Peugeot 205 Resurrection

[artdjones]

I spent the last six months on the garden.I've done some more on the Saab 96,and will update that in time.

I also own a Peugeot 205 GL 1.1 that I bought in 2015 to play about with.I got it through a test and drove it a little,as I had access to trade insurance then.I didn't want to tax it as it was €330 pa ,so I tried to sell it,but only got low offers.I parked it up for a while and eventually realised that if I kept it until 2021 it would then be classed as vintage under the tax rates.Also I could get cheap insurance.So it's been gracing the back garden for 5 years.

It's 30 years old in about 10 weeks,so this is the time to start work.

It was covered in green mould until a fortnight ago, but my wife gave it a rough clean when she was cleaning her own car.

First job was to replace the battery terminals.Then I threw a spare battery on and put a few litres of fresh petrol in.

https://youtu.be/1WSqrJFR8kk

The battery light wasn't coming on with the ignition,and the battery wasn't charging,but after a while it came back and then I got 14.4v.

I cleaned the worst of the algae off the door seals and shuts then moved it for the first time in a year.

The interior is good,but full up of window cleaning equipment,which will have to be removed at some point.

Next job is to get it up on stands and give the brakes a going over.It scraped through the test 5 years ago,because the brake pipes on each corner were pitted.I don't suppose a miracle has occurred,so they will have to be replaced.

 

[loserone]

Lovely! 

[dozeydustman]

These seem to be having a bit of a moment on here. Lovely to see another one! I wish you well with it!

[artdjones]

The brake pipe kit arrived this evening.

[loserone]

11 minutes ago, dozeydustman said:

These seem to be having a bit of a moment on here. Lovely to see another one! I wish you well with it!

Dunno what you mean

 

[spartacus]

That looks in good condition, considering the storage facility it's been in!

[artdjones]

They don't rust much in Ireland without severe provocation.

[ed5000]

3 hours ago, artdjones said:

I spent the last six months on the garden.I've done some more on the Saab 96,and will update that in time.

I also own a Peugeot 205 GL 1.1 that I bought in 2015 to play about with.

 

 

Just browsing the site by chance and noticed your post. This is my old car! I would guess you might have bought it off me? Anyway, I'm delighted to see it's still around. 👍

[artdjones]

Yes,I remember, between Ross,and Dunmanway.

[artdjones]

I've been busy getting my work car through the test, which has absorbed all my car energy, but today I started work on this.

First thing after putting it up on stands was to check those metal brake pipes:-

It looks terrible,but actually cleaned up ok. I took the caliper off to check it, and it turned out to be terrible looking, but completely unseized.

Then looked at the rear left brake pipe.

Which was fairly pitted,so that was taken off.

This had to be done carefully, as it has this unusual 12mm union at the wheel cylinder end, which will have to be reused.

Then the o/s/f caliper and the metal pipe from there to the master cylinder came off.

That was the end of play for the day.

[busmansholiday]

Keep up the good work. Except for the GTi (which was shite - even when new), the other two 205s were ace. I'd have another but the boat seems to be sailing given the prices.

[artdjones]

Next I gave both of the calipers a going over.

They were fairly awful looking. But amazingly, both pistons were completely free. The bleed nipples came out ok, and were cleaned up.

Then the worst of the muck and rust was cleaned off the calipers.

Ready to go back on.

This afternoon, both were bolted back on.

I cleaned up both discs, but needed to drill out a couple of the disc screws and retap their threads.

Finally, I made the first brake pipes I've made for decades. They just don't rust much in Ireland, but the front right one to the master cylinder and the l/h rear to the wheel cylinder were badly pitted.

I used to make up sets of pipes when I worked in a factor, but I messed up the first attempt. Then the  knack returned :-

That was enough for today.

Next is get the drums off and check the rest of the pipes,

 

 

[artdjones]

The drums came off ok, but inside them looked dirty, and the backplates look like the rustiest  part of the car.So they both got taken off, which was difficult,as the mounting bolts are Loctited in, but with a lot of working them back and forth all 8 bolts came 

So out came the knot wheel.

One wheel cylinder had the bleed nipples broken off, so I've ordered a pair of new ones. They're a bit more expensive than normal, as they have the brake pressure regulators built into the pistons.

I had trouble with the rh metal pipe, it snapped of when being removed from the Flexi, but the union came out ok. I removed the backplate and pipe in one piece.

I managed to get the M12 union out of the wheel cylinder to be reused. One backplate had a tiny rust hole, so that was welded up.

Then I used the dregs of my 25 year old bottle of Kurust on the backplates.It ran out half way, so I used some of my 15 year old bottle.

Can you tell I just tidied my garage?

Still, old as it was, it reacted with the rust and turned purple.

 

I finished off by making the last brake pipe I need on the car, hopefully.

 

 

[dozeydustman]

Excellent progress!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 11/10/2020 at 7:10 PM, artdjones said:

.... I used the dregs of my 25 year old bottle of Kurust on the backplates.It ran out half way, so I used some of my 15 year old bottle...

...Still, old as it was, it reacted with the rust and turned purple....

Kurust. Like a finely aged whiskey, gets better with time....

[artdjones]

I've got a big bottle of the Bilt-Hamber equivalent. I'm just too tight to start it.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

17 minutes ago, artdjones said:

I've got a big bottle of the Bilt-Hamber equivalent. I'm just too tight to start it.

This is a bit like comparing Jameson's with Old Paddy....

[artdjones]

The Bilt Hamber stuff is reserved for the Saab.

[artdjones]

Still waiting for the wheel cylinders to arrive. I think I'll get any other parts I need locally, even if I have to pay more, because any stuff from France or Germany is taking an age to come.

I did derust and prime the wheels.

Followed by a coat of silver.

Then went down to my former workplace and fitted 4 cost price Chinese death rings.

[St.Jude]

On 11/12/2020 at 9:47 PM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

This is a bit like comparing Jameson's with Old Paddy....

Biased much?

[artdjones]

I haven't got on with this as much as I'd like for 2 reasons.

A:- It's been raining a lot.

B:- I ordered wheel cylinders from eBay on the 9th. They left Lithuania on the 12th. However, apparently An Post's main priority is their Amazon contract. All the normal parcels are put in the corner until there's time to look at them. So my wheel cylinders only got scanned onto the system yesterday.

And don't appear to have moved since.

I did a few small jobs today.

First oil change for 6 years.

Distinctly mucky.

I fitted the one remaining copper brake pipe. Then slathered all the surface rust l could reach with Hydrate 80.

[artdjones]

As I mentioned earlier, I ordered wheel cylinders for the car on the 9th. Today, they arrived. Unfortunately, instead of sending a pair, they managed to send me 2 left hand cylinders. Someone had put a lh one back in a rh box. Thank you, thank you so much, MAS Autoteile.

Luckily, the rh cylinder I took off was in fairly ok condition, with the bleed nipple free, so I cleaned up the bore and put the pistons from the new cylinder in.

Then reassembled the rear brakes.

Then drums on and they bled out fine.

At this point the wheels should have gone back on, but yesterday I attempted to remove a rusty worm drive clip from where the top hose joins the thermostat housing. Unfortunately, the flange that the hose was attached to disintegrated. Which explains why the water level was going down. The local motor factor are ringing me back about getting a new flange on Monday.

[spartacus]

Are those wheel cylinders not available locally, I would have thought they were something a motor factors would carry?

[artdjones]

Stuff from Lithuania normally arrives quicker than stuff from the UK. But yes, I've been suffering buyer's remorse for the past 10 days. I doubt if anyone holds stock anymore as these particular cylinders stopped being used just after the car was built, but I'm sure they could have been got in within a day or two. I'm going off buying parts from eBay now, as almost everything from the UK is €8-15 for postage to Ireland, even if it's only something that weighs less than 100g, and a lot of sellers don't seem to combine postage for multiple buys.

[artdjones]

I hopefully sorted out the cooling system on the 205 today. The top hose joins on to a flange that you can see in the picture screwed on to the thermostat housing. It had totally disintegrated, so I borrowed one from a friend's 106, which is at no.4 in his projects list. Next time I get an order from Autodoc I'll order one for him and one for me.

On a 205 you fill the cooling system first of all through the radiator. The bleed screws need to be removed. One is the Allen headed screw on the thermostat housing in the first picture above. The second is a plastic cap which fits on the t shaped hose in this picture:- 

So you fill through the radiator until water comes out of the hole on top of the thermostat housing. Then close that screw and put the radiator cap on. 

After that unhitch the coolant bottle from its bracket  and make sure the max mark is above the top bleed screw. Fill through the bottle until coolant comes out of the bleed hole then cap that off. Put the bottle back in its bracket and check the water level, topping it up to max if necessary.

Then run the engine until the thermostat opens, check the level again, and put the expansion cap onto the coolant bottle.

Before putting the car back on its wheels I need to bleed the brakes one more time as they are still spongy. The headlight switch is acting up in that it either won't go on to main beam, or when it finally does go, won't go back to dip. It's an intermittent fault, but I need to test the car in January, so I've sent away to Germany for a new pattern switch. I stripped down a broken one I already had, but it's so complex inside I think a new one is the best option.

[artdjones]

The brakes got a final bleed yesterday. Now back on its wheels waiting for the new indicator stalk. Next stage is a good clean. It's dirtier than it looks in the photo.

I still haven't made up my mind about choice of wheel cover. I have the flat ones it was wearing when I got it, also the older noughts and crosses style. I also like the bare look, maybe  with small black centre caps. Does anyone know what a 1990 205GL had when new?

[KitKat]

Excellent progress @artdjones.  The painted steelies left as they are would get my vote

[loserone]

I was given these by a neighbour at the weekend, yours for postage / collection / shitely

 

 

[MrSteve]

2 hours ago, artdjones said:

The brakes got a final bleed yesterday. Now back on its wheels waiting for the new indicator stalk. Next stage is a good clean. It's dirtier than it looks in the photo.

I still haven't made up my mind about choice of wheel cover. I have the flat ones it was wearing when I got it, also the older noughts and crosses style. I also like the bare look, maybe  with small black centre caps. Does anyone know what a 1990 205GL had when new?

The XL/GL  came with the classic 205 Os & Xs  wheel trims. The base XE had no trims and centre caps.

So on my XL I took the wheel trims off and went with centre caps...

Wheel bolts aren't the same though, so if you go trimless you'll want to get a car set of the shorter wheel bolts.

It still amuses me that lower spec 205s in France didn't get the centre dashboard air vents that we got on all UK models.

[MrSteve]

Just noticed that yours is a face lift model, so your smooth wheel trims are probably the right ones for a GL.

The coolest kids run on XS steelies though...😉