Barn Find Laser Green 1.9 Gti.

[Leslie green 163]

The field is usually ok but there were donkeys in it till too last year and they were not kept away from the entrance and they made a complete mess plus its been about 5 times wetter than usual, It could do with a lorry load of stones at that part (but its not our field) as the rest is ok , once it heats up a bit the grass will come back strong.The 205 has been at my house during the show season but its at my Dads over the winter as that is where there is room to work ,my garage is 8 foot by 13 max barely enough to get a 205 in never mind open a door 

I know what you mean and once its back on the road I will go see a local painter see what they say , if they couldn't do it till Sept that would be fine by me as its likely to drag on a bit and the season would be over again. Its unfortunate it right at the start of the show season it has happened and I need to get that bloody van body moved this year incase it happens again !

Edited March 26 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 163]

Taxed last night ,got it over the field and back to my house . The new speedo cable is mint now not a waver or the annoying clicking at all like before , when i got home I couldn't get the bonnet open as it is much tighter with the different slam panel , thought the cable handle might break off but got it open and adjusted the spring to make it easier .Phew as mot is soon !

A new annoying fault !  ,the new indicator stalk is difficult to operate left when steering is straight ahead , right is fine, it works fine when steering is turned , I thought I could move the stalk back a little but there doesn't seem to be much adjustment if any .I'm not really sure what the issue is , its an aftermarket replacement , I only changed it as the self cancel was broken of the last new one when I fitted the steering wheel which cut through the tab !!!!!! Anyone else had this with a new stalk ?

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

Has the lug on the steering wheel moved? I think it’s secured by a circlip? Although it’s a while since I looked in any detail. You could maybe re position it.

[Leslie green 163]

2 minutes ago, Tom Fenton said:

Has the lug on the steering wheel moved? I think it’s secured by a circlip? Although it’s a while since I looked in any detail. You could maybe re position it.

Thanks Tom I saw the circlip but wondered what keeps it from rotating as the circlip on its own wouldn't id have thought, I will look again after mot as scared of breaking something with no time to fix it 

[Leslie green 163]

Passed mot last night ,no advisories but will have to sort the indicator as its very annoying ,might just put the old one back in as I only changed it as the tab for self cancel was broken.Will have a closer look first see if it can be sorted easily.Was under some tress in the storm as I was early for the appointment and small branches started falling off in front of the car so got out of there quick lol

[SRDT 243]

Long ago I swaped a self cancel tab after it broke in the exact same way than yours, the donnor stalk was OEM Jaeger but I can't remember why it couldn't be used on the car.

[Leslie green 163]

Thanks SRDT , The other one was also an aftermarket replacement from the same source , it may have had exactly the same issue before I broke it as I think it was broke before the first drive , looking at the broken one the tab is spring loaded so I can't see why it wouldnt just push back into the stalk when operated , feels like the one on the car its hitting a hard stop on operating left only which shouldn't be possible, will know better when I remove it.

Edited April 6 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 163]

Went to a steam rally/car show and tried to restart the car as soon as I arrived and the battery was dead , seems like the rad fan has flattened it as it runs on after the engine has turned off plus the battery despite not being very old,less than 4 years  was weak.Luckily I had put jump leads in the boot so got a jump start to get the 50 mile home .

Tried to buy a Bosch s4 ,063 battery of tayna but they could courier here to Ni and it said ring them , price £48 plus post , looked online as ECP same battery 104 quid and discount code didn't work for batteries , more than twice the price ! Robbers lol Got a cheaper one locally in the meantime. for 55.

Churchfield photograpy took a nice pic and the amount of people taking about the drivers door dent was a pain lol 

 

 

[chris 417 mi 64 2 Cars]

19 hours ago, Leslie green said:

Went to a steam rally/car show and tried to restart the car as soon as I arrived and the battery was dead , seems like the rad fan has flattened it as it runs on after the engine has turned off plus the battery despite not being very old,less than 4 years  was weak.Luckily I had put jump leads in the boot so got a jump start to get the 50 mile home .

Tried to buy a Bosch s4 ,063 battery of tayna but they could courier here to Ni and it said ring them , price £48 plus post , looked online as ECP same battery 104 quid and discount code didn't work for batteries , more than twice the price ! Robbers lol Got a cheaper one locally in the meantime. for 55.

Churchfield photograpy took a nice pic and the amount of people taking about the drivers door dent was a pain lol 

 

 

Looking good 

 

Battery wise, do you have a Halfords available ? Ive used the Yuasa ones ( HSB 013) on all of mine and they haven't missed a beat ( including being left in a cold garage all winter ). 

[Leslie green 163]

Yes halfords is very near , I had a look online and a HSB013 is a lot longer and with mine being a pas car it would be very tight and touching the bracket behind the battery that sticks out . I think an 063 is a bit borderline capacity wise though at only 44ah and 380 amp  or at least the one I've got as a yuasa 063 is 52ah and 520 amp which is a good bit more. The cheap one even says heavy duty lol ! 

 

In other news I got the spare door stripped down and it has no rust under the sealer at the bottom but has a dent around the lock otherwise its fairly decent.

[welshpug 1,735]

a 205 doesn't need much capacity, standard fit for a gti was an L1, UK code 063  207 long by 175 wide, 190 tall

 

L0 was for a base model, Tiny 175mm square thing rarely seen!

 

Diesels were specified with L2, so an 027 that is 242x175x190, which you should be able to squeeze in.

[Leslie green 163]

I just fitted the yuasa 063 I got today  ,its 52ah so better than the 44ah cheap one.  I think an 013 and 027 are the same as I did see an o27 in there but no 013, I  had it in and it wouldn't sit under the tray lip or under the clamp as the ledge was about 20mm high  so took it out again , then in better light out the garage as the bonnet up blocks the light  I see the bits that clamp have a double thickness and the 2nd levers off , never seen that before       ?

      Its back in now the original clamping post is back on the negative terminal   ,It didn't want to clamp again but it has now and   I haven't had any luck getting a new one so far and I did have a new positive one but negative posts are smaller so it won't work. 

[welshpug 1,735]

seen those spacers many a time, though never come across a vehicle that actually did need them in place!

 

do you have the original screw style post on the negative?

[Leslie green 163]

Yes the original negative post that needs a puller to get of the battery , I had 2 wiper arm pullers but neither had enough depth to get over the thread  so just just vice grips to wiggle the top part off. They surely would have been a very common service item when these were new. I bought new ones of the dealer in the nineties but I still had the positive one which is wider as pug only uses the negative one.

[Leslie green 163]

Back the the new indicator stalk jamming , got a used one in a box of bits , even changed the end that goes sticky on the originals for the new copy end but when fitted no high beam so back out and looked closely at the cancel on the copy with its right angle that jams in the wheel and decided to cut the right angle nylon bit off and its worked a treat, works perfect now no jamming at straight ahead position and still self cancels fine. Result !

Edited June 7 by Leslie green

[chris 417 mi 64 2 Cars]

On 5/10/2026 at 12:08 PM, Leslie green said:

Yes the original negative post that needs a puller to get of the battery , I had 2 wiper arm pullers but neither had enough depth to get over the thread  so just just vice grips to wiggle the top part off. They surely would have been a very common service item when these were new. I bought new ones of the dealer in the nineties but I still had the positive one which is wider as pug only uses the negative one.

I replaced alll mine in the end with new leads and terminals, linked the earth point in the wing to the gearbox one and then to the negative battery terminal with a new halfords one, the old screw type was well on its way to cracking.

 

On 6/7/2026 at 7:12 PM, Leslie green said:

Back the the new indicator stalk jamming , got a used one in a box of bits , even changed the end that goes sticky on the originals for the new copy end but when fitted no high beam so back out and looked closely at the cancel on the copy with its right angle that jams in the wheel and decided to cut the right angle nylon bit off and its worked a treat, works perfect now no jamming at straight ahead position and still self cancels fine. Result !

Love the easy fix stuff on these haha 

[Leslie green 163]

Started off as the alterator belt squealing , tried to tighten  it up no good then realised the lower tensioner bolt has sheared of in the pas pump.Didn't have a 21mm to hand so put a torx bit in the long alterator bolt and used a ratchet spanner to turn it now its hitting the inner wing and I can't go back as the ratchet spanner can only go one way , Im an idiot lol What a fantastic design this is  a french boobytrap ...I think I'm gong to have to hacksaw off the torx bit you get it out now .

 

I actually found the sheared bolt in the rear torque mount ,how it managed to get in there and not fall in the road  I just don't know !

Edited August 1 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 163]

Well after much faffing and 5 broken junior hacksaw blades its out , gave up cutting through the bit its near impossible lol ,should have brought the grinder back with me but  discovered you can force the 8mm ratchet spanner back round between the engine mount and body with a bit of abuse to wind it back in to let the torx bit out. Pas Pump now off and the bolt is sheared level with the surface but I'm hoping it will come out again if I drill it .

Edited August 1 by Leslie green

[welshpug 1,735]

left handed drill bit, or weld a nut to it

[Leslie green 163]

No left hand bits and didn't fancy welding it so I tried to drill it but even centre punching it with a small bit it went off to one side , then an extractor/easy out  which was a waste of time ,probably expanded it and made it more stuck so I used a 5mm bit in the drill to wear the sides down and collapse it in , it took ages but got there with minimal thread damage , a coat of black and its ready to fit once it dries as it got chipped all over .

I think it would have been better to use a bigger bit to align the centre first as no flex, if I had got it drill in the centre id have tapped it and locked a bolt into the piece with a nut and it may have wound out.If there was room to grind a slot without damaging the casting  it would have been easier.

Edited August 3 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 163]

Got the pas pump back in today , looking at it once the tensioner lower bolt came loose it would have been chopped of the by lugs on the flange for the belt pulley as there are 4 cutouts and this is the only way to get the bolt out. I also changed the alternator for a recon Valeo 70Amp one I got a while back ,mine was working but is only a 50 amp probably a 1.6 gt one so made sense while it was off . Its putting out 14v when running so all good so far.

I topped up the pas fluid and knew the steel pas line has been catching on the gear linkage some time so gave it a gentle bend up to allow some clearance , its likely been leaned on at a time which is why it was catching , there should be a small right angle bracket on the gearbox mount stud to support it but mine was long gone so id need to have a look at making one , it holds the pipe by a plastic clip and I did manage to buy the clip .

 

One problem goes another arrives , its started (pun intended ) just clicking when I try to start it , I can hear the starter solenoid pull in but t doesn't turn the starter, the starter is new old stock valeo and it wasn't an issue until the battery was changed so wondering is the original earth terminal is now not up to the job after being taken off , either that or the ignition barrel is on the way out but the solenoid is engaging so not sure that's the case. If I turn the key back and forth a few times it will then spin the starter over . It just clicks the solenoid once it doesn't click on/off like a flat battery would.

Edited Thursday at 10:07 PM by Leslie green