Peugeot 205T16 - Recommissioning
As a general rule, cars, like any other complex machine, run and work much better when they are used. Indeed, storing a car for extended periods can cause all sorts of issues. Fuel goes stale, looses octane and generally changes into the sort of liquid you wouldn’t want in your car. Modern fuels just make this worse. Typical consequences of this are varnish deposition, rubber degradation, injector (or carb jet) clogging, filter breakdown, etc. Old fuel system components containing perishable parts have no place on a high value car – the risk of serious fire or even total loss is just too great.
The below was the result of leaving stale fuel in a car for 10 years, necessitating all of the K-Jetronic fuel injection parts being removed for specialist overhaul.
Brake fluid crystallises over time and absorbs moisture, causing master cylinders and brake caliper pistons to stick and internal components to rust. Brake fluid also breaks down rubber components, such as hoses and seals, causing them to leak. A slow leak of brake fluid can lead to secondary damage to paintwork, which often leads to significant rework to rectify. And all of this is over and above the obvious safety concerns.
The list goes on, bearings, bushes, belts, wiring, all of this suffers with age and can significantly reduce the reliability of an otherwise amazing piece of motoring history.
The good news is that almost all of these are relatively simple to fix. Finding parts for some of this can often take longer than the time taken to fit them, and sometimes there is no option but to modify and/or use something else, or reverse engineer it and get it reproduced.
Here at Thomas Marks we can take care of all of of this, returning your specialist car to the standard it deserves.
Peugeot 205T16 - Brakes
This car came to us for recommissioning after been stood for 10 years, and getting it rolling freely again was high on the list. With the car off the floor it was obvious that all 4 calipers were sticking, so needed rebuilding. The T16 was the first clean sheet design group B car, and is quite a cleverly engineered thing, although the execution is frustrating awkward in many areas. Like most of these types of cars, the bits that are likely to end up in the bin when the cars are used for competition are often parts borrowed from elsewhere in the manufacturers supply chain to keep devlopment and final sale prices down. The T16 is no different, and after the usual hours of searching we found the part numbers and source of both pairs of calipers. The rears incorporate an integrated handbrake mechanism, necessitating the making of a special tool to avoid the risk of launching bits of rare car into low orbit.
Once stripped, the calipers were as expected – full of gritty, crystallised brake fluid and black sludge, which meant the whole system would need refreshing – if it’s in the callipers then it’s everywhere else too.
OEM parts for 40 year old cars are hard to come by, and the first set of aftermarket seal and piston kits looked like they had been machined in a high school metalwork class, so they went back. By chance, we found a little place not far from us that specialised in old Peugeot parts. Wow, what a place, even down to original 1970’s dealer microfiche readers. How the guy knew where anything was is beyond us, but he did, so that got front and rear caliper seal kits and pistons sorted.
The master cylinder had been leaking at the servo end, and when stripped for inspection it revealed some nasty corrosion inside – kind of inevitable with a 40 year old cast iron body. This was too far gone to correct but more parts searching using dimensions revealed that the master cylinder off a close relative was a direct swap, which was straightforward.
The cap seal on the fluid reservoir, and the hose from reservoir to master cylinder were both leaking, so £5 of parts had caused 2 days worth of paintwork repairs, which is really frustrating.
The clutch master cylinder needed to come off for the paint repairs, so it seemed silly not to inspect it. The seals looked ok but the bore showed some signs of slight staining amid possibly corrosion, but this time it was aluminium. This is a bendix special part and despite trying every option, it proved almost impossible to find the parts. We made up a tool to clean and lightly resurface the bore, cleaned it up and put everything back together. Same with the slave cylinder, and once freshly bled the car had working brakes and clutch again.
Peugeot 205T16 - Service & Mainenance
Many of these older cars are relatively simple in concept, but the work required to keep them running is becoming something of a lost art outside of the specialist network. Here at Thomas Marks we can undertake all servicing work from a major engine out job to an annual or pre-event service and thorough check-over.
Light cosmetic work, fixing stuff that’s stopped working and getting these cars through an MOT are all services we are happy to provide.
Below is a before and after picture of a drive belt set up we found on a recent Group B car service? Can you spot the difference?