thirdtimelucky 3 Posted January 1, 2015 Some of you are aware of the existence of this car, I've done some work on it over Christmas, so this thread will be some background and an update of the work I have done so apologies if it's a bit wordy. Because this is a rebirth of an old project I thought I'd start with some background about the car. The car was a £200 ebay buy about 8 years ago, it had some crash damage to the front and the owner was third party and couldn't afford to have it repaired. The advert said it would need to be trailered away because the oil cooler and rad had split. I didn't have a trailer at the time so I turned up with a spare rad, oil cooler and a bag of cable ties then drove it back much to the bemusement of the owner. I got it back to the workshop and pulled some metal work about so I could fit headlights and a bumper. After a couple of months driving it I decided to respray it and fit a 1.9 mi16. I prefer the non sunroofs so re skinned the roof, when I re skinned my previous 205s roof I got a new one from Peugeot but they where on back order so I used one from a scrap base model. In February 2009 I was looking on this forum one day and came across a thread about a Euro trip coming up that May, my brother and I had always fancied a trip like this so put our names down. I'd always wanted to do a 4wd conversion on a 205 and had the running gear from an mi16x4 for years sitting at the back of my workshop. 3 months of evenings and weekends and the conversion was done and we set off for the 3000 mile trip around Europe. The car was great fun to drive, handled well on the twisty stuff in the Alps. It didn't miss a beat the whole trip. We had a worrying moment when driving on a motorway in torrential rain in Switzerland, a loud rumbling noise started, it stopped when we got off the motorway and I didn't work out what the problem was till I was back in the uk a few months later driving in torrential rain again. The rubber donut on the prop collected water and through it out of balance and because the prop was so close to the exhaust they rubbed. I took it of the road at the end of 2010 because I pillaged it for parts when I built a 205 v6. It's been off the road and used as a shed ever since. I can't find any photos of the original build but I'll take plenty this time. Ok so the plan is to build a road legal track day toy, I'm going to do this in 3 stages because it will take me a year doing it in my spare time to complete and I want to drive it soon to keep my interest in the project. Im always asked, why bother you can buy a better performing car of the shelf for less money than it will cost to do this. If this is your train of thought you won't enjoy this project. If you like project binky hopefully you will like this. Stage 1. Tidy it up and bolt it all back together so it can be MOTed. Main jobs and modifications at this stage will be to sort out any rust, fit the gti6 engine I built up with the mi16x4 transfer and gearbox back in the summer. The rear diff is solid mounted ATM, so I want to rubber mount this for 2 reasons, it's bloody noisy when driving on the motorway and I want to put a 1 piece prop on to give me more space in the tunnel. The rear diff needs splitting and resealing because it leaks. Fabricate a fuel tank to go under the car, it had a 20 litre tank mounted in the car when I first did the conversion, this isn't ideal for safety reasons and a 20 litre tank is really annoying when doing long journeys, especially 3000 miles in 10 days. The front and rear subframes need to be tidied up a bit. I hope to get all this done by Apri. Stage 2. Strengthen the shell, roll cage, some decent suspension and brakes. I want to do this by July. Stage 3. Power. There was no real point in me converting this to 4wd other than I like the engineering side of big projects like this. It won't out handle any other track prepared 205 infact the extra weight will slow it down. The advantage of 4wd over fwd is more traction when accelerating with similar tyres and suspension but only when the power is more than fwd can handle. This is the part of the project that I don't have any clear direction. Its mainly going to be used on track days so what do you track guys think is a good power target. I'd like to stick with a Peugeot engine, I think forced induction to to get decent power and that's an interesting project on its own. Im not closed to the idea of using a non Peugeot engine. The Toyota gt4 engine and running gear would be a cheep. Mitsubishi evo engine and running gear could work if I used the mi rear diff as some have matching final drive ratios. If I stuck with a Peugeot engine I'd have to spend a lot on up rating the mi transmission or make a Mitsubishi evo box and transfer fit? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thirdtimelucky 3 Posted January 1, 2015 So progress in the last few days. I boxed up all the spare parts and took out what was left of the dash then assess the condition of it. The floor has some surface rust which is no big deal but the near side front inner arch and both light panels have rusted through in places. The light panels weren't replaced after the accident, I just straightened them so decided to order a whole pattern part front assembly, I already have a pair of pattern front wings I've had hanging on the workshop wall for years so I'll remove the old ones to make fitting the front panel and repairing the inner wing easier. There was a lot of rust on the seam between the floor and bulkhead so I seam welded it and cut of the rusty lip. This gives me a bit more clearance for the exhaust which is tight with the prop in the way. I will add some strength around the peddle box to compensate for the loss of the lip later in stage 2. I got the engine hanging on its mounts and fitted the prop even the exhaust looks like it will fit as it did with the 8 valve. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
calvinhorse 870 Posted January 1, 2015 This is going to be brilliant! Think I might have seen this in the carpark at Ppc in the park? Turreted back end? +/- 250bhp would be spot on and not too ott on the drivetrain Really looking forward to this! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
calvinhorse 870 Posted January 1, 2015 Is the cast exhaust manifold to get around space issues? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thirdtimelucky 3 Posted January 1, 2015 I would have had to modify the tubular manifold so much to stop it hitting the transfer box, it wasn't worth doing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jackherer 543 Posted January 1, 2015 That's a shame, those cast manifolds are surprisingly restrictive. I think Miles sells a four branch for the GTI6 these days so it might be worth looking at? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars Posted January 1, 2015 Like the look of this I've also just read through your V6 thread, very interesting stuff! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Goliath 94 Posted January 1, 2015 Great to see this back in progress. I still remember the 4 wheel drift around the tent at PPC in the park all those years ago! Looking forward to seeing the progress. Personally I think you should stick to a supercharged gti6 lump which I believe was your original plan wasn't it? I think that would do excellently if you made a similar setup to Stefans. You might have to disconnect the prop shaft to get it mapped though, Sandy only has 2wd rollers I think! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pip470 61 Posted January 2, 2015 Love this. I wondered what had happened. Good luck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
imaS 0 Posted January 2, 2015 You might have to disconnect the prop shaft to get it mapped though, Sandy only has 2wd rollers I think! Not a good idea, that would just burn the viscous coupling in the center diff. If Mi16x4 transferbox is utilized. Is there interference between xu10 block and transferbox, did you have to grind the webbing around transferbox area? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thirdtimelucky 3 Posted January 2, 2015 That's a shame, those cast manifolds are surprisingly restrictive. I think Miles sells a four branch for the GTI6 these days so it might be worth looking at? I'm a bit limited with manifolds, I don't think the four branch one will fit, it needs to be tight over to one side to miss the prop. Like the look of this I've also just read through your V6 thread, very interesting stuff! The V6 makes a very good road car, loads of torque in every gear and sounds real nice. I want this to be more of a track car so might be a bit harsh for regular road use. Great to see this back in progress. I still remember the 4 wheel drift around the tent at PPC in the park all those years ago! Looking forward to seeing the progress. Personally I think you should stick to a supercharged gti6 lump which I believe was your original plan wasn't it? I think that would do excellently if you made a similar setup to Stefans. You might have to disconnect the prop shaft to get it mapped though, Sandy only has 2wd rollers I think! I read Stefans build last night, much prefer doing the work to retrofit an Eaton charger like that than buying a pre-made kit like the Lynx one. Not knocking the Lynx kit, it looks well thought out and well made but it's a bit plug and play for me, I like the fabrication bit. Love this. I wondered what had happened. Good luck. Long time no see. We'll have to meet at pod this year. I go up quite a bit with mates that are into their 60's American cars and trucks. Not a good idea, that would just burn the viscous coupling in the center diff. If Mi16x4 transferbox is utilized. Is there interference between xu10 block and transferbox, did you have to grind the webbing around transferbox area? Yes, had to grind some webbing and an engine mount lug off for it to fit. I've had the gearbox and transfer behind an 8v and 16v xu9 in the past and had to do the same to them. But otherwise they are an easy fit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
james_pug 26 1 Cars Posted January 3, 2015 Good to see your working on it again, be done for pugfest? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom_Gallington06 9 1 Cars Posted January 4, 2015 I'm loving the project. This is the first 4wd conversion I have seen in a standard body. Not Dimma/wide arch. Keep it up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
efy2bjg 0 Posted January 7, 2015 This is great. What rear arms, struts, hubs and brakes etc are you using there? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
