[Project] Starting My Xu5T Build

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

Well its been another 4 months since I've typed anything here, not really much to report.

 

The car stayed taxed throughout the winter this year, it was going to be MOT'd and insured in any case, and I basically didn't get around to cashing in the tax. So the split rims came off the car when the salt came, and the standard alloys went back on.

 

Apart from that I've only done a couple of small odds other than drive it.

 

First one was replacing a rear bump stop, this came off in my hand at some point in the last 12 months and so I'd picked one up from the dealer and had it on the shelf. So with the MOT looming last month I gave the car a quick once over, and then set about changing the bump stop. What a performance, in the end I had my cordless drill, air drill, angle air drill, torx bits, screw extractors, left hand drill bits, left hand taps, right hand taps, ratchet tap wrench, and finally a helicoil kit on the job before it was sorted! Anyway determined not to be outdone by the 21 year old French machine I triumphed in the end and got the new bump stop fitted securely.

 

The next job was more than overdue, nearly 2 years overdue in fact! This was an electrical drain that would flatten the battery over 2 or 3 days. The final straw being a nice morning last week, our lass had left early so there was no moving about of cars to do, and I fancied a run to work in the 205. Sure enough the bloody battery was flat and the run in the Shogun just wasn't the same. I had my suspicions that it was the live feed to the ECU and I was right, so this is now re-wired via a relay, and hopefully a flat battery in times of need won't be a problem any more.

 

Still on the list is the VTS rack and electric PAS pump, but as above I'm not keen on dismantling the car at the start of the summer, so that will have to stay on the list. One for more pressing attention is the top engine mount, this seems to be making a strange clacking noise now and again so I'm guessing it has probably broken something and will need some weld repairs, no suprise though really with 200ftlb of torque.

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

Shock horror 2 posts in as many days

 

I'm off to York drag racing tomorrow. Anyone care to guess a 1/4 mile time? If it gets into the 13's I will be very happy, but we will see.

[welshpug 1,622]

I wouldn't be surprised at a 13 Tom

 

Guess it depends how suited the gearing is and how much it weighs, I know of a 106 Rallye Hillclimber with 200 bhp can crack into 12's, but it weighs less than 800 kilos and is flat in 5th at the 1/4

 

 

It has far far less torque than you mind!!

[GLPoomobile 958]

14.1

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

14.4 in the end, no matter what I did I couldn't get it off the line in any sort of a hurry, should have taken a pair of slicks off the track car really, but didn't want to bust shafts etc. Grip was poor at York yesterday, they obviously hadn't prepped the start, no glue etc. More grip up the street here in actual fact.

 

Looked OK from the outside though!

 

[SurGie 54]

Thats only a second quicker than what my old iron block 2.0 MI16 achieved with well set up carbs, non sunroof though.

 

At the Pod they dont let you have the windows open. I think having the window closed could have knocked of a mini sec or two.

 

Either way im sure you can get to the 13 sec stage with better grip etc.

[pip470 61]

Very nice tom, a good time from the set up i think (full trim, 1.6 ect), what was the mph and 60ft?

 

Surgie, a second is a country mile in drag racing, but 15.4 is a very respectable time too.

 

What tyres are you using on this tom and is that with the atb diff.

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

Its not out of the way really thinking about it, its a full weight car after all.

 

Plate diff, tyres were Paradas with various different pressures in, best 60ft was 2.3 sec which isn't a million miles out of the way on road tyres and considering the lack of grip off the line, first meeting of the year and all. Over the line 102mph I think.

[opticaltrigger 52]

Hi Tom,

Just had another look through this.Really is a great project.

Tom,I noticed that you had used the 230cc Rover injectors and I was wondering how they had worked out for you.Do you get any issues with the fueling or is it all quite happy?

 

Great though mate,Really do like it.

All the best O.T.

Edited May 22, 2011 by opticaltrigger

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

I've just seen this post. In the end I used bigger Rover injectors, 460cc, but remember I am using a mappable ECU so within reason I can use whatever injectors I like, and I can make the fuelling do whatever I like at any point too.

 

The battery drain saga (kind of) continues, after I'd sorted the drain as mentioned further up the page, the damn thing would still only hold charge for a day or two. Annoying as its only used now and again. Anyway I had a suspicion that the battery itself had been knackered by being run flat too often, and a drop test agreed with my thoughts. Out with the trade card and a new Halfords battery for not much dosh and even after been sat in the garage for a week it cracked up first try. Another interesting one is that with the tired battery it would reasonably often do the "clonk-clonk-clonk-crank" when trying to start it, even with different starters and a new direct wire from the ignition barrel. New battery and it hasn't done that once, result.

 

Next on the list is project "make it look less tatty for Pugfest" so I've another passenger door and a rear valance to paint and fit.

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

Feeling keen this afternoon I've started project "make it look less tatty for pugfest" by starting on my replacement passenger door.

 

After digging it out of the shed and hosing the loose muck off it, half an hour wielding screwdrivers and spanners saw all the trim, window and door mechs etc stripped off it.

 

At this point I noticed a strange dent just below/behind the wing mirror which is annoying as I thought the door was 100% straight. Anyhow that should fill out without too much hassle, and the rest of the door seems good.

 

The story of the one on the car is that it had been screwdrivered before I owned the car. Before the 2008 EuroTrip I decided to do something about this to make it more presentable and so welded over the lock hole. Unfortunately the area around it was badly bent and although I'm pretty handy with the spanners panel beating is not my forte, hence it wasn't perfect but "had to do". However I only painted the upper half of the door, and just up the pillar, hoping to blend it in. Major failure as the colour was an awful match and stood out like a sore thumb. Then like a goon I polished thru the new paint whilst compounding it, so the end result wasn't that much superior to the damaged door before I started messing with it.

 

Anyway, a couple of pics, lots and lots of boring tedious flatting still to do, groan.

 

Original door on car, doesn't look too bad from this distance

Untitled by Tom Fenton, on Flickr

 

Nice colour match

Untitled by Tom Fenton, on Flickr

 

Birds*it eaten into the paint, poxy celly

 

Untitled by Tom Fenton, on Flickr

[calvinhorse 870]

do you want me to paint it tom? im s*it hot

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

I don't mind the actual spraying bit, its the fecking prep I hate.

 

I worked spray painting digger attachments for about 6 months after I finished uni before I got my proper job, so I'm still reasonably handy with a spray gun, when I was doing it all day every day I was s*it hot.

[yippeekayay 18 1 Cars]

Hi Tom, great read cant believe I hadnt seen it till now....

 

Totally impressed by your ability mate, you have come on unbelievably and left me squandering in your wake... and attention to detail.

 

Hopefully see you at pugfest if I have a car ready. My Euro Rallye isnt ready, my miami isn't ready still in paint shop and my 205 mi16 wont fire and dans old 205 s16 is in a million parts Help!!!

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

Andy, see you at Pugfest matey.

 

So the door prep continues, I hate prep at the best of times, but filler work really does my box in.

 

Luckily I have something called a Steve who is a demon on the prep, so after repeating the "add filler-sand it all off-add more filler" routine a few times getting no where fast, I got on the phone to Steve with my sob story and he took pity on me.

 

So now I've a door ready for primer, the dent near the mirror is gone, and also a very shallow and virtually undetectable dent in the middle of the skin has also been sorted, hats off to him the man is a genius, one thing I have learned is not to be too sparing with the filler area, but keep the depth to a minimum.

 

No pictures of the door yet, here is one I took this morning before I took it to work, complete with its spangly split rims back on.

 

Untitled by Tom Fenton, on Flickr

[Flozman 4]

+1 Hating prep

 

Must say Tom, I spend a good couple of hours reading this build thread whilst the other half was watching some rubbish on the telly. Best read ive had in ages. Had the gypos not stolen my Xu5 a few weeks back id be quite keen on having a crack at this myself.

[calvinhorse 870]

where is the vid tom? and whos is the black audi?

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

Good Ol' Longshanks is in charge of audio visuals Cal!! The Audi is in fact dark blue although does look black and is mine, you can also see the Finest £800 Shogun in the background, and if you look really carefully the rear bumper of Lisas Mini.

 

Nothing to report on the 205, I've been away to Avon Park for the weekend drag racing, as always very frustrating, good enough for 2 off trophies though, pics to follow.

[Choppered 0]

Really good work. How much did this budget build end up costing you?? looks great though pure street sleeper

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

I haven't added it up, and I don't want to either. There were only a few big numbers, diff £300 or whatever it was, ECU £450, turbo £150. All of the rest there were no big figures, just lots of small ones.

 

But compare it to a ~200bhp NA build and I think its still reasonable value for money.

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

So a bit of an update

 

Took the car down to Pugfest, another enjoyable day out with my little brother, who spent most of the day like a mercenary trying to blag hill rides from anyone who would take him, Allan being the unlucky recipient of most of this nagging!

 

As usual I managed to take a monumental lack of pictures, however here is a nice one harvested from someone elses Facebook album!

 

 

However on both the way down and back, the car seemed to be running really quite hot. This is odd and a new occurance as since I fitted the TD rad it has always run nice and cool regardless of cruising on the motorway or stuck in traffic. Driving along at 70-ish mph and the water gauge was reading on the 5th bar on the gauge, give it a bit of a hoof and it was climbing rapidly.

 

Even just doing a short trip round town the temps were high and climbing rapidly. So last night I had to call at the factors anyway so I picked up a new 82 deg thermostat as I had my suspiscions about this, and it is a cheap and simple place to start. I also picked up a bottle of Millers "Super Cool" which is basically like "Water Wetter" which friends have had good results with.

Swapped the stat last night, and it has sorted the job, it now does not rise above the 4th bar on the gauge, just like it used to be. Out of interest I tried the old one in a pan of boiling water and no matter how hot I got it, it would only open about 0.5mm.

 

Whilst I was at it I decided it was about time I made a deflector plate for above the rad, due to the lowered radiator there was a large gap above the rad behind the grille for all that high pressure air to flow through instead of going through my radiator! So 15min with some alloy sheet, the jigsaw, some stainless bolts, and a couple of pop rivets, and the majority of the aperture now has an aluminium deflector plate to fill the hole. Just the other side to do at some point. I have done this before and found it makes a good improvement especially at speed, by forcing the airflow through the rad.

[madspikes 41 1 Cars]

 

As usual I managed to take a monumental lack of pictures, however here is a nice one harvested from someone elses Facebook album!

 

 

 

What a truly awesome picture... I wonder who took it???

 

I do like the wheels - They look the muts.

 

Mad.

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

It is indeed a great shot, any chance you can "tag" them on FB for me?

 

The wheels do look great, they are a bugger to keep clean mind you, but I love the fact that they still pass as standard to an untrained eye when driving past on the road.

[sensualt101 31 1 Cars]

It is indeed a great shot, any chance you can "tag" them on FB for me?

 

The wheels do look great, they are a bugger to keep clean mind you, but I love the fact that they still pass as standard to an untrained eye when driving past on the road.

alli can say is WOW! this thread is an epic read ( like war and peace but with a cherry red 205gti ) lol i love the wheels too but didnt see anywhere saying who made them or where you got them tom?

 

i am looking for more power from my own 1.6 and have to say that i have loved the build and evolution your car has gone through its a real inspiration a simply amazing job! well done mate!

 

any more news or updates? has the car evolved?

 

cheers

mark

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

Glad you enjoyed the read. Nothing really more to report at the moment, I have got a Xsara VTS steering rack and Saxo electric power steering setup to fit to it when I get chance, but my laser green is currently in the garage undergoing major surgery so it won't be for a bit yet.

 

Check out the link in my signature for who does the wheels.