andrethx

i continue to extricate myself from automotive hell. the truck is back in action (as noted above), and i finally got my passat smogged and the registration renewed; there are other maintenance items on the passat that i need to attend to, but they are not as urgent as the emissions testing. lately, the little time i've had left over from work and family responsibilities have been take up with the truck or the passat, but i'm hopeful that i'll get to spend more time working on my 405 in the coming weeks. recently, i found a couple of items as NOS from european vendors on the various eBay sites. the handbrake handle cover on my 405 has been broken since i got the car: i had been looking for a good-quality used replacement but i found a NOS one: additionally, the control levers on my power drivers seat have been missing since i got the car; i wasn't sure what i was going to do about this...again, inasmuch as i thought about it i guessed that i'd look for used parts... i was on eBay.co.uk a couple of weeks ago and i found NOS parts for this as well: now i just have to find time to install these items. andré

hi ruben. 562 -- that's SE LA county/north OC, right? you could check with ukit in el monte (626-442-3733) or closer to you, jesse at dubarr automotive in huntington beach (714-375-0991)

savo, you made jalopnik! http://jalopnik.com/this-car-show-gloriously-celebrates-your-80s-and-90s-dr-1796162218

a while back my wife's Ford truck blew a head gasket -- it was a few months back during a heat wave (107 F/42 C!) when i was driving it in heavy traffic with the AC on. that is a whole other story in itself, but the relevant point is i recently got around to getting it fixed. i had the truck trailered to Ukit's in El Monte (about 30 minutes east of Los Angeles) and when i went to pick it up, i picked up a couple of peugeot parts from Ukit. the grill and lower headlight trim i got from him were in pretty rough shape but they were no worse than the pieces on my car and the net effect after cleaning them up and installing them is, i think, positive. i am still going to get my NOS grill painted and replace the lower headlight trims with new (and newly-painted pieces) but for now the car looks more complete: andre ps -- it's a drizzly day here in Los Angeles....

sorry to hear about your difficulties, as goce pointed out the things wrong with your car sound fix-able, even if you aren't the one who will be doing it. if you are not up to fixing the car (financially and/or health-wise), you might be able to sell it to an enthusiast. you probably won't get very much but you'll certainly get more than if you scrap it. *what* you get for it will depend on the rest of the car and your location...i seem to recall you said you are in New Jersey? aside from the usual avenues for selling one's car -- craigslist, eBay, the yahoo group (peugeot-l) here and in the Facebook group, you could let the peugeot specialists in your area know that you are looking to sell...IIRC you mentioned you deal with brian holm? you should talk to him if you haven't already, he can give you an idea of the repair costs you'd be looking at and might be able to broker a sale if you decide to go that route. andre

i'm not really experienced enough to comment on *which* specific size sockets you should buy, because i didn't start working on american cars until they had changed over to metric sizes. but i can offer the following observations: 1) you may sometimes see inch-sized tools referred to as SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) -- i think this is just a case of the manufacturers trying to be fancy 2) aside from very expensive tools made in the US (Snap On) or Europe (Facom, etc.) with lifetime warranties, here in the US most everything is made in china now; one tends to find very low priced tools with little or no warranty or mid-priced tools with slightly better construction with a lifetime warranty. bill is absolutely correct in that high-quality tools make a huge difference but everybody has a different opinion of price/value...i tend to buy better quality stuff as i am not a skilled mechanic and i feel like i need any advantage i can get but you can probably manage lesser quality tools better than i can because of your obvious experience at wrenching...on the other hand, you spend a lot more time working on vehicles than i do so you would probably appreciate a quality tool more than i would. as they say, your mileage may vary... the only time i buy really cheap stuff is if i think i'm only going to use a tool once or twice in my lifetime... 3) the reason i mention US availability of tools is that i'd be happy to help you buy tools (or anything else) from the US if you'd like, as i'm sure other forum members would be; just let me know what you are interested in getting. andre

thanks guys. washed the car today... i got these stickers from France, i had the window tint guy apply it for me when i had that done: andré

after much work and family drama, i am back. i managed to get the driver's side door gaskets installed, they came out pretty nice. the car is a bit quieter now, so that i can hear noises that i couldn't hear before. i also upgraded the windshield wipers -- the black paint on the wiper arms had turned whitish over the years so i had them powder coated in a satin black, they came out nice. rather than re-install or replace the original spray mechanism (the 405 has the spray jets on the wiper arms), i elected to replace it with a kit i got from the UK that replaces the long, thin spray jet that uses separate clamps to attach to the wipers with a one-piece spray jet that clamps around the arm; this allows me to use modern aero-style wiper blades. the kit came with 22-inch ANCO blades which were a bit too big for my windshield -- maybe the geometry on the UK wipers is a bit different -- so i got some 21-inch Michelin aero blades from my local auto parts store that fit perfectly and work really well. next i need to put the nut covers back on and route the new tubing i got for the spray jets. i also got my windows professionally tinted. here's a shot of the work in progress: rather than get a Southern California-style "limo tint," where the front side windows are untinted and the back window and back side windows are heavily tinted, i got a mild tint all around (except the front windshield, of course). the tint is very high quality and lowers the interior temperature of the car considerably. here are shots of the finished product: that weird effect on my back window is a reflection of a tree branch, not any sort of cracking of the glass or of the tint film. next up will be some basic maintenance, my front brake pads are squealing so they need to be replaced, and the steering has developed a bit of a clunk so i'm sure the ball joints are on their way out. also as you can see, i have the dashboard partially disassembled so that i can install my new stereo and change the dashboard light bulbs with LEDs. more to come. EDIT: almost forgot, here is the newly-recovered shift knob:

sorry to say it, savo, but your wagon looks like ass.

sorry for not replying sooner, i didn't have a chance until yesterday to take the photos and until today, to post them. i have my dashboard partially disassembled to install a new stereo, change out some of the light bulbs and to replace some busted pieces (including the control stalks) so you can see everything. the first photo shows the mounting of the cruise control stalk, it just bolts in front of the turn signal/lights/horn control stalk: the second photo shows the left side of the dashboard where the switches are: the plastic cover over the steering column just has a rectangular hole where the cruise control stalk comes out, there is no grommet or anything on mine. i will try to get a photo of it soon for you. hope this helps, let me know if you need some other photos andré

the new diesel decals came in, they look pretty good: As before, decals are US$8 each, or two $14 or 3 for $18. that price includes shipping to the US or Canada (contact me for shipping to other countries). I currently offer the following decals: 1) Made in France/US Model 2) Made in France/Canadian Model 3) Unleaded Fuel Only 4) Lockheed/brake fluid info. 5) Diesel Fuel Only 6) Attention Diesel To buy, message me. Paypal accepted.

i saw the rockford website, it didn't look as if they sold directly to consumers. whom did you end up buying the boots from?

one rarely sees peugeot harnesses for sale, unless someone is parting out a car. not sure if anyone is parting out a v6 at the moment. you could also check with brian holm, michel (mike) aubé, etc. as they typically have these items or may know where to find them. also, you could send a message to ikenna on this forum -- i don't know if he checks in regularly but a PM would send him an alert. he is super-helpful and friendly, and he knows a lot about 505 v6 wiring harnesses. some years ago, he bought a french 505 and had it shipped to nigeria (where he lives). it turns out the car was a 4-cylinder car that had been converted to a v6 and the wiring harness was botched. long story short, he had to rebuild most of his wiring harness from scratch. so if you are unable to find a suitable donor harness, you may be able to rebuild the damaged part(s) of your harness, depending on your skill level and patience; advice from someone like ikenna would be invaluable for an effort like this. i suspect he's forgotten more about v6 electrics than most of us know. andré

thanks for pointing this out, goce. matter of fact, we never got the diesel 405 models in the US & Canada -- i was just assuming that PSA updated its stickers in the 80s. More likely, though, PSA probably just started using a North America-only diesel sticker ("diesel fuel only") with the 505 models that was more in line with North American laws and/or customs.

beautiful!

i got mine from pelican parts. my older brother used to assemble model planes in the 70s; this adhesive smells just like airplane glue (you never forget that smell!). hopefully i can install the drivers' side gaskets this weekend. i decided that i'm going to glue the front door gasket in as that door gets the most use (by far), just for a little extra piece of mind.

after another lengthy absence, i'm back! on wednesday i started installing the new door gaskets. i managed to get one side done, and i'll be doing the other side in the next few days. i got some special adhesive for this project: it works very well but it gives of pretty strong fumes. the first task was to sort out which gasket went where. on the 405, the front door gaskets have a "lip" on the top portion of the gasket; the back doors have two lips, one that covers the top of the door jamb and another that runs along the lower trailing edge of the jamb. here's what the top lips look like: incidentally, the white coloration that you see on top of the rear door gasket (immediately above) is not glare, it's overspray from the car's repaint some years ago. the driver's door gasket was the only one that was in really bad shape, but all of the gaskets had more or less overspray on them so this is another reason why i wanted to replace them; i cleaned a lot of this off earlier (upthread), but there was still a bit of white paint on the old gaskets. the reproduction gaskets i got are very good, they match the originals exactly. once i figured out which gasket went where, they went on pretty easily. i did the passengers' side first, and i started with the front door. once i got the trim pieces out of the way, i removed the old gaskets; they came out pretty easily, and there was loads of dirt underneath them along the pinch welds: i got all of that cleaned out and installed the front door gasket. after that gasket was glued in place, i reinstalled the trim that surrounds that door. i realized that the trim fits into a groove in the seals and holds it in place quite securely -- the trim pieces are a close fit. the gaskets came out so easily because they were not glued in place. so i decided to install the rear door seal without using the glue, and it came out great. i read several threads on door seal replacements, and they all said that the doors might be a bit harder to close at first (until the seal compresses a bit); i certainly found this to be true. but the new seals give the door a very satisfying "thunk" when one closes them. so i'm glad i did this. i also sent my shift knob off to be recovered. i haven't seen very many NOS leather shift knobs available, and the few i've seen have been very expensive. getting the old knob recovered is a bit cheaper and gives me the option of customization. the place i sent it to primarily does steering wheels, and their work looks stock so if i like the way my shift knob comes out, i'll send my steering wheel in next. my shift pattern cap has some marking and worn spots (hard to see in this photo), so i got a replacement cap some time ago; i sent it in with the knob to the leather shop.

so i finally got around to sending the diesel fuel flap decals/autocollants to the printer -- i'll let you guys know when these are ready. the "attention diesel" stickers are for 504s and 604s, and the "diesel fuel only" stickers are for 505s and 405s... once these are done i will most likely start on the other engine bay decals, which are currently available from europe but not from any north american sources (AFAIK)... andré

good progress! i am looking forward to seeing how you engineer the articulated steering when you build the frame

very cool, especially the bumpers. look forward to seeing the final result! i got the set of door gaskets from that guy we discussed, looks like i will have the time soon to install them. will keep you updated.

if you really want to go the thrifty route, you could get a "digital media receiver," it's basically a car stereo without a cd drive. i never use my cd drive any more, i stream off of my phone using bluetooth or usb, you're probably the same. crutchfield has a blaupunkt unit for about US$70, it has bluetooth plus usb/aux inputs. it even does RDS!

very nice! what is the name of that color? is it delft blue?

i use searchtempest to do nationwide CL searches, works okay. you can set your search range by distance

eboy, you probably already know this but for the benefit of any new-to-peugeot readers -- the 505 alloys are somewhat unique in the US in that the alloys use a ball-seat lug bolts, as opposed to the more common 60-degree conical seat. this is not unique, hondas use ball-seat lug nuts as well, but peugeots use 1.25-threaded lug bolts (as opposed to the more common 1.5-threaded used in hondas and most other cars). so peugeot 505s combine these two uncommon specs making their lug bolts/lug nuts unique. i remember seeing adapter inserts for sale that fit in ball-seat alloys and permit one to use 60-degree conical seat lug bolts, not sure how well they work... edit: here are some

hi cameron, congrats on your continued success (mostly) with this car, the F&I meet last november wasn't the same without you. i realized that i never followed up on the fuel tank gasket question, it looks like you found some. i couldn't find my receipt from when i got mine for my xn6 but if memory serves i got them from rob courtier @ javel (If anyone else is looking for this item).