Andrewp's Alpine White 1.9 205 Gti Project

[AndrewP 1 1 Cars]

I've been lurking now for a few months so thought it was high time I actually posted some details of my car up and the work I'll be doing on it. I've always driven warm/hot hatches and always wanted to own a 205 GTi and since I'm now in my late 30s, I decided last year to do something about it. I'm reasonably happy to tackle most jobs on a car and not afraid to get the spanners out, my current daily driver is a RenaultSport Clio 172 which I've had for 4 years now and I have fastidiously maintained her in that time doing pretty much everything needed. I also had a Caterham 7 R300 spec car (now sadly sold due to a new house purchase) and had lots of fun stripping, upgrading and rebuilding it last winter (but that's another story entirely).

 

So on to my 205 GTi....after looking on and off at them for most of last year, as well as doing lots of reading and research, I finally found one that had to be bought. I'd come home from work and was idly looking online with a glass of red in hand and it jumped right out at me. A quick flick though the photos confirmed it looked good and the blurb said all the major things these cars need had been done. So, after phoning the seller, I agreed to look at it the next day. A few texts with him later on confirmed that he'd been inundated with calls but since I'd got in first by a few minutes, I had first refusal. A quick call to a mate who already owned one (hi Phil!) confirmed he had the afternoon off and that he would come with me. And so to bed, although I'll be honest I didn't sleep very well thinking about it all night

The next morning I went to the bank and got the cash out and confirmed with Phil that he could drive my car home if required. So off we set and after briefly getting lost, we arrived to see it parked up in the drive looking superb. Well, it was pretty clear that after looking at it, it was in great condition. The body work and paint were great bar a small carpark dent in the door and the interior was lovely too. The rear beam had been done and the dampers replaced with Bilsteins. The wheels had been refurbished and the four matching tyres were almost new. Best of all it was the spec I wanted ie Alpine White and non PAS, non CAT and non sunroof. It also came with extensive history and every MOT since it was new (well 3 years old!). So the deal was done and I now owned it.

 

 

 

 

 

The drive home was great fun despite it being wet and very dark! Initially I left the car at my workplace and due to work commitments, I didn't really get to drive it much for a couple of months. I did however get it to Tom at AWP in Swindon (lovely chap and highly recommended) to get the cambelt, tensioner, water pump and aux belts done since it was clear from the paperwork it was desperately needed.

Once I got it back, I was able to get the car on the ramps (which I'm lucky enough to have unlimited access to through work) for a good poke around. I did know that the car had stood for at least 6 months in storage before being sold (due to the previous owner being in ill heath) so I wanted to make sure it was thoroughly checked out.

 

 

 

 

The good news was the car is in great nick underneath, a little surface rust in places but nothing bad except for a small amount of rust on the back edge of one of the sills which I'll be sorting soon. In the meantime, I put the mountain of paperwork in to chronological order and read the whole file through which took almost 3 hours! There's a receipt in there from Pug Performance from 2003 for a fully flowed head and a piper cam kit so I also spoke to them and it seems the car might have a Longman head fitted to it. I've not yet confirmed this though.

 

So, what have I done with the car so far then? Well the list of jobs is quite long mainly because I'm very fussy, but it's all quite simple stuff. First up, the exhaust hangars were changed as they were shot.

 

 

I then tackled the rusty metal coolant pipe. The existing one was in a terrible state and the small puddle of coolant on the garage floor made sure it was done asap.

 

 

New BakerBM stainless pipe and clips installed:

 

 

Whilst this was being done, I got the distributor sent off to H&H and after 3 days it came back all shiny and new. Great service and really nice people.

 

 

Next up, I needed to sort the idle out. Although the drive home from buying the car was great, the hot idle was up at 1900rpm and after pouring over the archives on here I knew it was going to be a ball-ache to sort out. Truth be told I'm still not there yet and it's currently work in progress! So, firstly I stripped the SAD, cleaned it inside and out and tested it. It's a bit slow and although it doesn't quite close fully when hooked up to 12v, it does when it's dunked in hot water.

 

 

Then I re-tracked the AFM. Simple enough to do and I really thought I was on to a winner with this due to the scoring on the resistive track:

 

 

So, leaving the spring well-alone the track was cleaned with a piece of paper and adjusted and it was reassembled.

 

 

 

I put the car back together and....it was the same as before Despite this I had the distributor timing sorted at AWP just as one of the HT leads fell apart, so these were changed as well.

 

So, next I started looking in to the oil breather system and possible air leaks. This weekend I've changed all the hoses (breather and SAD) for BakerBM silicone hoses in OEM black:

 

I've also ensured the throttle switch closes correctly, the idle screw is spotless and I've cleaned the throttle body:

 

 

And finally I've cleaned up the intake manifold and changed the gasket. The old gasket stuck to the face very well and needed a good bit of graft to get it off!

 

 

 

All cleaned up:

 

 

 

 

So that takes us to the present day and if you're still here and not asleep, well done Over the next few days I need to get a new oil filler bottle (mine is cracked) and I'll get the intake manifold back on. I'll then know whether the hours of work has been worth it!!

 

Thanks for reading, comments always welcome.

Edited March 8, 2015 by AndrewP

[Alan77 78 1 Cars]

Looks great! The bbm hoses are fantastic for reliable plumbing.

[tonyb 1 1 Cars]

Looks very nice, one of the best colors aswell, keep up the good work.

[jackherer 543]

It's worth checking the throttle switch actually works with a multimeter if you have one.

[hoodygoodwood 70 3 Cars]

That's a great 205 you have there , nice colour and no sunroof .

If the tickover is too high the SAD not fully closing could be a likely culprit , also check the TPS with a multimeter (as in the Haynes manual ) if they fail at the throttle closed position they play havoc with the tickover - mine recently did this .

[AndrewP 1 1 Cars]

Thanks chaps. Yes I have a Haynes manual and a multimeter so I'll double check the TPS too.

 

To clarify the SAD operation, it didn't close fully when hooked up to 12v but it did close fully when put in hot water. Given that it sits on the block and gets hot, can I safely assume that when on the car with the engine warm AND with the 12v applied it should fully close? I also tested its resistance and it was 54 ohms which is within tolerance, so I'm hopeful it's working ok.

[tomcolinjones 26]

very tidy car! Any plans for it once you get it idling? Nice standard daily driver or some tasteful upgrades? Good luck with the project.