[car_overhaul] Repairing My Accident Damaged Cti

[SebRad 0]

In mid November 2010 my CTI got rear-ended, was the front one of a 3 car shunt caused by the back one so not hit very hard.

See this thread for pics.

 

The 3rd party’s insurance agreed a payout rather than writing my car off. Basically I kept the salvage and they sent me a cheque and it wasn’t recorded as a total loss. As I haven’t claimed for hire car and there was no recovery or storage as was only ½ mile from home and was able to drive back they got off very lightly!

 

Anyway, it’s now in Dad’s workshop and the friend who’s going to mend it has made a small start on straightening it out.

 

All pictures should link [if my code is right!] to larger versions, ~1600x1200 and ~1MB in size.

 

 

 

The Plan is to repair the rear, and the driver’s door / wing that were damaged when I bought the car. Also straighten out any other dings and dents including ripples in the passenger door and then repaint the whole car.

 

I’ve bought replacement bumper, boot lid and two valances, one great condition and the other not so good but has the lights in it. Also got replacement for the driver’s door plastic trim, a brand new heater fan, centre caps for the 15” wheels I bought some months back, new bumper/trim fitting clips and some twin jet washers.

 

 

As the car is off the road and going to end up clean and painted outside I thought I’d see about giving the Inside a good cleaning. I started with the carpet , general consensus is the best way seems to be to take it out first, so I did.

 

 

Gave it a good scrubbing with hot water and washing powder, well actually Ariel Excel Gel, “with Actilift” no less!

 

 

Sorry this post is actually a little bit behind real progress, carpet photos taken 21-1-2011 so there's more to come in a minute...

 

Regards, Seb

[SebRad 0]

After scrubbing the carpet I rinsed it out with hot water pressure washer.

It now looked rather better but has some tears in it so I set about repairing them, from my reading I decided the best method would be to stitch it up and then tape the back, like so:

 

 

Also a couple more small tears in front of each rear seat, that got the same treatment. Took couple hours to stitch it up, was quite bored by end but pleased with the result.

 

As I had the seats out I thought I’d give them a good clean/scrub too. They didn’t look bad at all but the colour of the water in the vacuum cleaner after suggested otherwise!

 

The right side bolster of the driver’s seat has always been a bit off/floppy so I decided to take it apart to see what’s up with it. Surprisingly the foam itself is good, it was the metal support bar inside that was broken. Now welded up by Dad: [i know his welding isn’t tidy but won’t be seen in the seat]

 

 

Also welded up the cross bar on the passenger seat frame.

 

 

While cleaning the seats I thought I’d have a few more bits out to clean them too, currently in spare room. Must be some advantage to living alone...

 

 

Hope I'm not boring anyone,

Seb

[SebRad 0]

Polly doesn't seem to mind the cottage being full of car interior...

 

 

With most of the interior now in my house I thought I’d try adding some extra sound proofing to the car. Whether adding sound proofing to a “rattley old French cabriolet” will do any good remains to be seen

Anyway I bought 7x1m of foil backed sticky black stuff for a fair amount of money, for anyone interested in weight it’s about 12Kg.

 

 

I’ve put it all over the floor, fun working it in to the complex shape of the floor pan...

I started by brushing and vacuuming the floor out to get rid of the dust etc to give good chance it will stick

 

 

I've decided best to put the stuff in place cold as then not too sticky and can move it around, unstick it etc. Once in place warm it up and press down firmly to get tight stick.

 

So that's how the roof works! (there's another on other side too)

 

Seb

[welshpug 1,622]

good progress, is it in a bodyshop to get the rear sorted?

 

If you ever need bits from pug for it, speak to Ed in parts dept at Warners in Tewkesbury, really helpful guy and everyone I know goes up there iven if they live closer to their Cheltenham or Gloucester branches

[Atari Boy 11]

Nice progress report, thanks for taking the time to type it up.

It will be interesting to see how effective the foil is.

Keep us posted.

[SebRad 0]

Yep, me again!

I've added sound damping inside the doors:

 

 

I got a whole 1m x 0.5m piece inside the door by leaving the backing on and working the backing off once inside the door and then pressing in to place!

 

 

And inside the rear quarters:

 

 

Lots of space in there, did my best to cover it all up, ~0.75m2 in each side.

 

Next pic is looking down and forward past the passenger front seatbelt real. Bar in foreground guides the rear window as it winds down.

 

 

Got fair bit left, not sure where that’s going, maybe boot floor as original sound proofing pretty mashed up.

 

I used some Flashing Tape to patch up the top surface of the original sound deadening too

 

 

 

I just hope the carpet will fit and look OK back over all that lot...

 

Now I just need the guy to get on and get it straight and painted then I can put it back together and enjoy it again. I just fear that after driving a low miles 53 plate Yaris for 2 months the CTI is going to feel a bit old and noisy, but I also think one good “spirited” drive and I won’t care!

Topless drive on a warm, sunny day would also work brilliantly but I hope it will be fixed long before we have any more of those..

 

Will update when some more progress has been made.

 

Thanks for looking, Seb

[SebRad 0]

Cheers guys, will keep in mind Warners Tewkesbury, only 1/2 hour from here.

 

Will let you know about the sound damping, if I can tell as been off road for couple months.

 

Bodyshop? Well it's in my Dad's [rather nice] workshop if that counts

 

Anyway due to my being even slower getting this typed up than the guy doing the work for me there is more progress!

 

Boot floor repair finished and new boot lid has been fitted

 

 

Passenger door had some ripples that have been attended to and drivers door that was creased when I bought car has also received attention.

 

 

 

Filler and primer on door and boot lid

 

 

More primer and prep work done

 

 

Seb

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

The rear seat bases are the same as GTI ones if you change the brackets on the front so I would look to get yourself a couple of those to freshen up the rear.

 

You may want to take the opportunity to fit CL and EW's too as they are eary to fit if you find the connectible door looms from a late 91 in car. You need an early (grey) 2 pin drivers door actuator though as the CTI does not have the PLIP system, so no control box. You can make power window mechanisms from GTI ones in minutes.

 

I never understand why the carpets get torn on CTIs. Maybe it is the stilettos the drivers wear!

 

Nice to see another Atlantic Blue getting restored. This is the fourth one I know of being repainted back to mint.

[SebRad 0]

Last post for tonight!

 

Also along the way I had the 15" wheels I bought ~6 months ago powder coated! [many thanks 'rom' for them]

 

mmmm shiny

 

We have paint! (since Sunday 6th Feb)

 

 

Having painted it Steve is now taking sandpaper to it, hope he knows what he's doing!

 

 

I was asked if I wanted to change the colour and I wasn't sure but seeing it all fresh and shiny I'm glad I didn't

 

That's all the pics for now. Since last pic car has been flatted and polished and started looking at reassembly.

I've scrubbed and cleaned the replacement rear bumper and drivers door trim. Both looked a bit grey and uninspiring but after a through clean and two coats of black "Plasticare" they now look great

Also the plastic trim panel on the boot got broken by the couriers, today I got one from a friend literally 1/2 mile down the lane so that was a result! [thanks Jack]

Like the bumper it didn't look great but once clean and dyed it now looks the business.

 

That's about up to date now, tomorrow I'll take more pictures and start on putting the carpet back in and see if I remember how to reassemble the interior. Can't be that hard...

 

Regards, Seb

[SebRad 0]

Henry, thanks for the tips on the CW & EW and rear seats.

 

Dunno about the carpet, not me wearing stilletos in it

Maybe more stuff under it will help support it... I did the repair job as didn't like my chances of finding a good condition replacement!

 

I'm aware that it can all be swapped over but haven't really done anything about it as I think ultimately I'd like to get a scrap GTI with half leather and then swap it all over.

Along with the suspension & brakes and anything else I take a fancy too...

 

Having said that a couple rear seat bases should be findable for next to nothing till I get round to it.

 

Many thanks, Seb

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

Wow pretty impressive so far, look forward to hearing how well the soundproofing works, would be nice to have a 205 with minimal road noise and rattles

[M@tt 77]

fantastic work!

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

Why didn't you take the roof off to paint it? It is only 3 bolts each side and the bar at the bottom of the rear screen is usually very rusty so may need some attention.

 

Lovely colour

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

One other thing, you may want to bypass the power hood safety device, so you can raise/lower the hood with the engine running.

 

Particularly useful in traffic or when the starter motors begins to play up.

[monkee87 2]

Why didn't you take off the arch trims when you painted it? Seems a bit silly to me I'd you're having a full respray.

 

On the other hand, it does look very nice! Wish my mums cti looked like that!

 

P.s - the shape of the upright of the rear seats is different in a cti to a gti. You can swap the metal back plates of the seats to fit gti rear seats in a cti though. Personally though, I'd get an upholster to re shape a gti back to cti shape. Did that in my mums cti with half leathers and it looks so much better than a bunged in gti set.

Pictures might explain that better!

Edited February 10, 2011 by monkee87

[SebRad 0]

Hi guys, cheers for the encouragement and info.

I hadn't thought about taking the roof off to paint the car, guess Steve hadn't either. He did mention taking the trims off was a difficult job to do with out breaking the clips etc and that's why he didn't.

I don't really do body work and he's been doing it since before I was born and generally does a good job so I pretty much left him to it!

I know we haven't gone for the absolute best standard but it will be a lot better than before.

 

I'm quite willing to have a go at seat stitching or get my step-mum to do it, she's got a good sewing machine. Looking at two sets of seats on eBay now. One cloth set less than an hour away bidding to start at £20, drop in the passenger seat and rear bases and job done.

Other set is black/red half leather and hour and half away, but buy-it-now £50 seems reasonable even if do need a little work on them. Decisions...

 

Best never to let me loose with paint:

 

 

Turned out OK though

 

Thanks, Seb

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Great work! Although I'm not so sure about the sound deadning. I thought 205's came standard with half a dozen sqeeks and rattles!?

[CallumCurwood 1]

Great work! Although I'm not so sure about the sound deadning. I thought 205's came standard with half a dozen sqeeks and rattles!?

 

I agree. He's taking away all of the fun of owning a 205

[SebRad 0]

I wouldn't worry about the squeaks and rattlers, sure they'll still be present and correct

 

Minor up dates, carpet is back in, still seems to fit ok despite all the extra under it:

 

Rear valance is now in primer:

 

Wheels and new tyres now fitted and balanced and ready to go on the car. Don't want to think how much money this pile represents:

 

Lots of bits of plastic trim have moved out of my spare room, not sure the bathroom is an improvment but they'll end up clean

Lots of cleaning the dust out of the interior and scrubbing the head lining that was filthy, surprising now much time is taken up by seemingly nothing jobs. Also played around with the roof seals to get them to line up better. Still I think its the attention to detail that makes it in the end. Not that it's going to be perfect, but should end up very clean and presentable.

 

Regards, Seb

[SebRad 0]

Ok so we're now more or less there bar a few little niggles

 

Last of sound damping went in boot:

 

Continued right through under back seats too with remains:

 

I've not driven it much yet but I think it's done something. There seems to be very little road noise now, which throws the squeaks and rattles in to sharper relief so allye needn't worry about them

That's one of the niggles, the panel above the drivers knees is squeaking like right so and so! The other is the light in the clock isn't working any more, I hope just connection, but I think there's some taking apart to get back to it

The exhaust banging on the sub frame (or anti roll bar or something) Think I've fixed that, must have looked right weird lying on back under car with just head stuck out. Had feet on centre box, hands braced on track control arms and a very strained expression Seems better now though.

 

I think the doors shut subtlety better, more "thunk" and when locking/unlocking the door feels quite different, much more solid and controlled!

 

Interior is now pretty clean:

 

 

Have a plan for the taped up seats, I've bought a set of half leathers, via eBay, from a nice Pug enthusiast in Wolverhampton. The bolsters are a bit squishy and there is some amount of re-stitching needed but the leather and material is pretty sound and un-torn and for £40 I'm well pleased Will eventually get them cleaned and leather treated and combined with the good bolsters in my seats I should end up with a nice set.

[SebRad 0]

Anyway enough waffle and on to the end result. It was later than I hoped by time took photos and spot was in shade but I've done my best to take some "glamour shots," enjoy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking, Seb

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

Looks well. Is that a mohair hood? edit.... just read your signature!!

[SebRad 0]

Is that a mohair hood?

It is, receipt came with car from 3~4 years ago for having it fitted, to tune of over £1000!

 

Car has turned out not bad at all, pretty pleased.

 

Cured the horredous squeaking in panel above drivers knees by sticking flashing tape to back of it and silicone sealer round the two sides the meet the rest of the dash, seems to have worked a treat

 

Also managed to get a replacement bulb for the (time) clock and for behind the heater controls so right now I'm going to go see about putting the centre console back together.

Hopefully that will sort out more of the dash squeaks...

 

Thanks, Seb