[car_restoration] Black '91 1.6 Gti Restoration

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Next was fitting the tank (which has to come off again to run brake pipes!) and fuel lines. Also decided to make up the front brake lines and make a start on the rear:

 

 

 

Also been stripping the beams of both this and my rally car to see what’s what.

 

The beam off this car I was hoping to be ok as there’s a receipt for a complete new one at Peugeot a few years back.

So far so good(ish):

 

 

 

 

There’s always one

 

 

I’ve had a replacement shaft for a week or so now, really need to get around to getting it pressed in and whilst I’m at it swap over the 1.9 stub axles, bearings and brakes off my rally car beam.

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

309 beam tube rebuilt ready as soon as the trailing arms are done:

 

 

 

 

 

The other week I decded to get on with cleaning up and painting the gearbox. I used Jizer then tried a wallpaper steamer to clean it off which seemed to work ok. I then brushed it down with thinners before painting it with some engine paint:

 

 

 

It worked really nicely before so that’s all I’m going to do to it apart from the clutch arm bushes.

I’ve decided to keep the clutch and release bearing, after cleaning the crud off the bearing it sounded ok and the clutch has some meat left on it so will use it for a while.

Probably have it out again soon anyway when I finally decided to bite the bullet and build an Mi for it!

 

 

So after picking up my clutch arm bushes from Peugeot I refitted the clutch mechanism and then refitted the box to the engine, also bolted a few other bits on:

 

 

Finally got around to fitting the cam belt and finding homes for all the bolts I had left over (sump being painted when in the car!):

 

 

Getting there slowly but surely, just need the summer to come back as the cars outside and not a lot left to do in the garage now.

 

Once the rear trailing arms are built up though then it should start to fly together, just need to get my hands on a press for an hour or so!

 

 

Cheers for looking

 

Stu

Edited May 16, 2011 by stuart

[flipperthebushkangaroo 2]

Cracking Resto, has given me insperation to start on mine again.

can i ask what sealer you used for the gap between the sill and the body?

Roddie

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Cracking Resto, has given me insperation to start on mine again.

can i ask what sealer you used for the gap between the sill and the body?

Roddie

 

I think it was black Upol PU sealer we used. Not sure if you know or not but don't use silicon sealer whatever you do, paint doesn't like it at all!

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Probably have it out again soon anyway when I finally decided to bite the bullet and build an Mi for it!

 

Well, didn't take me long to decide when the right one came along...had a worthwhile trip over to Doncaster yesterday which ended in me coming back with a car full of Mi16, nice ally strut brace, 1.9 speedlines, bumper and some other bits for the Mi.

 

Here it is:

 

 

When I got it home and had a proper look I noticed that it seems to have an S16 cam cover but I'm fairly sure from the inlet studs and ally block (d6c plate too) that it is an Mi. The 8 branch exhuast manifold also fits fine. It has a tin sump and spacer though so maybe I'll find some pts baffles / extended oil pickup inside...will have to have a look and see!

 

Closeup of head:

 

 

It's only a short motor but that shouldn't bee too much of a problem, all the Mi bits I need are there (expect the thrermostat which I think I saw but didn't pick up for some reason...)

 

My plans for this engine include after market management, Gti6 inlet and throttle body, 4-2-1 exhaust manifold and some preventative measures against oil surge as I want to be able to take it on a track if I decide to any time. Hopefully end up with a nice engine for dailly use and roughly 170-180bhp.

 

The plan is still to run the 1.6 for a bit whilst I build the Mi on the side.

 

Haven't decided exactly what to do with the new motor yet though with regards to stripping it down as it was sold to the previous owner as a good runner (not used since) and seems to have been looked after from what I've seen so far (oil clean, breathers as you'd expect, water pipes clean, newish water pump, belt and tensioner). I will obviously change the belt and willl probably remove the sump and main caps to see what's what but don't want to really remove the head if I don't need to.

 

The only this is, the engine hasn't run for a few years so not sure if this will cause any problems when I come to start it.

So long as I make sure any dust / debris has been cleaned out of the cylinders and give everything a good oil up what's the worst that could realistically happen?

 

 

No other progress to report really though I'm afraid, was planning on swapping around all my trailling arm shafts, stub axles and hubs but decided to go buying engines instead!

 

The car now has a gear knob though if that counts as progress! (Cheers Arahan). My engine bay stickers turned up finally too, fitted a few but no pics yet sorry.

Edited May 22, 2011 by stuart

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Well quite a bit more progress to report since the last update, not far off now!

 

- Engine and gearbox are in the car.

- 309 beam is now fully rebuilt and on the car.

- Refurbed front suspension back on car.

- Fuel tank and pipes fitted.

- New brake pipes made / braided flexis fitted.

- 1.9 brakes refurbed, fitted and bled front and rear.

- Engine wiring in and mostly connected up, just a couple of broken wires to repair.

- Rear bumper fitted.

- Exhaust fitted.

 

I've got a set of 5 x 1.9 speedlines being refurbished as I type with a set of new Toyo T1R's to go on (no brainer for £33 each inc vat!) so it should be back on it's wheels in a couple of days!.

 

So once I get the inlet manifold properly cleaned up and fitted, it's just a matter of connecting up the rest of the wires and pipes and it should drive

 

Pics will follow later

[BusEngineer 7]

Where are you getting your Toyos from?

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Got them a few months ago from camskill whilst they were cheap. Not sure if they're still that price now or not.

 

Pics will be on tonight hopefully

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Well I’ve done a bit more in the garage tonight; crimped some new earthing tags onto the main loom and repaired a couple of broken wires. Should have some electrics now if I put a battery on

 

Think I’ve found out why the starter was a bit dicky… Someone in the past has bypassed the brown multi plug but instead of doing it properly, all they’ve done is stripped back a bit of sheathing before the plug and just wrapped a bit of wire around it, no solder or anything, just a scabby bit of insulation tape!

I’ve also swapped the starter for another I had to be doubly sure it’ll be ok when all the inlet is back on etc.

 

So some pics finally as promised:

 

Engine in

 

309 beam fully rebuilt, set 310mm between damper bolt centres (really need to invest in a dummy shock!)

 

I guessed at what to set it to a bit but liked the look of a 205 with it set at 315, with it being a 309 beam and therefore slightly stiffer I've assumed I needed to set it a bit less but I’m also going to have a spare fitted and a small sub / amp in the boot so didn’t want to go too low. Will see as soon as my wheels are done anyway

 

And fitted to the car with brakes and 306 Bilstein B4s

 

 

Front suspension and running gear all back on

 

With brakes

 

The pads and rear calipers I’m using actually came off my rally car so have Mintex 1155’s on the front and Pagid blues on the back, not sure whether to use them or not though as I’ll be using the car to get to work in mainly so would be wasted really.

 

How bad are these pads for dust? Don’t want to mess up my new wheels…

 

Rear bumper fitted

 

I’ve fitted all new Irons / bolts etc too but didn’t get any pics before fitting the bumper, I’m sure nobodys really interested in those though! Are they?

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Magnex back box cleaned up

 

New front bumper brackets (for those interested )

 

 

Oh and a cool window sticker (I thought it was anyway...) that I bought with the ones for the engine bay

 

Hopefully next time I update this it’ll be on it’s shiny new wheels, the refurbers have had problems with their blaster so they’re a bit behind this week, fingers crossed for tomorrow / Friday.

 

So now there’s just all the breather / water pipes to fit, inlet to clean (hopefully wheel refurbers can sort that) and fit the rest of the brackets and pipes for the AFM etc, fill it with fluids and it should be alive again!

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Well yesterday it ran again!

 

Had a few leaks initially and the oil pressure gauge worried me at first as it seems to have stopped working! The light goes out as soon as it fires though and it runlet as a nut and really solid idle.

 

Think the oil gauge issue is down to the multi plug as its pretty corroded,will investigate further today.

 

Hopefully by the end of the day the car will be back on its wheels,maybe have been on its first drive

[Anthony 1,000]

Think the oil gauge issue is down to the multi plug as its pretty corroded,will investigate further today.

You've gone to all this work doing the rest of the car and you haven't sorted the wiring loom to get rid of the multiplug of doom?

 

Getting rid of that and running nice fresh wire to the starter and various dash senders is the key to getting them to work reliably.

 

Also, 310mm on a 309 GTi rear beam will probably sit a little on the high side, giving around a 15mm or so drop over standard. You'll want nearer 305mm to match a typical 30/35mm lowering spring at the front (like the Eibachs you mentioned earlier in the thread) assuming of course that you've not built it a little on the high side to allow you to use the car on the rough stuff in anger which is always a struggle on a significantly lowered 309 beam.

 

Excellent job you've done so far though - looking forward to seeing how the finished car turns out

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

You've gone to all this work doing the rest of the car and you haven't sorted the wiring loom to get rid of the multiplug of doom?

 

Getting rid of that and running nice fresh wire to the starter and various dash senders is the key to getting them to work reliably.

 

Also, 310mm on a 309 GTi rear beam will probably sit a little on the high side, giving around a 15mm or so drop over standard. You'll want nearer 305mm to match a typical 30/35mm lowering spring at the front (like the Eibachs you mentioned earlier in the thread) assuming of course that you've not built it a little on the high side to allow you to use the car on the rough stuff in anger which is always a struggle on a significantly lowered 309 beam.

 

Excellent job you've done so far though - looking forward to seeing how the finished car turns out

 

Yeah I do wish I'd checked all the wiring properly before putting the engine bay back together, it did all work before though. I've got a few other bits of wiring to do yet so will make it all right before I start using it.

 

After dropping it on it's wheels it is a bit high at the back so could do to come down a bit really,will see what it's like once it's settled properly.

 

So some pics then.

 

Nice shiny speedlines:

 

 

 

Inlet manifold cleaned up, used wheel cleaner in the end and worked a treat after a good scrub and power wash out:

 

 

 

Engine bay pretty much complete:

 

 

 

Filled it with coolant and ran until fan came on, all running sweet still so decided to put front end on:

 

 

It was going dark so pics not the best but looking pretty good so far

 

Just needs polishing now, then I can get all the trim etc back on and ready for an mot. Off to the nurburgring later on this week for the 24h though so this will have to wait until after...not long to first drive now though, might even sneak one in this week

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Well i think it's time for a quick update (then bed!) - just been for a quick spin up the road before MOT tomorrow, hopefully come back with a green certificate! :S

 

I'll try to do a proper update soon when fully on the road, not long now

Edited July 29, 2011 by stuart

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Well definitely time for an update, been back on the road for the past couple of months now!

 

Its getting better all the time after tweaking bits here and there, returns about 35mpg and makes the journey to work far more fun than in my BMW.

 

The day after it passed the MOT I fitted the sub in the boot loaded it up with camping gear, meat and beer and took it on a 300 mile round trip down to USC with a bunch of mates for what was an immense weekend of drinking, raving, perving, drifting and drag racing, in that order pretty much

 

Im a bit gutted now that I decided not to take it up the strip but thought Id be pushing my luck!

 

The trip went almost without a hitch, the only drama being a gear linkage popping off embarassingly after cogging down on the motorway due to me putting the old ones off my rally car on by mistake…

I think the engine mounts may need changing soon too (got a GpN lower mount in there already) but with an engine swap on the way Ill live with the slight kangarooiness for now.

 

Anyway, here it is just after we finally flatted and polished the paint:

 

 

 

 

Ive since fitted the front fogs, although they still need the wiring looking at along with the electric windows and almost all the gauges

 

In between getting this finished Ive also been semi-rebuilding the rally car and getting that ready for a rally I did a couple of weeks ago so its just been used really.

Even drove it down to Epynt and used it to do the recce, destroying a tyre and buckling the inner edge of the wheel in the process after dropping off the egde of the tarmac at slow speed not watching where I was going Did more damage to this than the rally car that weekend!

 

I also still have to decide whether to fit the other 309 seat (didnt have time before MOT…) or sell them and get the 205 ones re-trimmed in half leather. The 309 seats are MINT (came from 30k car) so belong in a mint 309 really but they are also pretty comfy so its not an easy decision!

 

 

The overall plan with this car since I started the rebuild really wass to make it my ideal 205, so now Ive got the base car I want, its time to give it a bit more power

 

 

I was going to go down the route of an ally block Mi (check) with XU10J4RS inlet (check) on standalone management to end up with an engine thats nice to drive on the road but with plenty of power when you want it.

 

After USC though and some of the 205's I saw, I keep finding myself on ww.dpengineering.nl and looking for a low millage S16 lump , then remind myself that this is supposed to be a daily driver!

 

250-300bhp on tap would be a hell of a lot of fun though

 

If mapped right I dont see why it couldnt be as economical and manageable around town as the 1600 it has in it now, until you put your foot down obviously…or should I just stick with the Mi plan?

 

The Mi will be having a rebuild if I go that route as it's been stood for a while and I don't know it's history.

But if I can pick up an S16 runner and sell on the Mi engine / Gti-6 inlet, the cost of turboing an S16 might not be a huge ammount more than going the Mi route...

 

I think the car would be worth a lot more afterwards compared to an Mi conversion too, if done right of course. I remember a T16 up for about £14k a few years back, although that was a slightly higher spec than what I have planned.

 

Decisions, decisions...

 

Anyone with experience of turbo 205's / Mi16 engined 205's please feel free to persuade / disuade me either way!

Edited September 9, 2011 by stuart

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Time for a slightly overdue update

 

Well the car has been tucked away in the garage for the last few months after I decided to make a start on the Mi16 swap. It has taken a LOT longer than I expected with one thing or another (parts going missing, engineers taking their time as usual...) but it's getting there finally!

 

Here's a few pics of the progress so far.

 

I started off with probably the worst engine I could've done but it was cheap and as I'd planned to fully rebuild it anyway I wasn't too fussed.

 

This is what I started with (the rocker cover must’ve blinded me from the rest of it!):

 

The head came off and it was obvious that either the gasket had gone or it had been stood outside as one of the cylinders looked like something off the titanic.

I did have a pic of this but must not have uploaded it onto my pc

 

Stripped down a bit:

 

 

 

 

Sump off:

 

 

 

Oil pump off:

 

 

Main bearing caps off:

 

 

Big end caps off:

 

 

At least 1 of the big ends had obviously been knocking for a while:

 

 

 

 

Dirty Block:

 

 

Pile of scrap?

 

 

Finally eased the pistons / rods out after cleaning up the bores:

 

 

Edit: Mods, can any of you work out why the thumbnail links to the full sized photos aren't working?

 

Once that's sorted out I'll post the rest of where I'm up to

 

Cheers

Stu

Edited December 27, 2012 by stuart

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

I think I've finally worked out that I can only link 4 thumbs at a time so I'll try again!

 

So before I did any more I took the bottom end to my local machinists and as soon as he saw the bits he knew it’d need a regrind and the rods needed checking for ovality. I left them with him to go over and he was to let me know before any work was done.

 

A couple of months (yes months!) went by, even after me enquiring every few weeks and him promising he’d do it by the end of the week, and he had still not done them. So left it a few more weeks and then decided to go in person. I arrived to see piles of engine parts almost blocking the doorway and I s*it you not they were still in exactly the same place as I left them!

 

I had my rally car bottom end done there though, he’s a one man band and probably one of the best (if not slowest!) in Lancashire so decided to give him a last chance. He had also taken on another member of staff who when I explained how long I’d been waiting said he’d look at it the day after.

Sure enough the following day I had a phone call saying the rods had been checked and he’d get on with the regrind. The day after another phone call saying it was all ready! That’s a bit more like it!

 

As the crank needed a regrind, the standard bearings I had bought as part of a job lot from Rik on here were no longer suitable.

 

Special mention to Anthony here for swapping me for some oversize big end bearings he had, which then went missing on their way to me! Thanks again mate for all your efforts, really is greatly appreciated!

 

Miles then supplied the mains and replacement big ends after more fun and games with royal fail, unbelievable how much hassle they’ve caused recently!

 

 

Anyway, in the meantime I had stripped the paint from and cleaned the block. A combination of nitromors, alloy wheel cleaner and a power washer were useful for this! Came up pretty well in the end:

 

The missus even helped me paint it!

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Thoroughly degreased inside the block with thinners and cleaned up the liner seats as well as I could, hopefully they’ll seal:

 

Spray bars and water pump fitted (felt good to finally bolt something on!:

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Degreased / cleaned crank ready to go in:

 

Ready for operation engine assembly!:

 

+0.3 mains:

 

Fitted to block and assembly lubed up:

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Main bearing caps with shells / thrust washers fitted:

 

Installed in the block (note posts welded to main cap bolts for windage tray):

 

 

So then onto the pistons and my next stumbling block…

 

Pistons with ARP rod bolts installed and 2000 mile old liners from my rally car engine all cleaned up & honed ready for piston rings:

 

But I then discovered that the piston rings I had didn’t fit…turned out to be for 8v pistons so had a 4mm oil ring

 

So I got straight on the phone to Peugeot for some Mi16 ones, £40 odd PER PISTON?!! Think I’ll have a shop around ta very much!

 

In the end I sourced some from FW Thornton (recommended by my engineers) for £130 delivered which was slightly better but another expense I could’ve done without. (Anyone after any 8v rings let me know!)

 

Turned up labeled as Fiat rings:

Edited January 4, 2013 by stuart

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Did a bit of research and found that they should fit, and they do, so in they went:

 

 

 

 

Block mating faces cleaned up and sensors installed:

 

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Windage tray bolted on (locktited in and fitted with spring washers) and oil filter fitted:

 

Plenty of clearance:

 

XU10J4RS oil pump, chain guard, 52 link chain and S16 drive sprocket fitted:

 

End plate and crank seals fitted:

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

The next job was to get the Gti6 sump on but the bolts I have are too long, so whilst I pondered what to do about those I then decided to rebuild the lifters and get the head on.

 

So got a lump of hardwood and as per PeterT’s guide, whacked them on that until they came apart! (in between giving them a quick squirt with WD and working the piston a bit).

 

My hand / wrist still hasn’t fully recovered from this procedure!

 

Then left them soaking over night in some duck oil:

 

Got them out and gave them a good clean:

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

I also bought a head off Rik, which had been fully rebuilt so that just needed a quick clean up after I stripped off the red paint…

 

Much better:

 

 

Lifters oiled up, reassembled and installed:

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

I then gave the mating faces a final degrease and good blow off (with an airline!) before the gasket went on:

 

Those torque specs for the head bolts are pretty scary but managed to get the final 20nm +300 degrees without stripping any threads or anything drastic! I used some of the ARP lube to help them on their way and seemed to do the trick.

 

Then in went the cams, with plenty of assembly lube, torqued up the caps and fitted the seals:

 

Starting to look the part now, almost there!

Edited January 5, 2013 by stuart