What Have You Done To Your 205 Today?

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

And countless people wandering over saying oh yeah that's a lovely looking car.

 

Sod off!

[Davetouch 3]

Well I started this weekend with it like this...

 

I'd never taken an engine out of a car before so this was a fun new time, helped by mine having no silly electrics to worry about Just a couple of wires that I had to work out what went where since I didn't take photos before removing it... Flushed and changed the coolant along with a hefty service (timing belt included) and gaskets for the sump, cam cover and intake since they basically only had some bad sealant doing half a job! Didn't need to remove the engine but I wanted to and it gave me a chance to clean everything and make it much nicer.

 

Ended the weekend like this;

 

 

Its now got 405 diesel struts, 309 control arms, adjusted rear axle all the way up (40mm lift is the max you can get out of it btw!) and some roof bars ready to mount spotlights onto. Also new metal numberplates for added beauty.

[barneys66 120 1 Cars]

No prep MoT today and passed first time.

 

Thankfully a pair of fat 45s are remarkably similar to a 1.6 Astra when it comes to emissions.. 

 

Advisories on the critical stuff; OSR brake pipe, and slight movement on NSF ball joint. Luckily I prised a pair of 309 arms from @jackherer the other weekend, so that'll be sorted for next year..

 

Autosolo next weekend. 

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

fitted the kick panels and the glove box catch after paying £10 for one ... lost mine during the build. car almost looks finished

[steve@cornwall 100]

As I've used mine over the last 5 years almost exclusively as a dog taxi and van I have bought its replacement. So it's time to part with old faithful after almost 20 years. 

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

Solved the electrical / HT lead issue i had last week so celebrated in taking the car to 2 decent long runs yesterday & today.  250 odd miles covered with no issues - yay

 

Managed to avoid being hit head on by a muppet in a BMW M4 that was attempting a stupid overtake past 5 cars on a country round near the back end of Andover with limited visibility.  Thankfully some forceful braking and getting the 205 slightly onto a grass verge meant i avoided losing my mirror (or worse the car).

 

Later on aot a bit of a scare on the A31 leaving Winchester when there was a rather loud bang and clattering around the rear of the car.  Pulled over thinking the exhaust might have dropped but it was fine, checked for any issues around the rear beam, etc, then wondered whether i'd driven over something metal a bit further back down the road but nope.  Opened the tailgate and found a piece of metal bar lying in the boot.  At this point i realised it was the metal retaining bar fitted along the front of the parcel shelf that had dropped after the material that held it in place had perished / crumbled.

 

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

Prepped the car for our local car meet that was being attended by Practical Classics team. Got 1/2 mile from the house. PoP! Clutch cable snapped.

 

 

Managed to learn to drive without a clutch . First few miles an experience but once I got into it I made it 20 miles to the show. It turns out you really don't need a clutch for 3rd 4th or 5th. 

 

By the time I got home I think I'm a full Pro at clutch less driving in a 205. 

 

Today I set about changing the cable. All.ok until I tried to fit the cable at the gearbox end. Nightmare. Ended up levering the clutch arm using a spade. So two firsts .. clutch less driving and using a garden spade as a car maintenance tool!

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

No need to make it hard. Back both adjuster nuts off and you can seat the cable by hand. Then adjust it up.

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

tom the adjuster bolts removed still didn't give enough slack to allow fitment- as in the threaded end didn't protrude through the arm eye end- hence I had to lever the arm aft to get it to fit - I don't know why this is the case - could it be because ive got a crank sensor driveplate or something?

 

[welshpug 1,621]

most likely its not seated at the bulkhead, did you compare the new cable to the old one?   there are a few variances around the age of yours.

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

the cable is slightly longer- and the cable is fully seated at the bulkhead

[SweetBadger 91]

Had a great day at Brands GP in the 205... with almost no issues... 

 

My mate complained of a long brake pedal on the last few laps of the day, thought it was due to pad knock-off as the pedal firmed up after a few pumps so didn’t check further. Drove it to a garage to pick up some tyres, and it wasn’t just a long pedal, it was no front brakes!

 

took a closer look to find this!

 

 

Hub nut missing and Outer CV had sheared where the hub nut bolts on!

 

Thats a new one on me, no wonder there were no brakes, the calliper was the only thing keeping the wheel on! Anyway a quick driveshaft swap and I was on my way, but will need a new wheel bearing now 

 

Also tried out some winmax W5 brake pads - once they were bed in I was really impressed, very easy to modulate, helped a lot with trail braking.

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by SweetBadger

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

opened the door to do yet more work, thought F**k this closed the door and considered selling it!

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

On 7/6/2019 at 4:13 PM, Telf said:

tom the adjuster bolts removed still didn't give enough slack to allow fitment- as in the threaded end didn't protrude through the arm eye end- hence I had to lever the arm aft to get it to fit - I don't know why this is the case - could it be because ive got a crank sensor driveplate or something?

 

Flywheel doesn’t make a difference, I’m wondering if it’s mismatched fork and clutch arm bits to be honest? But as long as it works, it doesn’t really matter, but the standard setup does go together without a fight.

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

9 hours ago, Tom Fenton said:

mismatched fork and clutch arm bits

ive owned the car for about 8 years and haven't changed any gearbox components so I dunno. I presume as the cable wears in Ill have to wind the 2 nuts on the adjuster in so it should all be ok.

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

Clutch cable problem solved. Wrong cable.. cable changed .. fits perfect. Cheers all

[welshpug 1,621]

cables dont wear and get longer, just the sheath and coating, they may stretch a little but not very much with how thick they are.

 

8 years is not very much in the grand scheme of it, for a 30 year old car on a crossover year

Edited July 10, 2019 by welshpug

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

No 8 years isn't alot in its life I guess. However I can definitely say that I know it's now a 95 % new car . I can't think of much other than the shell,wheels and dash that hasn't been replaced . So I guess I've probably had the biggest influence on it since it came out the factory.

[karabas 21]

I tried 3 times with spending more than 1,5 hour each, today achieved success to attached the 2 screws of under dash part. There must be a trick to do this in an easy way...

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

8 hours ago, karabas said:

There must be a trick to do this in an easy way

If there is I didn't find it either... It took me a good hour to engage all the screws under the dash lip when I built mine recently. I believe the trick is not to loose your patience/mind as it then takes even longer!!!!

[Anthony 1,000]

11 hours ago, karabas said:

I tried 3 times with spending more than 1,5 hour each, today achieved success to attached the 2 screws of under dash part. There must be a trick to do this in an easy way...

 

 

I put the complete upper and lower dash in as one section, rather than trying to attach the lower section afterwards.  Means that it's a bit unwieldy but only takes a few minutes to fit.

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

messed around with MAP sensors...

[ScoobyJawa 22]

Having taxed it end of last month decided to get out of the garage. Been on a ctek msx 5.0 charger for about 5 months. Went to start it and the fecking battery is dead. New battery last year too. Feck I hate keeping this thing sometimes! Tried to jump it, nope not interested. Barely turns over once. And then a frikkin field mouse popped its head up, really hope it’s not eaten through something but looked ok in there as far as I could see. Arrrrggghhh!

[barneys66 120 1 Cars]

1 hour ago, ScoobyJawa said:

Having taxed it end of last month decided to get out of the garage. Been on a ctek msx 5.0 charger for about 5 months. Went to start it and the fecking battery is dead. New battery last year too. Feck I hate keeping this thing sometimes! Tried to jump it, nope not interested. Barely turns over once. And then a frikkin field mouse popped its head up, really hope it’s not eaten through something but looked ok in there as far as I could see. Arrrrggghhh!

 

Bugger!  Literally just ordered one of those, for a leisure battery admittedly.

 

Would be keen to know if it's at fault - can you test the output..?

[ScoobyJawa 22]

Not done yet, I’ve put it on a recondition cycle overnight so we’ll see what happens tomorrow then I’ll just AA it, in both senses lol!

 

they are supposed to be great chargers with loads of positive feedback so I doubt it’s that but may well get the multimeter on it.....

Edited July 13, 2019 by ScoobyJawa