91MR2

Also just got my floor mat back today. It came out ok. Mostly pleased, especially considering the condition of the mat in the first place, quite weathered. All in all, the patina/fit will be just fine...

Boy, it's been quiet in here lately... Pulled the center panel off, the tail lights weren't coming off, but going to give them another try today.

And did the driver's side patches today...sorry for the lousy pictures... Hoping to get everything cleaned and welded up soon, and then do the fiberglass overlay on everything...

Started working on my metal patches today, in preparation for the welding/fiberglass overlay to come. Got the passenger side done, quite pleased with how it will all come together, should be very strong, especially with the FG on top of everything...

It's the little things... The red Mi16 came with a set of floor mats that while branded Peugeot, are not for a 405. Likely a 505 is my guess. The passenger and rear mats fit fine, but the driver's side doesn't at all. So after talking to some local carpet stores about binding an old 30 year old floor mat, I found one willing to do so. After some careful (?) measuring today, I cut it to shape and then dropped it off. They will do the final trimming/shaping. Hoping to have it back in about a week...

The SW was in need of new fluids, so up on the lift it went. Good news, the car had a tremendously bad oil leak when I got it, however after putting on the lift, I noticed the oil drain plug was barely finger tight. After changing the motor oil/filter, gear oil, and then tightening everything well, etc., the car has been dry as a bone underneath. Was also a good opportunity to degrease everything down below. Took it outside for a nice wash afterwards. This car should be really nice when I'm done with it...

Tail lights will be the next thing I pull off. We will make this car right...

High Bean, the rest of the car is basically rust free, where the rear quarters were replaced the bodywork is starting to show through, more a function I believe of just bad body work done in the first place, which my shop will certainly remedy when they repaint more or less the whole rear of the car. Quite honestly, because of how good the rest of the car is, it allows me to rationalize spending this money to do the bodywork correctly, i.e. metal replacement where needed, etc. It will not be cheap, but in my opinion, it is the only way to save the car properly…

Mike, the rust here is fortunately all in the trunk/inner fender area. It's not something I was happy to find, but it's nothing structural, and the rest of the car is surprisingly free of rust. Again, not ideal, but it's not the end of the road for this car. I brought detailed pictures of all of this to my body shop, and they aren't intimidated at all. We will soldier on and make this car right...it's now a mission... This is regrettably what we sometimes deal with in these great lakes climates. Thankfully none of my other cars are afflicted with any of this. However this car has certainly seen some winters in its lifetime. But it will never see that again once I'm done with it...

In order to fully process all of what is ahead, I took a step back for a minute to figure out a plan. At the moment, I have an excellent body shop already lined up to basically re-do the rear 1/4 panels, since the bodywork just hasn't held up. It will be done right. All the inner work, ie. trunk floor and wheel wells, I'm going to tackle. My friend has a welder, and since none of this work will be visible, we will just get some good metal back in there, and once done, will seam seal everything from the inside, and undercoat it all from the outside. Since this car will never again see winter driving, I believe it will all hold up. Again, not what I was hoping to find, but these are old cars with stories to tell... I thought it deserved a wash today, so I pulled it out of the garage and did so (in 38 degree weather no less). It will be worth it when done...

This project just took a little turn... As you all may recall, I've mentioned before that this red Mi16 has had it's rear quarter panels replaced. I had assumed a rear end collision to likely be the culprit, but after taking a real close look at the car on my lift, there was really no sign of that, however what I did find was something else...rust... Nothing too terrible, but enough to make me now think that it was rust issues that may in fact have warranted the rear quarters to be replaced. After pulling all the trunk carpets out, I was able to reveal some of the fun. Well, nothing to do here but start grinding away until I get to good metal. We will make this car right, I just wasn't prepared for all this...

Right, but regrettably if the criminal is so bold to have justified breaking into a car to steal the potential radio there, the decision has already been made... In other news, I got the red car up on the lift today and dumped the motor and gear oil. Also removed the sad and broken fog lights and cleaned up the housings in preparation of the new fogs going on tomorrow. Tested them already, and they both work, excited about that for sure...

Right, even funnier how on these cars, my SW still has the privacy/security cover that flips down to "hide" the radio. As if a criminal doesn't know what is behind there...

The kenwood going into the SW. Period correct, with faded font/buttons even...

Thanks, I'm glad you've enjoyed the thread, they can kind of take on a life of their own over time, I sometimes look back at the beginning of this thread just to see how much it has progressed, as well as my familiarity with these cars now... For the radios, the prior owner had the jvc kd-s680 in all 3 of the cars. I've kept them, just simplified the wiring back to a more oem plug/play set up. The last radio to install however, which will be for the SW, the cd player seems to be on the firtz, but I have an old Kenwood that is period correct, and will be installing that. OEM+ we will call it...

Hi Bean, good advice, and I understand, but cutting them at the same length ensured that nothing would be too far off as far as overall length of the harness, and that was my bigger concern. I do make sure every connection is well done and taped tight so that no wires can interfere with one another...haven't messed one up yet, fortunately... Still waiting for that remaining iso pin connector, but once it arrives, I can wire it up and install the radio in the the SW, as that interior is otherwise complete now. Pictures below. The Mi16 interior is also done minus the rear seats, the seat back is still with my interior guy. Will be doing fluids this week though, while I wait...

Thanks for letting me know that, but fortunately I won't be needing them, just going to use these remaining 2. Of course, if I need to buy again, now I know a cheaper alternative... On another note, I thought these 2 pictures were funny. Each photo/pile represents all the non-oem wiring/audio equipment that I have since removed from the prior owner. He was a great guy, but I just can't get over what he was thinking with all of this. My solution was to buy a factory/standard iso pin connector for each car, and simply connect to the aftermarket radio harness, as pictured below. Simple...

Sometimes ordering more parts just works out... A couple years ago I had gone on the hunt for the very rare, and very expensive oem Siems fog lights for my Mi16. What I ended up finding were a beautiful set, but they were a set of 4. Having found no other real option, I bought them, wondering if I'd ever get use out of the extra 2. Well, since the red Mi16's fog lights gave up the ghost at some point in time...

Today was another good day in the garage, as I again unexpectedly got a couple hours in there to button up some loose ends. For starters, I was able to reinstall the center console on the SW, and finish that interior as well, save for the radio, as I'm still waiting on my final iso connector. The red car just needs the rear seats installed, but they are still with my interior guy. I also fixed up the rear seat cardboard where it was torn...

Got an unexpectedly free day at the garage today and got a whole lot done... The red Mi16's interior is all done, save for the rear seat back/bench, as my interior guy is re-stitching some old dry-rotted threading. That will go back together in a matter of moments once I get them back. The Sportwagon interior is also all re-installed, minus the radio, as I'm awaiting another iso pin connector harness, and I need to re-install the center console, after the final cleaning and re-assembly of all it's componentry today. Exciting day for sure, as the interiors for both cars are now, for all intents and purposes, complete...

Yeah, it wasn't anything I was hoping to find, but as I said, the damage was limited to just some chewed foam, no big deal. Cleaning everything was the tough part, but was doing all that anyways... In other news, the prior owner of these cars, my friend Jack, really had an affinity for "updating" his audio equipment. Well, I'm into more of a simplified approach. See here the photos of my new radio harness...

Hello gentlemen, I've continued to plug away on both interiors, things are coming along very nicely, very pleased. I pulled the rear seat bottom and rear seat back out of the Mi16 (don't know why I waited so long, since I've already since buttoned up the whole front of the interior), and found a little surprise, some former residents that took up a temporary home. Thankfully they did very little damage, other than eating a little foam. All cleaned and disinfected now...

Bean, I just have your typical interior automotive cleaning products, I'll be sure to let you all know how they perform on the plastics. Might need to try something like what you suggested... Here's a few shots of today's efforts, more interior repairs...

Thanks Bean, it's coming together quite nicely inside now, no sticky awful black residue/goo, just clean... The carpets are in very good shape indeed, as is the leather, surprisingly so really. Once it's all back together I'll give it one more "clean" with a product to add some moisture back into the plastics, as some areas look a little splotchy from all the residue cleaning. This may happen by the end of the weekend even...