1989 205 XLD Diesel. Hello Smurf.

Wow August last year i last updated!
Smurf is still not on the road, but she is booked in for mot next Thursday.
One of the things it needed for mot was brake pipes, i decided to buy a flaring tool and a roll of pipe and ended up replacing them all.
Now I'm having a problem getting them bleed. I bleed them all got a good pedal took it for a spin and the pedal went straight to the floor,so i did them all again and again and its still the same. If you pump the pedal you can get pressure but the brakes still don't feel like they are working. I have put two liters of fluid through the system now and every time I'm getting loads of air out but the brakes still don't work. There is air getting in to the system somehow but there is no fluid leaking out so i just don't get it. I'm thinking the master cylinder must be at fault? Does anyone have any ideas?
Cheers steve.

Hey gang hope your all well.
Right i was hoping to post some pics of all the new parts and work id done on the smurf for the mot, but iv just looked on my camera and iv not taken any.
As she needed a new front subframe (totally rotten and holed) i decided now was the time to upgrade to GTI spec as id planned to do this at some point. So i started looking for a subframe and soon found that they had doubled in price since i was looking for one last. I found one in Northern Ireland that came with wishbones and anti roll bar so bought it and got it couriered over. I cleaned it all up with a wire wheel and gave it all a few coats of stone chip paint.
My brother chickened out of doing the welding so i posted on a local facebook group and found a guy that is a coded welder. He was on holiday from work so came round had a look then came back a few days later did the few wee bits it needed and only charged me £50. Oh and he said my welder was quite good too, good to know i didn't buy a dud lol.
So once the welding was done i could fit the new subframe,wishbones and new drop links. Also needed new brake hoses as they locate differently than the non GTI.
What else... fitted all new brake pipes and a new headlight as the wee bit that connects to the adjuster had broken off making the headlight insecure.
I think thats about it, but as i said above I'm having real problems getting the brakes to work. Everytime i bled them id get a good solid pedal, then when i drove the car the pedal would just go straight to the floor. I bled about two liters of fluid through the system but it was just the same. I thought it must be master cylinder so ive now replaced that with a new one and its still the same.
I checked one of the rear brake cylinders and when i pulled back the rubber dust cover there was a small amount of fluid visible so i ordered a pair of cylinders that i will get tomorrow and fit them. I really hope this sorts the problem out. I had to cancel todays mot and shes booked in for wednesday.
Cheers steve.

Was there ever an MOT? pass? I need to know whether or not the smurf still lives

It's a 205 in a funky colour with cool wheels - what's not to like? Crack on and get it stripped for assessment, you'll feel better about it then.

..... hope she’s had her hair done !

Bloody hell time fly's! I was in my 40s last time I updated, I'm going to be 53 next week!
I'm going to do a proper update soon, tell you all whats been going on and how the smurf is doing. Yeah iv still got her but shes been off the road 5 bloody years!
Back soon gang , cheers steve.

So whats been happening in the 5 years since she last had an mot? well, curse word all basically! As I said above I spat the dummy out when she failed the mot on welding that id missed, and I stuck her on my mums drive and walked away for around 3 and a half years. I really struggled to find someone to weld for me and ended up going to a local show and basically just asked loads of people who does your welding?? anyway one guy said if your cars in grantown on spey ( thats where my mum lives) you should speak to Jonathan Ogilvy the car restorer, he is grantown, is he? never heard of him. Turns out there is a bloody car restorers workshop literally round the corner from my mums.Anyway long story short hes doing my welding.
So i started doing the prep for him and as you always do found lots more to weld. I'll just let the pics do the talking.....

That would have been depressing! Good to see it being addressed.