Goodbye H853 DBD, Hello F708 TAC - 1989 Cherry Red Detailing Progress Thread

[Leslie green 163]

Thats a good few jobs clicked off , the little clips holding the scrapers down rust away , I did manage to get new ones for mine .

Edited July 13 by Leslie green

[ATK 158 2 Cars]

More jobs on the 205 this week:

 

- New rear calipers and pads

- New handbrake cables

- New sump gasket to hopefully cure an oil leak

- New CV boot as n/s had split

- Tracking/alignment

 

Handbrake now much better than it was - actually holds on a steep hill! 
 

Back on daily duties as I’ve also been busy giving my RS172 Cup’s paint a good machine polish and a lanoguarding underneath. Even though it’s only a decade or so older the Cup feels alot more solid, it’s basically a halfway house between a 205 GTI and more modern stuff! 

 

[SRDT 242]

If you have a sump leak on the gearbox side that won't go away check if the two screws that go on the main bearing cap are shorter that the others.

[ATK 158 2 Cars]

On 7/22/2026 at 6:20 PM, SRDT said:

If you have a sump leak on the gearbox side that won't go away check if the two screws that go on the main bearing cap are shorter that the others.

As in the sump bolts themselves mate?

[SRDT 242]

Yes the sump bolts, if you use the longer ones instead they will bottom out but it's not that obvious so you can chase that leak for a long time.

[ATK 158 2 Cars]

Excellent point - I still have a bit of an oil leak from that exact location flywheel side - am I correct in thinking if I just get a couple of the correct shorter bolts I can just whip the existing two out marked A here / yellow on the pic, and quickly put two new shorter ones in just in case? 
 

 

[ATK 158 2 Cars]

Ps diagrams and pic from slightly different engine but same sump I think ?

[SRDT 242]

Yest that's them. The bolts can go missing after a big teardown but usually they are still there, just not on the right spot.

[ATK 158 2 Cars]

Cool, so to be sure I can just get two new shorter bolts, remove the existing 2 and stick those in and torque them up to rule it out, without disturbing anything else?

 

dont suppose you know the part no for the shorter bolts?!

[Leslie green 163]

I'm not sure its as simple as that the housing may be distorted where the longer bolts have bottomed out and done damage to the casting .

 

6921.74 is 30mm long  I think that's right for the 2 shorter ones  on a 1.9 with the spacer which is m7 x 1mm pitch by 30mm length 

 

6921.27 is 35mm long and is the other 17 bolts (7X100-35 which is m7 x 1mm pitch by 35mm length)

 

If you look round the block where the bolt threads come up above you should find which ones are clearly shorter but some are into blind holes 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274929699676?_skw=m7+x+30mm+hexhead&itmmeta=01KYFXQHGFGN7TPY8CM21C9ZGA&hash=item4003164b5c%3Ag%3ATaAAAOSwLplhL33d&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xCCywYBgUiGBpkLHYt2g68RvE6F0Gal8Lk5Cxjdfg3aEsxZK2%2FwkJbTWrWxc%2FOjTsMZFXFIPMBR%2FAYfBoxc46IbuHGagser6KRY1vPDeHkxWCoN34n3hNe%2B7DrLtks%2Ff0pY5PGzq1a%2B2o2nqCrDi9jyZeEgxScDtyVMEZD7ezD67wyvPw7aV%2FkNm9CzlyzihQXFPTcBzYTihUEwhwyXIjx2Ji2gtb7UWpCcI7wFM7KVPc8WhouX2EG%2F1QwO8OVv6IA%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_iZ3v3zZw&var=575204603184

 

Edited July 26 by Leslie green

[ATK 158 2 Cars]

Super useful thanks all!