Phil

iTrader: (1)

The plan:
Buy a cheap car,
Spec it up for track use,
Get some trackdays in,
Take it to the Nurburgring (and hopefully not stack it!!!)
and most importantly have some serious fun without worrying about a 5k engine going pop, or the back end stepping out on a track with the armco 5 yards from the track on both sides!!!
And also get some track days in until my Escort is finished!

So here is part one, presenting a 205 1.9 GTi.











Reasons for buying:
Cheapish at £500
Oil cooler as standard
Discs all round
Handles like a dream as standard
Parts/upgrades are dirt cheap (i.e. brakes from 306 gti-6 or 205 gti 180 and their discs bolt straight on with no mods! 309 gti bottom arms can be used to give slightly more camber etc)
Loads of cheap rally oriented parts available
Spare engines cost under £100!!!!

So I picked this car as it was cheap, slightly tatty body and interior wise (perfect for track) but overall very straight and mechanically sound (engine is very quiet and runs sweet and all bushes/suspension in good working order!) And most importantly no rot on the chassis/sills at all.

So for the MOT I had to fix the horn, tighten up/adjust the headlights, sort a couple of dodgy connections on the back lights, handbrake cables and fix a CV boot on.

Now all that is done and it has a years ticket the track preparation can begin!!

the next phase should include suspension upgrades, bigger brakes, stripping out and a 1.6 gti gearbox!

Lambchop

iTrader: (1)

nice plan m8

i was lazy and bought a pre modded one

got the billys,eibachs,206 gti brakes,strut brace etc already

might give her a roll cage then i'll gladly whip yer ass round the ring

N1C4T3N

quality plan

Phil

iTrader: (1)

Chop, you aint got the proper Billys though

Was looking at perspex windows earlier - £140 for 5 can't be bad

Although pricing it up you actually got a great deal as i'll spend that much and still not have the Mi16 lump.. doh!

bring on the race!! First track outing for this is Feb at Bedford, should have it pretty much finished by then apart from an engine swap!

dumped

Looking forward to ring already .

So whats the update on the work - your mk1 dont need another permenant friend so get working!

Phil

iTrader: (1)

I'm going to be collecting parts for a good few weeks now until I next visit the folks/take over the drive again!

Lambchop

iTrader: (1)

hi Justin
so am i gonna take ya on the straights but you wanna win on the corners?

what are the proper billys like then and what they cost??
im gonna try hard not to throw money at this car but i LOVE it

will keep checkin on yer progress.interested in whether you change rear beam and how it affects/helps lift off oversteer etc

chop

Phil

iTrader: (1)

Right, been busy sorting things out with this 205 so heres an update:

Got it through its MOT, so now it has a years ticket (no need to trailer it to track days now!)

Rose joined gear linkage: (205's have a terribly long throw as standard!)


Slicks from Marco (cheers again mate!):


Then I needed to get some spare wheels for the slicks, so I got a second set of 1.9 alloys. Little did I realise there were two different types, Sppedline Italy and SMR France versions! Although they look the same the Speedline versions are just shy of 1kg lighter per wheel (over 10%!). This should make a very slight difference to the handling as unsprung weight is crucial! The spare wheels I had were the heavier SMR wheels, but the tidier wheels with new tyres on that were already on the car were the lighter Speedlines!

So after a lot of tyre and wheel swapping I got to work refurbing the Speedlines!



A lot of work with the wire wheel and some sanding later:




Then after primer and paint:



On the car with slicks:



Now the next job for the track car is the interior, the standard seats with subframes weigh in at a lardy 16kg roughtly = 32kg for the pair. Time to measure up to get some subframes made for these:



Weighing in at only 4kg a seat I will save 24kg with the pair (minus the subframe weight).

Whilst that is in progress I have ordered a Quaife ATB diff (on a strong recomendation that it's THE best single handling mod you can make) and also purchased a 1.6 gearbox with its shorter final drive, now ready and waiting for the diff to arrive!

Next on the to do list is brakes and suspension, then it should be ready for some fun!!!

luke eversham

looks hard on them black rims

escort1989uk

very nice coming along nicely

luke89

iTrader: (1)

like the black rims coming along good

Phil

iTrader: (1)

A better pic of it on the black rims:



(Finally got my proper camera back )

RichardPON

Very cool Phil

Wish I had the time to do a Pug project as well - slicks, the ATB, and some proper tarmac Billies, and it'll handle sooooooooooooo well!

Phil

iTrader: (1)

Pon, if some billies don't come up soon I may settle for some Gaz coilovers setup to immitate the billys with tarmac inserts and springs. Apparently they can still be very good for a much lower price! Finding some used tarmac billies is proving difficult, and at over £800 new that's quite an investment for a cheap bit of fun!

Time is no excuse, this is only the third time i've seen the car since I bought it!!! (Seriously!) next time will be December now, i'm a bit gutted I didn't start the project earlier for the cheap Donny winter track days

On the plus side, just taken the Pug out for a quick burn to 'clear it out'

It's so much faster with the spare removed and the interior out! Feels 100 times more nimble, and the handling is Even on standard suspension there is so little body roll! Fun fun fun!

Also a small update on the Mk1, managed to get a full set of door and boot rubbers brand new and un-used

Lambchop

iTrader: (1)

rollered our pool ring pug the other week - 138bhp @ wheels

Shame the rings such a fast track

Also doored a uk300 scoob on the twisties followed by an E34? BMW M5

Cant decide whats best for handling on chops - its got crap tyres but is v good in wet and not as good as my old one in dry - probably best compromise for ring incase weather is crap as its a slippy slippy place - germans dont go out in rain cause most cars are solid.

Good to see you on the case phil

Martin

Lambchop

iTrader: (1)

oops - chops log in too

Sticky.

iTrader: (4)

Looking good Phil

Looks well with the wheels painted black now

Phil

iTrader: (1)

I've just bagged myself some Koni coilovers which will do until I spot some billys, and may have a lead on some Bremsport 4 pots for it Just need to persuade the guy who has them to upgrade! (They use std Escort cos discs up front)

138 at the wheels is good going Martin, i'm starting to look into an MI conversion (seen the engines go for as little as £250 and there's not a whole lot else you need to change!).

For the ring I will probably stick a set of Eagle F1's on the road wheels as they are renowned for being great in the wet. It's a shame you can't use slicks!!

Once the suspension and brakes are done I can start collecting spare wheels for a set of wets and some intermediates as well.. can never have too many track tyre combos

Darth Vader

Very disapointed Phil

You should be finishing the real car standing next to the pug. That GULF escort is dying for attention.

Catch u on Turbosport,

dumped

oi your not allowed an mi lump LOL

We want to have our full fat maxpower pug against your colin chapman special on an 8v! - if you get same power we are doomed!

CHOP - order them throttle bodies!

Lambchop

iTrader: (1)

haha marty told me bout this yesterday

at this rate im gonna have to...fit my brakes and master cylinder,get the lighter wheels on,get the rear beam upgrade to stop any lift off overtseer issues when i strip it then find some cheap buckets.

u forcin me to thow money at my runabout?!

god damn you

oh btw have you got power steerin?we were considerin junkin it but marty seems to think shes ok now
also if you can check sometime or know...how many turns lock to lock in your car?just mine seems like an awful lot :s

chop

Phil

iTrader: (1)

No power steering on mine! Not many had them as standard so i'm guessing your is a retro fit! Which might explain the large number of turns if they have used the wrong rack?

I will check mine next time i'm in Stoke but that won't be for a month or so now!

Let the spending begin Chop

(At the end of the day though, i'm only spending all this to make up for my lack of driving skills )

Alan s1

Looks cool on them wheels in black

Phil

iTrader: (1)

Small update

Sunroof - What sunroof?



Interior - What interior?



More in a bit - take aways here

luke89

iTrader: (1)

looking good lol at the interior all on the floor

Phil

iTrader: (1)

Ok, here's the main update.

As you can see, my pug's been on the Atkins diet this week! I was hoping to be fitting the coilovers this weekend, but unfortunately they won't be ready for collection until tomorrow. So I thought i'd get a few odd jobs done that would need doing at some point anyway!

First off, a complete strip down! You cans ee most of the interior above, but there is also the other front seat and back seats etc in storage! All in all I haven't removed a lot of weight though (i'm a bit dissapointed at how light Peugeot's cheap plastics are ) and the sound-deadening consisted of foam (think carpet underlay!!) so no weight lost there either, but it looks a whole lot neater now!





Absolutely everything has come out! Roof lining, seatbelts, rear wiper, all sound deadening - there's a lot less to go flying around the the event of a bump now! There was also some silver stuff on the boot floor that someone had fitted Took about 3 hours to remove it all!! It was like tar with foil on top - and my hands are now covered in papercuts from it!!

During the stripping I also found some rot



It is the usual top of the windscreen jobby, it's odd though how it has only rotted the inner skin - though outer skin is nearly perfect. I guess the sunroof must have been leaking for the water to get there and settle! Either way I will probably just tidy it up and leave it, as a rollcage will provide all the reinforcement that area needs.

So the next project is to remove the sunroof!

As you can see from this photo, they are not a small affair on a 205!



After a bit of umming I was going to leave it in, as I probably wouldn't notice any difference from the weight lost from it. But if you remember my old Saph, you will know what i'm like when I get spanner happy! (I put a load of washing in, went into the garage with no intention other than have a look, and by the time the washing was done the whole interior was stripped - including the dashboard - and I was photographing everything ready to put on eBay! )

So out the entire sunroof mechanism came and it has now left me with this lovely hole:



Hopefully tomorrow I will have plated over this. Also got a few other bits and bobs to do if I get time Still waiting for my mate to make up the subframes for my buckets as well!

I bet it weighs in at well under 800kg as it stands right now!

Twins

iTrader: (18)

Phil

iTrader: (1)

Just seen an Mi16 engine going cheap.... hmmmmm..

Zetec Andy

my friend has 2x pug GTi, ones an MI16

see www.hortonracing.co.uk for some info mate

N1C4T3N

lookin quality keep the updates commin and i am intrested in how ya going to do that sunroof

roybacer

U a member on www.peugeot-gti.net ?????

If not u shud join up, you should find loadsa info to help you out, including LOADSA help if you go ahead with the mi16 conversion, also loadsa cheap parts for sale all the time

dumped

Nah he dont need any mi info LOL So the interior didnt weight that much - phew we still get to travel in comfort

think ours might need another shakedown run tonight

Keep up the good work - interested to see how the backend handles with no weight in it as i have been in some real scary track 205s

AlexF

Nice work Phil!

Why don't you get to see ya cars very much?

a;ex

Phil

iTrader: (1)

Alex, i've gone back to uni to finish my degree, and London being London I don't have a garage to keep a project car in. So instead I keep them at my folks place and work on them whenever I go home!

Unfortunately the Koni's were dead, so i'm still on the lookout for some coilovers, but I have just secured some GTi 6 calipers, discs and pads for £100

All the Mi16's the guy had for sale sold pretty instantly and I missed out there (depsite messaging him for one about 2 hours after the ad was placed!) but i'll keep an eye out on that, Martin, they are a doddle to fit, just need to modify the exhaust manifold to clear the bulkhead, move the rad forward slightly to clear inlet manifold and convert it to use the 1.9 GTi dizzy for the phase sensor, thats the main lot!

roybacer, I have looked on there but I find the 205 GTi Drivers website to be by far the best source of technical info there is! Such a great website! The only problem is all the good stuff for sale on there sells instantly!!

Martin, i'm hoping that if I keep a slightly softer back end setup it should be reasonably OK for preventing masses of lift off oversteer, if I uprate the torsion bars I can see it being more of a handfull, especially in the wet Also a Quaife diff should allow me to attack the corners much harder and power through them instead of understeering into big mess of lift off spinny armco-ness!

All in theory anyway!

dumped

I have quite a few friends that do the mi conversions for people up here so know its not too difficult - chops was the 1st i saw with a modded inlet manifold for a better fit - usually my mates just "stress relieve" the shell around it LOL. Seems to run good when you dont blow the water pipe off LOL but have found the temps rise rather fast with no water in it After i borrowed it for the weekend.... blame the owner

Sounds a good starting point on the handling - then try it and see - my friends were hard at back and would deffo not take on the ring as they were deadly on knockhill! - I passed one twice in 3 laps on knockhill in my cossie he was going off so much

Mikes trying to talk me into easter at the ring - but going to wait till september as weather is better

Phil

iTrader: (1)

I definitely can't do Easter, have my finals not long after!

Are you sure your mate can drive?!

I never had any problems in my 1.6 GTi doing road rallies.. flat out round the lanes and your navi tells you its a sharp corner as you are turning in plenty of lift off, but no oversteer problems!! That was a standard car though..

Doctay

You gotta love Pug GTi`s!! Have fun in it mate, I used to love my 1.6.

Phil

iTrader: (1)

Well, the diff is finally here!





Should have some more parts updates this weekend And only 2 weeks until i'm back in Stoke so I can get to work on the car again!

Phil

iTrader: (1)

I now have a Sparco adjustable strut brace and some GTi-6 calipers, pads and discs..



Although one of the calipers isn't right (I think it's from an S16 or XSI) so i'm in the process of sorting that out

dumped

that diffs like the same prices as the car

Should be a track goer pretty soon