My First French

[chunx]

For a long time now i have wanted a project, I have always loved the 205's (always loved the T16 actually), but a GTI is the closest I can aspire to that dream! After lots of searching i managed to find a series one, with some help from a fellow frogger. The only thing I was looking for was a car with no rust and straight pannels, (cause pannel beating sux) but other than this it is a lot of work. All the bits and pieces are there (except the glove box ) but they vairy in condition. The plan for this car is a complete strip down and build up.This is my first major project and first french car (I used to have audi's the arch nemesis) so I will be picking a lot af brains out there especially when deciding which bits to put back on. The intended use for the car is to be street registered, Im keeping the back seats which I guess means no cage, I have plans to enter into some hill climb and motorkhana events, along with some show and shines in its first 12 months of new life.

So I am now at step one .... to me it only seems right to paint a peugeot blue, so I had better start stripping this car to bits and pieces and become best freinds with my sander. This one is gonna be a slow build guys as it is my first build, but also because I want it to be 110%. So I'll update with photo's and progress as it goes, it may be a long time between drinks! Check out the attatchements below.

 

[DaveB]

In my experience complete stripdowns often dont get finished
Repairs to the daily driver always take priority.

I have an unfinished blue project from 1984 ...
When things get busy / difficult, there's no motivation to finish an unregistered pile of parts.

IMHO running repairs and upgrades are the way to go,
then you get to enjoy each step & are motivated to do the next.
And dont get so much flak from whitegoods / rollerskate drivers

Just my 2c.

 

[88lp]

Love it, looks a good original S1. Treat the trims/bumpers with Plasticare and it'll give it a huge lift even with the faded paint. As mentioned above keep it on the road if possible! It'll be 100X more fun to go for a thrash occasionally rather than have as a shell sitting in your garage for years on end, especially when you're twiddling your fingers waiting weeks for parts to arrive etc. Aussie cars don't have the major salt/rust issues the UK forum guys are forced to perform major surgery on.

 

[Isis]

I agree with somehow keeping your motivation up, as it can be a long haul. Having done this sort of thing myself, I suggest being super organised with your parts when off the car and have a dedicated space for the project that you dont have to pack up everynight. It will indeed be easier to strip the whole car to paint it, then service/paint all the parts off the car. Makes it hard to drive, but..

ps. see 205gtidrivers forum for a lot of help and inspiration.

 

[chunx]

I can appreciate what you guys are telling me about the motivation, you just have to have a look at gumtree to see how many rolling shells are out there!!! If I was to do running repairs on a car then this one was definately not the one to buy. It hasn't been registered in a few years and needs quite a bit of work to get it roadworthy and running right again. But thats ok the reason i bought it was for the build itself thats what I am looking forward to. The drive at the end is just a bonus! I guess i just like pulling things appart and putting them back together. Luckily I have ample space to methodically store the bits and peices, so when it does give me the "you know whats" I can lock the door and come back another day. The only part about the whole thing that Iam a little nervous is trying to sort out the wiring llooms when it comes back together:crazy:. I guess that all comes down to how well i lable it ... and how good my memory is. oh well I guess I have got my chrismas holidays sorted now!

 

[PugMonkey]

Well done mate and good luck with it. I started mine in much the same way. There are a few good blokes around the Brissy area that have some part stashes, but being of the "hobbit" religion, they are pretty hard to find. If you need some part contacts just holler and they'll soon come out of the wood work.

What area of Brisbane are you in?

 

[chunx]

Thanks for that pugmonkey im in underwood but due to better work space the car is at my fathers at hendra.

 

[Isis]

In terms of wiring and other complicated bits, take photos of everything beforehand.

 

[DjB8V]

Good luck man....

There are a ton of people on here with a ton knowledge. I'd be inclined to get in running and roadworthy first. Chances are that you'll start driving it and you'll forget all about the fact that it isn't blue because you'll be having that much fun.


Chris

 

[Richard W]

Looks really straight. Wish I had the time to be having a go at a full project like this. Good luck with it.

I'm with Chris, however, on asking if you really want to do a colour change to blue. The blue will be non-standard, so it won't increase the value compared to the silver, and to do a 110% job on a colour change turns a big task into something garganuan - engine out, engine bay stripped, doors off, interior stripped (lots of exposed paint inside a s1)... Why not stay silver and do a respray with engine in and doors on, maybe a 30mm drop in ride height if you want it to look a bit meaner, and some 15" Speedlines or SMRs and it will look a million dollars and be on the road a year sooner (at least!).

 

[chunx]

I've been stripping on the weekend!!

 

[27of85]

One very handy hint is to take a lot of photos and detailed notes of the car in the before,during, and, after stages of the project

 

[djvu205]

i have found another way of doing it is to buy a second car even if its a wreck you can pull parts from it and keeping that car complete helps you piece the other car together when the time comes. also saves you chasing little parts that break and go missing.

 

[chunx]

I think i may have gone a little overboard with the cataloging each part has a lable attatched all fittings bagged and tagged a log book with reminders on how a part was removed photos have been taken and cataloged with a pdf from the haines attatched to the photo. I think i might have ocd. I have even built some massive storage cupboards for the parts. Got to build a spray booth now. It will be a long build but its gonna be a stunna when its finnished. I dont want to comprimise on anything so i guess it is a case of quality cost and speed. Youll get 2 of them but never 3. Ive had an eye out for another car reckon i might have to buy a 405 at some stage too.

 

[SLC206]

Beautiful - and no one's been silly at the factory and cut a hole in the roof. Even better!

 

[chunx]

Heres my new parts storage nice and big ... i'm pretty psyked!!! As you can see on the right hand bay though I have already had to pay a storage tax to the mrs before i get even one car part in!

 

[chunx]

new bits



Not a huge amount of progress, but I have bought a couple of goodies. i nabbed a stage 3 power steering unit and a 206 motor. Looking at the engine code it is out of a 206 cc. Different code than the xu10 one that everyone talks of but hopefully should do the trick without too much hassle.

 

[Isis]

Good effort. Be sure to look at the state of the front seat rear mounts – the factory made a mistake in mounting front seats, such that the body often cracks around where the rails attached to the car. People who put in aftermarket/race seats create a new mounting altogether that you could think just strengthening the region with an extra plate welded on, it's just a safety precaution.