1990 Cherry Red 205 Gti 1.6 Project

[Snowz 0 1 Cars]

Hi,

 

New to the forum and after reading loads of threads and looking at dozens of pictures i thought i would start one of my own to join in.

 

I have had 5 or 6 GTI's now but these were when i was a young boy racer, all were standard and pretty tidy but i now regret not keeping any of them so though i would change that with this one.

 

I have been scanning eBay for week looking for one that was worth my time and effort, most were miles away from me and then last weekend this one appeared on there and from my home town.

 

It is a Cherry Red 1.6 on a G reg 1990 with 86k miles on the clock, it had been parked up in a field for 18+ moths left to the elements. I checked all the usual places for rot, rear beam, oil water etc and after Looking through all the green and leaves i could see a potential candidate so i done the deal.

 

This is how it was when i picked it up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got some APC out and gave it a quick spray and left to dwell for 5 mins then i got the jet wash out to rinse it down and remove half the field from the wheel arches and underside of the car.

 

Came out cleaner, not looking to make it sparkle just remove the filth to see whats beneath

 

 

 

 

 

The interior is a bit tatty, drivers seat bolster worn and split, rear footwell full of water so thought i would strip it all out to clean and check for under laying problems

 

 

 

 

Was very please after removing all the interior and carpets the only bit of rust i could find was a small 20p size hole in the rear of the boot

 

the only other 2 places i have found signs of rust are the front slam panel corner and behinf the jack in OSF inner wing

 

 

All in all i am happy with what i bought for the price i paid, i am not worried about the paint work as i worked in the trade and my best mate is a panel beater and sprayer. I am just going to concentrate on the mechanics and tidy up the interior and few exterior improvments

 

Will try and keep this up to date and contribute to the forum if i can

 

Thanks for looking

 

Richard

 

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

Hi Richard.

 

Looks like a promising find. It should clean up nice with a bit of elbow grease. Will look forward to seeing the results

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

Can't beat a Cherry red 1.6

[Snowz 0 1 Cars]

well i have had

 

1x graphite grey

2x black

1x white

1x lazer green

 

so why not a red one now lol

[danboo89 1]

Nice car pal good to see another 205 being restored

[sensualt101 31 1 Cars]

welcome to the forum and great to see another cherry red 1.6 will be saved! i am biased lol!

 

your wheels look in very good condition!

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Just bought a 1.6 graphite grey myself, not sure whether to make a thread or not though, as it'll probably be full of noob questions!

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

Robbie.

[Snowz 0 1 Cars]

Just bought a 1.6 graphite grey myself, not sure whether to make a thread or not though, as it'll probably be full of noob questions!

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

Robbie.

 

 

Hi, I am new myself an i thought a build thread would help introduce me to the fold

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Hmm, maybe I will after all. I've been reading through piles of different threads over the past few months and it's so helpful.

 

Cheers,

Robbie.

[Snowz 0 1 Cars]

Update for today,

 

with the interior carpet and wet underlay/sound deadening out i decided to wipe down all the interior plastics and hoover up all loose mess.

 

Applied APC to clean it all off the used Poor Boys Natural dressing to finish the look off.

 

No pics as was too busy so will add them tomorrow.

 

The underlay is pretty busted up and wet so that wont be going back in, will be buying some new before refitting the carpet

 

I swapped the seat bases over as the drivers seat is worn quite bad and passengers is still tidy. Its just temporary while i sort the car out and decide what i am going to use it for, track or road?!?!

 

Back to it tomorrow, will be fitting new rear brake lines and flushing through the coolant system and topping up with antifreeze

Hmm, maybe I will after all. I've been reading through piles of different threads over the past few months and it's so helpful.

 

Cheers,

Robbie.

do it, you only live once haha

[Snowz 0 1 Cars]

Spent a couple more hours on the car over the weekend.

 

I got some thick carpet underlay off my brother and used that to replace the genuine stuff that was un usable

 

 

Then put the cleaned carpet, seats and trims back in

 

The front seats arent the best, i have swapped the passenger and drivers seats over inc bases as its only me driving it but will put seat covers over them until i decide what im going to do, replace with other seats 1.6 or 1.9 or even bucket seats etc

 

 

Back seats are in good nick the, just had a wipe down and hoover

 

Jacked up the rear end to remove wheels to clean arches and also check over brakes and replace the corroded brake lines

 

 

 

Backside of both brake drums pretty cruddy and rusty but will clean up. Fronts are nice and clean so will paint them up to protect them further

 

 

 

Rear beam is pretty scabby, looks and feels solid tho but i will post another thread up on that to see what way to go with it.

 

Overall so far i am very happy with what i have bought and condition of it all, nothing a bit of time and effort cant fix

[j_turnell 134 3 Cars]

Nothing better than finding a nice honest car that's been neglected and bringing it back to life!

 

Personally i would take the rear axle off and the fuel tank, the axle is likely to be knackered, and there's bound to be some hidden surface rust under there that will require attention.

[Snowz 0 1 Cars]

Nothing better than finding a nice honest car that's been neglected and bringing it back to life!

 

Personally i would take the rear axle off and the fuel tank, the axle is likely to be knackered, and there's bound to be some hidden surface rust under there that will require attention.

 

Yea it would be nice to restore it to its former glory

 

As for the rear beam and underside that is something i will be tackling when i decide what i am going to do with the car.

 

I want to use it on the road as a weekend car but also fancy hill climbs and track days, so i need to decide on the rear brake set up.

 

Either buy a 1.9 rear refurbished beam or refurb and convert this one myself, but then do i upgrade the brake system to gti 6 ones all round

 

Whats a refurbished beam cost, and where from?

 

For now i am just going to tidy it up and check all the running gear and then engine. Then decide what i am going to use it for and upgrade beam brakes and suspension to improve handling then upgrade the engine to something with more poke.

 

All in good time haha

[Snowz 0 1 Cars]

no real update, just been doing a lot of browsing on here to do with rear beams and brakes.

 

I think i am going to put the wheels back on, turn the car around on the drive, park it up out the way and remove the rear brakes, beam and tank to check them all out and look for rust underneath and treat where necessary.

 

I have found the article for refurbing the rear beam, just need to source the kit to re build it, a 306 one from what i have read on here? (any link to the kit or part no appreciated i did see it the other night but cant find what i did then now lol

 

Rear brakes are standard 1.6 drum brakes, is there any real big improvement if i changed up to 1.9 discs .oir gti 6 ones, car is running standard engine for now so cant see any problem with drum brakes over discs can always covert from drums to disc as and when i upgrade the engine

 

Will also be removing the bumpers and body kit to tidy up and prep for respray

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

I'm at the stage of dropping the fuel tank and checking the rear beam myself so i'd be interested about one of those rebuild kits too. My gti is a 1.9 with standard 1.6 drums on the back and they seemed to work good for the little run I went in it, and I'm sure I read somewhere that the 1.6 one is better for the handbrake too? I'd like to know more about it too as it would make sense to upgrade brakes now too while everything is apart!

 

Robbie.

[Kezzer30 40 1 Cars]

Love this , saving a car that was well and truly left its something i want to do before i die haha if i have the money , i like it when the paintwork has dulled and looking sorry fo itself makes a new paint job look more amazing once its done il be keeping an eye on this see how u get on , thumbs up for the save tho

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

Did you get any further with this?

[cybernck 400 1 Cars]

I'd also like to know, it looked like an interesting car overhaul topic, however:

 

Last Active: Mar 09 2013 07:38 AM

Try sending him an email and inviting him back.