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It does suck, but this disease is 10 years old and it'll take a little while to right the ship. When Congress demands bankers act irresponsibility - well, that's not exactly the best group of people to give that mandate to. To say they ran with it is an understatement. Kindda makes me feel like an idiot for paying my mortgage on time, etc. But on to cars, a few things I see in the Seattle market... Mini. Still very highly priced. I haven't seen them softening at all. I don't know if they have that kind of money into them or they're still selling off the lot. Probably helps that they have such a limited dealer network. Detroit cars - in a freefall. A two year old Taurus sells for 1/2 what it did off the lot. BMW. I hear that they're in a world of hurt as a large percentage of "Biff & Muffy" owners actually lease them. BMW had their residuals in the stratosphere and as they're being turned in, valuations are not in line with reality. Heard that the company is in pretty tough financial straights over this. Not GM bad, but pretty bad none-the-less. I think Chapter 11 or 7 needs to occur for at least one of the big three. They've known markets can go south in a big way for 20 years (first Japanese invasion) and did nothing to fix their fundamentals. Sure it'll be tough, but management needs to get back to being boring, stuffy good businessmen rather than rock stars. I just don't see that happening no matter how much cash the govt flushes down that hole. Gas consumption is still down from anecdotal chat. Less money to spend is softening demand. Hope THAT continues and those Petro-Thugs (Putin, Chaves, etc.) get what's coming to them. Merry Christmas all! Work hard and smart in the next year and I'm sure you'll do just fine.

Ya, ain't it a killer? I've had to drive through this soup. RWD 89 Cressida with 2 Kuhmo Izgen snows (no studs - but studable). No problem yet. I'm now a convert on good snow tires! Everybody else is either a well-equipped 4x4 or cabled-up car. Too bad I don't have a pair for my 86. I'd rather be driving that!

I made the same mental calculations you did when this nice Supra popped up locally a little while ago. I had one and know the cars inside out. For me it came down to driving what everybody else had - or wanted to have - or wanted to race against. Screw that. I'll take what I learned and apply it to a car no one else can figure out. Sure, they have all the negatives you mention, but that's where the challenge is. With modern cars, it's just a matter of opening your wallet. Follow the prescribed "Stage x" build-up. With our cars, it's all about the owner and his abilities. Are they better cars? No. No 505 is going to be a stoplight hero. But you have to remember, someone always has more HP and will hand you your butt. Most Mitsu guys know that feeling. Is building a Yota or even Mitsu easier than a 505? Sure. But you'll still drop 20-40K for top-10 status. For that kind of scratch, you could have a small fleet of cool unique cars. Ya, the 3000 is a cool car and I'm the first to admit, the 505 is not for everybody. I've actually never recommended the car to anybody. At least nobody I know personally has what it takes to take a wounded orphan car and bring it into modern car-type serviceable condition. Have fun, don't get any tickets and watch out for those big single MKIVs.

More on this! I'm about to do the clutch in my 86 and I'm in the PS area. Did you have a shop do it? Unit purchased? Links? PS: Put your car in your sig so we can easily see what we're dealing with. A lot of new 505 owners signing up lately!

That's funny! Is there a place where you can get print/posters of that? I've got this die-hard Ford friend who needs it. (I started out on Fords and still have fond memories of my indestructable Fairlane)

I've driven Uma. I did the pre-inspection for her. I'm sorry she had to let it go as she was so enthusiastic about the cars. At ome time, Peugeot owners were all Type B personalities, but as time is showing, it's the Type As that have the dogged determination to see them through the tough patches. Glad the car is in good hands.

Sounds like you like to do good quality factory work. Nice to see that! Welcome here.

Sounds like you have a decent game plan, Jim. You might also want to scribe the adjuster screws to make sure they're not backing off. I'm no expert on those screws, but if the scribe marks still line up after a few hundred miles, you can eliminate that variable in your quest to nail down the problem. Where in Seattle are you? Who did you get to do the bottom end work?

Damn, I'm gonna have to pass my Hard Ass crown to one of you guys!

This is a colo machine?! Who ya going with? I have a thunderously bad experience with ValueWeb (Affinity). They flat out "lost" my box. Worst company EVER.

It's pretty much a given that they're not the most robust heads out there. However, there are a couple of things to consider. You get ZERO overheat events. Iron block and aluminum heads don't allow for this. At a minimum you're looking at a blown head gasket. To ensure this, you have to make sure the cooling system is at factory spec. That doesn't mean what they put in there still exists. You have to make sure the electromechanical clutch fan works properly. You also have to bleed it "by the book". Plenty of topics on both subjects. Hoses also need to be in excellent shape. Your cooling system is at least as important as your oiling system. Few people treat it with the importance it deserves. Proper warm up and cool down. Easy. DON'T hammer it until the OIL is at normal operating tempature. Water will get there first, but wait until the oil gets here also. Oil plays an important role in heat extraction of an engine also. You have to allow for the proper expansion of the iron block and aluminum cylinder head before you start bouncing off the rev limiter. Cool down. Easy. Just drive it sanely before shutting down the engine. Do this 5-10 miles before you turn off the car. Too often people assume "more is better". While true for money, sex & guns, it is not always true for engine systems. A high flow fan or higher flow this or that is not better. There have been many cases where coolant rushes through the system at a pace that doesn't allow for the maximum amount of heat to be transferred to the coolant. Don't do this. Just get your cooling system 100% factory in performance. If you want to tinker around with "extra this" and "more that", measure your results. Get a pyrometer/thermo-couple and mount it into the head. Preferably two or three of them.

Ya, looks awesome, but in real bottom line terms, it's worthless - maybe. It actually adds a bit of heat to the assembly. Not enough to matter. I say maybe worthless, 'cause the most important thing an assembly must do is be able convey is it's proper operation. With it all picture perfect, I'll be able to spot a flaw, error or incorrect operation or leak at a glance. Kindda like the floor anaoly: Is a floor covered in crap any weaker than a spotless floor? No, but it's not very conductive to work with humans. Looking at the other side where I've left the caliper assembly as-is for re-assembly reference, I can barely figure out what part is what and does what. It really helps me at least having everything "money". The whole thing got started when my parking brake failed. I did replace the cables. New ones are available from Rob at Javel for cheap ($40 a pop). For the construction and quality, it's a bargain. Old ones barely did their job. But, in order to eliminate other variables, I decided to go through them. I'm putting off doing the wheel bearings (under great stress ). Because if I did that, I'd have to do the differential which looks awful. Ya, google evaporust and read up on it. Only 100% perfect for applications where you can submerge the part and let it soak for a day. Brush-on and other methods are not as good. A gas tank would be a challenge!

More pictures: Tools and chemicals used... Had the big pieces "Cermacoated" by Performance Coating. They are known around the country as one of the best shops of their type. They're about 25 miles away from me, but you can mail them nearly anything. You'll probably talk to Brad of Josh. Tell them the "Peugeot guy" told you about them! Josh is only like 30 and he recognized my car right away. It's my type of bling. But, it does have a practical purpose. Mainly, the ability to see things (leaks, etc.) and rust prevention. Oh yes, and my secret weapon... This stuff simply removes rust. Through a process called "selective chelation". Nothing like it anywhere.

A little write-up will be coming along in a couple of weeks. Wish I had more time to work on the cars.

I've looked at LEDs and it doesn't look like they put out a lot of light. They're bright when you look directly at them, but they just don't kick out a lot. There's some technical measurement for this kind of stuff. I'm thinking of putting krypton 1156s into my backup lens housing. The whole world is trying to make LEDs work for backup, marker & brake lights. None with anything I'd call a success. I've always liked how some of the new cars do that. They really make things bright.

Haven't heard of anything. The latest public effort was/is Rabin and his conversion. You can still buy them from the factory for $500 or so. I did this last year. You may be tempted to say no way, that's too much. But is it really? You'll pay that and more for rotors for some new model cars. And these rotors are one-off production made exclusively for this car. It's shared by no other car. Just the ABS equipped 87-89 505s. So yeah, it's a lot. But not really. In the end, I can definitely see Peugeot nixing that part. In that case, any work on a retrofit or reproduction would be greatly benefical.

Didn't I see one picture that came off CL Seattle (Renton to be exact)? You're near me. Ya, I'll take some this-and-that parts from you. PM me. No probs with the racing. You're doing the right thing in having one last go with it. It was a wrecker car as you say.

Has anybody done the rear bearings on the 505 sedan? We're talking about the Girling/Lucas disc brake equipped cars (most of them)? Looks like you got to pull the half-shafts to get at the bearings. This is a type-2 hub/axel setup with the 40 degree splines axel. I'm R&Ring the rear brakes now and would definately replace the bearings if they were as easy as a Toyota. But they're more involved - question is how much more involved? Thanks, Koll

Cool! Keep us posted and line up what will be needed to properly document this. It will be the first of it's kind and it deserves to be done right. Sounding good so far!

Good news! No rush or anything, but when do you forsee it being done? I'm going through a brake job myself. Did you put new bearings in the stub axel?

Ya, from the limited information I could gather, Krypton bulbs would be the best choice. That begs the question though... Why are they not in the retail channel? I few rice speed shops on the net have a couple, but most of the aftermarket light world is hung up on LEDs which I think would deliver unacceptable performance. What source(s) did you come up with?

I searched the net for "halogen 1156" and only got this: http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-tec...ticles/halogen/ He wasn't impressed. You have first hand with these, Rabin?

Ya, you gotta revisit that one there Kev. I'm actually looking for a decent clear light solution to augment the backup lamps. I actually do a bit of backing up at night and it's hard to see stuff sometimes. My requirement is that it be as stealthy as possible. Anything obvious would look extremely dorky.

Ah, that's the best of all worlds. It looks like it's going to a decent home, you got a little money. Just don't drag your feet too long on buying another 505. They're getting kindda rare. You had pretty good enthusiasm for the car seeing that you didn't have a decent example to work with. Hopefully when time comes and you need a sedan, you won't opt for the ubiquitous BMW and get the right car. Good luck!

Wow. You do have your work cut out for you. Not many people could bring such a car back to life. Are you just looking to make it a driver or are you going to "restore" it? Are you from Malaysia? I think I remember of some interesting 505 activity down there!