[car_restoration] Black '91 1.6 Gti Restoration

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

So next job is to clean up the cam oil sprayers, then I can get the cam cover on so I can turn the engine upside down without getting oil all over the conservatory floor (didn’t think that one through before pouring oil all over the cams... )

 

Then get the inner cam belt cover on, time it up and get the belt on and tensioned. Cam belt covers on, alternator pulley on and job jobbed (I wish!).

 

I’ve also got an XU10J4RS inlet / throttle body to clean up and fit, along with a pug racing exhaust manifold / system which will probably be getting a lick of paint before it goes on:

 

Hopefully in a couple of weeks it should look something like this:

 

I’ll then start the job of making up a motorsport spec loom for an Omex 600 I picked up off ebay, complete with aircraft connectors (no more brown multiplugs for me! ).

 

Should keep me busy for a while!

 

Thanks for looking!

Stu

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Amazing work, really look forward to seeing the rest unfold.

 

Building an engine like this is certainly on my list of things to do having only gone as far as cylinder heads! - how hard can it be!

[eddie bullit 37]

Looks really good! Looking forward to seeing his completed.

Edd

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Thanks for the comments guys, looking forward to getting it finished too Not too long left now!

 

Building an engine like this is certainly on my list of things to do having only gone as far as cylinder heads! - how hard can it be!

 

This is my 2nd engine build but I'm not going to lie I've still not done a cylinder head myself yet, always been lucky enough to come accross ones people have already done for me

 

 

Time for a quick update then!

 

Cleaned up the cam oil spray bars:

 

Fitted, with new orings:

 

Cam belt on:

 

Gti6 sump and rear engine mount with solid rubber bush fitted:

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

As I’ll be running omex and wasted spark coil pack, I needed somewhere to mount it.

 

So thought I’d try the non-dizzy thermostat housing off my 8v rally car engine as it’s a nice neat install and what do you know, it only fits perfectly!

 

I can only get 5 bolts in but as there’s only 4 in the Mi housing I’m sure it’ll be fine. They’re M6 instead of M7 though so need to source some the right length but should be easy enough.

 

 

Painted up the bottom pulley and bolts (still need tightening!!!):

 

Looking the part now:

 

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

So next job is to get the 8v engine out (still for sale by the way, can only be seen running for the next week now!), give the engine bay a good clean and get this lump in finally!

 

The Gti6 inlet needs stripping down and cleaning along with the injectors but in between this I’ll be cracking on with the wiring loom.

 

Already done the easy bit:

 

Then sometime I need to sort out the gearbox...

 

The plan is to make 1 good box from the 3 I have. 1^st and 2^nd from a 1.9 BE3 box I have and the best 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th from 2 x BE3 and 1600 final drive from the gearbox in the car.

I have a Quaife ATB I plan to use from my rally car gearbox but that depends if it’s still useable – I’ll get some pics of that ‘box, it’s a bit of a mess!

 

Hopefully the above will come together fairly quickly as I need the 205 back on the road so I can sell my Impreza and start my new rally car project!

 

Sticking with 205’s, but this time an ST205 Toyota Celica GT Four

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Stu

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Getting there slowly but surely!

Engine is finally in the car, as always though it’s taking twice as long as I intend it to!

 

Anyway here’s a few pics of what I’ve been up to:

 

1.6 engine ready for removal (now being broken for parts, see for sale section ):

 

Once it was out, there was a bit of rust on the bulkhead seam to attend to... So decided to cut out the whole seam around the tunnel to make a little more clearance for the exhaust and a plate was welded in, etch primed, sealed over and painted.

 

In this pic I’d also fitted a new engine mount along with the BBM buffers from my rally car:

The mount isn’t a group N one as, a) I think one would cause too much vibration for a road car, The one from my rally car was ripped in half, and c) This one was a quarter of the price!

 

The gearbox mount is a BBM one too but as it’d been used already should hopefully not be too bad:

 

Before the engine went in, I got the Gti6 inlet ready to bolt on, including painting the fuel rail and getting the injectors cleaned and tested by the Mad professor on here, thanks again, excellent service!

 

Before:

After:

Throttle body cleaned out:

Removed the resonator box and fitted a blanking bung, which still needs a plate making to hold it in really and pinched a breather filter off my rally car for the ICV:

 

Also picked up a Gti6 starter, which was given a quick clean up:

Before the engine went in, on went the flywheel which has been lightened and balanced, along with new Valeo clutch:

 

Completely forgot to get any pics of when I stripped the gearbox!

 

That was a bit of a waste of time really as the ‘box I thought was a 1.9 was actually a 1.6, same as I already had and the synchros I’d intended to swap over looked fine in the cars original ‘box.

So in the end I just ended up fitting the Quaife from the rally car, which was a bit marked but otherwise ‘should’ be ok, fingers crossed!

I hadn’t stripped a gearbox before though and once I’d sussed out how the selectors and selector fork went together, it was actually fairly straight forward.

 

The casing and 5^th gear synchro / selector are scrap on the BE1 hybrid ratio ‘box from my rally car but I might yet rebuild that with the spare BE3 casing and 5^th gear bits I now have from the other 1.6 ‘box I have.

I should probably just throw it away but after spending what I did on it, it's not easy!

Anyway, once the 1.6 gearbox complete with Quaife was bolted up to the Mi16, it was wriggled into position and a bit of swearing at my dad later, it was in!

 

 

So by the end of this week, the manifolds will be on and engine more or less complete, then the suspension will be cleaned and re-fitted to make some room before getting stuck into the wiring loom, which I’m really not looking forward to...

If it’s to be ready for it’s mot by the end of the month like I’ve planned, I’d better pull my finger out!

 

 

Thanks for looking

 

Stu

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Time for a well overdue update, car is back on the road again finally! It's taken twice as long as planned as always but should hopefully be worth the extra time and effort.

 

First drive to the mot today was encouraging even on the base map the engine felt fairly smooth and responsive Can't wait to have it mapped properly next week!

 

It flew through the test except for an annoying problem with the o/s/r tail lights which I've eventually traced to a fuse I'd borrowed from the spare slot (according to haynes...) which isn't actually a spare after all! So just need to nip back tomorrow and it'll be fully road legal

 

 

So since the last update the wiring loom was completed. I made a separate loom for gauges, starter etc and an ECU loom, which both plug into the main car loom via the 2 plugs under the dash. I decided not to use the aircraft connectors I had lying around but will use those for my next project but still tried to make as tidy job as possible using new plugs on all sensors etc and pvc tube and heat shrink joints. Both looms now go through the grommet next to the header tank away from the exhaust manifold.

 

I then had to make a bracket to fit the coil somewhere close to the head due to the length of the plug leads. This is what I came up with:

 

I used some braided fuel pipe and fancy hose clips I had spare from my rally car to connect the fuel rail up to the filter, using a larger banjo from Pug Racing.

I also managed to use the baker bm silicon hoses from my rally car and even salvaged a ripped heater hose (ripped off in the crash!) as part of the breather.

 

Then it was onto other jobs such as making a blank for the ICV, fitting the throttle cable. I tried to fit a BMC CDA air filter but unless I relocate the battery it will never go in, so have ended up using a pipercross cone sitting in front of the gear box, which isn't ideal but will do for now.

Fitting the radiator caused a few headaches too as with the Gti6 inlet the top rad hose routing was a bit of a nightmare. I've ended up just using a length of flexible rubber hose which as far as I can see is the only option so will just have to see how it goes.

 

So once that was plumbed in and I'd replaced a leaky fuel pressure regulator it was time for the Mi's 1st start! It took quite a bit of turning over before it fired but when it did it roared into life! And roar it did as at this point I hadn't fitted the exhaust

It was a little tappety at first but once the oil got to the lifters it soon quietened down. The idle was surprisingly good considering there was no ICV, which was probably down to me leaving the servo pipe disconnected...doh! Once reconnected though and I'd adjusted the throttle stop it still idled ok but was very very rich, so had a fiddle with the overall fuel map and managed to get it a bit more mot friendly!

 

Next I checked the coolant system for leaks with water and not a drop! So gave it a good flush through and filled with coolant, ran it up to temperature, checked the thermostat opens when it should and fans kick in, happy days!

 

This is how the engine bay is currently looking:

 

So once I knew the engine and my wiring was functioning as it should I turned my attention to the rest of the car...

 

Since the initial rebuild of the car, a few areas of rust had returned so a few holes had to be cut out of the floor and new metal welded in, painted, sealed etc which seemed like a never ending job but now it's done it should hopefully be good for a few years at least!

 

I've also been messing about with the rear beam as since I put the car on the road I was never happy with the rear geometry, it always seemed to me to have positive camber.

It was a fully rebuilt 309 beam but with some trailing arms which were on my rally car prior to me fitting 306 arms to that. I was never 100% sure if they were straight as I had bent a couple of stub axles at some point.

There's now 309 wishbones up front so I've also used 306 trailing arms for a little negative camber at the back too. This time when I reassembled the beam I set the shock length to 305mm instead of 310 previously as it always sat a bit too high compared to the front. As one of the original rubber bushes was completely shot I've also used the solid beam mounts which I managed to salvage from my rally car's beam.

Due to the massive rear track, I've fitted 15mm hub centric spacers up front (with studs / nuts again pinched from my rally car!) so it's sitting pretty low and wide now which is just what I was after, I just hope the arches don't give me too many problems!

 

 

This is how the car currently is, in my mates spray booth having a bit of a tidy up:

 

So tomorrow (today...bed time!) I'll be collecting it from there, mot certificate and tax disc then fill with v-power and put some miles on before an oil change and mapping next week!

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Had the mot retest today and I'm glad to say it passed with flying colours this time

 

The paint was finished, gave it a quick polish, filled up with v-power and have covered just over 100 miles tonight and so far so good, loosening up nicely already.

Just drained the oil and fitted a new filter awaiting delivery of fresh oil before mapping on Tuesday

Edited May 30, 2013 by stuart

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Well...it's all mapped and collected from Mikeanics. It did quite well...

 

182bhp @ 6860 / 143lbft @ 6550

 

Can't complain with that! Pulls like a traIn from 4k RPM straight to the limiter, so happy with it!

 

Mike thought it might have some after market cams in due to the way it performed but I'm 99% sure they're just standard ones.

I used a no. 4 inlet and no. 2 exhaust cam pulley and tightened the belt a bit more than usual on the inlet side as a few people have suggested on here. The head (bought off Rik on here) looks to have had a skim and light porting, bottom end was fully balanced and of course I'm using a Gti6 inlet and pug racing manifold and 2.25" exhaust.

 

So I'm not sure if the power it's made it right for the spec or not really?

 

Either way it's as I'd hoped it'd turn out and more! Drives so smoothly in traffic too which is exactly what I was after wth it being my daily driver now

 

Quick pic from the other night to finish:

 

 

So now just 1.9 badges and stereo to fit ready for a trip to Lemans in 2 weeks time!

 

Looking forward to taking it up the hill at Pugfest in July too!

Edited June 4, 2013 by stuart