Willsy's 309 GTi - Latest update 04/09/2018 - Page 9 - Saxperience

Jamie · 23rd April 2014, 13:24

Looking very nice mate appreciate the effort! I definitely need something like this in my life. Every weekend on the way to see the gffff I drive past a 205 gti 1.9 in black, never moves. One day I'm going to end up stopping and leaving my number on the windshield lol!

Keep up the good work!

Giraffe · 23rd April 2014, 16:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamie

Looking very nice mate appreciate the effort! I definitely need something like this in my life. Every weekend on the way to see the gffff I drive past a 205 gti 1.9 in black, never moves. One day I'm going to end up stopping and leaving my number on the windshield lol!

Keep up the good work!

You should probably do that sooner rather than later, then you wont have to drive a 206 any more...

Car is looking good Matt. Did you get your bits from France? Always amazed how well you're making these old scruffy parts look though. I think I'd take one look at them and admit defeat!

Brettles1986 · 23rd April 2014, 16:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giraffe

I think I'd take one look at them and admit defeat!

This! I do this when washing my car never mind restoring one.

willsy · 23rd April 2014, 16:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giraffe

Car is looking good Matt. Did you get your bits from France? Always amazed how well you're making these old scruffy parts look though. I think I'd take one look at them and admit defeat!

Cheers mate, hoping for a dry few days as I want to get it out the garage and get the interior finished, need to find someone that can do a bit of welding and has their equipment mobile - seat mount needs fixing.

The parts from France just arrived today, a bit of delay with bank hol but really pleased they've arrived :-)

Andre21 · 23rd April 2014, 20:10

Nice Work man!!!

JT361 · 24th April 2014, 11:52

I wish I had the patience and eye for detail you have, the difference already is amazing!

willsy · 29th April 2014, 22:05

Spent today turning this

Into this

Took me most of the day, fortunately most of the rust was just surface based that was quickly cleared back to clean metal with a wire wheel drill attachment and some kurust treatment. There is a small couple of holes just to the left of the drainage hole. I'll get those sorted before painting.

Then turned to removing the heater assembly. The matrix is knackered & leaking so that needs replacing & the box itself needs a good clean. The prolonged damp has made the control cables a bit stiff so I'll tend to those aswel

willsy · 30th April 2014, 11:15

Heater box out this morning

To clean up and remove the leaking matrix

Had to remove most of the sound deadening behind the dash which was still soaking and hadn't dried out despite the car not seeing water since I bought it. Annoyingly I've found my first nasty surprise behind it :-( need to find a mobile welder

Andre21 · 30th April 2014, 18:56

not good news...

But it´s a easy fix

lincolndanny · 5th May 2014, 23:02

Loving the work so far on this and great to see that people also like to see OEM projects on here.

Keep up the good work/updates please!

Kind regards

Danny

willsy · 19th May 2014, 20:02

Evenin all, finally another update. House DIY had taken over for the last few weeks.

So today I returned to the 309 and continued where I left off. The heater box is now all cleaned and fully functioning, the cables operating the flaps had become a bit stiff so I've taken the time to apply some lubricating oil and have worked it in. All sorted now :-)

I then carried on claying and polishing a few panels, although I will get it resprayed eventually it's enabling me to see properly all the defects, carpark dents etc. any dents I'll get removed properly prior to considering paintwork as I'd much rather they were removed rather than simply filled.

I then decided to start some work on the underside of the car, the passenger front arch is first up and that took me a fair few hours til I was happy with it.

Before

Afters

Not the best pics this time round unfortunately, the sun was making it difficult to get a decent shot without any glare.

That arch will do for now, I'll finish it once I get the front suspension and subframe off in the near future.

Also fitted some new side repeaters and a new grille badge so I'm happy with today's efforts.

Mash · 19th May 2014, 20:06

Inspiring work for sure!

I'm on the look out for a 1.8 or 1.9 diesel just as a run about but this does tempt me towards a GTI...

lincolndanny · 19th May 2014, 21:53

That's come up very well Willsy. Fortunate that there is hardly any surface rust!

willsy · 20th May 2014, 19:09

Something that a fair few people might be interested in... I bought a badge refreshing kit that an eBay member 'Rjuhar' has been advertising on eBay. Initially it was a set of 3 on offer for a 205 GTI but I persuaded him to make 309 ones up too.

Made a start on the 309 badge this evening.

1 washed out tatty looking spare 309 badge

I t-cut the old coating off, cleaned it thoroughly and degreased it to give a good surface for the vinyl to adhere to

Then applied the new numbers. They are very precise and do require a steady hand to line them up accurately. Very pleased with the result and applied some vinyl care to the black backing so that it looks as good as new

He will do any kind of badges providing that he can get an original to work with for the template. Turnaround time was just under 1 week.

willsy · 21st May 2014, 20:55

Continued where I left off today and did the peugeot badge, the GTI badge and the other 309 badge that's on the car

Since fitting the new rear light clusters I've been unsure on the shade of them. I preferred the darker appearance of the originals which matched the reflective boot plinth piece. So as the front piece of the lens is removable I've swapped the lens over and fitted it to the new main unit.

With new lighter lenses

Back to original lenses

A pic of the rear end as it currently stands. Much better than when I got it

Alanapone^p · 21st May 2014, 21:16

Yep, the darker ones are much better.

willsy · 25th May 2014, 13:44

eBay has come up trumps again. I won a pair of front GTI seats for £20 that I thought I'd take a punt on incase they were better than my current ones. They looked filthy in the picture and they are even more filthy up close. However there are no rips or tears or any significant worn bits. I'm pretty confident that I can have these looking great with a day spent on them with the valeting vac
Both of them have working tilt levers too.

Now the only thing different that I'm hoping someone can advise me on are the headrests

These Are the standard ones on the original seats which seem to match material.

And these are ones fitted to the new seats. Material differs and they have a tilt function too

Looking at the mounting rods they do look like they have been adjusted to fit the seats.

Manwhore · 25th May 2014, 19:43

I love this thread

lincolndanny · 25th May 2014, 21:58

love it

willsy · 26th May 2014, 16:12

Cheers :-) made a start on cleaning the seats this morning.

Here's the eBay listing pic

And a close up

Took the subframe off to clean that up seperately then got as far as doing the drivers seat. It's had 3 cycles of cleaning with the valeting vac with detergent and a fresh water cycle to finish. It needed it but I'm hugely pleased with the results, arguably the best £20 I've spent on the car so far by taking a chance on the seats