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cfraser16

Red 1.9 Restoration - Madame Rouge

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cfraser16

Hi all,

 

So I have now had my 205 for about a year and finally got round to starting some proper work on it. I thought I would make a thread so people can start to see what I have been up to and provide advice or thoughts if they wish!

 

I bought the car as my first project in about September 2013 but with work commitments, no garge and moving from Aberdeen to London and back in the space of 12 months I struggled to find time to spend on it. I now have a single garage which is just about big enough to work in (I roll the car half out every time I work on it!) and some time so hopefully will make good progress.

 

So the aim:

 

I wasn't sure what the full scope would be when I first bought it and maybe didn't realise how much work she would need but having talked to a few people I have realised I wouldn't be entirely happy until I had carried out a full rebuild! So the plan is a pretty much nuts and bolts rebuild, including respray and engine overhaul as well as treating any rust, refurbishing or replacing the interior and putting all back together in time for the summer.

 

Extremely ambitious for someone with no prior experience and a full time job, but aim high and all that!

 

 

I hope you enjoy the thread - I intend to add pictures and comments/thoughts/ramblings as I go...

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cfraser16

So here is what she looked like the day I bought her...

post-24339-0-01918900-1418168891_thumb.jpg

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cfraser16

After getting the car home, I started to look under carpets, seats and boot for any rust patches....

 

and found some...

post-24339-0-00691000-1418169237_thumb.jpg

post-24339-0-61893600-1418169240_thumb.jpg

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cfraser16

After cleaning them up a bit, I discovered that they were a little worse than surface rust...

 

I can't find the final picture for the area under the rear driver side seat, but safe to say pretty much the whole area that has no paint on it in the picture was rusted through.

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tonyb

Good luck with it, and just take your time, im sure you'l do a great job on her.

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Anthony

Those rust areas are all common 205 areas and comparatively easy to address, so I wouldn't worry too much about them. I had all of them on a previous 205 and, despite having no prior experience in terms of metalwork, had the rust all cut out, new metal cut and shaped to fit, and - with the help of a friend - welded in the space of a few hours. A long lasting, properly done repair that as far as I'm aware is still good today as the car lives on with its new owner.

 

What I will say is that if you've not too much experience of working on cars, I would perhaps start of tackling smaller jobs and try keeping the car as a complete running entity if you can. It's very easy to jump in at the deep end, completely strip the car down and only realise that you've bitten off more than you can chew a few months down the line, be it in terms of ability, money or time as too many people have found out.

 

I would personally suggest that as it's a running, driving car you might be better trying to tackle one part at a time, refurbishing and making good that before moving onto the next part. Certainly I find that works better for me in terms of enthusiasm and actually being able to use and enjoy the car - after all, these cars are renowned for the drive, and that's something I do wonder if some people lose sight of when they're sat on axle stands as seemingly never ending projects, during which time months roll into years...

 

Whichever way you decide to tackle what you have planned though, good luck and it'll certainly prove a learning experience :)

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dobboy

My tupence worth is get yourself a roll of clear freezer bags and a note pad, and bag everything that comes off and label/describe it in a way you'll understand it in 12 months time.

 

Get a few decent boxes and decide if your going to store everything L/R, or F/B.

 

Lots of photos too, even of what may seem trivial bits.

 

It makes life very easy putting it all back together.

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mrfirepro

Jacks advice is spot on....

 

One of the mistakes I made with my restoration was not having a plan or budget in place, if I was to do another one, I would decide early if was going to try and replace anything that wasn't absolutely perfect or re-use as much as possible.

 

Depending on your available funds it would be extremely easy (and quick) to spend upwards of £10K as many parts are not available and when they can be found, they command a premium.

 

Also read as many of the restoration threads that you can as they will be an endless supply of ideas and solutions to problems that you will encounter, when I came across a suggestion of a supplier, technique or recommendation I kept a word document so I could use the information at the appropriate time.

 

and lastly as Anthony said take your time, plan the process and don't get ahead of yourself, I did and it cost me both time and money....Oh and ENJOY. :D

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Tom Fenton

Doing a manageable lump at a time is definitely a good idea. Keeps the motivation level high and despondance levels low!

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cfraser16

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the advice, you will see what looks like a lot of progress in the next few days!

I am just getting around to uploading all my photos in order - the ones above were taken about a year ago. I think I have mostly followed the advice above:

 

I keep track of all the money I spend and have been building up a list of parts I require - I try to get advice on where to buy from other discussions and checking the prices myself.

I have taken a lot of photos already and done a lot of labelling, bagging, naming etc to hopefully make it easier to remind myself where everything goes!

 

As for doing it a bit at a time..... this is where I may have fallen down.

 

As I said I have had the car for a year and kept it running until a month ago, did a few small jobs - had all the interior out for a deep clean, treating the seats, washed the carpet and treating some of the rusty patches above (just took the rust out then put hammerite and primer on) as a short term fix to prevent them getting much worse. I also replaced the exhaust to get rid of the boy racer straight through system which was deafening.

 

Once I got the garage a month ago I really started to take her to pieces, as you will see below there isn't much left inside and the engine ancillaries have been removed in preparation for removal. I am cleaning and plasticare-ing all the interior trim and storing them inside the house so they are ready to go back in when ready. So the car is mostly in bits atm BUT I have a plan, as follows:

 

1. Rebuild front suspension (new springs, dampers, wheel bearings, top mounts, ARB bushes) - any other bits I should do at the same time?

 

2. Rebuild rear beam, this is almost certainly in poor condition. When I jack the car up the wheels don't drop down much and when I put the wheels back on the road she sits very high until I go and push down on the boot floor = lots of groaning and screeching noises, from the beam - not me! (not sure full extent required here but will follow some of the guides on here and already have list of parts I need as a minimum.

Question will be if I need a new tube, I have been looking at buying a second hand beam from somewhere and rebuilding that, allowing me to swap the old one off and fit a new one while minimising the time I cannot at least roll the car - thoughts?

 

Then the list becomes a little less ordered, but includes:

- Use existing articles and theads to be little jobs like - refurb heater unit, polish rocker cover, send fasteners and other small parts for electroplating

- Remove fuel tank, fuel lines and drain

- Remove engine & gearbox

- Remove sunroof and refurb (have seen some other threads for pointers)

- Fully refurbish car loom (this seems to have been modified a few times in the past with plenty of wires going nowhere...)

- Prepare body: cut out rust, weld repair, remove all paint, seam sealer and underseal

- Send body and parts away for a full respray

- Replace or have AFM refurbed

- Rebuild engine while body is away being prepared and painted

- Fully waxoyl/stonechip underneath of car

- Rewire

- Install some sound deadening to replace lack of carpet underlay and in boot floor

- Replace engine & gearbox (carefully....with new paintwork!)

- Rebuild interior + sunroof

- Fix huge number of little problems

- Enjoy!

 

I would be really interested to hear peoples thoughts or experience on this list, while not exhaustive it covers the major milestones!

 

I will also do a picture heavy post below to show you all some progress...

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Tom Fenton

 

remove all paint, seam sealer and underseal

Think carefully about this, is it really needed?

 

When I did my laser car I only removed any areas that were not sound. The vast majority of it was cleaned back, keyed, and then stonechipped over the original.

The original underside coating is good stuff, I would not take it off just for the sake of it.

 

I took this approach, my car looks like this underneath

 

F2D2C0EB-C703-4279-84AB-579A4B269326_zps

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cfraser16

So here is some progress in photos.....

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post-24339-0-64654400-1418292838_thumb.jpg

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cfraser16

 

 

Think carefully about this, is it really needed?

 

When I did my laser car I only removed any areas that were not sound. The vast majority of it was cleaned back, keyed, and then stonechipped over the original.

The original underside coating is good stuff, I would not take it off just for the sake of it.

 

I took this approach, my car looks like this underneath

 

F2D2C0EB-C703-4279-84AB-579A4B269326_zps

 

Good point, I suppose how bad it is once I get to have a proper look at it.

From what I have seen getting the underseal etc off is pretty big job so any potential to reduce the task but still get something approaching your result sounds good to me!

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cfraser16

In the pictures above I have a couple of questions that hopefully someone might be able to provide some insight into:

 

The AFM has brown stuff coming out of it and I was wondering how concerned I should be about this - I am thinking not too much and that a good clean should sort it? I was also thinking about refurbing this as one of the connections is corroded a little but I am not sure how I should go about this?

 

The oil is "interesting" but I always got good pressure readings and never heard any grumbling, the oil was changed not long after I bought it so it can't be more than 1000 miles and a year old. I am thinking it is probably a combination an air leak and of short runs?

 

The crack around the seat bolt hole above seems fairly large and appears to go all the way through the body - I was thinking if I drill out the ends in the sort term to prevent it growing but now that it is off the road there doesn't seem much point - should I leave as is or look to cut out and weld a new section? May be difficult with the holes?!

 

The head bolts appear to have a little scale or something around the bottom, is this just coolant quality or does it suggest something more sinister? I am thinking it isnt a major problem and if I am rebuilding anyway If there is a problem I'll find it!

 

Any input on any of the above would be appreciated - apologies for the perhaps obvious questions!

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cfraser16

I am also looking to get my seats re trimmed - where have other people had this done, any recommendations?

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jord294

As said, focus in single jobs only if you can

 

As for new beam tube, I'm pretty sure you won't find one, so decent 2nd hand one of a base model may be your only option.

 

Although a previous customer of mine is selling a never used 1.9 axle.

 

I can give you his number if you pm me

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