Impulse buy: Peugeot 205 GTi 16v
Discussion
Up until a week ago I was the happy owner of a 205 Gentry, which had been converted to GTi spec. I loved it and planned to fit a GTi6 engine in the new year to make things a little more exciting. Then I came across this car. It already had a 16v engine fitted plus lots of other bits, and the funds from the GTI6 savings plus selling the GentryTi would buy a ready made car, almost to the exact spec I'd always dreamed of for a 205. I had to buy it!
A deal was done with the previous owner, the GentryTi was sold (in 3 days!) and I was off to Brighton to pick it up:
So, it started life as a 1.6 GTi, but over the years has evolved to the following spec:
2.0 16v S16 engine with lumpy cam and Jenvey throttle bodies
GTi6 exhaust manifold and stainless exhaust
1.6 gearbox with quick shift kit and TransX LSD
Gaz coilovers, eccentric mounts, rose-jointed wishbones and upper/lower strut braces up front
309 rear beam (wider track) and Gaz dampers at the back
GTi6 front brakes
Although the engine is the slightly less desirable iron block S16 lump, it's pushing out about 200bhp compared to the original cars 115bhp!
It's rattly, it's loud but I love it! The engine just revs and revs and revs, but it's still surprisingly civilised at low speeds. And I've never driven a FWD car with a LSD before - it certainly makes a massive difference. When you're pushing hard and expect to have to wind on slightly more lock to battle the understeer suddenly it's pulling you in to the corner without any hint of fuss. Feels a bit strange at first (probably exacerbated by lack of PAS) but getting used to it now.
A few bits need fixing and tidying and that will be done gradually of the coming months. Mostly I just want to enjoy it!
A deal was done with the previous owner, the GentryTi was sold (in 3 days!) and I was off to Brighton to pick it up:
So, it started life as a 1.6 GTi, but over the years has evolved to the following spec:
2.0 16v S16 engine with lumpy cam and Jenvey throttle bodies
GTi6 exhaust manifold and stainless exhaust
1.6 gearbox with quick shift kit and TransX LSD
Gaz coilovers, eccentric mounts, rose-jointed wishbones and upper/lower strut braces up front
309 rear beam (wider track) and Gaz dampers at the back
GTi6 front brakes
Although the engine is the slightly less desirable iron block S16 lump, it's pushing out about 200bhp compared to the original cars 115bhp!
It's rattly, it's loud but I love it! The engine just revs and revs and revs, but it's still surprisingly civilised at low speeds. And I've never driven a FWD car with a LSD before - it certainly makes a massive difference. When you're pushing hard and expect to have to wind on slightly more lock to battle the understeer suddenly it's pulling you in to the corner without any hint of fuss. Feels a bit strange at first (probably exacerbated by lack of PAS) but getting used to it now.
A few bits need fixing and tidying and that will be done gradually of the coming months. Mostly I just want to enjoy it!
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 19:59
Chunkychucky said:
Need to upload some footage of it moving, the noise must be wicked 
I will sort that out at some point. The induction roar combined with the exhaust is pretty epic (for a 4 pot!). Proper old school noise.Zombie said:
Looks very nice - I had a bx GTi 16v for a while, it sounded epic, some of my 'mates' reckon it was even better than my busso v6 Alfa. And that was on standard exhaust and induction. On throttle bodies it must be insane....
What sort of manifold do the lated engines have? The BX had an 8 branch manifold of madness and my mum's old xsara VTS had an equal length 4 branch manifold that was a 6 hour headache when I had to take the head off it...
I had a BX 16v for a while too, as you say they were great engines. The 205 has the next iteration of the BX engine, as found in early 306 S16s and other PSA cars of that era (in fact it came from a Xantia). But mine has the later manifold like your mum's Xsara VTS (had one of those too What sort of manifold do the lated engines have? The BX had an 8 branch manifold of madness and my mum's old xsara VTS had an equal length 4 branch manifold that was a 6 hour headache when I had to take the head off it...
)Edited by CarlosV8 on Thursday 29th October 23:34
Rensko said:
Is the 205 Gentry an Automatic GTI?
Kind of. It is an auto with a detuned version of the 1.9 engine (different head) and softer suspension. Comes with chrome trim, black leather etc so looks like a more subtle GTi. Mine was converted to manual, GTi head, uprated suspension, brakes etc. There's a thread on it somewhere but it looked like this: 
Thanks for the positive comments!
So, first job is to sort the alignment of the bonnet (see 2nd photo above). It's caused by lack of clearance for the air filter (in the 4th pic you can see the indentation made by the bonnet). The previous owner very kindly threw in a revised backing plate for the air filter which should lower it enough to sort the issue.
So first of all the filter and trumpets needed to come off. The old backing plate certainly isn't perfect:
You can see from the pic the subtle difference the new plate will have:
Hopefully just enough lower the let everything fit properly! Unfortunately the air temp sensor hole needs enlarging and I didn't have access to my drill to do it. But everything is cleaned up and ready to go back together:
So, hopefully over the weekend my one major annoyance about the car will be fixed! If it isn't a revised filter arrangement may be in order.
So, first job is to sort the alignment of the bonnet (see 2nd photo above). It's caused by lack of clearance for the air filter (in the 4th pic you can see the indentation made by the bonnet). The previous owner very kindly threw in a revised backing plate for the air filter which should lower it enough to sort the issue.
So first of all the filter and trumpets needed to come off. The old backing plate certainly isn't perfect:
You can see from the pic the subtle difference the new plate will have:
Hopefully just enough lower the let everything fit properly! Unfortunately the air temp sensor hole needs enlarging and I didn't have access to my drill to do it. But everything is cleaned up and ready to go back together:
So, hopefully over the weekend my one major annoyance about the car will be fixed! If it isn't a revised filter arrangement may be in order.
Edited by CarlosV8 on Sunday 23 July 22:36
eric twinge said:
My old 1.6 gti had the red carpets, in fact most of the GTI's that my dad had (ex service manager for Peugeot) did as well.
Why did some have green carpets? Was it a cost option?
Nice car as well.
It was something introduced on the phase 2 models. Originally the Sorrento Green car was a limited edition (with grey leather seats and black carpet I think) which then became a standard colour for late GTis like mine. I think green interior was added on these later non-limited edition versions. I quite like it!Why did some have green carpets? Was it a cost option?
Nice car as well.
So, fitting the new base plate didn't go quite as planned. Turns out the new one doesn't fit. Doh. So after giving the throttle bodies a bit of a clean everything was put back together with the original parts. In the new year I'll get a blank base plate, a punch and make my own.
Nothing much else done to the car so far. Acquired a few replacement parts to sort out some of the niggly issues, which I'll try and fit before the new year. And I did manage to get a really bad video for those that we're interested:
https://youtu.be/qKE8wZgVCzU
Nothing much else done to the car so far. Acquired a few replacement parts to sort out some of the niggly issues, which I'll try and fit before the new year. And I did manage to get a really bad video for those that we're interested:
https://youtu.be/qKE8wZgVCzU
Yorkshire Lad said:
Had three of these over the years, all 1.9's.
Wish I'd never sold them to be honest.
Thinking of getting another one but I was just wondering what the situation is with parts and trims etc. for these, is there still a big supply chain out there to keep them on the road.
Based in Sheffield, so wondered if there were any specialists in the Yorkshire area.
Cheers
Most mechanical parts are still fairly plentiful, it's the trim thats getting difficult as you can't get it new from Peugeot and second hand is often in poor condition. There's still a fairly regular supply of NOS stuff (mudflaps, wheel arch trims etc) popping up for sale but it goes for crazy money. I try to snap up 2nd hand bargains to keep a bit of a spares stash just in case. Getting to the point where I need a bigger garage though Wish I'd never sold them to be honest.
Thinking of getting another one but I was just wondering what the situation is with parts and trims etc. for these, is there still a big supply chain out there to keep them on the road.
Based in Sheffield, so wondered if there were any specialists in the Yorkshire area.
Cheers
Now's probably the time to get a nice one though as they're creeping up in value!
Not sure about specialists in your area - there's a couple of places down South that I would trust with mine. The 205 GTI Drivers forum would be a good place to ask!
Work on the 205 has been a bit slower than I'd first hoped! However, with some spare time today I managed to get a few jobs ticked off.
I went to take the car out last week and gave up half a mile from home because of a major misfire. With any sort of load the car just spluttered and went no where. Whipped the plugs out to discover this:
Black plugs = fuelling issues. This was a home built car (approx 10 years ago) so I wasn't looking forward to trying to diagnose this and also work out what parts were required, as a lot aren't standard. So after reading the Emerald ECU manual last night I went out today armed with a multimeter and laptop to try and figure out what's going on. Basics first - checked injectors and coil were getting power, checked the resistance of the temp sensor, put some new plugs in, cleaned up the coil earthing points and tried again with laptop connected to watch the what the ECU was doing. Had to dig out the ECU first though:
To my surprise it started straight away and seemed to feel a bit smoother. Let it warm up, and all seemed normal. Took it out for a drive and it was perfect, if anything better than before. Phew! Live ECU readings after the run:
I'm still learning about this, but very interesting to see how the maps are built. Fairly simplistic, but obviously you need the skill/knowledge to know how to set them up. Need to work out why the voltage reading is so low too - there was 13.8 volts at the battery!
With that just about sorted I got a few other odd jobs done. Firstly the drivers door seal was hanging off, so that got swapped out for a spare I picked up a few months back. At some point in the past the car had a some extra in car entertainment accessories. None of this was connected, but there was wiring everywhere so decided to strip all the unnecessary bits out. Definitely a few weight reduction bonus points for this:
Also made a couple of subtle interior mods. Not sure if they'll stay long term yet though
Haven't finished it yet but I'm also trying to mount the ECU properly. It's currently just wedged into a cubby hole in the lower dash, but I'd prefer a slightly neater solution. Will hopefully finish that off one evening next week.
Finally, I've been trying to track down some info on the car from when it was built. I've been in contact with the guy that built it and I've also dug out an old rolling road print out from when it was mapped at Emerald back in 2006:
The graph shows a standard Mi16 engine and my slightly tweaked version. Quite an impressive gain!
I went to take the car out last week and gave up half a mile from home because of a major misfire. With any sort of load the car just spluttered and went no where. Whipped the plugs out to discover this:
Black plugs = fuelling issues. This was a home built car (approx 10 years ago) so I wasn't looking forward to trying to diagnose this and also work out what parts were required, as a lot aren't standard. So after reading the Emerald ECU manual last night I went out today armed with a multimeter and laptop to try and figure out what's going on. Basics first - checked injectors and coil were getting power, checked the resistance of the temp sensor, put some new plugs in, cleaned up the coil earthing points and tried again with laptop connected to watch the what the ECU was doing. Had to dig out the ECU first though:
To my surprise it started straight away and seemed to feel a bit smoother. Let it warm up, and all seemed normal. Took it out for a drive and it was perfect, if anything better than before. Phew! Live ECU readings after the run:
I'm still learning about this, but very interesting to see how the maps are built. Fairly simplistic, but obviously you need the skill/knowledge to know how to set them up. Need to work out why the voltage reading is so low too - there was 13.8 volts at the battery!
With that just about sorted I got a few other odd jobs done. Firstly the drivers door seal was hanging off, so that got swapped out for a spare I picked up a few months back. At some point in the past the car had a some extra in car entertainment accessories. None of this was connected, but there was wiring everywhere so decided to strip all the unnecessary bits out. Definitely a few weight reduction bonus points for this:
Also made a couple of subtle interior mods. Not sure if they'll stay long term yet though
Haven't finished it yet but I'm also trying to mount the ECU properly. It's currently just wedged into a cubby hole in the lower dash, but I'd prefer a slightly neater solution. Will hopefully finish that off one evening next week.
Finally, I've been trying to track down some info on the car from when it was built. I've been in contact with the guy that built it and I've also dug out an old rolling road print out from when it was mapped at Emerald back in 2006:
The graph shows a standard Mi16 engine and my slightly tweaked version. Quite an impressive gain!
Edited by CarlosV8 on Sunday 23 July 22:52
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 20:02
Thought I'd try and get some of the easy things ticked off the list, so first up - windscreen washers (it's actually very annoying not having these working!). This should have been fairly easy as I only needed to change the washer pump, but I also decided to make a start on cleaning up the engine bay too. First up was to remove and refurb the washer bottle. Before:
After lots of scrubbing and dishwashing (whilst the wife was out):
Much better!
That left me with a hole in the engine bay (battery also removed to aid access):
Time to get the Jizer out!
After an hour or so of cleaning things are looking a bit better:
Still some work to do, but it's looking a bit more presentable. Also cleaned up the earthing points whilst I was there, and I'll also clean up the battery tray before reassembly.
Over the course of this week I'll try and get the rest of the engine bay a bit cleaner (whilst also checking for rust). In the last few days I also acquired these:
They're not perfect, but as they come up for sale so infrequently I thought I better have them as the one's in the car aren't perfect. Current plan is to make a good set of seats from the 2 sets I currently have. Will require some swapping of covers, which will be a PITA but ultimately worth it. In the meantime I'll still keep my eye out for a good set just in case some more come up!
After lots of scrubbing and dishwashing (whilst the wife was out):
Much better!
That left me with a hole in the engine bay (battery also removed to aid access):
Time to get the Jizer out!
After an hour or so of cleaning things are looking a bit better:
Still some work to do, but it's looking a bit more presentable. Also cleaned up the earthing points whilst I was there, and I'll also clean up the battery tray before reassembly.
Over the course of this week I'll try and get the rest of the engine bay a bit cleaner (whilst also checking for rust). In the last few days I also acquired these:
They're not perfect, but as they come up for sale so infrequently I thought I better have them as the one's in the car aren't perfect. Current plan is to make a good set of seats from the 2 sets I currently have. Will require some swapping of covers, which will be a PITA but ultimately worth it. In the meantime I'll still keep my eye out for a good set just in case some more come up!
Edited by CarlosV8 on Sunday 23 July 22:57
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 20:04
So after quite a few hours cleaning I finally got the engine bay looking a bit more respectable:
Certainly not perfect, but at least you can see the paintwork now!
Next I thought I better give the car a service. 5 litres of fully synthetic plus an oil filter was purchased from ECP for the princely sum of £18 and I thought it'd be a quick 20 minute job. Not quite! The radiator is mounted lower to allow air to flow straight into the throttle bodies, but this means the only way to get the filter out is to remove the front of the car:
Not the end of the world, just a handful of 10mm bolts and a little bit more time. So oil drained, filters swapped and started putting the oil in. 4.5 litres later and did the obligatory look under the car to check for leaks and to my surprise there's a stream of oil coming out. Oh dear. Sump plug ok, filter ok, oil filler pipe not OK! So more of the car was taken off to eventually get to this:
Luckily there was enough slack in the pipe just to cut the bottom off and reattach. It feels quite weak, but I'll source some new pipe to replace it at a later date.
Not quite as easy as I had thought but the oil change was done! I also had the opportunity to have a nose round the cooling system as I'd noticed a couple of drops of coolant on the garage floor after a run. Found one suspect pipe and some tell tell residue marks on the end tank of the radiator. Obviously needs to be addressed, so might take this opportunity to rethink the cooling system - maybe a shortened rad rather than the just lowering the standard one. Need to do some research!
Certainly not perfect, but at least you can see the paintwork now!
Next I thought I better give the car a service. 5 litres of fully synthetic plus an oil filter was purchased from ECP for the princely sum of £18 and I thought it'd be a quick 20 minute job. Not quite! The radiator is mounted lower to allow air to flow straight into the throttle bodies, but this means the only way to get the filter out is to remove the front of the car:
Not the end of the world, just a handful of 10mm bolts and a little bit more time. So oil drained, filters swapped and started putting the oil in. 4.5 litres later and did the obligatory look under the car to check for leaks and to my surprise there's a stream of oil coming out. Oh dear. Sump plug ok, filter ok, oil filler pipe not OK! So more of the car was taken off to eventually get to this:
Luckily there was enough slack in the pipe just to cut the bottom off and reattach. It feels quite weak, but I'll source some new pipe to replace it at a later date.
Not quite as easy as I had thought but the oil change was done! I also had the opportunity to have a nose round the cooling system as I'd noticed a couple of drops of coolant on the garage floor after a run. Found one suspect pipe and some tell tell residue marks on the end tank of the radiator. Obviously needs to be addressed, so might take this opportunity to rethink the cooling system - maybe a shortened rad rather than the just lowering the standard one. Need to do some research!
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 20:06
I've always assumed they shouldn't be under any tension and then the strut top bolts keep it in the right place. There's one underneath too but there's no adjustability on that.
Washed and polished today ready to take to Goodwood in the morning
Washed and polished today ready to take to Goodwood in the morning
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 20:08
Had a great drive out to Goodwood after my last post, but the drive home highlighted a weakness I had feared... we don't like sitting in traffic! I nervously watched the temp gauge get higher and higher on the A27 past Chichester. Similar issues were seen on a drive through the New Forest a week or 2 later, so thought I better do something about it.
When you're on the move the temp is rock steady, so I decided the current rad is the right size, just needed some work on the slow speed/stationary cooling. So, the plan is to renew the rad as it's showing signs of leakage, give the cooling system a good checkover and also fit a second cooling fan. As I mentioned earlier the radiator as been lowered to allow the throttle bodies to breath, however the fan is still in it's standard position (as the cowling doubles as a slam panel and grille mount and cant be moved down) so it's only blowing over about 2/3 of the rad. Fortunately there's a space for a second fan, so I'm hoping this will help in the short term. In the long term I'd like to cut out the lower crossmember, remove the slam panel and make up a bespoke front end.
Finally found some time to get to work. With the slam panel, grille, fan and rad removed access to the engine is great improved!
You also can see the lowered radiator mounts. Nothing special, just some right angle aluminium bolted to the lower cross member - normally the rad would sit in mounts on the fan cowling, which you can see on my spare one below (right hand side):
My cowling has these cut off, as obviously they're not needed and would be in the way. I'll swap a fan over, to save butchering another cowling, and then it will be wired into a simple switch in the cabin so I can turn it on when required. I can do some data logging with the laptop connected to the ECU to check the impact of both fans on coolant temperature.
Elsewhere I thought I better check thermostat whilst everything was apart, and potentially look for a lower temp version to aid cooling. Well I won't be doing that, as it already has a 72 degree one in there. Some quick Googling reveals that this is what Skip Brown Cars recommend for this conversion, so I'll stick with that. Played with a new toy just to make sure it was working OK:
And it's all good, so no problem there.
Final thing to check was a leak somewhere at the bottom end of the cooling system, which had been causing a small puddle on the garage floor. I knew the rad was leaking, but also suspected one of the pipes coming off it. When I took it apart it became obvious why:
A pipe from the oil heat exchanger fitted on this little adapter. The pipe is 15mm and the adapter 10mm, so a short piece of 10mm pipe had been fitted to take up the slack. And this was weeping coolant. As the cooling system is not standard a ready made replacement pipe/adapter is not available, so after a bit of head scratching and Googling I came up with this:
Old version pictured for reference. Yes, it's a bit blingy, but it'll screw into the rad (M22x1.5 to AN10 adapter) and then give me something for the heat exchanger pipe to connect to directly (AN10 to 15mm barbed tail 90 degree pipe). Result!
Hopefully it'll all be back together this week, and I'll have a reliable cooling system for the rest of the summer!
When you're on the move the temp is rock steady, so I decided the current rad is the right size, just needed some work on the slow speed/stationary cooling. So, the plan is to renew the rad as it's showing signs of leakage, give the cooling system a good checkover and also fit a second cooling fan. As I mentioned earlier the radiator as been lowered to allow the throttle bodies to breath, however the fan is still in it's standard position (as the cowling doubles as a slam panel and grille mount and cant be moved down) so it's only blowing over about 2/3 of the rad. Fortunately there's a space for a second fan, so I'm hoping this will help in the short term. In the long term I'd like to cut out the lower crossmember, remove the slam panel and make up a bespoke front end.
Finally found some time to get to work. With the slam panel, grille, fan and rad removed access to the engine is great improved!
You also can see the lowered radiator mounts. Nothing special, just some right angle aluminium bolted to the lower cross member - normally the rad would sit in mounts on the fan cowling, which you can see on my spare one below (right hand side):
My cowling has these cut off, as obviously they're not needed and would be in the way. I'll swap a fan over, to save butchering another cowling, and then it will be wired into a simple switch in the cabin so I can turn it on when required. I can do some data logging with the laptop connected to the ECU to check the impact of both fans on coolant temperature.
Elsewhere I thought I better check thermostat whilst everything was apart, and potentially look for a lower temp version to aid cooling. Well I won't be doing that, as it already has a 72 degree one in there. Some quick Googling reveals that this is what Skip Brown Cars recommend for this conversion, so I'll stick with that. Played with a new toy just to make sure it was working OK:
And it's all good, so no problem there.
Final thing to check was a leak somewhere at the bottom end of the cooling system, which had been causing a small puddle on the garage floor. I knew the rad was leaking, but also suspected one of the pipes coming off it. When I took it apart it became obvious why:
A pipe from the oil heat exchanger fitted on this little adapter. The pipe is 15mm and the adapter 10mm, so a short piece of 10mm pipe had been fitted to take up the slack. And this was weeping coolant. As the cooling system is not standard a ready made replacement pipe/adapter is not available, so after a bit of head scratching and Googling I came up with this:
Old version pictured for reference. Yes, it's a bit blingy, but it'll screw into the rad (M22x1.5 to AN10 adapter) and then give me something for the heat exchanger pipe to connect to directly (AN10 to 15mm barbed tail 90 degree pipe). Result!
Hopefully it'll all be back together this week, and I'll have a reliable cooling system for the rest of the summer!
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 20:12
Well that took a bit longer than expected! The 205 is now back together with new rad, fresh coolant and 2nd fan.
You can see in the below photo the 2nd fan and how much the rad has been lowered:
The 2nd fan is crudely wired into a switch in the cabin for the time being. I'll monitor temperatures and eventually either wire it into the ECU or tidy up the wiring and put a hidden switch somewhere. For now it's there just in case.
Went for a nice long test drive tonight. Temperature is still steady during normal use. The original fan kicks in as it should (after cleaning up the connecting terminal) and the 2nd fan makes a noticeable difference when switched on. Exactly what I wanted. Cheeky pic on the test drive:
You can see in the below photo the 2nd fan and how much the rad has been lowered:
The 2nd fan is crudely wired into a switch in the cabin for the time being. I'll monitor temperatures and eventually either wire it into the ECU or tidy up the wiring and put a hidden switch somewhere. For now it's there just in case.
Went for a nice long test drive tonight. Temperature is still steady during normal use. The original fan kicks in as it should (after cleaning up the connecting terminal) and the 2nd fan makes a noticeable difference when switched on. Exactly what I wanted. Cheeky pic on the test drive:
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 20:14
Cheers guys, she does go well and provides a unique driving experience. It's unlike any other 205 I've been in!
With the mechanicals now seemingly working well I want to start on the interior. There's an array of annoying rattles that get on my nerves so I'm going to try and fix the worse ones whilst doing a few other odd jobs whilst everything is apart. Wish me luck!
With the mechanicals now seemingly working well I want to start on the interior. There's an array of annoying rattles that get on my nerves so I'm going to try and fix the worse ones whilst doing a few other odd jobs whilst everything is apart. Wish me luck!
I've been putting off the rattle hunt for a couple of months now, but after a long drive out to Silverstone a few weeks back and also using it every day this week (broken daily driver!) I've decided it needs to be sorted.
First of all, the loudest, most annoying rattle was coming from the drivers door. The plan was to remove all the trim and doorcard and refit with any necessary new clips/screws. But in the end I took the speaker cover off and there was the culprit:
A loose speaker screw (and 2 others missing). 4 new, slightly oversized screws and no more rattling. Result.
Next was the roof console trim and I suspected this would be a simple fix and it was - the 2 mounting screws just needed tightening. But this unit also houses the remote locking receiver so thought I might as well try and fix this too. The car was missing the plip so it's never worked, but I recalled from my BX 16v days that the receivers from many PSA cars of the time were interchangeable. So having acquired a cheap receiver and key from a 405 last year it was finally time to fit it. The case of the receiver is exactly the same, but the electronics are slightly different which means the spherical cover in the roof console doesn't fit. However a bit of time with a dremel and a glue gun and everything fits nicely. You can see the differences here:
My cover (the hat shaped thing) is now glued to the roof console instead of slotting into the receiver. And best of all, I now have remote locking!!
Just need to change all the locks over now so I have a single key to go with it!
And I should also say that last week I got one of these:
Very pleased about the lack of advisories.
And finally a couple of photos from an epic day out in the car. A faultless (and fun) drive to Silverstone:
First of all, the loudest, most annoying rattle was coming from the drivers door. The plan was to remove all the trim and doorcard and refit with any necessary new clips/screws. But in the end I took the speaker cover off and there was the culprit:
A loose speaker screw (and 2 others missing). 4 new, slightly oversized screws and no more rattling. Result.
Next was the roof console trim and I suspected this would be a simple fix and it was - the 2 mounting screws just needed tightening. But this unit also houses the remote locking receiver so thought I might as well try and fix this too. The car was missing the plip so it's never worked, but I recalled from my BX 16v days that the receivers from many PSA cars of the time were interchangeable. So having acquired a cheap receiver and key from a 405 last year it was finally time to fit it. The case of the receiver is exactly the same, but the electronics are slightly different which means the spherical cover in the roof console doesn't fit. However a bit of time with a dremel and a glue gun and everything fits nicely. You can see the differences here:
My cover (the hat shaped thing) is now glued to the roof console instead of slotting into the receiver. And best of all, I now have remote locking!!
Just need to change all the locks over now so I have a single key to go with it!And I should also say that last week I got one of these:
Very pleased about the lack of advisories.
And finally a couple of photos from an epic day out in the car. A faultless (and fun) drive to Silverstone:
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 20:17
The 205 is my only car that is fully working at the moment. It's not particularly well suited to being a daily driver but it's done its job this week and got me to work every day. And it's a much more pleasant place to be now with a couple of the rattles sorted. Squeaky seat to fix next!
They'll certainly be some video if I ever get round to a track day. I keep meaning to take a better one on the road too.
They'll certainly be some video if I ever get round to a track day. I keep meaning to take a better one on the road too.
Been fairly quiet on the 205 front recently. Had an enjoyable run out to Goodwood back in November.
Got lots of positive comments which is always nice to hear! November and December became quite busy so the 205 stayed tucked up in the garage. Decided to try and put some miles on her over Christmas though, but that wasn't to be as I discovered a nice big puddle of coolant under the car. 3 months after I'd (finally) finished over-hauling the cooling system...
The leak was quickly tracked down to the oil/coolant heat exchanger bolted to the block. Looks like the metal had fatigued and started weeping coolant - the combination of wiggling pipes whilst I had the rad out plus being used as a daily driver for a week probably finished it off. Didn't fancy paying the £300 from Peugeot, so I went for the £20 2nd hand option from a GTI6 with a £5 seal from Peugeot instead. Once again the front of the car was removed and the offending part removed:
All back together tonight - as you can see it also doubles up as the oil filter housing:
Just need a couple of new hose clips to button it all up and then back on the road this weekend hopefully.
In other news I finally got fed up with my a broken knob (well 3 of them actually):
Got myself a re-production gear knob for my birthday. They're not quite factory finish, but after breaking 3 original versions due to their brittle-ness I thought I'd give one a try. Pretty pleased with it considering it's reasonable price!
And finally, I've treated the car to a little spares package, in the shape of this bad ass little thing:
A 1993 205 Automatic. It's a bit rough round the edges, but most importantly it's got the raised bonnet bulge (needed for clearance on the Auto). This will provide some much needed clearance for my throttle bodies and will replace my slightly bent bonnet (after sitting on the aforementioned TBs for many years). The car will also provide a load of extra spares before being sent off to the scrapyard in the sky. But if anyone else wants something off the car please shout (or even the whole car!!).
Got lots of positive comments which is always nice to hear! November and December became quite busy so the 205 stayed tucked up in the garage. Decided to try and put some miles on her over Christmas though, but that wasn't to be as I discovered a nice big puddle of coolant under the car. 3 months after I'd (finally) finished over-hauling the cooling system...
The leak was quickly tracked down to the oil/coolant heat exchanger bolted to the block. Looks like the metal had fatigued and started weeping coolant - the combination of wiggling pipes whilst I had the rad out plus being used as a daily driver for a week probably finished it off. Didn't fancy paying the £300 from Peugeot, so I went for the £20 2nd hand option from a GTI6 with a £5 seal from Peugeot instead. Once again the front of the car was removed and the offending part removed:
All back together tonight - as you can see it also doubles up as the oil filter housing:
Just need a couple of new hose clips to button it all up and then back on the road this weekend hopefully.
In other news I finally got fed up with my a broken knob (well 3 of them actually):
Got myself a re-production gear knob for my birthday. They're not quite factory finish, but after breaking 3 original versions due to their brittle-ness I thought I'd give one a try. Pretty pleased with it considering it's reasonable price!
And finally, I've treated the car to a little spares package, in the shape of this bad ass little thing:
A 1993 205 Automatic. It's a bit rough round the edges, but most importantly it's got the raised bonnet bulge (needed for clearance on the Auto). This will provide some much needed clearance for my throttle bodies and will replace my slightly bent bonnet (after sitting on the aforementioned TBs for many years). The car will also provide a load of extra spares before being sent off to the scrapyard in the sky. But if anyone else wants something off the car please shout (or even the whole car!!).
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 20:24
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