Another 205 to the horde

[Kevthegreat]

G'day

Been trying for ages to sign up here, finally got through today...

Heres my car:





I've had this for 8 years now - not a single one of these years has gone by without a major fault of some sort - I definitely bought a lemon!  Still, nothing will make me sell it, the smile I get every time I drive it doesn't compare to anything else.  No car I've driven has matched it for fun.

It originally started off as a Jap spec 205, with a blown head gasket and seized engine which I picked up for $800 in 2005.  Spent over $5000 getting it on the road after buying it.  A year later I came across a rolled Euro spec version which I managed to transfer all but the most important bits in to my car (which I now realise I need badly - hindsight is a horrible thing, inexperienced me didn't keep the engine, or the suspension and braking components).  Spent well over $13000 on the car, fixing and swapping bits now.

Issues I've had since then include another blown head gasket, 2 blown oil lines, a busted sump (third pic above shows where I busted this, 50km from any form of civilisation...), multiple heater motors, exploded instrument panel, squeaky rear beam (which I've just swapped for a disc beam), multiple control arms and ARB bushings crapping out, faded & flaky paint, destroyed seats and the classic no idle what so ever throughout my 8 years of ownership.  It hasn't had a WOF since 2011, just because I've become lazy.  Need to change out the control arms again, fix cracked brake lines etc etc etc...  I've got 309 length control arms & drive shafts sitting around to go in it soon.

Anyway, I'm getting in to track days a bit now, so am seriously thinking about 16 valves and a few suspension tweaks.  The 8v that is in it is a mix up of a couple of engines - euro spec engine with jap spec ecu & afm = untuneable.  Its got the 1.6 gearbox so it does accelerate well!   

Cheers
Kev

[Pee Dubbaya]

Welcome along Kev!

Sorry to hear about the ongoing 205 issues, but unfortunately they're nothing new to most of us! Just unlucky that we couldn't have helped sooner... It sounds like you've got some perserverance & I hope we can assist in future. On that note I have a spare Euro (130hp) ecu & afm that are looking for a new home & could possibly get you idling at least until you figure out further engine options...

Cheers

[Kevthegreat]

aw yeah, i might take you up on that offer - theyre the last remnants of jap spec in my car.  Ill send a pm i suppose

I'm pretty sure the camshaft is past worn too - I can either spend some money on a new camshaft or go the 16v route.  As far as im aware, to get the clearances correct between the camshaft and valves/followers you need correct shims?  I've got no idea how this works & where to source these...

If I went 16v route I could source a xu10j4rs from somewhere, thinking if UK.  I work in international shipping so could get a motor from UK here relatively cheap..  Although, there is a 306s16 on Trademe for pretty cheap which I might consider.

[Mungous]

I work in international shipping so could get a motor from UK here relatively cheap..

You're a brave man admitting this on here!! Expect to be inundated with requests for "favours"...

[Kevthegreat]

By "relatively cheap" I mean exceptionally slow, and still damn pricey!  big stuff only

[Kevthegreat]

and by "I work in international shipping", I mean I only sort of do - haven't been there since April.   

[cammmy]

Welcome to the forum bud. If you need a hand finding a motor in the UK. I'm there/here at the moment so may be able to help if you need anything done on this side.

[Pee Dubbaya]

Have you fitted the afm & ecu I sent you yet?