Search the Community

Hello everyone! Some of you may remember my last project (505 GTI V6) that also has a short video on Youtube. I don’t know why or how that video has achieved 100k views, but nevertheless I decided it would be a major milestone and it is worth celebrating it with the revealing of my latest project. This project began immediately after my GTI V6 project was roadworthy. Since I felt it lacked power to make it something very special, it would need some upgrading. As I further investigated different options, I figured out that I would need a charger of some sort for my power hunger. Now, with the V6 I would need every required part custom made and since I had a 205 GTI as my daily driver back then I stumbled upon the Mi16 and S16. Those are probably one the most over designed engines for a normal car like 405 or 306, and they pack a huge potential. Don’t get me wrong, custom parts are not the issue for the V6, but I would prefer to keep the V6 naturally aspired and since parts for Mi16 and S16 are readily available I thought maybe I would try to make my version of the 505 Turbo updated to 21st century. A Peugeot 505 T16, yes, that would be what I need… At this point I would like to point out that this project is still on-going but I would prefer to tell the project history from the beginning up to this date. This project was properly started over 3 years ago (2015) when I bought a Citroen Xsara 2.0 VTS which had the same engine that Peugeot 306 GTI-6 has (Xu10j4rs). The car was almost totaled, but I would only need the engine to be in reasonable condition. As the cars body was in bad condition, the seller did list it at somewhat cheap price. Since the Xu10j4rs engine is demanded engine in amateur racing leagues in Finland, I knew I need to act fast if I would want to get it before some amateur racing team would buy it. I contacted the seller right away when she listed it and I went to see the car in the next day. The car was in a bad shape, but I didn’t even go for a test drive, I just started the engine and revved it couple of times and the feeling of the engine had me convicted it is in a decent shape. After all, I would strip it completely and rebuild it with new parts. The car was LOUD since the exhaust pipe was also broken just after the cat. After signing the papers, I drove the Xsara to my house. It was heavily snowing, so 150 km with broken exhaust, a plastic bag as a side window and without functioning air conditioning blower was far from a enjoyable trip, but I didn’t have time to get a trailer and someone with a license to tow the trailer. The trip back to home went well regardless the circumstances. As I got it parked, it stayed there for almost a year since I was busy with other stuff. In late 2016 I salvaged the engine and the rear axle along with some other parts from the Xsara and scrapped the rest. I stripped the engine completely and took the head, block and crankshaft to an engine specialist, who washed, checked and measured all of the parts. The engine found out to be in an excellent condition, and only the head gasket surface was machined straight, and the valve stem seals were renewed. The casting imperfections from the ports were also removed. The head was also flow benched before and after the port cleanup. I also happened to have an Mi16 head in the shop at the same time and it was also flow benched as I were curious enough to see how they match up. As the specialist confirmed the engine was in an excellent condition, I placed some orders for parts. I ordered a Wössner Low-compression piston and a PEC H-beam forged connecting rods. The pistons were 0.5 mm oversize as I would have the block re-bored to ensure a proper piston and piston ring clearance. The piston / rod kit took 3 months to arrive as they needed to be made in the Wössner factory as they didn’t have them on stock. I also did order some King Racing bearings for the rod bearings and normal King bearings for the main bearings and Glyco thrusts bearings. Furthermore, I did order a Cometic head gasket, but it didn’t fit properly on the Xu10j4rs. As for gaskets, I did order a full set from Elring. When the piston / rod set arrived in the February 2017, I could send the pistons along with the block to an engine machining shop for the re-boring. The block was re-bored to 0.5 mm oversize and the block head gasket surface was levelled. After the re-bore, I painted the block red. Although the block had been re-bored, and I did have the parts, I needed to machine the bearing housing for the clutch shaft bearing in the crankshaft. I did this with one of my friend’s lathe as the machining shop would rip me off for such a job. I did blank the oil routes with tape before doing any machining althought it is not done yet in the picture. After machining the bearing housing, I could finally start to put the engine back together with the new parts As I wanted to properly tighten the ARP 2000 connecting rod bolts, I would need a stretch gauge to measure the bolts stretch. I ended up fabricating one on my own along with an calibration part. Unfortunately I dont have a picture of it at the moment. As soon as I had my stretch gauge calibrated, I could assemble the bottom end of the engine with the new parts. At this point, I also had almost compeleted the assembly of Megasquirt 2 with coil-on-plug modifications: (Sorry for un-focused picture) As for summer 2017 I didn't get much done except fitting the top-end for the engine after measuring the compression ratio and valve timings. I did use a elring MLS head gasket and ARP head stud set. For the late 2017 I ordered a clutch and flywheel set along with billet aux pulley from TTV Racing. The last thing I managed to do in 2017 was the alternator and powersteering pump bracket. The original cast iron was way too heavy since I dont need the upper engine mount anymore. I ended up doing it from 8 mm and 10 mm stainless steel rods welded together with TIG. That concludes the progress to end of the 2017. I will continue with the 2018 and 2019 progress in my next big post this or next week. Please feel free to ask any questions regarding the pictures, the story or anything else related to the project, I'm more than happy to answer to them. And yes, the car itself is going get restorated in the early 2018 and the project will take huge leaps compared to the previous years progress speed. Best Regards, WalesRR