[Trackday_Prep] My 205 Gti Track Car Rebuild

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Hi all.I did all the work I am going to list in the summer of 2006 after I rolled my 205 Mi16 whilst on a trackday at Cadwell Park. As I was doing it I documented it on another forum, however I thought I'd pop it on here so that as a new member you can see my car. Hope that is OK mods?

 

So after rolling my 205 at Cadwell Park, so the rebuild begins....

 

Damaged Car

 

Although not looking terrible from the picture, the rear impact into the barriers had made a real mess of the boot floor, and otherwise there wasn't a straight panel left on the car. It was also not a great shame to be able to get rid of the sunroof!

 

Donor Car

 

 

Donor Car + cage, next to my tidy 1900

 

 

Donor Car - engine/box/susp etc removed.

 

 

Found some rusty bits

 

 

 

EEK.

Edited December 14, 2007 by Tom Fenton

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Well today I have done a bit more on the car.....

 

 

From this-

 

 

To this-

 

 

To this-

 

 

 

Tomorrow some seam sealing and paint.

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

 

 

Bit of seam sealering and some primer.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quite pleased with how the repaired section has turned out considering how bad it was to begin with. New wing for that side ordered today, should be here tomorrow hopefully.

 

 

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Done a shade more-

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can start putting stuff back in it now, will start with the bias pedal box I think as this is a git to get into place.

 

 

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Got fed up of working round the front of the car so turned my attention to the rear beam.

 

Dragged it to bits and gave it a quick check over, all seems healthy as it was only in pieces about 18 months ago, good dose of grease and put it back together, then bolted it to the car. Thought about painting it up to look nice but couldn't be bothered, anyway I have enough to do with the rest at the moment!

 

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Next I turned my attention back to the pedal box, more specifically mounting the remote reservoirs.

 

 

Radiator mounting bracket (stainless steel) mounted onto front panel.

 

 

Rebushed lower arms and fitted 22mm Anti roll bar.

 

 

 

Then bolted it to the car.

 

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Well a quick update, I have been busy with work for the past few days so haven't had that much time on the car.However, the front struts are now in place, steering column is also connected and back in place.I have been doing some work tidying up the engine loom before it goes back in, I was never 100% happy with it in the old car so now is a chance to improve on it.

The engine has also had the exhaust manifold replaced as it had a slight crack, and although welding it in situ had vasty improved the situation, replacement was better. It has also had a new cambelt whilst it is on the floor, much easier than with it in the car. The water pump was renewed 2 winters ago and is still fine.

 

I've also finally got around to doing a job I have been meaning to do for ages, which is to fit some brake cooling ducts to the front bumper. Mainly because the 205 GTI front bumper without the spot lights looks poor in my opinion! But also to duct some cold air to the brakes.

Anyway here is the result, I am quite pleased as it looks lots better than it did.

 

 

I have been doing the bit of painting etc required, I hate doing bodywork but this has turned out quite well so I am pleased with it.

 

 

I had to replace the drivers side wing as it had gone rusty, I also resprayed the bonnet as it had a few scabs on the edges.

 

 

Fit of the wing is OK but not great, thats the usual thing with pattern wings though.

I am now waiting for the cambelt tensioners to arrive so I can change them and then get the engine and box back in.

 

List of stuff still to do in rough order in my head...

Paint inside rear of car

Bolt rear cage section in place

Change cambelt tensioners

Fit gear linkage

Run aeroquip brake lines

Engine, gearbox, engine wiring loom back into car.

Exhaust, radiator, oil cooler to refit.

Seat rails to weld in

Harness Crutch strap mount to weld in

Paint inside front of car

Bolt remainder of cage in

Fit seats and belts

Then get it MOT'd, and get some road miles under its belt and see what drops off or otherwise causes embuggerance.

Edited December 14, 2007 by Tom Fenton

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

This morning and most of this afternoon was spent painting the rear of the inside of the car, so I can get the main hoop of the cage bolted in.

 

 

Then I turned my attentions to the front end, and fitted the aeroquip lines for the brakes. I did a couple of bits and bobs that needed doing and were easier with the engine out, then this evening I have put the engine and gearbox back in.

 

 

Tomorrows plans are to get the rear cage in and bolted down, then continue with the engine, so things like exhaust to fit, driveshafts to check over and then refit etc........

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

The pace of the build continues unabated.........

 

 

Cage rear section in, was quite amusing getting our gert out to push the cage feet across so I could get the bolts started!

 

Despite me being at work all weekend my buddy (and co-owner) has come up to work on the car to help me get it finished.

 

One of the main jobs was seat rails, I am quite tall at 6'1" and like to sit low, after much deliberation we decided that we just could not get the seat low enough with that "hump" in the tunnel in place.

 

So here are the pics-

 

 

 

 

 

Also the 4 harness points have been welded in, the rear two straps will fix to the cage.

So tomorrow we can crack on and get all the stuff put back inside, front half of rollcage, gear linkage, handbrake, dash back together.

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Well it is looking like a car again, dash is in, seats and belts are in, cage is also inPic from earlier today-

 

 

MOT 1pm tomorrow! Few jobs to finish in morning, grille and number plate to fit, then need to run it up to temperature and take it round the block to get the rust off the brakes.

 

FINISHED!Well, nearly! There are a couple of daft little things to square away, but other than that its done!

Have given it a very quick whizz over this morning to get the muck off it, and taken it round the block to get the rust off the brakes etc, then it is off for MOT this afternoon 1.30pm.

 

Heres some pictures-

 

 

 

 

Passed its MOT first time! Only minor point was a lack of handbrake effort on one side, probably due to the discs being rusted up through lack of use.

 

Some more pictures

 

 

 

 

Well the trackday went well, the car performed excellently for the majority of the day, about 1/2hr from the end I noticed a clunking noise from the front suspension so stopped to investigate, it turned out to be a knackered steering arm inner joint, probably my fault for "over enthusiastic" use of the kerbs!

 

Here is some video footage of me driving on the following link-

 

http://media.putfile.com/Tour-of-Anglesey

 

Sorted out a few pictures off the camera just now, I thought this one was well worth sharing, I think it is great! Taken at Anglesey circuit, the backdrop is the Irish sea.

 

Edited December 14, 2007 by Tom Fenton

[24seven 104]

good stuff man! that's a lot of progress for one day

 

[edit] video link doesn't work

Edited December 14, 2007 by 24Seven

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Well that more or less brings the story up to date to the end of 2006. I hope you've enjoyed reading. For various personal reasons I didn't get to use the car at all in 2007, so it has been in the care of my mate who co-owns it with me.

 

However, plans are afoot to be back out on the track days in 2008, already there are a few modifications being gathered together to make some improvements, first off I've bought a pair of AVO front coilovers, this will allow me to get some much needed negative camber on the front end of the car, in addition I have a pair of rear AVO dampers to replace the (very) ageing Spax units currently fitted. Also awaiting fitting in a SPA digital oil pressure/temperature gauge, simply because I do not trust the standard items as anything more than "guess-o-meters"!

Finally it looks like the head will be coming off soon, it has never had to come off in the 5 years I've owned the engine, and it still runs well, however it has recently started weeping coolant from the joint between the block and head, and is getting worse, so will need sorting out soon.

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Brief Spec-

 

Engine

 

Standard 1905cc alloy block XU9J4 D6C engine.

Full length inlet manifold. OMP Gp A exhaust system, K&N cone filter.

170bhp @ flywheel on RR.

 

Gearbox

 

BE1/5 1600 GTi gearbox. Quaife ATB differential.

205 GTI 1900 driveshafts/uprights.

Rose jointed gearlinkage.

 

Suspension

 

Polybushed 205 lower suspension arms. Spax adjustable dampers front and rear. 30mm lowering approx. 309 GTI front ARB. 22mm rear torsion bars. Gp A rear beam mountings.

 

Brakes

 

Bias Twin master cyl pedalbox with remote reservoirs.

Aeroquip brakelines throughout car

306 GTI-6 283mm front discs and calipers. Mintex 1144 front brake pads.

Standard 205 GTI 1900 rear brakes.

 

Body

 

1989 non sunroof bodyshell. Seat crossmembers removed. Custom seat rails welded in. Safety Devices 10 point bolt in rollcage, modified to make rear pickup points attach to rear beam mounts. Custom fabricated front rollcage mounts welded in. OMP RS composite seats. Willans aircraft buckle harnesses

 

Misc

 

SPA sequential shiftlight display built into instrument cluster.

[mickie 3]

i like how the repair pannel turned out, looks really nice..

 

good work

[pip470 61]

Nice work tom. I would be horrified to find that amount of rust, I wouldnt know where to start on repairing that. The car looks great now. Will you be using it 2008?

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

I hope to use it in 2008 yes, Cadwell Park despite being where I stuck the old one on the roof still remains a favourite circuit of mine so hope to head there. The rust I am sure was due to some accident damage earlier in the cars life, which was badly repaired. This was also the reason that the wing on that side of the car was rusty too.

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Here is one other thing we have in the pipeline for it as well-

 

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a221/tomfenton/mop017.jpg

 

[mickie 3]

nice looking tb's.. where did you sorce that front panel ?

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

The front panel (bit I got is called headlamp panel; there is one called "front panel" available which is both sides of the bit I replaced, plus the lower cross member) was a genuine Peugeot one, not sure if they are still available genuine Peugeot or not as I bought it New-Old-Stock, however you can certainly still get them as pattern repair panels.

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

Holy thread revival Batman, fast forward 8 years!

In that time MOP as she is know (Mouldy Old Peugeot) did many trackdays in the UK and also a couple of trips to Germany to the ring.

However a great day out at Donington Park in April 2014 ended a bit suddenly when a good mate of mine got it all wrong coming up out of the Old Hairpin and exited stage left onto grass>wall.

Result was as so....

 

 

With various other things already on the go, including getting married, poor old MOP has been languishing for too long, however not any more!

 

 

So in the usual way, to keep myself motivated, I will post progress here, watch this space.

[welshpug 1,621]

shame to see the repaired corner squished! how did the bits you had patched In fare off?

[allye 530 3 Cars]

nice workshop!

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

shame to see the repaired corner squished! how did the bits you had patched In fare off?

 

See picture above, my welding isn't pigeon s*it! However my rustproofing left a bit to be desired after 8 years.

 

nice workshop!

 

Thanks, but look back at the pictures on the first page, it has filled up a LOT since then!

 

Last night I removed the rear beam and fuel tank, managed to slop about 2 gallon of fuel everywhere, there must have been more in the tank than I thought.....

[allye 530 3 Cars]

cant be as bad as the army of tree spiders which attacked me when i removed the tank from my van a few weeks ago.