205 GTI Project Thread

[ben_r1]

Welcome to my 205 project thread.

The car is a ph1 205 gti 1.6 1986 model. This is my second project car atm taking priority over the sierra which is more of a long term project.

The car was purchased in Jan 2011 with the intention, here comes the joke, to be used as a daily runabout, being as i find 'normal' cars tediously boring to the point of anger lol. Its an iconic french hot hatch and exactly the reason i had my heart set on one.

Car history:

Its previously owner had been in possession of the car for 5 years and in that time, its fair to say, he didnt show it any mercy. The car was stripped and bucket seated up and spent its entire career with him as a professional rallycross car ( a very successful one at that im told ) until the original 1.6 unit blew up on him. In his workshop it sat amongst other competition cars for a couple of years, an empty shell, until he decided to get it running up again as a trackday car. For this he found an 80k later 1990 spec more powerful 1.6 engine to replace the dead lump. However after fitting he lost time and space for it as the bodywork was suffering so up for sale it went.

The car was bought for the low sum of £500 with four bald tyres and only the interior he could find, massively incomplete. But alas the drivers seat was bolted in and seatbelt fitted so i could get it home at least.















A nice suprise hiding behind this:




This will be a rapid speed project with all funds being directed to this vehicle, taking priority over the Sierra, 197 and 182 until she is roadworthy and of presentable condition.

Watch space for pic heavy updates

Thanks for reading.

 

[ben_r1]

Engine Issues:

Okay the car has been run around for a few days and its evident theres is catastrophic coolant leak, dumping an entire systems worth in aound 100 easy going miles.

The car was inspected for the leak and it was soon obvious the leak was coming from the head gasket on the right side of the block, bad times indeed.

This was confirmed by this mess found in the oil filler neck:





So the head gasket has blown? Before any work was decided it was time to give the engine a full inspection to see what im up against:

The jet washer was cracked out and the engine cleaned as best i could, including a massively oil covered diff casing



Now shiney and clean:


The oil leak was thanks to a leaking camshaft seal hidden behind the distributor, all the more reason to rip it out:



The head is now going to be taken out.

 

[Mike]

I love 205 gti's!!!!!

I had one, only for a month, but loved it.

Mine was also a 1,6 and ALSO had the same oil issue this one had!

I sold it as I didn't really know how to deal with any of these issues.
Have you got the original 205 type exhaust one (pointing down)?

 

[ben_r1]

Stripping of the engine then began:

Intake manifold removed


To gain access to the lower section of the cambelt and the tensioner the wheel had to be removed and arch linings stripped down, then two coolant hoses removed plus alot of plastic covering:



The cambelt was finally removed:



Back on top and an hour or so later:







New head bolts, gasket and water pump were ordered from peugeot, expensive! Whilst there it was decided to do a basic cylinder head rebuild consisting of stem seals and adjusting the tappets via the shim system.

Head to be stripped down next.

 

[ben_r1]

The cylinder is to be stripped down and rebuilt with new studs, seals and gaskets along with a skim as a precaution and to raise compression slighlty, no wapring is evident.
It will then be reshimmed by a professional as its abit of a black art with all the calculations and peugeot have seized production on the shims so they are as rare as gold dust, and just as expensive.

I've also been toying with the idea of a fast road camshaft. The head is of the later 1990 model so already incorporates the larger valves and better flowing ports, result!

Head retrieved from storage lol:


Parts stripped off:






Thermostat housing removed but the gasket refused to budge, requiring some good old graft to clean up:




Alot of emery cloth and an hour later:






Still too untidy though:




Much better, halfords high temp paint FTW:


Great finish:




Next job is to sneak the head into the warm house, ideally the bedroom so i can work on it of an evening instead of just weekends.

Updates Soon!

 

[chappo]

cracking work so far Ben,

looks like you still have a long way to go yet,

im sure it will be worth it all when its done tho.

 

[Foxspeed]

shimming the valves...a black art....give over its easy!

piece of paper - pen - feeler guages - micrometer

take the readings for each individual valve - compare to the required clearance - is it +/- to acheive the clearance

remove cam - measure each shim (sometimes thickness is stamped on them) - then either remove or add the required reading from each valve clearance to achieve said shim (valve clearance)

you may have to round some down or up as some of the shim thicknesses arent available

i think theres even a part in the hynes manual about it

i used to just make a calculation table up on the paper to find what shims were required - sometime you can get away with swapping some around roud:

 

[Arran]

Mate, you have another major problem with that engine. There was a Quality Street tin in it! How did you not spot that? Lol! Good work, you obviously love cars, keep up the good work. What you planning on doing with the rust around the arch?

 

[Jonesy]

awsome write up and cant wait to see how this plans out, i'll be following this closely

 

[197-F1]

Top work! Top cars too!

 

[CHADDY FIESTA ST185]

looks very promising

 

[ben_r1]

A quick update whilst i have time.

Been massively committed to work at the moment so havent had time to work on the old girl much, but heres what i have managed to do since last update:

I managed to get the head in the bedroom and can now work on in during the evenings after work as light and weather arent issues:


I had to pick this tool up specially as the valve spring compressor i have for work didnt fit around the 205's rather large head! £45 later and we're cooking on gas:


Valves removed from the head:




The valves were, as i predicted anyway, absolutely caked with 80,000 miles of carbon. It only seemed polite to clean it off whilst i was there. If, however, i'd realised just how much of a fight it'd put up i probaly wouldnt have bothered.
This has been the nightmare of my life for 2 hours everynight for 7 days now. Thank god its only an 8 valve!!!

Process consisted of bathing the valves in Hammerite rust remover for 2 days:



I also tried vinegar as theres an old wifes tale of cleaning knackered lambda sensors back into life with a vinegar bath, turned out to be a waste of good condiment:



Then i went to town on them with different degrees of emery cloth, starting at 60 and finishing at 1200 for that smooooooth finish to aid all that airflow over them







Each valve took about 2 hours of constant attention, but the results show. Heres a finished item next to an untouched valve:

 

[ben_r1]

Tonight i managed to finish the complete set, i'm glad that mammoth job is now behind me:



I also checked the valves for wear on the stem to ensure they were servicable to go back in, new they measure 7.90mm new with 7.85mm being considered worn out. They appeared in good condition for the mileage so will be reused:



It also looks asthough the head has maybe had some minor porting work in the past, although im assured its never been removed from the block:





Thats all for now ladies and gents, thanks for reading

Next time: The head is getting packed up with all its components this weekend and going away to a race engine builder who used to specialise in 205 gti autocross race engines, all the way down in dover area. There it will be pressure tested, skimmed, acid dipped, stage one porting of the inlet and exhaust sides, and full reconditioning of the camshaft ( funds will not allow for an uprated item ), bearings, seals, valve stems, valve stem seals and gaskets etc.

Ben.

 

[Foxspeed]

a tower drill or even an electric drill - put the valve in and spin up to speed - use a blunt screw driver and then finish with sand paper - would have had them done in no time at all

ports look standard - just where the the throats have been machined out

you can remove the valves without a valve compressor - just use a socket under the valve head and then another socket over the top of the valve and smack down with a hammer to push the spring and collar down to free the collets

still good work !

 

[ben_r1]

Yes a good technique but how would you advise me putting them back in without the valve spring compressor lol?

I dont have a pic of it atm but the valves are recessed deep within pockets in the head, hardly no access.

 

[Foxspeed]

Yes a good technique but how would you advise me putting them back in without the valve spring compressor lol?

I dont have a pic of it atm but the valves are recessed deep within pockets in the head, hardly no access.

your sending it away to be rebuilt so it wouldnt be an issue and would have saved you £40...

the valves to be honest aint that bad - seen and cleaned far worse in my time :thumbup1:

 

[ben_r1]

Reconditioning it not rebuilding it for me. He is putting the valves back in to reshim the camshaft and then its getting taken apart as i have later model/uprated valve springs to go in, and im not doing a double trip to give them to him.

And no it will not affect valve clearance. Alas im sure you can see the advantage of cleaning up even the lightest of soiled valves...

 

[Foxspeed]

Reconditioning it not rebuilding it for me. He is putting the valves back in to reshim the camshaft and then its getting taken apart as i have later model/uprated valve springs to go in, and im not doing a double trip to give them to him.

And no it will not affect valve clearance. Alas im sure you can see the advantage of cleaning up even the lightest of soiled valves...

ah i see the compressor a wise investment then

clean valves will always be an advantage - i used to use very fine wet and dry paper and get a really good smooth finish on the valves when i did them - used to quite enjoy it :eek:

 

[SnapMonkey]

I see you've adopted the 'attach lots of cable ties' method to identifying the valves!!

You could have scribed the number lightly on the valve head (not the business end!), maybe a tad cheaper as well!!

 

[edd1e]

looks great mate! I will be following this