[Car_Restoration] My 1989 205 1.9 Gti Restoration Project

[will1991 11 1 Cars]

Awesome Paul

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Looks great Paul, well done mate.

[lightflow 59 1 Cars]

Forget the car - have you seen the pressure washer behind it!! Looks more like the kind of thing they drive on ice rinks

 

Fantastic job Paul! Will be in contact re photo shoot.

 

Cheers

 

 

Ash

[lightflow 59 1 Cars]

Ooh and nice binnacle screw detail. Got to be worth some extra marks on the concours judging! Did you find a black M5 torx in the end - I haven't yet. I know cRaig is looking for one too...

[jackherer 543]

Very nice. The seats look amazing but I'm not sure I'd be happy with the steering wheel stitching either.

 

The binnacle screw looks perfect now

[Mac Crash 78 1 Cars]

no doubt they weren't even this good from the factory, brilliant car and thread, Paul.

[ATK 137 1 Cars]

Insanely good mate, a real credit. The attention to detail is unlike anything Ive ever seen!

 

Love the fact theres more 205's lurking in your pics too....resto on the miami next is it?

[acox99 71 1 Cars]

Great to see it finished and on the road. All you need is descent weather to enjoy it.

[Juttie205 123 2 Cars]

simply stunning.

[Rock Lobster 28]

Agreed. Fantastic work mate. Is that the factory colour on the wheels Paul?

[Andy_C 50]

Looking good chap. Back to 1990 and pleased to see 2 buckets

[Darrens205GTI 9]

Great thread Paul, I've really enjoyed it and your car is aa amazing advert to your hard work and attention to detail.

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Thanks for everyone's kind words, they are appreciated.

 

I am working through a list of about 30 items of minor jobs....and two reasonable jobs.

 

1. The first reasonable job is that the power steering does not seem to be very effective (OK not working at all ) all the pipes, pump and reservoir are new. I had stripped the pinion drive which seems a very straight forward device. I expected that I had got some plumbing wrong but now that I've inspected it, it is all as per the diagram on SB.

 

So my question is, is there anything else I can test? or do I need to think about replacing the ram or the pinion drive or both.....or am I missing something??

 

2. The second reasonable job is a massive mistake on my part, I should have replaced the door hinge pins when the car was in bits, before it went to the dippers, but I didn't and now I'm left with doing the job on an all but finished car, so my question is, how is this job best tackled, what tools are best and can it be done with the doors on or do I need to remove the doors.

[Plumbob 66 1 Cars]

Just caught up with this! Looks great! Check out those seats!

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Well the cars now finished and my 30 items (and 2 large jobs) have all been done as far as I can go.It was today taken back to the body shop to repair some minor (& not so minor ) scratches, scrapes and chips.

 

The first large job was to find out why the PAS wasn't working, so got this rig together to pressure test the system

 

 

Once set up the initial test showed that there was next to bugger all pressure being generated by the PAS pump (unfortunately I bought it new well over 15 months ago ), however I managed to source a new OE one

 

 

 

With new OE pump pressure was around 60psi and 1000 rpm and around 1000psi against a closed head.

 

Reassembled and now the PAS is working properly.

 

Next was the dreaded door hinge job, for this I had decided to remove the doors.

 

Firstly the drivers door (which was the worst) with the doors off there was just about enough room to get a long punch which removed the old pins easily.

 

before

 

 

 

door removed

 

 

New pins

 

 

top pin

 

 

top and bottom pin (bottom one was really worn)

 

 

new top pin went in a dream and was tight

 

 

bottom pin went in easily as well but unfortunately the hinge itself was worn

 

 

After searching on here it seemed the most common solution was to drill the door out to 8mm and use a new 8mm roll pin which I duly ordered.

 

When they arrived I compared them against the OE ones, my concern was the raised area of the OE pins, which (I guess) locate into the outer door bracket to make sure the movement is in the more meaty bracket welded to the body.

 

so I decided to make a sleeve, I found some stainless steel 10mm x 7mm tube and cut 23.5 mm to make these sleeves

 

 

 

 

 

bracket with (corroded 7mm hole)

 

 

I used a right angled drill atatchment

 

to drill the hole out to 10mm

 

 

I roughed up the outside of the stainless tube and then hammered it home with a punch

 

 

then inserted the OE pin and hey pressto one solid non dropping door

 

 

If anyone wants any inserts let me know as I had to buy enough pipe to make 85.....

 

The other door was a dream and just needed two new pins and no sleeve..phew.....

 

also damaged the strap pins which I replaced

 

 

All being well I should be collecting the car late next week which should be just enough time for a clean and polish before it's first Pugfest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[j_turnell 134 3 Cars]

Fantastic attention to detail, car looks great, you have far more patience than I do! I need to do the same on my drivers door, I'll take a couple of inserts off your hands, let me know how much for a pair. Thanks

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Well done Paul, look forward to seeing the car at Pugfest, just one request please don't park it near mine!!

[timoth123 37 1 Cars]

Great work Paul!!

 

Im really looking forward to seeing yours in person!!!! Absolutely beautiful!!

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Fantastic attention to detail, car looks great, you have far more patience than I do! I need to do the same on my drivers door, I'll take a couple of inserts off your hands, let me know how much for a pair. Thanks

 

Hi James, £5 incl postage for a pair of the inserts.

Edited June 24, 2015 by mrfirepro

[mowflow 67]

Incredible. Not actually visited this thread since it more or less started so have pretty much just read righ through.

 

It's extremely impressive but slightly demoralising as I realise I still have a long way to go and even then its not going to touch this standard.

[Rock Lobster 28]

Looking good, second to none! If you still have some inserts I'll take enough to do both doors please mate?

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

It was really good to meet lots of you at Pugfest and thanks for so many positive comments. The weather was kind, the judges were kind and to top it off Tom decided to keep me company for the day.

 

Now the restoration is over (or was that "over restoration" ) apart from getting the disks plated (thanks Tom) that's it for this project.

 

I plan to do some before and after shots and will post as soon as there done, in the mean time a few shots from Pugfest 15.....

 

 

 

 

 

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Well Paul those pictures just don't do it justice at all, it's a stunning thing and a real credit to you. For me I think it's the interior that really sets it apart, there are lots of nice 205's out there with shiny paint, but yours really does look inside like it's just rolled into a dealer from the factory. I must admit I found your end result difficult to understand, some of the other cars were lovely, but I personally felt the judges were maybe a little hard on you, as there was very little in my eyes you could have done to improve your car.

In comparison mine looked a shed!! But glad I could pass on just one little tip about the brakes, I expect to see clean and shiny disc hubs next time I see it ????

[farmer 327 1 Cars]

Car looks spot on Paul

 

Just goes to show you if you put the time in and spend the money on the good/right parts it pays off.

Edited July 13, 2015 by farmer

[Juttie205 123 2 Cars]

Pictures make this car look superb and can only imagine its better in the flesh i was also shocked to read you didn't get 1st place as it looks like the most full restoration you can do and has inspired me alot with my dimma.