi - complete with the blue carpet and blue/black seats.

The throttle bodies do sound good, a proper old school sound. Although the exhaust is starting to sound worse for wear- a bit of resonating and rattling going on. Hoping to address that later this year.

[Mikeeb]

I had a Sorrento 1.6, absolutely loved that car, another wish I hadn't sold it! Bit buzzy on the motorway 4k rpm @ 70mph, but fantastic through the lanes.

Mine had full leather, black carpets, PAS and the big sunroof.

Edited by Mikeeb on Tuesday 5th February 10:07

[CarlosV8]

Mikeeb said:

I had a Sorrento 1.6, absolutely loved that car, another wish I hadn't sold it! Bit buzzy on the motorway 4k rpm @ 70mph, but fantastic through the lanes.

Mine had full leather, black carpets, PAS and the big sunroof.

Edited by Mikeeb on Tuesday 5th February 10:07

Mine has the same gearbox, so is quite loud on the motorway

Sounds like yours might have been one of the original special editions. Mine is a bit later when they introduced Sorrento Green as a standard colour. So half leather and a green carpet, which I quite like

[Mikeeb]

Yes mine was one of the original SE's. 89 on a G plate.

[Kitchski]

Good work Carl, love the key mods.

[CarlosV8]

I haven't done much to the 205 this year - just a service really. In June it flew through an MOT with no advisories, but I'm conscious that there's a list of jobs building up that aren't really getting done - I'm hoping to rectify that over the coming months. Luckily there's nothing major to do, mostly tinkering. So, my initial to do list is as follows:

1. Fiddle with the cooling system a bit more. Still makes me nervous when sitting in traffic and the temp gauge starts to climb. Luckily the "temporary" 2nd fan brings it back down but I'd like a more reliable solution. I'm not convinced the main fan is coming on at full speed, so first step is a new fan switch.

2. Sort out leak:
20191015_224407 by CarlosV8, on Flickr
I've been getting a nice smell of burning oil the last few times I've used the car, and I can now see why. I got midway through refurbing a cam cover earlier in the year, so I need to finish this off then I can whip the old one off, replace the gasket/seals and hopefully fix the leak.

3. Find out where the hell the oil temp sensor wire has disappeared to:
20190707_133308 by CarlosV8, on Flickr
For the life of me I can't find it. Need to find a wiring diagram to at least give me a clue on the colour and where it comes from!

4. New spare wheel. I test fitted a modern space saver a while back and results were promising:
20190219_131713 by CarlosV8, on Flickr
Although clearance was a little tight:
20190219_131742 by CarlosV8, on Flickr
I need to clean up the spare and make doubly sure it doesn't foul the front calipers. If it doesn't it will save a few kilos of weight vs the full size spare, as well as being less nickable from under the boot.

5. Front suspension. The current suspension setup is very unforgiving. Tonight I discovered part of the reason why (I think):
20191015_222822 by CarlosV8, on Flickr
Front coilovers are running 300lb springs, which is overkill for a road car. General consensus seems to be 180-200lb for a standard GTi road car, but since I've got the lump of pig iron up front I think I'll try swapping mine out for 250lb to see what difference this makes. This will very much be a "suck it and see" type affair, but my goal is to dial in a little more comfort and eventually think about a slight increase in ride height.

So that's my plan of attack for now. There's some other jobs I'd also like to do if time/money allows, but lets see how these 5 go first!

So far, I have it up on axle stands. It's a good start!!

Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 15th October 23:47

[CarlosV8]

A little bit of progress on the 205...

The original fan switch should have come on at 97C at slow speed and 101C at high speed - I'm not convinced the high speed switch was working, so I've swapped it out for this one:
20191112_200939 by CarlosV8, on Flickr
Which will bring the fan switch points down to 92C and 97C. I'm hoping this will help stabilise the temperature in traffic, we shall see.

I dug out a trusty Haynes manual to find the wiring diagram for the oil temp gauge. This was completely useless as it gave me a code for the sensor wire (30A), but not a colour in order to try and find it. Google to the rescue - it's a white wire coming from pin 3 of the infamous brown multiplug above the gearbox. I say infamous, because this multiplug is often the cause of numerous electrical problems on a 205 - it's rather exposed so water ingress coupled with 25 year old french wiring can cause problems.

From this point the problem was obvious - the white wire was completely missing. I'm guessing it's snagged on something at some point and has been ripped out. With a standard 8v engine the temp sensor is at the rear of the sump, but with my 16v it's at the front, so I suspect the routing of the wire was not ideal. This is the manky looking multiplug (with flylead in order to check the gauge side of the wiring):
20191112_210201 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

Fortunately connecting to earth gave a reading, so multiplug to gauge looks OK:
20191112_210223 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

I've managed to remove the pin from the multiplug:
20191112_211224 by CarlosV8, on Flickr

It's now cleaned up and ready to go back in with a new wire attached. Unfortunately I haven't got any wire of the right gauge/colour to fit, so I'll come back to that in a few days time. I can then route the wire in a sensible way to avoid it going walkabout again.

[S100HP]

Good to see it getting some love.

[bighop]

Love the matching house number

[tvrfan007]

Lovely car and an interesting read, my sort of thread and car purchase.

Need to get off my backside and author a thread about my long term French affair with a 306 rallye.

[CarlosV8]

bighop said:

Love the matching house number

Well spotted! There's always been a 205 in the garage since we moved in!

tvrfan007 said:

Lovely car and an interesting read, my sort of thread and car purchase.

Need to get off my backside and author a thread about my long term French affair with a 306 rallye.

Thanks. And please do get a thread up and running on the Rallye!!