It's all about timing

"Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction" (rustholes-are-weight-reduction)
07/28/2017 at 08:21 • Filed to: PEUGEOT 505, TO DO LIST

I made some progress on my Chevy, and have about 3 days of work left on it (roughly estimated). So in the last weeks I figured on what I should work after that.

To put you into context, I currently have 6 cars:
- First gen Pajero, that got a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! 2 weeks ago
- 1960 Bel Air V8 that got !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and a new headliner a few months ago
- 1960 Bel Air that got an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! over the last months, which currently needs some work, but should be finished soon
- 2013 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , that needs a lower ball joint and some minor stuff, and is going to be sold in 2 months max
- Peugeot 505 2.5 GTD, my former daily driver, which always had some minor issues, but started to sip way too much oil, and is currently sitting without an engine
- !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , that I bought last year, on the very same day I bought my first Bel Air, and has not really moved ever since.

So right now, 3 of my cars move under their own power, and 1 will do so very soon. The logical next step is to start working on one of the 505s.

I would really like to see the GTD on the road again, but it is the one car I have owned for the longest time, and I went through a lot of stuff with it, both literally and figuratively, so I want to do it right. it needs some work on the engine, transmission, some welding, paint, I want to redo the stereo, and upgrade some things to make it the ultimate daily driver I always claim it is.

But that will take a lot of time, and I don’t want to rush it.

The V6 on the other hand, might be more valuable, and also needs some work, but I can accept to drive it in a less than perfect state. This one needs some new front suspensions, new brake lines, some welding, the removal of some badly welded patches in the rear, and at some point, paint.

The welding and paint aren’t my priority, as nothing structural is rusty and I can live with some imperfections. The suspension and brakes are mandatory though.
The thing is, this particular V6 has ABS brakes, giving it a specific brake booster, pedal set, front suspension, and some other various parts, and of course, none of that is available any more. A side effect of the ABS brakes is that only the V6 alloy wheels fit the car, but that’s a minor detail.
My original plan was to rip out the complete ABS system, using a GTD brake booster, pedals, and front suspension. which would have been a quick-ish fix.

BUT

I recently saw an ad for a 505 V6 engine with manual transmission on the french equivalent of craigslist. So I called to ask if they had some other parts. Turns out it is a complete car, although in a bad shape. the current owner wanted to take it to a destruction derby, and took the windows out, but when he wanted to move it on his property, one of the rusted rear trailing arms gave up. Rusty trailing arms i a very common issue on those, but at least it immobilized the car, making any further destruction difficult.

I know most of the parts will be rubbish, and have no hope that the ABS system on this one is ok, but the engine and transmission are said to be ok, various body parts are okay, it has a complete set of V6 alloys, the front suspension is said to be ok, and it has an A/C, which I want to try to put in the GTD in an effort to modernize it.

This is the V6 I already have, which will hopefully be on the road again before end of the summer

DISCUSSION (5)

duurtlang > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
07/28/2017 at 08:50

I guess you have 2 short term priorities: buying that whole 505 V6 parts car and getting the Megane ready for sale.

After you’ve dealt with those two things you can start working on one of your two 505s. I’d start working on the 505 which is the easiest to get back on the road, so it can remind you why you love those cars so much and thus will motivate you to fix them both properly.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
07/28/2017 at 08:51

So? Did you buy a third 505? I guess it can be useful to source at least some parts from it, maybe the ABS system is also better than in yours, who knows.

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > duurtlang
07/28/2017 at 08:54

Yes, I will try to fix the V6 before selling the Megane though, then fix the GTD, and when that is done, do the things I will have overlooked on the V6

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
07/28/2017 at 08:56

I plan on doing so, I contacted the seller already. We just need to organize a meet so I can get it. The issue is that I have no time during the week, and he doesn’t on weekends. A friend of mine might go get it with his flatbed next week.
If I can use it’s ABS system, I will, if not, I’m disconnecting it and remove the glowing bulb in the instrument cluster

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
07/28/2017 at 09:24

Ah I see.

Well, that’s a good solution seeing the ABS parts are made of unobtainium.