1988 Graphite Grey 1.9 GTI

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

I miss build threads, of many things Facebook has deprived us of, the good old forum build thread is the one most missed.

 

So here we go. As it always seems to be the case with my cars, there is a story attached.

 

I have known Barry the previous owner of this car for over 20 years, as a customer rep for a big hydraulic oil company, I had met him many times through my career as he would visit site at work periodically to do hydraulic oil condition monitoring. It must have been well over 10 years of knowing him until some chance got us on to the good old 205. He had somehow found out I had a 205 and so it turned out he also had a 1.9 GTI that he had bought at 10 years old in 1999, and for a number of years had used it as his every day car. As he'd moved up in the company he had been given a company car to use, so the 205 got put onto lighter duties, used occasionally by Barry and his wife.

When I would see him occasionally we'd have a 205 chat, I can remember him doing quite a bit to it himself, but it had got to the point where its annual usage dropped to not much more than the trip to and from the MOT test.

Some time later he phoned me one day around 2015 to say he was thinking of selling it and what did I think it was worth? Having never actually seen it in the metal I said it was hard to judge, so he said he'd bring it down to work on dinnertime for me to have a look. I had a look round it and found essentially a unmolested 205 GTI but just a bit tired. From a few feet a tidy shiny looking thing, but looking closer nearly every panel showing its age in some way. I gave him my idea of valuation at the time and we left it at that.

Of course that story would not make a thread, so having mulled it over a while, I got back in touch a few days later and said I would be interested to buy it, and made an offer in line with the valuation I'd given. He said he would think about it, and we left it at that. Time then went past, and not hearing from him I started to think maybe I'd somehow offended him with my offer. Some while later all of a sudden I heard back from him to say that he'd MOT'd it again but had decided it needed to go, and so was I still interested. This would have been in summer 2016. I was interested but at the time struggling for space, Barry said that was no issue, a gentleman's agreement to shake on the deal, and it could stay in his garage until I was ready.

 

So a couple of photos here from summer 2016 when I went to look at it and agree the deal.

 

 

Then then a couple more from early 2017 when I actually collected it into my ownership.

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

Having got the car into my ownership I had a proper look to see what was what. I'd driven it only about 2 miles. Barry half mentioned that the coolant level sensor in the header tank was playing up, More on that later.

 

So really looking around we had a Ph 1.5 1.9 GTI non sunroof with 160k miles. An original thing, airbox, exhaust etc all standard and present, Barry had fitted a more modern Sony stereo but the original Phillips still with the car, It came with a big folder of paperwork and it seemed really that it had not wanted for much in its time with Barry.

 

Engine bay looking typical for its age, but all there and not messed with.

 

Original stereo with the car, wiring not cut, cage and both side trims are with it although not in the photo. Not sure I'll ever put it back, but nice to have it.

 

 

Drivers seat with typical wear and foam bolster fallen to bits.

 

 

Dealer tax disc holder and rear number plate are still there which is a nice touch.

 

 

The next bit I noticed which is an odd one to be honest, the drivers door has a big rotten hole near the front corner behind the door card!

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

So after getting the car I promptly did very little with it for quite some time, granted I did start to slowly accumulate some parts for it. I would start and run it periodically, it became clear that the coolant reservoir level sensor wasn't faulty but was actually turning the light on because there was little to no coolant in it. Topped it up thinking it was just low, soon found out that it didn't exactly pour out as quick as you put it in, but it wasn't far off. Perhaps this was the reason Barry hadn't gone far in it for many years and the reason why he wanted it gone, I guess we will never know, but I was still happy enough to own it, a pretty original 1.9 GTI in presentable enough condition. 

My first worry was that the coolant was coming out of the back of the engine, having seen cracked blocks before, i crawled underneath to see the block intact, but a lot of staining from the head gasket area. I have seen before that the XU head gaskets in old age deteriorate not around the fire rings, so the engine runs OK, but around the edge of the block, so they end up leaking coolant.

 

Rear of the block, not looking so good

 

 

2017

 

 

2024, its turned around but that is about it

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

So fast forward to more recent times, in my defense in the intervening years I'd been pretty well occupied with other cars, my laser green 205, the 206 GT, my road rally car etc. Also between getting it in 2017 and more recently 2 kids have joined the family. A change of storage meant the car moved from the previous storage in July 2024, the first time it had actually been home. It was stashed away then in another lock up but being closer to home, was closer to the front of my mind.

With some other issues in life going on, I decided I needed something to get my teeth into and keep me occupied, so having cleared the decks of work I'd already committed to doing for others, it was time to get on with one of my own cars.

The plan in my head was to sort the head gasket issue out, have a quick look round the rest of the car, with a view to getting it MOT'd and useable once more. It had last been MOT'd by Barry, expiring in 2017.

I retrieved it from the lockup and got it home, gave it a wash for the first time in my ownership and then set about it.

Knowing that the head gasket had been leaking I knew seized head bolts were very possible, so got the engine hot before trying to undo the head bolts, all was going well until one of the front ones was not playing ball. Stripped the inlet manifold off, got a gas torch on the front of the block to get some heat into the job, worked it backwards and forwards, the net result was that it was not going to play and sheared off. Not the start I had in mind. Anyway not to be stopped by this, and I've been here previously, got out the helicoil kit and the drill guides, and made a start trying to drill the remain of the head bolt in situ. Managed to get a pilot hole through and up to about 6mm, but then it was just not going to happen, despite cobalt drills, it became clear the engine was going to have to come out and be stripped to allow it to sit on a machine bed for the broken bolt to be properly drilled out square and true.

 

The grey 205 comes home for the first time, burps garlic fumes at zee Germans

 

Stashed in the lockup

 

 

Home for work to begin in earnest, only 8 years since buying, you can't rush these things

 

 

Looks presentable and shiny here, but as said most panels show their age in one way or another

 

 

Get it hot and set about taking the head off

 

 

Head off, looks grotty

 

 

Head gasket looks extra grotty

 

 

The having a bad day drawer

 

 

Looking though all the paperwork the car had regularly had new exhaust manifold gaskets purchased and fitted. It became clear why with the manifold off, the outer 2 branches were badly eroded on the flanges, leaving only a very small bit to seal against. There must have been a regular problem with it blowing, but no one really got to the root cause.

 

 

Having come to a stop trying to fix it in situ, it needed to come out. WIth the head etc off, I wasn't really a million miles away anyway.

 

 

And the job escalated quickly.

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

With the engine and gearbox out of the car, I first of all took the head to the local engine machine shop, it needed a skim and at 160k I was quite sure it probably needed some other work, XU petrols seem prone to wearing the exhaust guides out in particular, as it turned out this one had done exactly that.

The bottom end was a bit too big for my machine, so I called a favour in, and someone with a bigger machine drilled the broken head bolt out and helicoiled the hole. I have successfully helicoiled alloy XU head bolts a number of times, you need a 11x1.5 helicoil kit, with 2xD length inserts to do a good job.

With both the head and block away having stuff done, attention wandered to the, what else would be a good idea to do whilst the engine and box are out?

 

First on my list was power steering, in my mind it makes a 205 massively better, not only the reduced turns lock to lock, but also just general ease of use. Part of the intention of this car is for my wife to use it occasionally (remains to be seen if she actually will or not) and so PAS would also make her happier to use it.

As mentioned I'd been gradually collecting bits and so had a PAS setup already to hand.

 

Next was a LSD, now is it absolutely needed on an otherwise standard running gear 205 GTI, probably not, but does an LSD make every FWD car better, in my experience yes. Allied to the fact I had a Quaife on the shelf doing nothing in particular, I decided it was going in the gearbox,

 

Finally, although I know that is how they were as standard, I've never really liked the massive arch gap especially at the front of the car. I had a pair of Eibach springs from my old Miami blue car sat doing nothing, so they also went on the to do list.

 

While rooting about in my collection of crap  carefully curated spare items, I also came across a much better exhaust manifold. I had been intending to skim the old one on the mill, but it would be a bit of a pig to setup square and rigidly to the mill bed, and bolting on a good used one much easier. I may one day get around to skimming the other one as a spare.

 

Front subframe dropped off to fit the power rack

 

 

Gearbox having the diff fittted

 

 

Front legs fitted with Eibachs, the dampers are Monroe and seem fairly recent, they will do for now at least

 

 

Better exhaust manifold with flanges that will seal properly on the gaskets

 

 

Found with the subframe off, the gear linkage bell crank bush floating about. I've seen this a few times now. Some tig weld soon repaired it, I also moved the ball joint in a bit to shorten the throw. More on this later!

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

So whilst doing other things I remembered that the gear linkages certainly felt really quite sloppy. Looking at the link rods they were all good and tight and looked quite recent, I suspect Barry had noticed the play and had tried to improve it.

Operating the gearbox selectors with it on the bench showed there was quite a bit of slop internally in the 3/4 gate but the rest of it wasn't bad for its 160k.

After a bit of debate as to whether to tackle it or not I decided I'd kick myself if I didn't sort it whilst the box was out of the car so set about taking it to bits.

Its been a few years but like riding a bike you soon remember how to do it. With the box and selectors in bits I found the selector fork for 3/4 splayed open. As to how this could happen I have no idea, the forks are really quite a robust thing made out of maybe 8mm steel, quite how you could bend it I don't know, even if you jumped on the gear stick with both feet I don't think you could bend it.

Anyway, with it removed from the box I pressed it to straighten it and made it the same as the 1/2 selector.

Reassembled with the usual gearbox jenga game and the backlash was gone and all gears selected nicely, Pleased that I did it, I would have regretted not.

 

Main casing removed

 

 

The fork piece should be a close fit to the selector. You can probably see maybe a 4mm gap and that the fork is splayed open. This 4mm by the time it was at the gear knob in the car was a LOT of play

 

 

1/2 and 3/4 selectors next to each other after having pressed 3/4 straight. Now both a similar gap.

 

 

And after some cleaning and resealing, the box back in one piece.

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

With the gearbox sorted out and still waiting for the engine parts, I turned to the front end body. Previous MOTs had advisories for front end corrosion. With a look around the chassis legs, they were a bit grotty but not rotten. The subframe was still off for the PAS rack so now was the time to do some cleaning up. Wire brush on the angle grinder followed by Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80, followed by Jotunmastic 93 epoxy primer, followed by some graphite grey in an aerosol made it look a lot more presentable.

The inner wing on the drivers side looked like a swiss cheese after the standard rivnuts had got sheared bolts in, and someone had re attached the water pipe and splash guard with tech screws. Annoying really for the sake of 3 new rivnuts at 50p each. Anyway with the welder and then some paint back to looking something like.

Whilst poking about under the passengers side inner wing noticed the headlamp panel was not too good, this also escalated quickly. At a later date I will have the front end off and fit 2x new headlamp panels, but for now I decided on a patch that would be adequate for the MOT test would be enough.

Finally the bumper corner on the passenger side was sat splayed out quite markedly, further investigation showed the rubber bobbin and spacer had corroded into a great big blob of rust which was pushing the bumper corner right out of alignment. I make these bumper spacers in stainless anyway so a quick sort out of a few bits from my stock and this was soon put back into line. The wing is a job for another time, they have rotten patches on both front wings and both will need replacement at some point.

 

Inner wing with extra holes. Rivnuts replaced.

 

 

Extra holes welded up and linished back, much better

 

 

Area hydrate-80

 

 

Battery tray and chassis leg cleaned up

 

 

Hole to NS headlamp panel

 

 

Temporary patch

 

 

Epoxy primer and some grey

 

 

Bumper mount a mess

 

 

And repaired, the wing as mentioned needs to be replaced at a later date

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

Whilst in the front area, I refitted the front legs, new Mintex coated front brake discs, and some calipers I had previously stripped, blasted, had gold zinc plated, and then rebuilt with new seals and pistons etc. Not pictured but I also bought a set of stainless braided brake hoses, more so for longevity as modern rubber is not good quality and does not last well in my experience.

Having known a few people experience master cylinder failure and hence no brakes in 205's, I'm always wary of master cylinders of unknown age, for a pretty cheap and easy to replace part I like to change them on my own cars just for peace of mind. New cylinder fitted and a new brake pipe to the OSF

I then found a small hole in the passengers arch area, so removed the mudflap which also needed a repair, and made and welded in a small repair piece.

Still waiting for the engine bits I then did the really important work to a car with no engine or gearbox and fitted a more modern bluetooth stereo and some better front speakers. I intend to fit some component speakers to the front doors at some point in future.

 

Front legs back on. Drop links are recent, wishbones look OK and no play

 

 

Caliper and braided hose fitted

 

 

New master cyl

 

 

Hole to arch welded and sealed, still to paint

 

 

Mudflap rivetted to repair

 

 

Stereo

 

 

And speakers

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

With work about done on the front end for the time being I turned to the rear. Engine parts not back yet.

 

First job was a beam service, with the Eibach springs I needed to lower the ride height anyway. I do a lot of these beams and have most parts to hand so decided to get it apart then assess what was needed and repair it as needed. As it turned out all it really needed was an outer bearing on one side, then new seals and carrier rings. The torsion bars a good clean up and re grease and then reassemble at a ride height to match the front. I intended doing it on the car, but the boot floor area also had previous corrosion advisories so again whilst you are there. Removed the beam and did the work to it off the car, and then set about the boot floor area. With the beam off the rear brake hard pipes over the tank looked horrid so you know what is coming next. Tank off. Wire brush/Hydrate80/Epoxy primer and then black shultz for the rear underfloor. I haven't the enthusiasm to go to the lengths of my green car on this one, so tidied up and mechanically good, is good enough.

 

Beam removed, this is actually after I'd serviced and adjusted the ride height. Some powder coated damper legs as the originals were awful.

 

 

A small hole above the beam, where the brake pipe bracket attaches. A patch made and butt welded in place, this is before grinding back,

 

 

Underfloor cleaned back and part way through epoxy primer. Not perfect but good enough to protect it

 

 

Black shultz

 

 

Rear brake pipes past the tank re made in kunifer. As a weirdo I quite enjoy the fiddly task of making brake pipes.

 

 

Tank refitted and rear braided flexis in waiting for the beam to go back

 

 

Beam refitted, rebuilt calipers and new rear discs also

 

 

New backplates fitted as well as I had them in stock

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

So after all this, back to the job in hand.....

 

Engine work

First the block came back, I'd f***ed up here really as one liner was stuck in, I should have got it out before getting the head bolt drilled out.

It took the press to get it out, it was heavily silted up and I mean heavily, I've seen plenty of these but not as bad as this.

With the liner out and cleaned up the area found the liner seat badly corroded away. Game over for this block, despite the fact it ran OK when in the car it almost certainly wouldn't when reassembled.

 

So luckily I have a selection of collected crap  carefully curated spare items and had a 1600 alloy XU engine that my true to type Scottish friend had negotiated for me some years previously, when the guy selling a gearbox with LSD would not move from the £250 asking price, so Rob came away with an engine to sweeten the deal

 

So stripped another engine to get a good block, tapped all the head bolt threads out to clean up, and started on the usual cleaning and checking process.

 

Crank in the lathe to polish the journals, mic'd up the journals and all within spec at STD/STD.

 

Pressing the liner out, usually they will knock out with a hammer and block of wood.

 

 

Donor engine complete with graffitti courtesy of my friends

 

 

Head off

 

 

And a block part way through the cleaning process

 

 

Finally the head came back, 4 new exh guides as predicted, some corrosion to the face but outside the fire rings so not hurting anything

 

 

And ready to commence build, the block painted by a previous owner, not what i'd choose to do, but it looks presentable enough

 

 

Crank installed

 

 

Bottom end built, new liners, new rings, new crank bearings, so all wearing bits good.

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

So for now to bring the tale to the current date.

 

The engine build was completed by bolting the head down, then a slightly lighter 1600 flywheel I had was fitted on along with a new clutch. Then the gearbox fitted and its about ready to go back into the car.

 

Another side project while I was doing it all was wheels, the 1900 wheels on the car were a bit tatty, also the tyres were a mixture of 20 year old uniroyals, and a Jinyu and Rotalla both with about 200 miles on. None of which filled me with confidence to use! I also have a set of Compomotive TH living in the garage loosely intended for my red 205, so you can guess what is coming. I'm sure many of us have bought sets of the ex-Ginetta Michelin PS3 in 195/50/15, however these have dried up and they've now moved to Pirellis. I bought 4 part worns for £94 which seemed cheap enough to me, so with a tyre machine I'd never fully got to grips with in the garage I set about them.

 

Engine and box ready to go back in the car. A few ancilliary bits left off that can easily go on once it is in.

 

Test fit of a Comp, some spacers needed to correct the offset as I think they are Ford offset

 

 

First tyre fitted. I was very pleased with this

 

 

And no engine or box in but couldn't resist putting it on the deck to see how they look. I've always been staunchly in the, "wheels must be silver" camp, but I have to say I like this.

 

 

With a 15mm spacer I'm happy with how they sit on the car.

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

So that is up to date, I'm quite pleased with the progress, I dragged it out of the lockup on the 31st of May, the engine is sat ready to go back in last night on the 8th of July, so quite a bit achieved in 5 and a half weeks.

 

Hoping to have the engine back in and up and running over the next few days, there will be some other odds and ends to tidy up no doubt, and then it will be time to get it MOT'd.

[chris 417 mi 42 2 Cars]

Looking good mate, following with interest as ill be doing the same with a 1900 engine soon but an unknown one so hopefully no surprises

[Leslie green 131]

That's a cracking bit of work you have done in such a short time , about 2 years for most of us lol. Is the wing rotten behind the bumper only ? as I think it was retro race and rally were looking into pressing just this piece as a weld in repair as genuine wings are almost impossible to find now ...Peugeot museum get the finger out !

Good to see this one saved as it could so easily been broken for spares , the door rot is wierd but I guess the drain was blocked and it sat full of water and rusted its way out in the end or a lot of water was getting in past the glass outer seal .

What did you set the rear axle height to ,I set mine to 312mm I think it was but with a full tank of fuel and 1 rear passenger its on its a*se , it actually has contacted the front of the arch a little  when I hit a big pothole mid roundabout and needs raising up a bit , looks fine with nobody in though .

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Bring back build threads! Great read Tom. The compomotives look great, as do the pin stripes, you don't see them often 

[Wallby 48]

Amazing! Bring back build threads! Really appreciate the time taken to tell the story on this car, makes for a great read.

 

Love the wheels too!

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

So I’ve done some more but gone precisely backwards.

Wednesday saw the engine back in the car, Thursday saw it all connected and plumbed up. All went OK although it is still always a surprise how long it takes. Nice new set of rubber coolant hoses from Stew at BBM, which all fit great.

Thursday I got oil pressure up and then briefly fired her up, always a good milestone.

Friday I was busy doing other stuff, so Saturday I was going to do a bit more. Started it up and gave it a bit of a rev, sounded nice and crisp and I was pleased with my efforts. This didn’t last long as I moved on to some other tasks and decided to dip the oil. Found it twice the height on the dipstick and like milk soup. Some industrial language was deployed.

Briefly debated putting it back in the lockup for another 7 years. Did a few other stupid little jobs like refitting a mudflap, then decided it wouldn’t get better by itself and I’d better investigate.

Dumped the “oil” and got about 8 litres of milky crap out. Sump off was the next task and could see coolant slowly dripping from the flywheel end liner. A look with a torch and I could actually see from below the liner seal o ring displaced and hanging out into the crank case. Well that would certainly do it wouldn’t it. 
Feeling semi keen still despite the set back, set about and stripped the head off and the offending liner out.  So as it stands now it’s back to about 5 weeks ago with the bottom end in the car with no head on. At least I found something I guess, but it’s a real annoyance that there is a head gasket and a set of head bolts that have seen no more than 60 seconds of running if that, going bin wards. And the real pisser, £30 worth of good Millers running in oil also ruined. 
I’ve ordered most of the bits needed, just need some more liner o rings which I’ll try and get from the local Citroen dealer on Monday, if not I’ll order some in by post.

All going well and looking good

Not so good, a bucket of s*ite

Groundhog Day

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

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

So stuck until some more gaskets, head bolts and oil turn up, did a bit of other tinkering tonight.

I like my 205’s to idle from cold and not cut out at junctions, I’ve done enough of them to know what is needed these days. A big one is the throttle disc ends up being too far shut, the stop gradually wears away, it doesn’t take much. 99 times out of 100 the adjuster screw hasn’t been moved in years and so is seized, steel screw in the alloy throttle. The best way I’ve found of getting these out is TIG welding a nut to the protruding screw, the heat input helps free the corrosion to the alloy. A couple of goes and out it came. An M5 set screw will do the job for now, a socket end grub screw would probably be nicer. Being able to set the idle up using a combination of this throttle stop and the bypass screw is key to getting one that behaves itself, especially in the warm up period where the SAD has closed but the engine isn’t properly warm yet.
Whilst I was there discovered that the breather drilling into the throttle was well and truly plugged. This took some effort to sort out, the hole is small maybe only 1.5mm, I’ve got drills that small but not long enough to reach down the hose stub. You can’t get much in from the inside as the throttle disc is in the way. In the end a combination of picks and bits of MIG wire, eventually I was able to clear it. This is needed to make the breathers work properly. 

Final job on the throttle was to remove the bypass air screw and give those drillings and the screw itself a good scrub out, as per usual plenty of black muck to be found.
Finally the SAD looked pretty grotty inside, so I’ve left it to soak in degreaser and will do what I can to clean it out tomorrow, then test it electrically as well.

 

[Leslie green 131]

Thats unfortunate that one  o ring could cause so much bother but you will get it sorted .

Edited July 15 by Leslie green

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

With the engine back in bits, obviously stereo is very important so I fitted some replacement rear speakers. The originals absolutely pumped.

 

So with all the bits here I set about the engine, again. I decided I didn't dare take the risk of just doing the 1 liner seal, so ended up pulling them all. As it happens the other 3 were OK but I couldn't face going round this loop again if another was no good.

 

 

And with it all reassembled, I'll put fluids in it later and fire it back up to put myself back where I was about a week ago :/

 

[Gohn 72]

really great thread tom with huge amount of work all condensed, good pics too all the way !

not showy just really solid work with good tip on brakes, body, everything

I've never opened a gearbox proper so seeing inside makes it more approachable

awesome wheels never seen in the flesh over here

encouraging to see not even a corroded block caused barely a pause

 

 

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

On 7/9/2025 at 8:47 PM, Leslie green said:

That's a cracking bit of work you have done in such a short time , about 2 years for most of us lol. Is the wing rotten behind the bumper only ? as I think it was retro race and rally were looking into pressing just this piece as a weld in repair as genuine wings are almost impossible to find now ...Peugeot museum get the finger out !

Good to see this one saved as it could so easily been broken for spares , the door rot is wierd but I guess the drain was blocked and it sat full of water and rusted its way out in the end or a lot of water was getting in past the glass outer seal .

What did you set the rear axle height to ,I set mine to 312mm I think it was but with a full tank of fuel and 1 rear passenger its on its a*se , it actually has contacted the front of the arch a little  when I hit a big pothole mid roundabout and needs raising up a bit , looks fine with nobody in though .

Interesting to hear a different (totally valid) viewpoint, to me this was never a breaker being not messed about with and quite original, but I guess to some it might have been.

 

Beam I set to 312mm which is my usual to match Eibach springs. Usually sits them just right. A couple of thoughts, are yours definitely GTI torsion bars 18.9mm, there are 18.5 and 18.1mm bars out there, doesn't sound much but they are a lot softer. The other thought, what rear dampers, some seem to be too short for a 205 so you end up pre loading the torsion bars even at a lower ride height. 

[Henry Yorke 270 3 Cars]

Good effort.  Something to be proud of.  Hopefully see it out and aboy soon. 

Phase 1 wings and a phase 1.5 boot?  It must have been quite a cutover car.

[Tom Fenton 1,584]

I think its correct for that period, first reg 1/8/88 so it would have been one of the first F reg on the road, so built first half of 88 at a guess. I don't think the wings changed until 1989, when the BE3 gearbox and check cloth etc came along. This car is BE1 box and the older style clutch release lever.

 

A bit of interesting (maybe?!) info was that is was supplied by a dealer Barber of Knutsford, still has some of its dealer info with it. Out of interest I tried to search the internet and see what I could find out about Barber, the answer was very little. I found a Facebook group of Knutsford town history and so posted on there to see if anyone remembered where the dealer would have been etc. Got loads of great replies, the dealer is no longer a car dealer, but the petrol station forecourt is still there, and as it happens I've been past it a couple of times. More interestingly was a guy that replied to say he'd worked there, and that it was very likely it was either him or his mate that would have done the PDI on this car when new. He recalled that there was a mix up with number plates and two cars, this being one, went out with a mix of number plates front and rear! They had to get them back and sort it out obviously! I had thought that when it is done, I might go for a ride to Knutsford in it, and take it back to where the dealer was. I love to know some history of the cars, maybe just me. I'm lucky that with a few of my cars I do know quite a bit of the history of them.

 

Anyway. Ran her up last night, it starts and runs well with a bit of adjustment to the throttle body idle stuff. I haven't run it for long, as the new rings really need to be run under load to bed them in, letting it idle for any length of time won't really do it any good at all. Thankfully most of the fluids seem to be staying in their intended places. I say most because it seems the PAS pump has sprung a leak and is pissing PAS fluid out. To be fair it was a used pump of unknown age and tbh I can't even remember where it came from. So expecting a lot really for it to be OK, although often they are. I've ordered a new one anyway which I'll fit when it arrives.

 

With that done, I turned to a check of a few other things with a forthcoming MOT in mind. Usual 205 fayre such as the front washer pump not working, pretty standard. However the rear of the drivers side sill had been bugging me a bit, the returned lip looking like a prod would make it fall to bits, and lo and behold it did. Whilst you are doing it and all, so I've ordered a sill and a lower quarter panel repair section to sort it out. I think maybe doing the rear half of the sill will be enough, join it in the door aperture somewhere, I don't see the point of disturbing the rest of the factory spot welds and sealer if I don't need to. I didn't want to start grinding and fabrication work with the engine in bits, so now that is done, this bit of bodywork is next. I'll sort the washers out in due course as well, I fitted some new wiper blades as the ones on the car must be over 10 years old and rock hard.

 

Running through my list of other stuff, I've a few outstanding odds and ends to tie up, but the drivers seat outer thigh bolster was desperate, the leather actually OK but the foam felt like it was dropping to bits. I had a search through my stuff and found I'd saved a used good bolster foam some years before, so decided to fit that into the seat for now. Call me a weirdo but I'd rather dismantle and repair a gearbox than a seat, but it did go OK! I've got some hog rings and pliers which do make things a lot easier, the bread knife out of the kitchen maybe a bit more left field choice of tool but works quite well here for cutting the old foam away. The seat does want some stitching repair to the upper part of the cover, but that can be done at a later date, the bolster repair at least makes it a bit more useable for now, and moreso will make sure I don't damage the leather where it was rubbing on the steel frame.

 

 

 

 

[chris 417 mi 42 2 Cars]

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