Bean

Buffalo! Funny story - when I was younger and my wife and I took a bus from Toronto to Buffalo NY, then took a city bus from the bus depot to the airport where we were taking a flight to Richmond VA. This was in the 90's and maybe saved us $200, but what we didn't realize or research at all was that we'd be travelling through what appeared to be a pretty rough part of town. Like dudes standing around barrels if fire, in very ghetto neighborhoods. Got a lot of sideways looks with our luggage in tow, but was completely uneventful and has always made a great story thankfully with no bad outcomes from that little miscalculation. The Esprit truly is gorgeous. Gord's was black with gold wheels and pin stripes, and tan leather interior - Would have matched your Mom's Evora nicely. (Gord had a thing for JPS colours for his Lotus cars) Rabin

I've never driven a Mi-16 as they're exceptionally rare in Western Canada, but I've been told they drive like a bigger 205 GTi... That's incredible to me... They really are special cars. One comment about the Esprit - I know functionally the rear wing might be be the best for visibility or some might not like the esthetics - But I LOVE them. Such pretty cars. Another good friend has a very special Europa with a twin cam 1.6 BDA out of a race car. I'll try to get some pics of it - still not complete, but should be insane. (Yet another car I don't fit, but I'll cram inside for a ride any day of the week!) Rabin

Agree - Peugeot shocks are amazing and really only fail when they start leaking oil. If they're clean and dry they're very hard to beat for OE comfort and control. The caveat to that would be that the new springs you're fitting aren't a bunch stiffer. If the spring rate is quite a bit higher than stock damping might not be suitable. Peugeot's are known for being softly sprung and stiffly damped though, so they'd have to be very sporty springs (IE Stiff) before the stock dampers didn't keep up. Lovely garage too! A very good friend of mine passed away in 2016 and he had an '89 Esprit the that was VERY tempting, sadly I quickly realized that I simply didn't fit it. Ditto on the beautiful the MR2 - Always loved the second gen turbo cars, but have gone down several MR2 worm holes online looking at the V6 swapped cars. Really like the idea of a 300HP V6 5sp in one, but I've never sat in one let alone driven it. *Almost* jumped on a v6 swapped MR2 that was local and rough, but seller changed his mind. Have you seen the Might Car Mods latest vids - Marty is doing one up. Rabin

Awesome intro Joe and welcome to the forum! It’s not that busy here, but there’s just a wealth of information and just some fantastic people that I’d genuinely call friends. Savo knows these 405’s like nobody else, and his builds always astound me - So just a great resource for 405 Mi-16 owners. I’ve never owned one myself having only owned 504/505’s - but if I’m ever lucky enough to get one of Savo’s builds I’d count myself lucky! Love your Mi and definitely looking forward to progress on it. Rabin

Not really familiar with that car, but there’s bound to be someone in the US that knows and wants it, but what you need is at least two people... BAT (Bring a Trailer) might be the place to sell, but it’s a terrible time to be selling anything with this Covid-19 stuff exploding. Rabin

I’m guessing internally corroded battery cables or corroded grounds. Check the chassis and engine side grounds too. The check they do at Advanced will be a battery load test, and maybe running voltage - but very doubtful they’re checking cranking amps or high resistance in cables. Rabin

Haha! That's awesome... I remember taking our 535xiT M-Sport to a Euro car show and was chatting with this guy that LOVED the car. Talked for a good 15m about the car with him checking it out thoroughly - Then I asked what he was driving. "Oh - that black Hurcan over there..." More important question now is: Are you driving an Mi-16 again? For some reason I thought they were out of commission? Rabin

I was worried for a second because here the phrase “... is done.” can also mean it’s shot, or not repairable! Nice to hear that you got some good news that block and heads are all good! What is parts availability like for bearings, seals, piston rings, and glow plugs? The price paid for the work is amazing - here they wouldn’t have put the block on the mill for $50! One 4cyl head usually costs $120 to resurface. Rabin

Wow - you didn't save those did you? Rabin

That motor is truly tiny compared to the N9TE turbo gas motors these came with - So seeing it with that HX-40 monster should be impressive! I'll be curious how it spools that turbo. Thanks for the update as well! Hopefully have some nice updates for my cars coming soon as well. Rabin

Yes - but here in Canada we don't have access to a lot of modern diesels, and this is truck country so there is potential for these to be fairly common and possibly even economical in a few years. As long as it has some roots traceable to the PSA v6 I'm good with that lineage. Again - very much a pipe dream to swap it all into another vehicle, but availability might make this doable in a few years to simply own the truck for doing truck stuff / towing. Rabin

Out of curiousity I did some searching and it looks like this engine was the basis for Ford's new 3L V6 diesel in the new F150... Cooler yet - looks like it came in a 4x2 configuration with a 10sp auto. Now THAT would be a cool swap into a 505. Will have to keep an eye out for wrecked diesel F150's now. Rabin

That's good to know Goce - thanks for speaking to the specifics. On paper I was just thinking a 2.7L v6 HDI with twin turbos would be a powerful modern engine while remaining very efficient. Plus it does look very impressive - but it's not a feasible swap at all so it was just a fun mental exercise. The XD3T is an old motor, but with modern turbo and boost control and good injection pump tuning I think the 505 could be pretty darn good. We never got the XUD, but I did get to ride in a 405 with one while in India and it felt fantastic - very quick car for a diesel. Rabin

I was reading up on these last week and was curious if we ever got the diesel Jags here as they’d be incredible in a 505... But seeing how complex these suckers are maybe those old XD3T’s aren’t so bad after all! Huge props to you for tackling this with such gusto, and documenting yet another build project. Rabin

Find another is an interesting tact... Be even harder still to find a 505 owner willing to spend that of money! I did sell mine for $150USD though. Is it yours? Advert needs many more details like colour, condition, and pics of the actual spoiler. I probably shouldn’t have sold mine, but it was to help a guy finish his resto and it was just collecting dust in my attic. Rabin