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Peugeot 309 GTi restoration

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#1 · (Edited)
Peugeot 309 GTi restoration. Updated 10th June 2020

Hello all,

Here's my ongoing restoration of a Phase 1 Peugeot 309 GTi.

Over the years I've owned variety of French tin, in the younger days I explored the modification route and learnt a lot about cars having had no actual mechanical training. In recent years I preferred the restoration and preservation ethic and bought a Mk1 AX GT, however with only 25,000 miles on the clock there wasn't much of a challenge, and a too good to refuse offer tempted it out of my hands.

A friend owned a 309 XE at the time which looked great, que the eBay and usual car sale website search for a GTi out of curiosity.
An extremely neglected looking GTi quickly popped up just a mile away, I went to see it, and just couldn't leave it sat there with a future looking not so hopeful.
Other than checking it on mycarcheck that it wasn't stolen or written off etc I really didn't care for much else... It looked to be fairly original and it needed saving!!

So with 90,000 miles, a non runner at the time of purchase (promised that it was just a knackered battery), and with just a V5C and receipt of sale to my 'history file', I had absolutely no clue when it was last taxed or MOT'd either.

Just about broke all the rules in the book there so let the fun begin and I hope you all enjoy the read.
Here is how it first arrived with me as owner number 4 in January 2014, my intentions for it.... Full restoration to 'immaculate' standard, and keeping everything to as original equipment (OE) specification as possible dependant on availability of parts.

















Essentially things looked so tired and neglected that I would be pretty much starting from scratch. As DVLA had its MOT status listed as 'not held' I had to assume that with no expiry date of an MOT passed/failed since their records went computerised in 2005, that it had been off the road for around 10 years! The question being why......
 
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#336 ·
Super work - and nerve wracking with no backup!
Absolutely, one mistake and it's an irreplaceable part ruined.

I have to do a similar job with a new set of doors which I've got, they also come plain so I've got to mark out and drill about 15 holes in each for the GTI trim to fit into. Fortunately one of the lads off the owners forum has the original template for that, so it'll save me no end of stress measuring & marking out

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#338 ·
Evening all, just a short update today.

I've finally finished the house DIY so the 309 is now back in the frame.

I need to pull my finger out a bit now as Danny has given the green light for his welding wizardry to commence before the end of the year. So in particular I need to get as much of the surface rust removal sorted before then so that he can crack on with the holey bits unhindered.

This'll be the worst side which Danny will need to strip back a few layers I expect, it does look a bit worse than the passenger side. Today I've lathered on the Bilt Hamber Deox Gel rust removal stuff, it takes several applications on heavy rust but it really does work



The passenger side didn't look as bad as the drivers side originally, but it needed a few layers stripping back to get rid of the underlying rust. Danny had started to build this side back up last year but it makes much more sense to get the car up to him to do the work where his full array of tools are etc.



So that's where I'm at. I need to get in the garage as much as possible now.

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#342 ·
Nicely done on the Wolf Run Ben!

The other side didn't look like it needed much welding either remember...





But Danny's spidey sense is spot on, after a hunch that there might be more lurking underneath, a strip down on the layers was the right choice

This was still lurking under the top layer. This piece was removed too



Here's the top bit that looked ok before it was cut out



And the ugly reverse...



Scary really isn't it.

Danny will have it looking original by the time he's finished with it.

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#343 ·
Shall grab a few more hours in the garage this afternoon.

In the meantime following recommendation I've been doing some reading and video watching for POR15. The stuff does seem to have fantastic reviews so hopefully applying that should seal everything nicely.

I'll then overcoat it with some spray on stone chip type coating to give a more original texture followed by a top coat, the colour of which I'm yet to decide.

As standard the original coating is a kind of orangey beige colour with the typical PSA half arsed splash of bodywork colour over the top wherever they felt like it [emoji849]

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#344 ·
Matt,

I've read differing reviews on POR15. Some love it, some don't have anything good to say about it....

Seems it's properly fussy about the surface it's applied on. Have you considered the Bilt Hamber stuff? Electrox primer followed by Epoxy Mastic?
 
#347 ·
Edited: my last comments are now entirely redundant.

In short, Ben's twisted my arm & convinced me to use Bilt Hambers Epoxy Mastic & not POR15.
Good call, however I would definitely recommend the Upol Raptor although I never used it on body work I did use it on Discovery for my bumpers and other suspension parts etc and it was definitely pushed to its limits and never showed any sign of failing :thumb:
 
#348 ·
Evening all, I've spent the whole day on the 309 again continuing where I left off with the rust removal using Bilt Hamber Deox Gel.

It really isn't the quickest of processes but it does do what it's supposed to do & it's entirely upto you how much manual or machine labour that you put into it.

I've deliberately not gone OTT with any grinding as I want to keep as much good metal as possible. However I do use a small range of wire wheel type attachments on the drill & dremmel as well as a sharpened flat blade screwdriver to scratch the head off the rust scab so to speak before applying the Deox Gel.

Considering I've spent all day on this this is as far as I've got, it's incredibly frustrating but progress is progress

Before starting today



After today's work



Whilst the Deox was doing its job I did turn some attention back to the passenger side. I bought myself a very thin artists brush and have used Bilt Hambers Hydrate80 pushing as much of it as possible under any seams in the box sections. If any bits of rust have crept under then hopefully it'll convert some of it/protect for the future.

Generally I'm happy to be making some progress on it again. I aim to have something more photo worthy for you all soon

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#351 ·
Simply astounding

I have spent the morning reading the entire thread and am completely blown away by the patience, love and dedication that you have put into this.

If I may -- I would strongly suggest that you print this thread off and send to Peugeot UK: they would be well advised that support you in any way that you can (maybe they have bits that you need ?). In addition and depending on what you want to do with the car when it is done, I would suspect they would be interested in buying it off you to be able to use it for car shows / their museums -- you have practically re-built the entire car !!

Complete respect @Willys309
 
#352 ·
Really appreciate the kind comments thank you [emoji1303]

I think patience is definitely the right word, certainly with this current stage of the build, where it really is such a long drawn out affair removing so much of the original stone chip under seal stuff and then working through each piece of rust.

Long term it just has to be a keeper, I'd never come close to making my money back. I do certainly aim to take it out as much as possible to classic shows etc.
If I could get it displayed at the N.E.C for the annual classic car show there that would be a fantastic achievement for me. Going there and seeing all the hard work from others peoples projects really does drive the desire to keep going.

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#353 ·
A little more progress on the underside over the last 2 days.

Forgive me if it's starting to look a bit 'samey' & you're getting bored of the rust removal pics but there is genuinely still hours going into it between pics.

I blitzed off some more factory stone chip above where the drivers side of the rear suspension bolts on.

This was achieved partly with a variety of wire attachments on the drill, and a soaking in Nitromors (nasty stuff!)



This left me with the rusty stuff to contend with



Yesterday I was doing some house DIY, so I popped a coat of Bilt Hamber Deox Gel on and left it for 6 hours so at least there would be some improvement





Today was much better, I spent about 3 hours scraping away at the loose rust using an old electricians flat blade screwdriver. It's hard as nails and works great as a little chisel to get into the tighter areas. Much of the rust could be scraped off so the metal at least felt a bit smoother to glide a finger over.

After that I left the Deox gel on for 8 hours. After wiping it all off here's where I'm at now.











After another days worth on it tomorrow I hope it'll be mostly rust free on that section.

I'll also begin the rust removal on the tighter box section bit to the right.

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#354 ·
Can't rush this stage as it's vital,though having something like the Deox helps alot,how do you deal with corrosion that has gone trough behind a panel or especially inside the seams? They both could be treated with the Dynax I guess but even the gel has limited access in this cases.
 
#356 ·
Absolutely right, this is one stage that I really REALLY don't want to be doing again anytime soon.

With regard to behind the seams the only thing I can really do (& suggest to others) is use the Deox Gel as much as possible initially, and use a small scribe to get off as much as it visible.

The only thing that can then realistically be done then is to use a very small artists brush which does fit a little way under some of the seams, so I've used that and Bilt Hambers Hydrate80 rust converter, and have forced as much of it under all of the seams as possible.

To my knowledge there's nothing else that can be done. With a bit of luck the rust converter will stall any that's crept under, and with epoxy mastic, new seam sealer etc, coupled with an unlikelihood of using it in the wet or salty winter I hope that it'll be in a sound state for plenty more years

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#357 ·
Evening all,

Been a few weeks passed, and I've still been cracking on with it.
Handily with this rust removal gel you can leave it several hours once it's on whilst you crack on with other stuff (like decorating the nursery to be)

The cars due to go on its holidays on Sunday to Daniel Whitworth's place for the inner sill welding. Once it's back from his place I'll really be able to plough on with it.

Drivers side of the rear end is it stands









Tomorrow I'll need to refit the rear suspension ready for its travels and make sure that everything that's staying on the car is actually bolted firmly on before the journey

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#359 ·
There's a small bit on the offside headlight panel, and the captive nut on the front arch for the mud flap spins so there will be a small bit there (can't access that without taking the wings off though which are bonded (I have 2 new wings to fit prior to respray) and to my knowledge that's it.

Once Danny's sorted the rear inner sills there's nothing stopping me from getting bits back on and to start thinking about an MOT.

The other small bit's can be addressed later If Danny's up for doing those bits too - hopefully I can drive it up to him by then

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#361 ·
Evening all,

Today was the day that the 309 finally got to go on its travels.

It was a 7am get up, load the car up with some goodies for Danny, and picked up a covered trailer locally for 9am for starters.

Back home then to load up the 309, and a steady Sunday drive up to the Whitworth Welding Wizardry Workshop in Lincoln some 65 miles away.

We did the donkey work before the Tea, Biscuits & car chat, in that we loaded up his Mercury Saxo VTS (which is staying warm & dry with me for a while) onto the trailer. Popped the 309 into his garage, removed the rear suspension again, propped it up in stands ready for work to begin.

Nice steady journey back to finish, Saxo safe & sound in my garage & trailer returned. Home for 6.30pm

Over to Danny now for some welding updates over the coming weeks.


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#362 ·
Evening all,

Today was the day that the 309 finally got to go on its travels.

It was a 7am get up, load the car up with some goodies for Danny, and picked up a covered trailer locally for 9am for starters.

Back home then to load up the 309, and a steady Sunday drive up to the Whitworth Welding Wizardry Workshop in Lincoln some 65 miles away.

We did the donkey work before the Tea, Biscuits & car chat, in that we loaded up his Mercury Saxo VTS (which is staying warm & dry with me for a while) onto the trailer. Popped the 309 into his garage, removed the rear suspension again, propped it up in stands ready for work to begin.

Nice steady journey back to finish, Saxo safe & sound in my garage & trailer returned. Home for 6.30pm

Over to Danny now for some welding updates over the coming weeks.

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Surprised you haven't posted a photo Matthew of the car in the trailer. It was pretty epic to be fair!:argie:
 
#364 ·
Updates to come very soon.

It's still up in Lincoln at the moment as I left it with Danny to potter about with welding it over winter [emoji3063] whilst tinkering with his own projects.

I know he's compiled a large amount of pics of the work so all being well there should be a nice detailed update here soon

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#365 ·
This seems a little weird, posting an update on another persons thread!

I've known Matt for a few years now and about 2 years ago, agreed to pop over to help him out with a days welding on his 309. He's about 70 miles away so it didn't seem a bad idea to get over there early and get it nailed in a day. My daughter(who had been born 11 weeks premature :doublesho) was still in hospital over in Sheffield with the good lady, so a day with Matt sorting this out seemed like a good way to get away from the stress.

On arrival however, my heart sank.

fe3c9762efe4f86e6f9cfc0e4be4fd4f by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

We had expected just to be repairing a dog eared little corner on each side as seen here..

beaff2f19c23708e0f158a87b007e916 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

However, I had to give the news to Matt that the little dog eared part was the tip of the iceberg! I could tell that moisture had got in between the three separate layers and knowing he was going to be keeping the car for quite some time, had to tell him we actually needed to cut it all out to stop anything coming back in the future. :rolleyes:

Sure enough with the top two layers cut out..

efa2ca02ff2842a759e5399259eda6dd by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

13fb157733ed6bfa331f67ad8df52655 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

So with that, I got cracking starting to repair the bottom layer, knowing full well at this point that this wasn't going to be done in a day!

After the first day, I left things with the lower layer made and welded in, but no welds dressed back...

20181118_173454 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

At this point, life became "real" so to speak with my daughter and work, meaning I sadly couldn't get back over to Matt's to continue the work. I also knew that it would take a lot of return trips and that was just for the nearside. The offside looked even worse!

a839939d19b415a2cec206dba6b819f9 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

We needed a plan!
 
#366 ·
Embarrassingly, about a year and a half later, a plan was hatched. :thumb:

If Matt could get the 309 over to me, I could get on with it at my leisure, grabbing the odd hour here and there after work and at weekends. Part of that agreement was that he would then take my Mercury grey Saxo VTS back with him so that it would stay dry.(its got a leaky roof don't you know :rolleyes:)

Over winter it's allowed me to slowly get it done.

First up the lower layer had the plug welds dressed

20181118_180822 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

I then ground back the other welds and gave it a good coat of etch primer.

The second layer was a bit of a pig to make due to its shape but it came good in the end.

20181129_160047 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20181129_154207 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

The swage line was made using a little metal folding vice I had made years ago.

20181129_125937 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20181129_125825 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20181129_114132 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20181129_114141 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

I then spent extra time making sure that the two lower layers overlapped each other as original. This is how they came from the factory!

20181129_160553 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20181129_160243 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20181129_160228 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

With that made up and welded in, I then had to create the final layer. It took me a little while to figure out how to make it(I'll show you how on the offside work) but once made and welded in, that was the first side done. :buffer:

2019-05-26_10-40-19 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

IMG_20190526_091314 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

IMG_20190526_091332_1 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

One little note by the way, what an absolute pain it was welding underneath car like this! The car was as high as it could go on the axle stands, but it was still quite low. This means to work on the car, Id have to slowly shuffle myself underneath, bang my head on numerous bits of sharp bodywork, then finally get comfortable just as Id remember that I had forgot a particular tool or to turn the gas on on the welder. :wall::wall::wall:

20190207_111130 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

Offside next. :thumb:
 
#367 ·
One little note by the way, what an absolute pain it was welding underneath car like this! The car was as high as it could go on the axle stands, but it was still quite low. This means to work on the car, Id have to slowly shuffle myself underneath, bang my head on numerous bits of sharp bodywork, then finally get comfortable just as Id remember that I had forgot a particular tool or to turn the gas on on the welder. :wall::wall::wall:
Ah, see now, the Rallye would be an utter joy for you to do being on the roll over jig.

Easy access, no crawling around on the floor, plenty of flat surfaces for the tea and biscuits....;)
 
#368 ·
The offside, as predicted, was a lot worse once I started to investigate! :doublesho:doublesho:doublesho

20190207_123254 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20181129_142920 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20181129_154336 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20181129_154257 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20181129_154310 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20190207_113637 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20190207_120144 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20190207_114442 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20190207_122635 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr

20190207_122629 by Daniel Whitworth, on Flickr
 
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