andrethx

my understanding is, that this is possible, but it may be a whole lot of hassle (BAR inspection, etc.)...

hi goce, i've been following your progress (and difficulties!) with interest, even though lately i've not been posting as much as i'd like. i've become interested in the 4x4-equipped 405s and i have some questions for you (and other knowledgable members) about these cars. in the US & Canada, we only got the series 1 405s until 1991, and we never got any 4x4 models. i've heard you and others remark that the 4x4 models have some common failure points -- what are they? are these the things that failed on your car? also, i understand that while the 4x4 system was only available on the mi16 models early on, later in series 2 the 4x4 system was available on other models in the 405 line...it seems like some of the components used on the non-mi16 4x4 models are different, is this correct? thanks in advance!

i'm kinda geeking out over this, thought i'd share it with you guys. my son is 16, so he'll be driving soon and he'll be driving the passat wagon, so i've been improving it for him. one of the things i'm doing is upgrading the stereo to include navigation and bluetooth for hands-free phone calling. the stereo i have includes a generic microphone, but i had hoped to do a little better than that...the car has spot for a microphone in the overhead console, but my car came without one and the OEM volkswagen microphone uses a non-standard connector and won't work with an aftermarket radio. on the passat forums, i found out about these guys -- they sell a variety of items to help car stereo installers. one of the things they sell is a standard car audio microphone adapted for use in the vw overhead console; the plastic mounting frame is 3d printed. i ordered one, it looks like this: andre

these guys in france do just that, and rabin's right, they charge just about that -- US$112 as i'm writing this, i'm sure shipping brings it up to $125 or more. andre

well, there's not a lot of games out there that you need a PC for over a console (XB1 or PS4) these days...Flight Simulator comes to mind. And to get a PC that will do justice to some of these games, you're looking at US$1,000, at least. so for me, an enthusiastic-but-somewhat-time-constrained gamer, a console is the way to go since they only cost $250-$400 or so. As for XB1 vs. PS4, like 90% of the titles are available for both, with only a few being specific to each platform...Halo, Forza, etc. for the XB1 and Gran Turismo, God of War, Uncharted, etc. for the PS4. My son is a fan of some of the Japanese stuff like Kingdom Hearts (another PS4 exclusive) so we went with the Sony console.

AFAIK the "day one" edition, which includes the '88 cars & '88 PP track, is only available on the XB1 and the PS4; the PC/Steam version is only available in the "regular" (non-day one) version. i think that the 405 and the '88 PP track are available as DLC for the PC/Steam version, not sure about cost though. As the video i linked to above shows, the current-day PP track is part of the regular game. I haven't had a chance to play yet; according to the game website, the '88 PP track is a separate track (Day One/DLC), and includes the period-correct unpaved sections...

affirmative, ghost rider. by the way, i owe you an email. rabin....

for christmas, my son got a Sony PS4 gaming system and some games. today, my wife bought me a little present -- Sebastian Loeb Rally Evo. it has the cars he's driven over the years, including the Pike's Peak 208 and his recent Citroens. It also includes the 405 T16 from 1988! Should be fun.

this is awesome

last night i went to pasadena to have dinner with some peugeot friends, including randy p., marc m. and ukit & his wife. the occasion was that mike t. (from this forum) was in town with his wife, they are attending a concert in southern california this weekend. since they were staying in pasadena, we met at a thai restaurant there. good friends, good food and good beer. mostly reminded me that i need to get my ass in gear to get my car ready for the french & italian show next month. randy drove his 505 v6, ukit drove his 404 (the white one with the red leather interior) and mike drove his brabus smart all the way down from canada. marc and i were in non-french conveyances.... andre

very nice! i have been noticed the "clicking" when i turn my steering wheel all the way to the right or left, so i imagine i will be replacing the axles in the not-to-distant future....i was thinking of going with rebuilt units, i've heard good things about raxles....

thanks for the kind words, everyone. my mom is doing pretty good, she's still getting chemo but they're taking a less aggressive approach now. i just got off the phone with her, my uncle who lives in ecuador was in town visiting so she got to see him and they went out to lunch for louisiana seafood. so i've been gearing up to do some more work on my car, the french and italian car show is coming up in early november and i just had lunch on friday with marc m (many of you know him from the Facebook group) at a local french restaurant; he is planning a get-together on the saturday before the sunday show, a bunch of us will be going to cars and coffee in la cañada and doing some other stuff. details forthcoming. i also ordered some reproduction door gaskets/weatherstripping, i'll let you guys know how it turns out. i have only been able to find partial sets of NOS weatherstripping, and there was a guy from argentina on US eBay who was selling them but they became unavailable when i tried to order them. more to come. andre

i found these a few years ago so i'm pretty sure they are available. let me check my records to see where i got mine from.

hi cameron! hope all is well. for what it's worth, i found that once i had removed my 505's fuel tank and figured out how it went in & out, i could get it out in about 10 minutes; the first time is (by far) the hardest. so you could always do the rear shocks later if you're not ready now. also, the radiator shop i used to clean my fuel tank charged me about US$75, IIRC...

two questions -- on the zdjl, isn't the ntc sensor on the coolant manifold, towards the top of the engine? and, holy crap, what is that fuzzy stuff all over everything, is that goat hair?

hi randy! do you mean the one i posted? it's here, it's from the 1979 press pack, from when the 505 was first introduced. the second pick is from the parts fiche, i have some pdf copies i can share with you the next time we meet up. still need to make those carpet templates. andre

this car is being offered by jessie at dubarr automotive in huntington beach (orange county); dubarr is a longtime peugeot-focused shop and jessie knows his stuff, which makes this even more of a bargain. he's also got a 1985 diesel on offer at a low price, you can see the above-referenced car in some of the pictures... andre

changed the oil in my passat yesterday (5w30 full synthetic, as recommended). i used a set of ramps i got recently, they raise the car 7 inches (just under 18cm); i am looking forward to using the ramps on my 405... andre

très jolie

hi goce! thanks for your concern! i haven't been spending a lot of time working on my car in the last few months. my mother in louisiana has leukemia (leucémie) and she has been undergoing chemotherapy (chimiothérapie), so i have been traveling back and forth this summer to be with my parents who still live in louisiana. my mom is nearly 80 years old so the doctors have not been treating her as aggressively as they would if she were younger. of course, i still have a law practice to manage here in los angeles so i have been very busy getting ready to travel and then rushing to catch up with work when i get back home. the good news is, it appears that the therapy is working as my mother is now in remission. she is still tired a lot -- not as many red blood cells and we would like -- but she looks and feels much better so i am decreasing my visits to louisiana in the coming months. on friday i found some time to wash my 405 (it was filthy) and i'll be doing more in the coming weeks. andre

welcome evan! i just took a look at the north american peugeot database -- old and kinda funky, but fairly accurate with respect to US models -- and that site indicates that the diesel wagons were only available with an automatic box. however, it says that all years of the diesel wagon, from '84 to '86, were available with the 4-speed automatic box when that unit only became available in '86. so one should prendre avec un grain de sel....

as others have noted, goce, it's exciting to see your work here, all the twists and turns of a project of this type! thanks for posting all of this. a basic question -- the clearance issues that you're working on with the steering, they result from the need to lower the engine because of the fit issues you get from the re-orientation of the engine, correct?

there are only about five of us here in the US that know enough about these cars to be impressed. ...but we'd be really impressed....

goce -- your photo gave me an idea. get the drifter heim joints, cover them in spray adhesive and throw dirt on them --- instant oem look for inspection...

holy crap. this is completely insane, and really cool.