Peugeot 206 - XUD9 VNT Lash Up

[mr_fish]

1st off...yes its a 206, reason for doing so...never actually seen an XUD in one (not saying it hasn't been done) and having a car that doesn’t look much but could also (potentially) light the wheels up in 3rd would be a laugh. Also going for the HDi box to help on the distance runs.

Also I apologise if it’s a bit ‘wordy’ but a lot happened since October. Also trying to get it in the order I have done things takes some thinking about.

So with that in mind....I’ve taken my 1.9D basic 206 and made it a lot better in terms of power. It has taken just over a few months of trial and error, dozens of times fitting and removing the engine from the bay, much bad language and numerous trips to breaker yards but….we finally had the machine driving under its own power.

ALL modifications (including engine change and power levels) be been made known to the relevant parties. Namely DVLA and Insurance.

From the beginning…

I joined the forum and immediately started looking for engines/turbos and a car to put it in.

I like the fact of the XUD9 being a simple engine to modify and maintain and I like the 206.

The original spec:

Peugeot 206 1.9L D

DW8 1.9 Donkey engine (69ish bhp?)
No Positive Manifold Pressure
Hydraulic Clutch
46,000 miles (car and engine)
247mm Front Brakes
Steelies
Dent in Door

Background
Originally I bought an engine on its own (before the car) and started to service that along with painting it Kawasaki green (was bored at the time). The engine is a D8A and had a Bosch fitted as standard originally out of a N reg, Ph1 d turbo with 117k (ish). Unfortunately it had been left out in the 2012 rain showers for a couple of weeks (with no intercooler) so it was slightly full of water. Anyways, removed the glow plugs, cranked it over and it cleared itself out. Refitted and hung some diesel lines to it and managed to get it fired up on the pallet. Ideal, it was a runner.

Video here:




Started to strip bits off the engine (bit of a state), fairly interesting as I hadn’t had much to do with the XUD before.





Then the paint brush came into play, ignore how I was holding the engine up





I did want to change the turbo from a K14 and seemed like the TD04 was the way to go. However, after a few conversations and being teased with VNT videos I started looking for a GT Series turbo....and found one...a GT22v.



Shinys bought at christmas when ECP had offers on



Along with a Gates Kit c/w Waterpump



Removed the Flywheel (New Crankshaft seal purchased)



...and Sump, didn’t have much in the way of Sludge but Cleaned it up



After



Out with the paintbrush (was a bit of a crappy job, but you don’t see it)



Car Found
Found the car on a salvage site where I’ve bought a few from before. A 1998 Peugeot 206 L 1.9D 46k on the clock and had a caved in driver’s door. After a trip to Worcester, it was in the shed waiting for a heart transplant.



The bay...



Hopefully room for a blower back there



Engine was removed, sold to Darren for a 306 he had down there which had thrown a leg. Also took down my Pump and injectors for him to rebuild and modify.



Also had to pick up part of a plough for him



Tried to fix up the 206 auxiliary setup (alternator and PAS pump)



Unfortunately that didn't want to work



Bolted up a HDi box to the XUD and lifted it into the bay.

---

First of many problems to come, the gearbox was sat too high and too far forward. Realised there was a ‘peg’ on the DW8 box that was needed.





Still room for a blower hopefully



Slotted the gearbox mount over to held the drivers side mount



Theres the little blighter - the original K14 just caught up, to see the space available.



Fitted another door and messed around with little bits and pieces but lost a bit of enthusiasm due to the dark evenings and being cold in the shed.



Notice the dent/hole in the sill to be sorted



Standard inlet test fit (for a laugh)



Along with the ‘bigger blower’, clearance is an issue





Xantia Inlet Found + Car
I had the mind to front mount the car already so was looking for a Xantia inlet but instead ended up buying the a whole car. Cat C right off, from a couple cracks in the front and rear bumpers. Anyways it was running a D8B, Bosch and K14 on 91k. All warranty seals and paint over the pump so it didn’t look to have been played with.

Got Lows?



Tractor Spec?



91k Engine



Stripping down





Couldn’t be arsed to scrabble around on the floor



Got the motor out finally, put on a pallet in the corner of the shed and weighed the car in.

Back on turbo clearance and out with the grinder and cut a piece of cross brace out of the bulkhead.

---

Ideal...clearance was gained for the blower which I managed to get some turbo adaptor plates made up (again help from Darren there) and bolted to a T2 manifold which I bolted to the engine.







The lower mount was also not inline so a ‘modified’ mount was fabricated, yes welding is a bit of a bodge but its strong enough.



Driveshafts had to be adapted



DW8 ones were too long



Intercooler fitment adaptations to the front panel



Look at that NA tiny exhaust....I know the Xantia one isn’t much better, but it would do for now.

Had a GTI backbox so looked at changing it into something more free flowing as I know that petrol backboxes are restrictive so take one 206 GTI backbox



Cut Open



and emptied



and a pipe welded in..only a bodged job but its stable



Started to test fit the front end with the intercooler. Just using the standard Xantia one..its bigger than the radiator!





Was getting impatient to fit the engine, let alone the VNT, and seeing as I didn’t have, injectors (still awaiting new nozzles) and the turbo wasn’t ready to be fitted. I set in one weekend and started to fit the complete Xantia lump and gearbox into the 206. I did replace the cambelt while it was out for peace of mind. Had to change the VAC pump over as the Xantia had an end cap on the cam.



New seals to be fitted



and drilled out the brass blanking screw (was seized)



Dropped the turbo and inlet off and fitted a new steel inlet gasket.



Offered up the water piping, comparison below

---

One job I do not ever want to repeat was the clutch cable conversion. Originally the car had a hydro clutch and if I had thought about it I would've used a DW10 HDi gearbox and a push clutch on the XUD. Because I had bought a shiny new valeo Pull clutch at Christmas I just carried on. Used a petrol 206 pedal, modified it into more of a hook on the end and used the xantia cable.





Changing the pedal was an absolute B***ard even tack welded the nut to a nail to feed it in there because it was so tight. So much bad language that evening.



Xantia gearbox mount needed some alterations with the grinder



There it is sitting in its place



Intercooler mounts



Exhaust was a bit of a homebrew setup. Used the downpipe from the Xantia, 206 powerflow mid section and the hybrid GTI backbox. It bolted up brilliantly.

Started to connect things up and needed to adapt piping and cables, the cooling system used a Vectra header tank along with various offcuts of 306 water piping along with the rear DW8 pipes. The PAS on a 206 has a built in reservoir to the pump and I did try to bolt this up but the holes wouldn’t align. So used a Saxo PAS reservoir and a copper T piece to tap into the low pressure feed.



Had my local hydraulic place make up a high pressure pipe between the 206 power steering pipe and the 306 PAS pump. Had to change the PAS pump on the Xantia motor as it had some setup that worked the hydro suspension.

The car fought all the way with fitting the engine. But we did get there in the end. The intercooler took some fitting as it was bigger than the radiator! The pipes were a bit big really and came fairly close to the radiator. Various piece were chopped out from the fan housing and bumper reinforce. Even had to chop a piece out of the headlights to get them to fit on their mounts. Unfortunately no pictures of this.

So it finally was ready to drive out of the shed.







So the spec of the first engine:

Peugeot 206 1.9 Turbo Diesel

XUD9TE (D8B) Engine (circa 120bhp (at a guess) after Darren fettled)
26 PSI on a K14 - was 21 PSI without extra fuel (Seized actuator)
Pull Clutch Cable Setup
FMIC
91,000 miles (engine)
283mm Front Brakes
Boost Gauge
14" Swallows - Changed to 16” Nimrods when I changed the Brakes
No More Door Dent

Above is a little over statement when the engine was first fitted. As I drove it for a few miles and had the rear liners let go one day, so new wheel cylinders and shoes fitted on the rear. Plus painted the drums up to make its a little more tidy.





Boost when engine first fitted



Custom OEM Style Badge - yes the car needed a clean



307 283mm front calipers sourced and fitted with ‘ehem’ 2nd hand disc and pads (will fit new soon – they’re good enough for the moment).

Comparison



Fitted



With Nimrods





Removed quite a bit of the interior as I sourced a quicksilver one to fit - but that seemed to get delayed (probably because it involved cleaning it first).

Also drove down to cornwall, after a few tweaks and help from the Cornish diesel radger the car found a few extra ponies and smoke.



Had the dent in the sill sorted and the side of the car sprayed along with a sport front bumper.

Drove on then without any issues.

I've just blasted out what I remember so hopefully it makes sense, will read again to make sure it does and update if necessary.

Will continue/update with as it is now (with the VNT turbo and ‘green’ engine) soon…

Must say a huge thanks to Darren for all the pointers and advice he gave, along with answering non stop questions during the conversion and also to the forum projects for their silent encouragement for big boost.

...and if you've read this far...thanks for reading

Watch this space.

[Piggy]

awesome...always quite fancied doing this...

what issues did you have with the ecu controlling all the wipers/lights etc...were looms cut a lot?!

whats next stage?

[Mattcheese31]

saw this at FCS and was very impressed . . . . .respect for the XUD love, never seen this done before and i passed my test in a 206 so have a tiny soft spot for them

[mr_fish]

awesome...always quite fancied doing this...

what issues did you have with the ecu controlling all the wipers/lights etc...were looms cut a lot?!

whats next stage?

No issues at all.
Basically think of it like a Ph2 306. Its a real early 206 which is pre-plex the BSI only really looks at the immobiliser for the pump and the driverside airbag. No fancy auto lights or wipers, just goes through the fuse box. The 206 engine loom, believe it or not, plugs onto the XUD perfectly, just used the cooling sensors for the DW8.

It is currently running a VNT which is being starved of air (my god it still shifts though), so improved inlet needed and exhaust....

---

saw this at FCS and was very impressed . . . . .respect for the XUD love, never seen this done before and i passed my test in a 206 so have a tiny soft spot for them

cheers matt. Even my old man was helping on most of the build stages as he was interested what power the old idi engine was going to give.

[silverzx]

What, why haven't I seen this before!?

[darrenjlobb]

Because hes only just posted it? haha

Once the intake / exhaust is sorted, we should be able to extract alot of very useable power from this little monster...even if it is in a cough206cough

Also worth noting, I think an important build photo has been missed here...so will add it in below....the mafia "gettin-diesel-done"

[Chris_90]

I have a soft spot for the 206 to, no idea why as i see them as girls cars (no affence) love all the work gone in to this should be epic on with the vnt on

[mr_fish]

What, why haven't I seen this before!?

Only really just got round to pulling all the pictures together and writing it up. will start on the next lot to show the VNT going in.

...even if it is in a cough206cough

behave

---

I have a soft spot for the 206 to, no idea why as i see them as girls cars (no affence) love all the work gone in to this should be epic on with the vnt on

none taken . they are quite curvey cars really. if I had to have a 306 would go with the Ph1 and the same with your 106...prefer the ph1 squareness.

Honestly the VNT takes the XUD to a whole new level...

[Piggy]

hmmm interested to see how you run the vnt

[mr_fish]

and the derv mafia build photo hasn't been missed. the thread hasn't got to that stage yet

[Piggy]

how did you 'adapt' the drive shafts to fit!?

[Chris_90]

What, why haven't I seen this before!?

---

I have a soft spot for the 206 to, no idea why as i see them as girls cars (no affence) love all the work gone in to this should be epic on with the vnt on

none taken . they are quite curvey cars really. if I had to have a 306 would go with the Ph1 and the same with your 106...prefer the ph1 squareness.

Honestly the VNT takes the XUD to a whole new level...

Feel free to swap the curvy 206 for my 106 you can make an epic vnt powered 106 them

[silverzx]

Dibs on turbo.

[puglove]

best 206 ever

/thread

[mr_fish]

how did you 'adapt' the drive shafts to fit!?

Was pleased as punch with that, took the Xantia inner 'cups' and fitted them to the 206 shafts also and iirc I used the long part of the xantia shaft for the driverside one. Oner thing I regret is that I didn't have CV boot clips to put back on the boots. So ummm yea....big cable tie. Will sort it one day.

What, why haven't I seen this before!?

---

I have a soft spot for the 206 to, no idea why as i see them as girls cars (no affence) love all the work gone in to this should be epic on with the vnt on

none taken . they are quite curvey cars really. if I had to have a 306 would go with the Ph1 and the same with your 106...prefer the ph1 squareness.

Honestly the VNT takes the XUD to a whole new level...

Feel free to swap the curvy 206 for my 106 you can make an epic vnt powered 106 them

Hah 106 VNT would be an absolute ANIMAL

Dibs on turbo.

The VNT one? I just kept scrolling the 'bay and eventually found it.

best 206 ever

/thread

Thanks chap...not much interest over on the 206 forum (although I didn't do the most througha writeup), its more GTIs there. Thought it has an XUD, so it would be partially acceptable here.

[WiNgNuTz]

Not a big fan of the 206's myself, but this is something else! Both me and my brother noticed it at FCS, and i seem to remember phil saying something like "whats with the 206?"

Look forward to seeing more of this.

[Dum-Dum]

Such an awesome car, loved seing it at FCS. Those bits about the box needing a different mount will be a great help for my project

[ozonehostile]

Ahh so it's your car! I kept seeing little snippets of the build around Facebook and on darrens threads and freshly finally saw it at fcs. Love it :-)

[mr_fish]

Not a big fan of the 206's myself, but this is something else! Both me and my brother noticed it at FCS, and i seem to remember phil saying something like "whats with the 206?"

Look forward to seeing more of this.

yea snuck in with the rest of the 306s...I didn't really have the bonnet up so probably a few people though the same.

Such an awesome car, loved seing it at FCS. Those bits about the box needing a different mount will be a great help for my project

cheers, yea it did throw us when fitting. Did cast my eye over a Peugeot Expert last night with a DW8 and that had a different peg again. Guessing Peugeot seem to have the similar style gearbox but just different 'pegs' depending on the vehicle.

[ginge191]

Was awesome meeting you at the car at FCS! Great little car mate!

[silverzx]

Dibs on turbo.

The VNT one? I just kept scrolling the 'bay and eventually found it.

I meant as a bolt on kit.

[Frosty]

Glad to see you finally got a thread up. Really good/interesting read mate. I look for to more. This car will defo surprise a lot of people

[mr_fish]

Ahh so it's your car! I kept seeing little snippets of the build around Facebook and on darrens threads and freshly finally saw it at fcs. Love it :-)

Yea its mine, thanks we got there in the end after all the effort.

Was awesome meeting you at the car at FCS! Great little car mate!

You too chap, thanks

Glad to see you finally got a thread up. Really good/interesting read mate. I look for to more. This car will defo surprise a lot of people

cheers mate, just keep it sensible on the outside. For people who understand the cars, it'll be funny when it pulls off blowing coal as its too old for a HDi engine and the 1.9 NA is half the power.

[Dum-Dum]

You can tell straight away when you see it driving even if your being sensible as its got that unmistakable XUD noise.

[mr_fish]

Part 2

Well after 2000 odd miles of happy motoring and an itch for more power it was time to drop the motor. Well Darren said he could spare an afternoon for turbo fitting so I started to take the engine out ready for this. Also when I say no issues...think I could be a member of team orange sump.



The pipe under the stat housing split and was weeping out and down the block. No raised temps just losing a drop of water. The engine was coming out anyways to be rebuilt so that didn’t worry me too much.

So the strip down







In keeping with my interest of OEM’ness. I found a intercooler for the 1.6HDi 206 and tried out the test fit before removing the engine. Couldn’t find a front cowling from a 1.6HDi (they seemed to always be smashed up) so modified my own setup. Also more piping was bought.





Intercooler was sat too high really so some modification to the lower cross member is needed





Something like this I was thinking



After faffing around with that I got the engine ready to lift out.







And back to basics



Two XUD lumps, green one waiting for fitment



Had my oil line ready



Was going to use the T2 exhaust elbow, pretty damn restrictive though so next door chappy helped make up made up a fresh piece to bolt to the turbo





Exhaust plate and manifold machined a little bigger out to match.


Plan’s for the exhaust off the turbo

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Being a little behind the green engine didn't have a cambelt, pump, injectors, inlet, turbo, alternator or PAS pump fitted. Pretty much a bare block. Mega thanks to Chris and Ruan for helping fit that while Darren played with the turbo.



Did have a moment when Darren got excited and seem to of lost two of the locator dowels for the vane control luckily next door neighbour had some needle roller bearings which we chopped down and used.



Bits bolted on



Theres the ‘lads’ busy. Also had to fit the ARP ‘win’ studs from zx_volcane. Wasn't going to initially buy them but I was told that the turbo wouldn’t be fitted if I didn’t (haha). Also Ruan’s famous VNT impressions from his car always ended with “...and the coolant light came on as I lifted the head”. Suppose I’m not really a fan of headgasket changes when their in the car.





Quickest engine fitting I’ve seen.





The derv crew stayed until around 11pm that night to get the car running (which I’m hugely grateful for). As the engine hadn’t been turned over for 6/7 months, also the pump and injectors hadn’t been run since they were rebuilt. So with a couple people there to assist IF it did take off, was helpful.

I’m kicking myself for never recording the 1st start video as it was quite entertaining. Nearly all valves were stuck and no ether to help her out. So was seriously down on compression we lashed some WD40 down her throat. Eventually a few let go and built enough compression to get her to fire. All running fine bar a bit smokey and a leak from the stat housing.

Thermostat leaking issues



New seal from peugeot, still leaking. Did notice a little bit of the aluminium had worn away so replaced the whole housing with one from Poodle. Seemed to have done the trick now.

All a bit tight back there, not really a fan of the water routing



Had a plumber friend who made up a new bit of pipe for me. My explanational drawing.



Needed to get an exhaust fitted so...off the turbo.



Welding was tidied up afterwards



Alot of people will cry at the air intake, I know Ruan and Darren are



Another shiny to help reduce the engine movement



Well from when the cornish lads helped fit the engine I loosely built the rest up and took it for a quick drive. Honestly couldn’t see what the fuss was about for the VNT lark. Smokey, laggy, pinning the 30 psi gauge....I knew there were issues. The vanes weren’t opening. Basically the VAC can didn’t like to work the other way around so couldn’t do much with the engine in the car so out it came again. Was able to tidy a few things up then, namely piping. Fitted a better can and started to lift the engine back in.

Had the machine man make me up a tall engine mount bolt. For when we slotted the drivers mount forward for clearance.





Was toying with wheels courtesy of Jimbo



Bit tight in my opinion



New water pipe made

---

Also fitted the coilovers I got from Sam. Many thanks to Ginge’s guide as i was wondering how to piece it together.



And fitted, even managed to save the droplink.



Engine back in and fitted the Red engine mount



Severe lack of photos then. But got the car back together on its wheels



Hellish problems with getting the vanes to open with the boost still. In the end found out it was the MBC being too closed up, but the actual spring inside had coiled up. Sorted that and went for a drive. Was really pleased to see the gauge stop at 15psi and OH MY GOD it was an absolute ANIMAL. Can definately relate to Ruan’s VNT noises now!

Upped the boost to a safe 20psi and it was insane...well coming from a K14 which you literally had to strangle the sod to keep ‘er blowin. This is whole different drive. From the moment your foot is in the shagpile, the power is there and a definite huge increase in torque. By the way, this is still with my hellish restrictive inlet. When I sort that out, I swear something is going to break (though i don’t drive hard all the time). Also when you come to a hill, no need to drop a cog, as long as you don’t ‘bog’ the fuel in, the turbo comes into play and it will literally pull up the hill without breaking a sweat.

All this happened the week of the FCS weekend so still not actually road tested the thing for more than a couple of miles. Went ahead and fitted (well lashed up) my gauges. Only cheapies that I have had for a while from previous car’s seem to work ok though.



Fitted all the interior in and drove around Exeter, filled up with fuel and drove the long way home. 20 miles on the engine now so I hoped that would be enough as FCS was only a couple days away and still had a few things to sort out.

The morning before we left Darren rolled up and made finer adjustments to the pump, we’re not 100% happy with it due to the air restriction but we wanted it drivable for the trip and not running defiltered.



I hadn’t even washed the car so managed to talk Darren round to doing it while I got bits and pieces together.



And waiting for a few others from the Exeter area to travel up with.



Parked next to James’s ZX



The car did the trip perfectly, no problems and was a pleasant drive. Back home with another Derv mafia coaling machine - the V6 Audi Bus



Pretty much to where the car is at, at the moment. Few little changes to be made, so will update as necessary.

Future plans are:
To sort that awful inlet
Drop the rear a little
Move the intercooler behind the grill for more flow
Build a bigger exhaust
Sort the Driver’s side window
General tidying

The Xantia engine that came out has plans for a rebuild with bigger rods, maybe a bit of porting, and a 10mm pump. The 11mm is a little over kill as it will coal to buggery if you're not considerate. This will be a long term thing as I have other things that need to be worked on first.

Comments always welcome.

Thanks for reading.

[Dum-Dum]

Awesome read mate.

[Poodle]

Fantastic read mate, didn't realise this thing was so special - hence the polite "that's nice" face when you told me you had a 206 XUD - had no idea they didn't come with XUDs as standard lmao! Really does look completely standard too, ultimate sleeper, love it!

[Daniel306]

Your county makes mine look like scrap. not sure iv ever seen one that clean

[Dum-Dum]

Fantastic read mate, didn't realise this thing was so special - hence the polite "that's nice" face when you told me you had a 206 XUD - had no idea they didn't come with XUDs as standard lmao! Really does look completely standard too, ultimate sleeper, love it!

I feel ashamed to admit i kinda did this too. Wish id had a better poke around at FCS

[Jimbo]

I can vouch for the 11mm coaling well after following onto fcs.

I think u would of had to drop it fair the get those mi16 wheels looking right. Still awesome though