Jump to content

French Shite 205 GTi - Sold and replacement collectioned - Warning Modern content.


Captain Furious

Recommended Posts

This is an ace project, and nice to see you save it before it got any worse and turned into parts for more pampered ones.

 

My fantasy 205gti (and with the cost of them a fantasy one is all I'll ever have) would not have some red plastic tat on the boot. Whether I'd remove it from a car that had one would need more thinking about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8BD7AED6-6D11-4FB7-ABA1-AFC17722E114.jpg

 

....completely fucked paintwork.......

 

 

3363776_orig.jpg

 

"That's not completely fucked paintwork...."

 

 

This:

 

31363601454_dbd8370cfd_o.jpg

 

Is completely fucked grey 1990 1.9 GTi paintwork:

 

DSCN4721.jpg

 

Here's mine (well, technically Mrs_Jon's but it's been replaced by a Clio 172), which we've had for 6 years, buying it for about £900. It's a Japanese import, as are quite a few NZ 205 GTis and they seem to come in two specs, either a detuned 1.9 (105bhp - and sometimes an auto!) or a European spec, like ours. Never really missed a beat but general upkeep is key, as is the utilisation of UK visitors' baggage allowance, for cut price parts. The radiator came this way a few months back when my parents came out last and the dash top did the same in 2013, courtesy of the wonderful Cleland 205 Spares Centre.

 

That orange abomination was a crash damaged 1985 UK import, picked up to help keep the 205 and my Visa GTI ticking over and so far, the spares stash has been pretty fruitful. I do enjoy driving the 205 but must admit that the Visa probably pips it slightly, for me at least. Which is why we still own both and also the Clio, I suppose.

 

That said, it's currently out on long term loan with my cousin, since he's had lots of family members over recently. He's loving it, is giving it plenty of attention and I'll be looking forward to having it back in the fold at some point, so win win all round.

 

 

Top Tip: photograph it after some rainfall and it will look much better:

 

30296161240_cf6288fae9_o.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not entirely surprisingly the MOT was a negative, but the failure list isn't too catastrophic

 

For the first time ever the MOT tester did actually say 'it looks like a good one' and has no rust, just a few perishable items in need of replacement, so that gave me a little boost....

 

 

Reason(s) for failure

offside Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect Due to reflector. (1.8.A.1b)

offside rear Shock absorber has an excessively worn bush Lower bush. (2.7.4)

offside Front constant velocity joint gaiter damaged to the extent that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc Outer gaiter split. (2.5.C.1a)

offside front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.4.G.2)

offside front lower Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint (2.4.G.2)

Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases Rear box to centre pipe joint. (7.1.2)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A breakdown of the failure items after inspection today, all legit fails and luckily as they're on the same side, most of the parts have to be removed together anyway.

 

offside Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect Due to reflector. (1.8.A.1b)

 

Kinda knew about this, both headlights are a bit ropey, but the drivers side especially all the reflective stuff has come off the...err..reflector. Just going to get a pair of new ones from evilbay, £80

 

offside rear Shock absorber has an excessively worn bush Lower bush. (2.7.4)

 

This is annoying because it doesn't appear that you can buy this bush and it only comes on new shocks, so about £60 for a pair of rear shocks

 

offside Front constant velocity joint gaiter damaged to the extent that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc Outer gaiter split. (2.5.C.1a)

 

Already have the front end stripped down and the drive shaft out, new boot here in the morning. £10

 

offside front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.4.G.2)

 

A new one of these was already in the boot from the previous owner £FREE

 

offside front lower Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint (2.4.G.2)

 

Also slightly annoying that you can't replace the balljoijt and have to replace the whole lower arm £80+VAT from a local motor factor, will be here in the morning along with the boot

 

Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases Rear box to centre pipe joint. (7.1.2)

 

Not really sure what he's on about here, at worst it was minor, had the joint apart and retightened it up, looks fine to me now.

 

So all in not too bad, it's just delivery on parts that will be the delaying factor, should make the 10 day partial retest deadline and aim to tax it and be legal the 1st march, a month later than originally intended, but that's quite good for us. Then we can get onto solving the reason why it's almost unriveable..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you do decide to bin the tailblazer, please bin it onto the back of mine. I quite like them but not enough to spend the £100+ that NOS ones go for.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Seriously? Folk actually pay a ton for these awful things? Wow. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought a load of booty for mine recently - front and rear shocks and headlamps among them. The shocks I bought from Micks Garage when there was a 25% sale on and I can't remember the price but they post internationally for nowt when you spend large, hence why they were very competitive in my situation.

 

The headlamps also came as the relief package in my parents hold luggage (along with the radiator) and IIRC, they were bought from Amazon from a French based seller for less than £25 a pop, delivered to the UK. I remember having to cross reference part numbers or something as one didn't come up in an official search for 205 bits but thankfully the gamble paid off and my folks could check them before bringing them out.

 

It may not save you a packet but every little helps. Actually, that's quite a nice phrase; perhaps I should copyright it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers for the heads up, just checked out Micks Garage and he doesn't seem to stock the parts we need anyway

 

Right now it's a race against time to get it in for retest before the 10 working day deadline, otherwise any money we save on parts is likely gone in paying for a full retest

 

Always interested in possible cheap parts suppliers for the future tho

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought a load of booty for mine recently - front and rear shocks and headlamps among them. The shocks I bought from Micks Garage when there was a 25% sale on and I can't remember the price but they post internationally for nowt when you spend large, hence why they were very competitive in my situation.

 

The headlamps also came as the relief package in my parents hold luggage (along with the radiator) and IIRC, they were bought from Amazon from a French based seller for less than £25 a pop, delivered to the UK. I remember having to cross reference part numbers or something as one didn't come up in an official search for 205 bits but thankfully the gamble paid off and my folks could check them before bringing them out.

 

It may not save you a packet but every little helps. Actually, that's quite a nice phrase; perhaps I should copyright it.

 

If the headlamps came from France - are you sure they're dipping the right way? Are they LHD or RHD set up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I've had a right bollock ache of a week, of a month if I'm honest and my patience is at an all time low, anything and everything seems to be getting right on my tits just lately, however despite this, in the last week, mostly after work in the cold and dark we have achieved

 

2 x new headlights fitted

1 x new lower arm fitted

1 x new CV boot fitted

2 x new rear shocks fitted

1 x new drop link fitted

 

The only grey area really is the exhaust, we've reseated the joint best we can and there is no way it could be described as having a 'major leak of exhaust gas' anymore, but it's not 100%, probably 97%...

 

So we'll see how the retest goes tomorrow, oh and for fans of the 'tailblazer' sorry but a standard rear boot panel has been acquired and is currently winging its way to us

 

I really ought to start taking pictures as I work to make these posts more interesting

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's under load where the problem is, it just dies and you can't drive it much above 1/3 throttle, although once it did actually run almost right so I'm thinking it's some sort of dodgy connection ignition side. I've only driven it to and from MOT appointments so I'll tax it on Wednesday and when it's all legit take it for an Italian tune up and see where we're at.

 

Idle and low speed running is actually good, idle is a tad high (about 1300-1400rpm) but I seem to remember back in the day that "they all do that sir"

 

Feels good getting the MOT tho, still a way to go but the pressure is off now

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, the day has finally arrived that it is all legal, so I waited impatiently at work for home time, had some dinner and broke out the keys. I was intending to do pez station shots and dash at night and all that other exciting stuff, but the reality was more 'let's get the fuck home before I'm stuck on the side of the road'

 

I always knew it had serious running problems but kinda hoped they might just go away, and it has shown glimmers of hope on MOT runs that it might clear itself out with a bit of a run, but no.

 

Best way I can describe it is severe kangarooing, it revs up fine standing still, go anywhere near the throttle on the move and it jerks violently. It kind of clears if you either feather the throttle ever so gently or if you stomp it to the floor and get it above 3500rpm it will pull fairly (but not totally) cleanly to the red line, get it below 3000 on part or full throttle and it bogs down and dies.

 

It feels like ignition related to me, but I couldn't swear to that, not really sure what to start with, probably some basic electrical fault finding, make sure everything is getting a good solid voltage, clean up some dodgy looking earth connections, check the rotor arm, dizzy cap, coil etc...then it'll be onto replacing parts on a best guess basis I suppose.

 

Not quite what I was hoping for, but...on rare occasions it has briefly run almost perfectly, so it can't be anything too serious, right guys? Guys?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, the day has finally arrived that it is all legal, so I waited impatiently at work for home time, had some dinner and broke out the keys. I was intending to do pez station shots and dash at night and all that other exciting stuff, but the reality was more 'let's get the fuck home before I'm stuck on the side of the road'

 

I always knew it had serious running problems but kinda hoped they might just go away, and it has shown glimmers of hope on MOT runs that it might clear itself out with a bit of a run, but no.

 

Best way I can describe it is severe kangarooing, it revs up fine standing still, go anywhere near the throttle on the move and it jerks violently. It kind of clears if you either feather the throttle ever so gently or if you stomp it to the floor and get it above 3500rpm it will pull fairly (but not totally) cleanly to the red line, get it below 3000 on part or full throttle and it bogs down and dies.

 

It feels like ignition related to me, but I couldn't swear to that, not really sure what to start with, probably some basic electrical fault finding, make sure everything is getting a good solid voltage, clean up some dodgy looking earth connections, check the rotor arm, dizzy cap, coil etc...then it'll be onto replacing parts on a best guess basis I suppose.

 

Not quite what I was hoping for, but...on rare occasions it has briefly run almost perfectly, so it can't be anything too serious, right guys? Guys?

I had a very similar problem with a 6N Polo, car would be very unhappy at anything over 10% throttle and would try to stall. Only happened when damp. It had a new rotor arm, dizzy cap, ignition leads, and spark plugs but still did it when the engine bay got damp. Got shot of it before I ever solved it completely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a very similar problem with a 6N Polo, car would be very unhappy at anything over 10% throttle and would try to stall. Only happened when damp. It had a new rotor arm, dizzy cap, ignition leads, and spark plugs but still did it when the engine bay got damp. Got shot of it before I ever solved it completely.

I was getting excited there until the last sentence lol

 

It was damp when we got it but it's been in a garage for the last 6 weeks. I am inclined to think dodgy earths though. Or maybe just hoping, because they're free..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Hooli

Never understood the love for these. Drove one back in the day & it was shite, I preferred the Orion I had at the time.

 

 

But it'll be earths, the french can't do electrics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had an Orion when these were current and wished I had a 205 GTi, there is every chance it'll be a short lived fantasy though and end up chopped in for some different old not to be met hero

 

My other thought was throttle position sensor, purely due to the way it seems to be very throttle position related, but I've never known one produce such dramatic running issues and it's not generally come up in the list of common issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was getting excited there until the last sentence lol

 

It was damp when we got it but it's been in a garage for the last 6 weeks. I am inclined to think dodgy earths though. Or maybe just hoping, because they're free..

It was much better, don't get me wrong, that car had a load of other issues too. Seeing as they're service items anyway it's worth a go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...