1989 205 Gti 2.0 Graphite Grey

[Mattr5uk 20 5 Cars]

Feeling like I'm making some consistant progress for once!

Managed to drill out and tap the broken bonnet hinge first thing this morning, I've got to say the pleasure in closing a bonnet without it scraping the back corner was almost emotional. Nah not really it was just pleasing it lined up properly at last

 

Refitted scuttle as much as I was trying to avoid it, gave the cooling system another bleed certain some more air came out. Certainly seemed to build up less pressure and after the fan had stop running was able to remove the cap with no excess pressure so fingers crossed on that one.

 

Thought I'd have a quick look at the dash/side lights intermittently cutting out, decided to give the spare light switch I had a try.

Managed to break two of the upper steering wheel in my haste but new switch fitted and that's sorted another issue.

 

Had a quick tweek of the tracking, next job to modify the 306 battery/gearbox mount I have to accommodate the 306battery box.

Putting off attacking the corrosion ATM.

 

Once that's done think I'll be changing the 1.9be1 gearbox to the 1.6be3 gearbox on my other gti6 after driving this car the 1.9 gearbox feels so almost painfully restrictive. Still that's another car with another list of jobs to finish.....

[Mattr5uk 20 5 Cars]

Made a start Friday on modifying the 306 gearbox mount which turned out to be a bit more different than I expected when offered up to the car so I decided to put that on the back burner for the time being and focus my attention on the other car.

 

I converted this to a 2.0ltr last year with a standard be1 1.9 gearbox and not really been impressed with it since, so 986 miles on today I decided to make a quick pit stop lunch break and change it to the be3 1.6 box I had spare. All went quite nicely, new be3 clutch cable from gsf for £12 and dug out the new spare release bearing I had from original conversion I did have to rob the be3 clutch pedal from the diesel 205 that'll be going for scrap shortly but it was definitely worth it.

 

Driving it after is the first time I think it struggled for traction it always felt very timid before and the clutch pedal feel is massively better.

 

Need to fully remove the lift up reverse cable and be1 gearstick surround, still finding myself going for the wrong reverse position which is even more irritating with a crumbling gear knob

 

Also need to bring the ride height down a foot or two, its nice an "comfortable" to drive but the way it looks bugs the crap out of me.

[Mattr5uk 20 5 Cars]

The last week my attention has been focused on the daily(pictured above) with the intention of finishing off all the "odd" jobs I haven't finished since I carried out the conversion.

 

Started with the 1.6 gearbox fitting as in my last post then onto fitting the pas set up I had left over from the 306gti I used for original conversion.

 

Hadn't had any joy with a 2nd hand phase1 vts rack so tried local parts suppliers who said they could source one, long story short it was pretty much a standard pas rack so that got sent back sort of......

 

So I've stuck with the standard pas set up which has been appreciated with a poorly left thumb after it was viciously attacked by a hammer being held by my right hand :/

 

Got the suspension down a good 20-30mm so im happy with that need to get some better shocks and springs but will do for time being.

 

On to the next task tackling the previously repaired dash loom and any other wiring that had been poorly fitted or repaired. As much to my wifes thorough dislike of it taking over most of my spare time and the kitchen table, I enjoy this sort of job.

Managed to remove the 20 or so crimp type wire joints, soldered and heatshrinked them. I'm hoping this will help with the heater control cables as they had been only half functioning due to the wiring jammed behind the dash switches.

 

Still debating which way to go with the 2 cars.

 

Ideally really like to do is use the best of the gti6 parts on my daily205 and sell off remaining parts to fund turning the other back to a standard 1.9 light restoration.

 

Still most pressing job I need to attend to first is the random snatching to the left & rotational knocking noise from n/s front which Im suspecting is the inner cv joint on driveshaft.

Its only happened since the playing with front suspension at the weekend so i'm sure it'll turn out to be from a little heavy 1 handedness with the hubs while trying to remove the shocks.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

How's the 1.6 box?

 

After a couple of hours in mine today i'm glad i went VTS rather than 1.6, it accelerates fast enough for me, i find 1st gear nearly unusable with my nearly new but s*it toyo TR1's if the road is even slightly damp when putting the boot down, even with the quaife.

 

Keep up the work!

[welshpug 1,626]

1st and 2nd in a 1.6 box is longer than the VTS.

[Mattr5uk 20 5 Cars]

Minimal progress this week pulled the n/s driveshaft out and checked inner joint which was fine, pulled the outer cv boot and found that to be a bit dry so packed in some fresh grease in both joints and seems to have sorted that.

 

Spent an hour wrapping up loom to tidy the birds nest up, just need to refit dash parts on that side of things now.

 

The 1.6 be3 is massively better than 1.9be1 IMO, the clutch pedal feels 100% better and feels like it has much more torque in lower revs.

Not really driven it over 80mph but you can feel the revs are much higher than the 1.9 gbox couldn't see it pulling much over 100mph

If it had a 6th gear i think it would be perfect.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Yeah Matt i noticed a big difference in the the clutch compared to BE1 also, you had to have a right thigh like Roberto Carlos to operate my old BE1 clutch.

 

(My BE1 clutch mechanism stuff could have been past it's best right enough)

[Mattr5uk 20 5 Cars]

Thought id add the history of my daily gti6 build, brought the car over 2 years ago now after taking a punt on it off ebay.

 

This is the only photo ive stil got of the ad prior to buying it, the car itself wasn't really much to shout about it had been off the road for a few years and looked as if it had been ragged round the farm it was stored on in that time. the underside was caked in mud and plenty of stone chips but what can you expect for an E reg 205 with 175k on it.

 

The bad points were endless

 

Carpet and underlay missing as was various interior trim

A nice hole in the o/s lower sill & quarter panel

Just about every piece of exterior trim and door lock had sealant around it

Rear axle was clearly shot

Brakes well it went and stopped but tied in with being sat around outside for some time

 

Under the bonnet was not very pleasant but did come with the obligatory K&N

The engine wiring loom looked as though it had suffered some heat damage from the exhaust manifold and repaired with a million blue crimp connectors and cleverly refitted it closer to the manifold

 

That's as much I can remember on the bad side still there was some good point sort of

Seats were quiet tidy phase 2 type

It ran and sounded surprisingly ok

Paint work looked salvageable in most areas

a nice stack of history

 

Best part of all it made the 70 mile journey home to where it was then stored in my brothers garage, untouched for another 6 months except removing the seats for another 205 I had at the time.

 

In that time I had decided when I had the time I would have a go at a gti6 conversion and kept an eye out for a 306gti complete car to which one came up locally.

Went and viewed I was happy enough with the engine and there was enough with the car to make it a worth while gamble and took it away.

Drove the car for a couple of weeks just to make sure nothing concerning was going to crop up.

 

Then to make time to start the stripping of both cars and the build to commence.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mattr5uk 20 5 Cars]

Firstly removed the 205 engine and loom.

 

I think there was as much mud and dirt in there as there was under the car, so a good scrub and a small patch of welding got underway.

 

[Mattr5uk 20 5 Cars]

cleaned, sealed and painted where needed which was a vast improvement.

[Mattr5uk 20 5 Cars]

Removed the engine from the 306 and carried out the cambelt and water pump change and gave the original 205 1.9 be1 box a thorough clean ready for bolting it together and hanging the engine in.

 

I decided to reangle the manifold myself so thought id get the engine fitted and remove the subframe so I could offer up the manifold and check for clearance easier than engine in and out.

 

 

 

[Mattr5uk 20 5 Cars]

Gave the subframe a rub down and a lick of hammerite along with the suspension arms, drop links and shocks.

 

Tried to focus on one job at a time but with a pile of parts removed and time always an issue I worked through 1 job at a time and certainly not in order of priority.

 

I brought another gti6 loom and was preparing that with 2 brown plugs so in theory in would have been plug and play, however assumptions being what they are realised that the car was a 1 brown plug set up which with assistance from another member worked my way round it.

 

Initially I tried to keep as many of the original 205 plugs as possible, they've since been removed as the likely hood of it being returned to standard are slim to say the least.