Impulse buy: Peugeot 205 GTi 16v
Discussion
Up until a week ago I was the happy owner of a 205 Gentry, which had been converted to GTi spec. I loved it and planned to fit a GTi6 engine in the new year to make things a little more exciting. Then I came across this car. It already had a 16v engine fitted plus lots of other bits, and the funds from the GTI6 savings plus selling the GentryTi would buy a ready made car, almost to the exact spec I'd always dreamed of for a 205. I had to buy it!
A deal was done with the previous owner, the GentryTi was sold (in 3 days!) and I was off to Brighton to pick it up:
So, it started life as a 1.6 GTi, but over the years has evolved to the following spec:
2.0 16v S16 engine with lumpy cam and Jenvey throttle bodies
GTi6 exhaust manifold and stainless exhaust
1.6 gearbox with quick shift kit and TransX LSD
Gaz coilovers, eccentric mounts, rose-jointed wishbones and upper/lower strut braces up front
309 rear beam (wider track) and Gaz dampers at the back
GTi6 front brakes
Although the engine is the slightly less desirable iron block S16 lump, it's pushing out about 200bhp compared to the original cars 115bhp!
It's rattly, it's loud but I love it! The engine just revs and revs and revs, but it's still surprisingly civilised at low speeds. And I've never driven a FWD car with a LSD before - it certainly makes a massive difference. When you're pushing hard and expect to have to wind on slightly more lock to battle the understeer suddenly it's pulling you in to the corner without any hint of fuss. Feels a bit strange at first (probably exacerbated by lack of PAS) but getting used to it now.
A few bits need fixing and tidying and that will be done gradually of the coming months. Mostly I just want to enjoy it!
A deal was done with the previous owner, the GentryTi was sold (in 3 days!) and I was off to Brighton to pick it up:
So, it started life as a 1.6 GTi, but over the years has evolved to the following spec:
2.0 16v S16 engine with lumpy cam and Jenvey throttle bodies
GTi6 exhaust manifold and stainless exhaust
1.6 gearbox with quick shift kit and TransX LSD
Gaz coilovers, eccentric mounts, rose-jointed wishbones and upper/lower strut braces up front
309 rear beam (wider track) and Gaz dampers at the back
GTi6 front brakes
Although the engine is the slightly less desirable iron block S16 lump, it's pushing out about 200bhp compared to the original cars 115bhp!
It's rattly, it's loud but I love it! The engine just revs and revs and revs, but it's still surprisingly civilised at low speeds. And I've never driven a FWD car with a LSD before - it certainly makes a massive difference. When you're pushing hard and expect to have to wind on slightly more lock to battle the understeer suddenly it's pulling you in to the corner without any hint of fuss. Feels a bit strange at first (probably exacerbated by lack of PAS) but getting used to it now.
A few bits need fixing and tidying and that will be done gradually of the coming months. Mostly I just want to enjoy it!
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 19:59
Looks very nice - I had a bx GTi 16v for a while, it sounded epic, some of my 'mates' reckon it was even better than my busso v6 Alfa. And that was on standard exhaust and induction. On throttle bodies it must be insane....
What sort of manifold do the lated engines have? The BX had an 8 branch manifold of madness and my mum's old xsara VTS had an equal length 4 branch manifold that was a 6 hour headache when I had to take the head off it...
What sort of manifold do the lated engines have? The BX had an 8 branch manifold of madness and my mum's old xsara VTS had an equal length 4 branch manifold that was a 6 hour headache when I had to take the head off it...
Edited by Zombie on Thursday 29th October 23:09
Edited by Zombie on Thursday 29th October 23:14
Chunkychucky said:
Need to upload some footage of it moving, the noise must be wicked 
I will sort that out at some point. The induction roar combined with the exhaust is pretty epic (for a 4 pot!). Proper old school noise.Zombie said:
Looks very nice - I had a bx GTi 16v for a while, it sounded epic, some of my 'mates' reckon it was even better than my busso v6 Alfa. And that was on standard exhaust and induction. On throttle bodies it must be insane....
What sort of manifold do the lated engines have? The BX had an 8 branch manifold of madness and my mum's old xsara VTS had an equal length 4 branch manifold that was a 6 hour headache when I had to take the head off it...
I had a BX 16v for a while too, as you say they were great engines. The 205 has the next iteration of the BX engine, as found in early 306 S16s and other PSA cars of that era (in fact it came from a Xantia). But mine has the later manifold like your mum's Xsara VTS (had one of those too What sort of manifold do the lated engines have? The BX had an 8 branch manifold of madness and my mum's old xsara VTS had an equal length 4 branch manifold that was a 6 hour headache when I had to take the head off it...
)Edited by CarlosV8 on Thursday 29th October 23:34
Rensko said:
Is the 205 Gentry an Automatic GTI?
Kind of. It is an auto with a detuned version of the 1.9 engine (different head) and softer suspension. Comes with chrome trim, black leather etc so looks like a more subtle GTi. Mine was converted to manual, GTi head, uprated suspension, brakes etc. There's a thread on it somewhere but it looked like this: 
Thanks for the positive comments!
So, first job is to sort the alignment of the bonnet (see 2nd photo above). It's caused by lack of clearance for the air filter (in the 4th pic you can see the indentation made by the bonnet). The previous owner very kindly threw in a revised backing plate for the air filter which should lower it enough to sort the issue.
So first of all the filter and trumpets needed to come off. The old backing plate certainly isn't perfect:
You can see from the pic the subtle difference the new plate will have:
Hopefully just enough lower the let everything fit properly! Unfortunately the air temp sensor hole needs enlarging and I didn't have access to my drill to do it. But everything is cleaned up and ready to go back together:
So, hopefully over the weekend my one major annoyance about the car will be fixed! If it isn't a revised filter arrangement may be in order.
So, first job is to sort the alignment of the bonnet (see 2nd photo above). It's caused by lack of clearance for the air filter (in the 4th pic you can see the indentation made by the bonnet). The previous owner very kindly threw in a revised backing plate for the air filter which should lower it enough to sort the issue.
So first of all the filter and trumpets needed to come off. The old backing plate certainly isn't perfect:
You can see from the pic the subtle difference the new plate will have:
Hopefully just enough lower the let everything fit properly! Unfortunately the air temp sensor hole needs enlarging and I didn't have access to my drill to do it. But everything is cleaned up and ready to go back together:
So, hopefully over the weekend my one major annoyance about the car will be fixed! If it isn't a revised filter arrangement may be in order.
Edited by CarlosV8 on Sunday 23 July 22:36
eric twinge said:
My old 1.6 gti had the red carpets, in fact most of the GTI's that my dad had (ex service manager for Peugeot) did as well.
Why did some have green carpets? Was it a cost option?
Nice car as well.
It was something introduced on the phase 2 models. Originally the Sorrento Green car was a limited edition (with grey leather seats and black carpet I think) which then became a standard colour for late GTis like mine. I think green interior was added on these later non-limited edition versions. I quite like it!Why did some have green carpets? Was it a cost option?
Nice car as well.
So, fitting the new base plate didn't go quite as planned. Turns out the new one doesn't fit. Doh. So after giving the throttle bodies a bit of a clean everything was put back together with the original parts. In the new year I'll get a blank base plate, a punch and make my own.
Nothing much else done to the car so far. Acquired a few replacement parts to sort out some of the niggly issues, which I'll try and fit before the new year. And I did manage to get a really bad video for those that we're interested:
https://youtu.be/qKE8wZgVCzU
Nothing much else done to the car so far. Acquired a few replacement parts to sort out some of the niggly issues, which I'll try and fit before the new year. And I did manage to get a really bad video for those that we're interested:
https://youtu.be/qKE8wZgVCzU
Had three of these over the years, all 1.9's.
Wish I'd never sold them to be honest.
Thinking of getting another one but I was just wondering what the situation is with parts and trims etc. for these, is there still a big supply chain out there to keep them on the road.
Based in Sheffield, so wondered if there were any specialists in the Yorkshire area.
Cheers
Wish I'd never sold them to be honest.
Thinking of getting another one but I was just wondering what the situation is with parts and trims etc. for these, is there still a big supply chain out there to keep them on the road.
Based in Sheffield, so wondered if there were any specialists in the Yorkshire area.
Cheers
Yorkshire Lad said:
Had three of these over the years, all 1.9's.
Wish I'd never sold them to be honest.
Thinking of getting another one but I was just wondering what the situation is with parts and trims etc. for these, is there still a big supply chain out there to keep them on the road.
Based in Sheffield, so wondered if there were any specialists in the Yorkshire area.
Cheers
Most mechanical parts are still fairly plentiful, it's the trim thats getting difficult as you can't get it new from Peugeot and second hand is often in poor condition. There's still a fairly regular supply of NOS stuff (mudflaps, wheel arch trims etc) popping up for sale but it goes for crazy money. I try to snap up 2nd hand bargains to keep a bit of a spares stash just in case. Getting to the point where I need a bigger garage though Wish I'd never sold them to be honest.
Thinking of getting another one but I was just wondering what the situation is with parts and trims etc. for these, is there still a big supply chain out there to keep them on the road.
Based in Sheffield, so wondered if there were any specialists in the Yorkshire area.
Cheers
Now's probably the time to get a nice one though as they're creeping up in value!
Not sure about specialists in your area - there's a couple of places down South that I would trust with mine. The 205 GTI Drivers forum would be a good place to ask!
Work on the 205 has been a bit slower than I'd first hoped! However, with some spare time today I managed to get a few jobs ticked off.
I went to take the car out last week and gave up half a mile from home because of a major misfire. With any sort of load the car just spluttered and went no where. Whipped the plugs out to discover this:
Black plugs = fuelling issues. This was a home built car (approx 10 years ago) so I wasn't looking forward to trying to diagnose this and also work out what parts were required, as a lot aren't standard. So after reading the Emerald ECU manual last night I went out today armed with a multimeter and laptop to try and figure out what's going on. Basics first - checked injectors and coil were getting power, checked the resistance of the temp sensor, put some new plugs in, cleaned up the coil earthing points and tried again with laptop connected to watch the what the ECU was doing. Had to dig out the ECU first though:
To my surprise it started straight away and seemed to feel a bit smoother. Let it warm up, and all seemed normal. Took it out for a drive and it was perfect, if anything better than before. Phew! Live ECU readings after the run:
I'm still learning about this, but very interesting to see how the maps are built. Fairly simplistic, but obviously you need the skill/knowledge to know how to set them up. Need to work out why the voltage reading is so low too - there was 13.8 volts at the battery!
With that just about sorted I got a few other odd jobs done. Firstly the drivers door seal was hanging off, so that got swapped out for a spare I picked up a few months back. At some point in the past the car had a some extra in car entertainment accessories. None of this was connected, but there was wiring everywhere so decided to strip all the unnecessary bits out. Definitely a few weight reduction bonus points for this:
Also made a couple of subtle interior mods. Not sure if they'll stay long term yet though
Haven't finished it yet but I'm also trying to mount the ECU properly. It's currently just wedged into a cubby hole in the lower dash, but I'd prefer a slightly neater solution. Will hopefully finish that off one evening next week.
Finally, I've been trying to track down some info on the car from when it was built. I've been in contact with the guy that built it and I've also dug out an old rolling road print out from when it was mapped at Emerald back in 2006:
The graph shows a standard Mi16 engine and my slightly tweaked version. Quite an impressive gain!
I went to take the car out last week and gave up half a mile from home because of a major misfire. With any sort of load the car just spluttered and went no where. Whipped the plugs out to discover this:
Black plugs = fuelling issues. This was a home built car (approx 10 years ago) so I wasn't looking forward to trying to diagnose this and also work out what parts were required, as a lot aren't standard. So after reading the Emerald ECU manual last night I went out today armed with a multimeter and laptop to try and figure out what's going on. Basics first - checked injectors and coil were getting power, checked the resistance of the temp sensor, put some new plugs in, cleaned up the coil earthing points and tried again with laptop connected to watch the what the ECU was doing. Had to dig out the ECU first though:
To my surprise it started straight away and seemed to feel a bit smoother. Let it warm up, and all seemed normal. Took it out for a drive and it was perfect, if anything better than before. Phew! Live ECU readings after the run:
I'm still learning about this, but very interesting to see how the maps are built. Fairly simplistic, but obviously you need the skill/knowledge to know how to set them up. Need to work out why the voltage reading is so low too - there was 13.8 volts at the battery!
With that just about sorted I got a few other odd jobs done. Firstly the drivers door seal was hanging off, so that got swapped out for a spare I picked up a few months back. At some point in the past the car had a some extra in car entertainment accessories. None of this was connected, but there was wiring everywhere so decided to strip all the unnecessary bits out. Definitely a few weight reduction bonus points for this:
Also made a couple of subtle interior mods. Not sure if they'll stay long term yet though
Haven't finished it yet but I'm also trying to mount the ECU properly. It's currently just wedged into a cubby hole in the lower dash, but I'd prefer a slightly neater solution. Will hopefully finish that off one evening next week.
Finally, I've been trying to track down some info on the car from when it was built. I've been in contact with the guy that built it and I've also dug out an old rolling road print out from when it was mapped at Emerald back in 2006:
The graph shows a standard Mi16 engine and my slightly tweaked version. Quite an impressive gain!
Edited by CarlosV8 on Sunday 23 July 22:52
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 20:02
Thought I'd try and get some of the easy things ticked off the list, so first up - windscreen washers (it's actually very annoying not having these working!). This should have been fairly easy as I only needed to change the washer pump, but I also decided to make a start on cleaning up the engine bay too. First up was to remove and refurb the washer bottle. Before:
After lots of scrubbing and dishwashing (whilst the wife was out):
Much better!
That left me with a hole in the engine bay (battery also removed to aid access):
Time to get the Jizer out!
After an hour or so of cleaning things are looking a bit better:
Still some work to do, but it's looking a bit more presentable. Also cleaned up the earthing points whilst I was there, and I'll also clean up the battery tray before reassembly.
Over the course of this week I'll try and get the rest of the engine bay a bit cleaner (whilst also checking for rust). In the last few days I also acquired these:
They're not perfect, but as they come up for sale so infrequently I thought I better have them as the one's in the car aren't perfect. Current plan is to make a good set of seats from the 2 sets I currently have. Will require some swapping of covers, which will be a PITA but ultimately worth it. In the meantime I'll still keep my eye out for a good set just in case some more come up!
After lots of scrubbing and dishwashing (whilst the wife was out):
Much better!
That left me with a hole in the engine bay (battery also removed to aid access):
Time to get the Jizer out!
After an hour or so of cleaning things are looking a bit better:
Still some work to do, but it's looking a bit more presentable. Also cleaned up the earthing points whilst I was there, and I'll also clean up the battery tray before reassembly.
Over the course of this week I'll try and get the rest of the engine bay a bit cleaner (whilst also checking for rust). In the last few days I also acquired these:
They're not perfect, but as they come up for sale so infrequently I thought I better have them as the one's in the car aren't perfect. Current plan is to make a good set of seats from the 2 sets I currently have. Will require some swapping of covers, which will be a PITA but ultimately worth it. In the meantime I'll still keep my eye out for a good set just in case some more come up!
Edited by CarlosV8 on Sunday 23 July 22:57
Edited by CarlosV8 on Tuesday 25th July 20:04
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