What to do with Poppy...?
Discussion
Meet Poppy. My 1989 Peugeot 205XS.
She was my first car and I maintain that she is the best car I will ever drive. Nothing, so far (I've driven a few automobiles) has given me the level of control and that feeling of perfect terrifying pleasure that Poppy has.
We've been in an on and off relationship since 2007, and I've looked after her (or tried to) even when she was off the road. At the moment, she's my go-to girl when the Bimmer (God it's boring) is unavailable.
Recently, I've had a bit more spare cash and I wanted to treat Poppy... you know, a makeover, spa day kinda set up. There's not a spot of rust on her, her motor pulls hard still.
I don't know where to start. I want to make her feel as sharp as she did 25 years ago. Also, does anyone have any idea for performance upgrades with the TU3 engine? I NEED RECOMMENDATIONS PEOPLE!
My beloved;
She was my first car and I maintain that she is the best car I will ever drive. Nothing, so far (I've driven a few automobiles) has given me the level of control and that feeling of perfect terrifying pleasure that Poppy has.
We've been in an on and off relationship since 2007, and I've looked after her (or tried to) even when she was off the road. At the moment, she's my go-to girl when the Bimmer (God it's boring) is unavailable.
Recently, I've had a bit more spare cash and I wanted to treat Poppy... you know, a makeover, spa day kinda set up. There's not a spot of rust on her, her motor pulls hard still.
I don't know where to start. I want to make her feel as sharp as she did 25 years ago. Also, does anyone have any idea for performance upgrades with the TU3 engine? I NEED RECOMMENDATIONS PEOPLE!
My beloved;
mattshiz said:
First thing to do is grow a set of balls and stop naming cars
Advice acknowledged.Anything to add?
dxg said:
Heat gun to the plastic trim and replace all the bushes; maybe the engine mounts too.
Job jobbed.
The plastic throughout the car is appalling quality.Job jobbed.
I've sourced some GTi wheels that are in reasonable nick but someone mentioned that I could have a problem with the tyres rubbing when people are sat in the car?
One thing I'm keen on is a quickshift for the gears. I feel like Steve McQueen every time I go from 3rd to 4th. Anyone know where I could get such a thing for a reasonable price?
Edited by P4ULLELUJAH on Sunday 23 March 02:15
P4ULLELUJAH said:
The plastic throughout the car is appalling quality.
I've sourced some GTi wheels that are in reasonable nick but someone mentioned that I could have a problem with the tyres rubbing when people are sat in the car?
One thing I'm keen on is a quickshift for the gears. I feel like Steve McQueen every time I go from 3rd to 4th. Anyone know where I could get such a thing for a reasonable price?
Put steel wheels on it, as per OEM. Nice, painted ones obviously. 1.6 alloys don't look as good, the rear wheel arch is a different shape to the GTi. I've sourced some GTi wheels that are in reasonable nick but someone mentioned that I could have a problem with the tyres rubbing when people are sat in the car?
One thing I'm keen on is a quickshift for the gears. I feel like Steve McQueen every time I go from 3rd to 4th. Anyone know where I could get such a thing for a reasonable price?
Edited by P4ULLELUJAH on Sunday 23 March 02:15
Do a search and see what the AX GT guys do to mod their engines? Same TU engine.
Enjoy, brilliant cars. Wish I could find another in nice condition.
P4U; rather than go down the route of gti, I'd research Peugeot 's rallye range (for want of a better description).
I'm pretty sure one of them was based around the tu3 engine too? Someone, no doubt more Peugeot immersed, will be along shortly.
The lazy journo mentions steel wheels and the rallye Road range had these too. They were a lightweight motorsport focused range.
Far rarer than gti's and you can change poppy to a rallye by taking things off the car (as it were) than having to source expensive gti plastic and wings etc etc.
Don't worry about others questioning your sexuality for naming your car. It takes a real man not to give a s
t about what others think when it comes to this sort of thing. If we all conformed to the ideal ph view on things life would be v boring.
Take the mud guards off - they trap moisture of course
I'm pretty sure one of them was based around the tu3 engine too? Someone, no doubt more Peugeot immersed, will be along shortly.
The lazy journo mentions steel wheels and the rallye Road range had these too. They were a lightweight motorsport focused range.
Far rarer than gti's and you can change poppy to a rallye by taking things off the car (as it were) than having to source expensive gti plastic and wings etc etc.
Don't worry about others questioning your sexuality for naming your car. It takes a real man not to give a s
t about what others think when it comes to this sort of thing. If we all conformed to the ideal ph view on things life would be v boring. Take the mud guards off - they trap moisture of course
Cut the grass too...
Sorry to be different, but its nice to see an original, nmlested example. Most have been modified or simply don't exist anymore (although, oddly when we were on the isle of wight last summer there were still loads of them around...)
CertInly refresh the plastic. Are they the original wheeltrims?
Sorry to be different, but its nice to see an original, nmlested example. Most have been modified or simply don't exist anymore (although, oddly when we were on the isle of wight last summer there were still loads of them around...)
CertInly refresh the plastic. Are they the original wheeltrims?
Cheap and easy bits:
Do a service oil air fuel spark.
As said before heat gun the black (nearly white!) Bits of the bumpers but then........ give them a liberal coating of boiled linseed oil they will look brand new.
Remove the motorist discount shop wheel trims and get busy with the wire brush and sanding paper and some silver rattle cans, then find a set of the plastic wheel centre caps the xs originally.
Remove the full interior apart from the dashboard, take your carpet to the local jet wash and blast the living heck out of it! Let it dry and I mean bone dry then refit to the car.
Beg steal buy or borrow an upholstery cleaner and get busy on the seats and roof lining as before bone dry before being put back in.
Not so cheap and easy:
Machine polish the paintwork, if you don't have the equipment and experience then pay for someone to do it for you as machine polishers old paint and inexperienced users don't mix and make quite a mess!
Buy some fresh xs decals as before if you have never fitted/removed a set before pay someone to it for you.
Degrease and clean the engine bay and engine. Buy some gunk/jizer from your local motor factors and then use an alloy wheel brush a bucket of hot water and washing up liquid and scrub the st out of the years of grime then hose off but don't jetwash as you can do more damage than good.
Replace all the rubber hoses in the engine bay not hard just expensive and time consuming.
Paint the rocker cover black and buy a new oil cap.
Replace engine/gearbox mounts with new standard bushes or polybushes.
As above but suspension bushes.
Refurbish the calipers or buy some exchange refurbished ones from your local motor factors. Paint the calipers before fitting. Do the discs and pads at the same time.
Replace the brake flexible hoses.
Replace the rear drums and shoes. Paint the outside of the drums with decent paint before fitting to stop them corroding.
Err if I think of anything else I'll add it!
Do a service oil air fuel spark.
As said before heat gun the black (nearly white!) Bits of the bumpers but then........ give them a liberal coating of boiled linseed oil they will look brand new.
Remove the motorist discount shop wheel trims and get busy with the wire brush and sanding paper and some silver rattle cans, then find a set of the plastic wheel centre caps the xs originally.
Remove the full interior apart from the dashboard, take your carpet to the local jet wash and blast the living heck out of it! Let it dry and I mean bone dry then refit to the car.
Beg steal buy or borrow an upholstery cleaner and get busy on the seats and roof lining as before bone dry before being put back in.
Not so cheap and easy:
Machine polish the paintwork, if you don't have the equipment and experience then pay for someone to do it for you as machine polishers old paint and inexperienced users don't mix and make quite a mess!
Buy some fresh xs decals as before if you have never fitted/removed a set before pay someone to it for you.
Degrease and clean the engine bay and engine. Buy some gunk/jizer from your local motor factors and then use an alloy wheel brush a bucket of hot water and washing up liquid and scrub the s
t out of the years of grime then hose off but don't jetwash as you can do more damage than good.Replace all the rubber hoses in the engine bay not hard just expensive and time consuming.
Paint the rocker cover black and buy a new oil cap.
Replace engine/gearbox mounts with new standard bushes or polybushes.
As above but suspension bushes.
Refurbish the calipers or buy some exchange refurbished ones from your local motor factors. Paint the calipers before fitting. Do the discs and pads at the same time.
Replace the brake flexible hoses.
Replace the rear drums and shoes. Paint the outside of the drums with decent paint before fitting to stop them corroding.
Err if I think of anything else I'll add it!
Well I like it having fond memories from many 205 variants over the years, the light weight (/flimsiness), simple handling and short chassis made any of my (generally derv) models easy to drive and work on.
Not sure I'd spend much time messing woth it thght tbh OP, think that rather than spend anything from £1-3-500 on it and it still being only an XS, even thgh you know it and it has a reasonable body, you might be better off with a few cans of back to black* on those bumpers and seeing it you can get some reasonable cash for it on the likes of carandclassic.com, and spending that plus your hard earned on one with a bigger engine in the first place, GTi or not. That way you can have an increase in power without messing and complicating your insurance, along with the possible reliability issues you might end up with given the age.
(*yes I can see they're grey, it is basically silicons spray and most are colour neutral).
Not sure I'd spend much time messing woth it thght tbh OP, think that rather than spend anything from £1-3-500 on it and it still being only an XS, even thgh you know it and it has a reasonable body, you might be better off with a few cans of back to black* on those bumpers and seeing it you can get some reasonable cash for it on the likes of carandclassic.com, and spending that plus your hard earned on one with a bigger engine in the first place, GTi or not. That way you can have an increase in power without messing and complicating your insurance, along with the possible reliability issues you might end up with given the age.
(*yes I can see they're grey, it is basically silicons spray and most are colour neutral).
Performance upgraded? Find an engine and ecu ect from a 106 rallye still an 8v tu but 100hp rev happy motor.
Fit 266mm discs and calipers from a 306 may as well throw on the 23.8mm master cylinder from the 306/406 too.
Fit decent shocks and springs an aftermarket lowering kit will do and be better than the tired old kit on there. Also reset the torsion bar but its not a job to do yourself if you haven't done it before.
Fit 266mm discs and calipers from a 306 may as well throw on the 23.8mm master cylinder from the 306/406 too.
Fit decent shocks and springs an aftermarket lowering kit will do and be better than the tired old kit on there. Also reset the torsion bar but its not a job to do yourself if you haven't done it before.
Some good suggestions, thanks!
I guess my first step will be growing some chest hair and talking with a deep croaky voice so I can keep up with the alphamales giving me jip for naming a car!
Second job, big service. Unsure on the pepperpot alloys. I do like how this car handles but no doubt it'll need replacement bushes/engine mounts etc.
I think, given the advice on here and other sites I've visited, I'll try and get it as factory new as possible.
EDIT: Also, the Rallye idea is something I've given thought to. Making the car lighter would be an awful lot more fun. I can even keep the original parts if the time came to sell.
Lovely little car though.
I guess my first step will be growing some chest hair and talking with a deep croaky voice so I can keep up with the alphamales giving me jip for naming a car!
Second job, big service. Unsure on the pepperpot alloys. I do like how this car handles but no doubt it'll need replacement bushes/engine mounts etc.
I think, given the advice on here and other sites I've visited, I'll try and get it as factory new as possible.
EDIT: Also, the Rallye idea is something I've given thought to. Making the car lighter would be an awful lot more fun. I can even keep the original parts if the time came to sell.
Lovely little car though.
Edited by P4ULLELUJAH on Sunday 23 March 23:00
if you dont need to sell it, dont.
dont modify it much, its more interesting as standard clean car than gti wannabe, if you want a gti, buy one.
if you have the time, money, inclination, make it the best standard car you can. so service, bushes, sort the plastic trim out etc etc as has been said already. imho dont mess about with it.
dont modify it much, its more interesting as standard clean car than gti wannabe, if you want a gti, buy one.
if you have the time, money, inclination, make it the best standard car you can. so service, bushes, sort the plastic trim out etc etc as has been said already. imho dont mess about with it.
OllieC said:
if you dont need to sell it, dont.
dont modify it much, its more interesting as standard clean car than gti wannabe, if you want a gti, buy one.
if you have the time, money, inclination, make it the best standard car you can. so service, bushes, sort the plastic trim out etc etc as has been said already. imho dont mess about with it.
I think I'm going with what you're saying here. If anything, the mods I'll make are to make it lighter rather than bolting on more crap that will me +1bhp difference.dont modify it much, its more interesting as standard clean car than gti wannabe, if you want a gti, buy one.
if you have the time, money, inclination, make it the best standard car you can. so service, bushes, sort the plastic trim out etc etc as has been said already. imho dont mess about with it.
Poppy, being an old girl, probably wouldn't take too much of a bashing if I were to use bike carbs etc etc on her.
Thanks for the advice guys
Spam javelin seems to have some excellent ideas and would enlist him as your mentor although I might "stage" the perfecting to to stage 1,2,3 etc. My 2nd car was a 205 with denim seats and a 4 speed box and despite it's shortcomings I absolutely loved it, it must give enormous self satisfaction in breathing life into a tired car. Good luck and pics please
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