1988 Graphite Grey 1.9 GTI

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

3 hours ago, chris 417 mi said:

Other than the obvious books etc in with the car , is there any way of finding where / which dealer supplied a car ? 

 

A few of mine came with nothing and the shell came .bare but would be nice to do what your planning and take them back to their original starting points 

The only thing you can do is look up the last 2 letters of the reg, this gives you the area the car was originally registered in, so will narrow it down a bit. However generally they are a wide district that might have had half a dozen dealers in, so potentially it’s one of those but hard to determine which. This one is CA which is Chester, obviously this was the office that Knutsford came under, but also probably a good few other dealers. 

[Leslie green 163]

Another good update , also got a drivers bolster is the worse for wear but the drivers seat cloth isn't great either .I was planning on changing the whole cushion though as I often wondered would the bolster stay glued on for long .I think with sills its hard to get a clean join halfway along which is why id tend to fit a complete one but as you say its only a little bit at the back . Also given the price ropey resto projects are making now I don't think there will be many broken anymore ,those days have gone !

I need some tunes in mine too but GTi Clarions are rare , I do have a kenwood 6 cd changer from the ninties I might fit ,I know its not right lol !At the minute there are a bunch of wires sticking out the slot with no plug on .

 

    I checked the torsion bars on mine today they are 19.17mm /19.22 as best I could measure without getting burned on a hot exhaust  ,they have  a thin  powdercoat so probably right for a Gti . I checked the top of the rim flange  to plastic arch and it was 90mm either side while up on ramps at the back and brimmed with fuel loading down the axle and tbh it looks grand   but when its in the garage on a sloping floor the drivers is 25mm lower so made it look worse on that side. Might move it up a bit to either 315mm or 318mm in the winter when its offroad for a little more travel .

Edited July 18, 2025 by Leslie green

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

Short update, the new PAS pump came really quickly, at £80 I wasn't expecting too much but it looked good. So I set about removing the old one, not a bad job really. However when I got it off it seemed I might be doing this for nothing. When I'd first fitted the PAS stuff, as the car didn't previously have it, I'd noticed the low pressure fluid pipe from the reservoir to the pump had a leak, the clip wasn't very good, so I fitted a new clip which seemed to sort it, and cleaned off the ATF that I could. Seemed to be Ok with subsequent running, however it then seemed to be wet with ATF around the area again, especially after I'd had the car running and moved it backwards and forwards a couple of times. I couldn't really see where from, so went for a new pump, as fluid leaks especially on a newly rebuilt engine and box would be a real annoyance.

With the alternator and then the pump removed I found that the webbings of the mount bracket were holding a quantity of ATF from the first leak, the movement of the car must have been enough for this to find its way down the sump etc.

Seeing I was this far in, and with a new pump to hand, I decided I'd swap it anyway, and put the £80 and an hour or so work down to experience.

One thing I'll mention because about 25 years ago I didn't know this and so had a PAS leak nightmare on my then 405, the high pressure PAS union into the pump needs an O ring to be fitted to the end of the pipe that is compressed into the pump body. Not especially obvious if you aren't familiar with it.

Swapped over and bled it up, it worked nicely, in fact much better than the old pump, quieter, more power assistance, and no horrid noise at full lock. Safe to say the old pump probably pretty tired, this new one as it turns out a good improvement.

 

Next job I need to tackle is the sill and quarter panel repair.

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

On 7/18/2025 at 8:01 PM, Leslie green said:

Another good update , also got a drivers bolster is the worse for wear but the drivers seat cloth isn't great either .I was planning on changing the whole cushion though as I often wondered would the bolster stay glued on for long .I think with sills its hard to get a clean join halfway along which is why id tend to fit a complete one but as you say its only a little bit at the back . Also given the price ropey resto projects are making now I don't think there will be many broken anymore ,those days have gone !

I need some tunes in mine too but GTi Clarions are rare , I do have a kenwood 6 cd changer from the ninties I might fit ,I know its not right lol !At the minute there are a bunch of wires sticking out the slot with no plug on .

 

    I checked the torsion bars on mine today they are 19.17mm /19.22 as best I could measure without getting burned on a hot exhaust  ,they have  a thin  powdercoat so probably right for a Gti . I checked the top of the rim flange  to plastic arch and it was 90mm either side while up on ramps at the back and brimmed with fuel loading down the axle and tbh it looks grand   but when its in the garage on a sloping floor the drivers is 25mm lower so made it look worse on that side. Might move it up a bit to either 315mm or 318mm in the winter when its offroad for a little more travel .

The side bolster doesn't really need to be glued to the rest, I've done a number like this over the years and it works fine, the steel seat frame supports the foam well enough.

The sill is by far from my first rodeo, careful fit up and butt welding the join is all that is needed, the body shop can then finish with the bare minimum of filler, you cannot see where the join is when done well. I've done a number of these repairs.

As for the standard Clarion really 100% don't waste your money or effort, they are in modern terms really crap. If you actually want to enjoy some music as you drive, put something modern in there. I have the original head units for both this and my green car safely stored, the wiring is all intact as Peugeot intended, so I could easily put either back if I wanted to, I don't ever see it happening. Get your Kenwood in or TBH for about £100 or so you can buy a modern unit that will connect to your phone for streaming music and give 4x50w output.

[chris 417 mi 64 2 Cars]

On 7/18/2025 at 3:24 PM, Tom Fenton said:

The only thing you can do is look up the last 2 letters of the reg, this gives you the area the car was originally registered in, so will narrow it down a bit. However generally they are a wide district that might have had half a dozen dealers in, so potentially it’s one of those but hard to determine which. This one is CA which is Chester, obviously this was the office that Knutsford came under, but also probably a good few other dealers. 

Ahhh right ok, so with mine being RAC at the end the last two AC bring up Coventry. Will have to have a look and see what comes up.
Follwing with the gearbox photos aswell as this is not something I’ve looked at before and with the usual guy I use to strip check and rebuild now retired ( literally as of last month annoyingly ) I’d like to give this a go myself. 

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

So I’ve set about the sill. Going to part way though the door aperture, I could have otherwise got away with just the rear most piece, but there was a scrape damaged area a bit further forwards so I thought I might as well get rid of that whilst I am

there. The lower rear quarter had been “repaired” before and was skimmed in filler, you have to cut it out anyway to do the sill, inside the rear pocket pretty grotty. The inner sill though for 38 odd years old really does look great, compared to the Minis I cut my teeth on which would probably be on the 4th set of sills by this age. Did the bulk cuts first to gain access then started unpicking the spot welds from the lower seam, next to do is the awkward bit behind the b pillar pressings.

The return to the inner arch panel was locally rotten so made and welded in a small piece there. To be continued.

 

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

Sill and quarter repair metalwork done. Pleased with how it turned out. The 1/4 repair from Ian at Retro Race Rally was better than some I have used previously, the curve at the wheel arch is now the correct profile. 
Next up there is some seam sealing to do and then paint of some sort, it’s going to be a temporary job by myself I think, the whole car really wants paint, so not much point sending it to the bodyshop just for this bit doing for now.

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

Bodywork. Never really enjoyed it although with practise I guess I am getting better at it.

A thin scrape of filler on the welded joints, etch primer to the surfaces, then mastic the seam and also the joints inside where I could get to them. Finally stonechip the sill and try to blend in to the existing further forwards.

Pleased with how it is looking so far bearing in mind this is just to make it presentable for now. The filler work isn’t perfect where the bodykit will hide it! But quite pleased how the tab at the rear of the door aperture has turned out as it wasn’t great before.

I’ve bought 0.25 L of solvent base coat to put some grey on the job and then a can of 2k aerosol lacquer to finish it, for the small area I need to do, it wasn’t worth buying a full litre of lacquer.

 

 

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

So with a pause to let the stonechip go off fully, it was time for some grey. Best laid plans and all but typically it didn’t totally go to plan. My spray guns after not being used for maybe 8 years both were playing up, annoyingly when tested with some thinners in they seemed to be spraying a nice pattern, as soon as I pointed my small gravity feed gun at the car it was not playing ball. Swapped to the larger pot gun which again did something similar. Annoying. Got a couple of coats of grey on the job eventually and left it to flash off. Lacquer wise I pulled the pin in the bottom of the aerosol to add the hardener, then as soon as I went to spray some at the car, the plastic spray nozzle split and showered a load of lacquer everywhere. Annoyed not the word. Couldn’t really do much else apart from scrounge another nozzle off another can and put the coats on the car. I’ll have to have a gentle go at flatting some of the big blobs out at a later date.

Anyway despite all this, it’s done, and looks acceptable enough for the time being.

 

Took it for a short test drive to check everything works, seems ok so far, brakes need to bed in as they are all new, engine runs well and no funny noises.

[Leslie green 163]

Got result despite the setbacks I know if I try and spray outside the wind picks up instantly , looking like a car again and the metal repair is quality.

Edited July 27, 2025 by Leslie green

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

It’s been a couple of weeks but some progress.

First off the MOT test. I was a bit worried it may struggle emissions wise, mainly HC, due to new rings not bedded into the bores yet. Not much you can do other than drive it to bed them in, so it had to just go for a test and see.

Obviously I’ve been thoroughly through the car but you never know, but a clean pass with no advisories was a nice achievement.

However the triumph was short lived, by the time I’d got the few miles home from the test, I’d decided the wishbone bushes must be shot as it was weaving about on and off the throttle, the clutch needed adjustment as you had to try and push it through the carpet to get it to clear, the radiator had sprung a leak, and most annoying the brakes when everything had got hot were starting to drag meaning the servo pushrod needed an adjustment. All in all not what I really wanted. At the moment I’ve got some health issues that I won’t go into, but I means unlike usual, I was going to struggle to do some of these jobs.

Thanks to a good mate of mine who volunteered his assistance, one afternoon we got all the jobs done, pair of new wishbones, a new radiator, adjust the clutch, and remove the master cylinder, adjust the servo pushrod, refit, and re bleed the brakes.

After all that it was a number of bits of farting about, as per the other thread I fitted a nice pair of Focal component speakers to the front doors, and a Kenwood sub under the passenger seat. The gear gaiter was also a really tatty vinyl thing so o ordered a leather one from eBay, impressed with it, seems proper leather with a nice red stitching to it, and fitted well to the Peugeot plastic surround.

It didn’t seem worth paying for a months tax with less than 2 weeks to go, so I held off until today the 1st of September.

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

So with it on the road first impressions are that I’m really pleased with it. It goes really well already, 1.9’s in my experience can be quite hit and miss, a good one is great but a bad one is a real slug. I’m obviously very used to my 1.6 GTI and this does feel oh so different, it’s more reluctant to rev, but at the same time it has got much more get up and go in the mid range, as you’d expect really knowing the differences. The brakes in particular are really sharp, handles well now it’s on new wishbones too. The stereo I’m also pleased with, you can turn it up pretty loud with no distortion or speaker farting which is good enough for me.

So off I went for a ride this morning, just because I could. Within 20 miles the previously ok wheel bearing on the drivers side front had cried enough and was roaring its head off! No real surprise, the car has been sat about for nearly 8 years due to me, reviewing the MOT history it had only done 100 or less miles each year since 2006. So no surprise really that pushed back into service, something or other was going to crap out.

So home it was, had a wheel bearing kit on the shelf so before midday it had a new bearing pressed into the drivers side upright and back on the car.

[Leslie green 163]

That was a fair few little jobs to do but always the way when cars that have sat for years are driven again , 3 of my old bearings were siezed , one rear had worn a groove in the stub axle by rotating on it  so it was stuck long before it was parked . I find the 19 brakes on mine really good with instant bite and not just good for an old car too. 

I'm guessing the hc is 1200 ppm ,I know that was the spec my 82 xr2 had to pass and some years it was close with old fuel in but no danger of yours failing that unless you left a plug out lol

Get well soon bud, we are all getting old and bits are falling of much like our cars these days  

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

Teething issues continue, no real surprise there. The fuel gauge packed in more or less as soon as I put a full tank of fuel in, again no real surprise it being asked to work after probably not having more than about 1/4 of a tank in it for goodness knows how long. I decided rather than messing about with used ones that might not be much better, to order a brand new one from Retro Race Rally, sadly a bit of a disappointment here for a brand new part, as having fitted it, the gauge jumps around all over the place. Anywhere between empty and half full for actual level of about 3/4 of a tank. Everything else I’ve had from Ian there has been great, so I’ll see what we can sort out with this.

As the bigger jobs are knocked off the smaller ones can get done, painting the wiper arms satin black was desperate, as was treating the body kit with some bumper goo. Longer term I’ll probably get some GTechniq C4 as I’ve been impressed with how that has lasted on my other car. A slight coolant drip from a hose clip wanting a nip also sorted out. Treated it to a pair of decent Phillips headlamp bulbs as I will use it at night occasionally. And that’s about it. Photo is of a trip to a Cars and Coffee meet that me and a couple of mates obviously got the date wrong! But it prompted me to clean it and treat the body kit so worthwhile really. Really quite pleased with how it’s looking in general although it’s definitely a 10 yard car at the moment. But to say it’s had a good wash and nothing much more, it’s clean and shiny enough already. Next up if I can summon the enthusiasm is a run over with the polisher or maybe even some clay, the roof and bonnet in particular feel really rough.

[shonkers 6]

I stumbled on this build thread whilst searching how to cure my rich mixture cracking read thoroughly enjoyed it well done tom bit of a rollercoaster after a few trials an tribulations

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

So I’ve managed just over 500 miles on the new engine now, so I dropped the mineral

oil and put some fully synthetic in with a new filter.

I’ve done a few little bits and bobs of teething stuff, the only real outstanding job is a PAS leak, the rack itself seems dry, I suspect it could be a pinhole in the high pressure hose somewhere so need to try and source a replacement. It’s probably 30 odd years old, I can’t seem to find anyone selling new ones. 
Probably as a result of no use for a long time, the dash illumination bulbs kept going. It was like whack a mole, change one then a week later another one went. Sick of taking the fragile dash to bits I bought a box of bulbs for 3 quid and just did them all. 
Went to a local car show a few weeks ago, my mate came with me so took 2 of my cars, little and large.

Then a different car meet and just by chance arrival time, formed a great 80’s hot hatch lineup with a 5 turbo, Mk2 Golf, and an Escort turbo. 
The car has its original dealer rear plate, but not the front, and the rear looking its age, so I’ve ordered a pair of reproduction plates from Retro plates, pleased with them although I’ve not fitted them just yet.

I’ll see what the weather does, and might take it off the road for winter at the start of November. 

[Leslie green 163]

Those plates are nice with the coloured border . The higb pressure pas line needs remade , not seem any new ones apart from the odd diesel one which is different and the phase 2 oil cooler lines as well being 35 years old could give up anytime.

[Pierre_b 4]

Hello,

 

Thank you for this thread and the time you have taken to write it, a big pleasure to read it, so rare nowadays. Congratulations for the car and the work you have put in it.

 

Pierre

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

So with the weather turning and the salt coming out onto the roads I decided to take the 205 off the road at the end of November. A job that was on the list was the drivers seat, I’d repaired the thigh bolster when I did the rest of the work, but the backrest cover had a couple of split seams and the leather was a bit scuffed. An

old friend of mine is really skilled at upholstery stuff, and he’d offered to have a go at it. Got the seat out of the car and stripped the cover off it and got it to Mark. He did a great job of repairing the seams and also did some work to the leather, in his words a sympathetic repair so the seat would still look in keeping with the rest of the interior. A good job ticked off, the car is stashed away for now with a dessicant dehumidifier bag in it until the weather starts to look up.

 

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

Before above, and now repaired and back in the car. 

[Tom Fenton 1,634]

Nothing to add since doing the seat repair, as this car has been away in storage over winter, but with the weather improving I decided to get it out for the start of May. 
Although it’s largely standard I decided a strut brace when I have fitted one to previous standard GTI‘s was a good improvement so had been on the lookout. One came via eBay for the sort of money the Yorkshireman in me approved of, finished in part yellow part crusty crap. So off to Bryan my powdercoating man and he did it in a metallic anthracite. To start with in the photo he sent it looked a bit light, but having fitted it, it’s a good match to the car. Picked it up this morning in the 205 and there was a guy in a SUV loving the 205, happens a lot more these days I find and always nice.

My fatal error was applying a small amount of anti seize to the threaded adjuster. Yes you guessed shortly afterwards my hands covered in it.

 

 

[chris 417 mi 64 2 Cars]

Best time of year to get them out and in use now, and yeah everyone seems to love them and have a story when you get talking.

Just nice things to be able to still use, did a little parts run down Lincolnshire way last week and the amount of attention and thumbs up on the trip was nice ... even if it was the turbo diesel !  

[Moeozz 0]

On 7/14/2025 at 4:46 AM, Tom Fenton said:

And the root cause. Annoying as it’s my fault really. Thinking back, I even think I know when I did it.



Hey Tom. Very nice build thread!
As a newbie putting his first engine together, how does one avoid this? What exactly did you do to cause it?

And did you apply any sealant or just the o-seals alone?

Thanks!

[welshpug 1,735]

when fitting, a little silicone grease or red rubber grease is about all I would use on them just to ensure they settle, however as they just sit in a radius and get clamped by the liner you shouldn't need to do anything else.

 

when you do need to be careful is when you have the cylinder head off an old engine, the seals will be old and potentially hard, so any movement of a liner could cause a leak,   to alleviate this you can clamp the liners down with large washers and a few head bolts, or make some straps to go across.

[Moeozz 0]

On 7/29/2026 at 7:37 PM, welshpug said:

when fitting, a little silicone grease or red rubber grease is about all I would use on them just to ensure they settle, however as they just sit in a radius and get clamped by the liner you shouldn't need to do anything else.

 

Ok thanks. I've seen some old recommendations for wellseal. I'm assuming this is more of a gasket maker and different to the grease you mention?