Magazine Subscription

Subscribe to Classic Motoring Magazine and save over 20%

Subscribe NOW

Available at all good newsagents including WHSmith

First thing to do to our 205 GTi is rip out the turbocharged motor and make it slower…

Car: Peugeot 205 GTi Year: 1985 Owner: Chris Manning

FIVE years ago my son Oliver and his mate Sam bought a part-finished project of a Peugeot 205 1.9 GTi that had its original engine removed and replaced with a later Peugeot 406 Turbo unit. Apart from power, quite why the idiot of the previous owner thought this would be a good idea I will never understand.

With all the complexities involved of adding an intercooler, different coolant plumbing plus the myriad of changes and extras needed to the wiring loom to accommodate the turbo engines needs and lambda sensor, the project slowed to a snail’s pace.

Add to this marriage, full time jobs and the arrival of offspring, their busy lives meant the car sat for two years untouched. With the body in pretty good shape and virtually rust free (plus being a GTi model), it was well worth saving, so I offered to rebuild it – on the condition that I would be allowed to remove the 406 turbo lump and replace with the correct 1.9 GTi engine…

Before even thinking of removing the unit, I had to sort out both the driver and passenger doors. The driver’s door would not close properly and the passenger one refused to open at all!

I removed the door lock on the driver’s side (a fiddly process) to find a build up of congealed grease was preventing a spring-loaded pin returning to its correct position and securely locking the door.

Once this had been cleaned up it worked perfectly and door would shut properly, and more importantly able to be locked.

The passenger door was more of a struggle though. I hoped the congealed grease problem was causing the same issue, but to be able to get to the door lock, I had to remove the door card, which first meant removing the passenger seat to get to fixing screws and prise the spring clips.

I managed to remove most of them, but two screws holding the speaker cover in place were hidden by the edge of the dashboard. Luckily, I was able to bend the door card enough to spray releasing fluid at the inside of the door lock. Repeating the same process outside, I prised back the rubber trim enough to get a fine nozzle spray into the gap and left it to soak in thoroughly.

Three applications later, and almost a complete can of fluid used the door eventually opened two days later and it then took me some hours to clean up all the mess I had created and thoroughly clean the lock and re-grease and replace door card and passenger seat!

Next step was to remove all the turbo-related parts my son and his mate had fitted, plus the front bumper to gain good access to aid engine removal which I will tackle in the next few weeks. Or months.

It is now my time to plea for help from readers and, especially, 205 GTi owners! With so much altered on this car I don’t know where things go, particularly the wiring loom under the bonnet which is a real mess I can tell you.

Does anyone in the Essex area reading this magazine (or know a friend) who has a stock standard Peugeot 205 1.9 GTi that I could occasionally stick my head under the bonnet to find out what goes where, as it would save me a lot of time and head scratching.

Contact Chris Manning on 01245 355631 07950 904860 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you can help.

This is going to be a long project for me, and adapting a quote made by Antarctic explorer Lawrence Oates, I will say: “I am going out to work on the Peugeot, I could be some time. . .’’

Progress report in the future issues of Classic Motoring.