norcal505 Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 I think this is my first time logging on this board since last year. As some of you guys know, my 505 was hit pretty badly last May. The car sat for about a year and a half in a driveway collecting dirt, while I was away at school. However, it started right up upon my first turn to the key in 6 months. I started losing interest in Peugeots a while ago, but for some reason, I didn't want to see this car get junked. So two weeks ago, I bought a parts car (a big shout out to my parents for letting me hold for a week), and sent my own car to the shop. I checked up on it yesterday, and the rear of the car is practically normal again, with them still needing to smooth out some of the roughness on the panel, and to my amazement, the only bondo being used will be inside the trunk side-compartment. I am also having the minor surface rust repaired around the front and rear windshields. I was going to send it to paint next week, but I held off since I still haven't been able to track down a straight, dent-free hood, and a rust-free trunk lid with the turbo spoiler attached. I also have a flat-black primed Turbo front air damn, but I don't know how it install it yet, need to put it up in the air when I get the car home. Here are some pictures of the car from a few weeks ago, I'll put some pictures up of the car when I get it out of the shop next Wednesday, with the finished body work in primer. This is from last week. When I went back yesterday, the entire rear had been welded and straightened up, as well as the trunk floor, center panel, and the taillights had been mocked up. The door lines were restored quite nicely, and the jambs are going to be primed for paint as well. Regards, -Sina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Welcome home Sina! Good to see the car getting fixed - looks like they're doing a really nice job. If it's at all possible to get detail shots of the quarter panel replacement I'd love to see it. I need to have the exact same thing done to the 89. Rear corner is pushed down and instead of pulling it straight they look like they cut out and replaced the buckled metal! I want to have them pull it straight - then I'll cut the quarter out and replace it - then the car can get repainted. Really looking forward to seeing the car restored. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Rabin, just sent you an e-mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pushgo Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Rob, Like Rabin I too am excited to see the progress and end result to your car. It's a beauty and certain deserves to be restored. glad you have decided to keep it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohms Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 hey cool to see you here again norcal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted July 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Thanks guys, nice to be back as well. I'm not sure as to how long I'll be back in Peugeot's, but I want to at least enjoy my twice salvaged 505 a little bit. Here are a couple from today. IMG_1344 by sina.pour, on Flickr IMG_1341 by sina.pour, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonti Posted July 28, 2012 Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Hello! The new tail lights? Because it is very beautiful. Bonti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted July 28, 2012 Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Not bad at all - but there's still a fair bit of work to do if they plan on not using filler on the outside. I helped a buddy do some body work on his truck and I was AMAZED at how much could be done with a shrinking disk and some hammer and dolly work. Crazy time consuming though - but he and I were new at it. Experienced sheet metal guy would likely make short work of it. With my 89' I'm definitely going to replace the hole panel at the cut points the FSM suggest since mine has a poorly done patch in it already. DC tig welding a butt joint, with some metal work and the seams will be seamless when the replacement panel goes in. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted July 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 Indeed Rabin. The car should be done and primed by Thursday or Friday, so it's still got a ways to go! I just wanted to show that the car's body lines are pretty much where they used to be.. for example, the tail light surround and antenna hole were completely out of place, hah. BTW, if anyone knows of a turbo-trunk lid in CA with the spoiler attached, I'd love to inquire. -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 What about having the body shop glue just the spoiler on with panel adhesive? It'd be a lot easier to get just the spoiler rather than trying to source the whole lid. (Assuming your lid has damage) If I was adding a stock spoiler I'd zip off the bolts it has and replace them with a blob of panel adhesive. It'll never come off very easy - but it'd be super simple to do with no drilling or anything. The new adhesives they use now are crazy strong too. As for the body work - it's outstanding how well they got that corner back into shape - your body guy is excellent! Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted July 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 What about having the body shop glue just the spoiler on with panel adhesive? It'd be a lot easier to get just the spoiler rather than trying to source the whole lid. (Assuming your lid has damage) If I was adding a stock spoiler I'd zip off the bolts it has and replace them with a blob of panel adhesive. It'll never come off very easy - but it'd be super simple to do with no drilling or anything. The new adhesives they use now are crazy strong too. As for the body work - it's outstanding how well they got that corner back into shape - your body guy is excellent! Rabin Hah, I actually recall us discussing the adhesives in the mid-late 00's (can't believe it was that long ago, whoa). I'm curious to see what those materials are like, but as you guessed, I need a new trunk lid since it's rusted through. I figure it's possible to "repair" the rust on the trunk, but I'd rather do it right and get a fresh, solid panel to work with. Ukit says he's got one, but I'm afraid it'll be a little too expensive as my budget's currently tight...and I have a fat red-light ticket from SDPD awaiting me . The lid that came off of my ex-parts car STI is nice - but it ain't got that spoiler. Also, I traded back my spoiler that I had lying around to Matt for some parts from the hit & run back in high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulaweb Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 The lid that came off of my ex-parts car STI is nice - but it ain't got that spoiler. Also, I traded back my spoiler that I had lying around to Matt for some parts from the hit & run back in high school. Don't forget with the spoiler you need two of the struts to hold the trunk up. Without it, only one. It looks like you only have the one in the pictures. Compared to what else you've got going on there that's kind of trivial, but it would be annoying if you got it all done and the trunk wouldn't stay open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted July 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 Don't forget with the spoiler you need two of the struts to hold the trunk up. Without it, only one. It looks like you only have the one in the pictures. Compared to what else you've got going on there that's kind of trivial, but it would be annoying if you got it all done and the trunk wouldn't stay open. Correct you are. I also just bought a new telescopic Hirschmann so it won't be hitting the spoiler. Trust me, the "trivial" things are of the importance to me, this time. While I might just be getting back into the Peugeot game after a hiatus, I've always wanted to properly take care of this car ... If I could turn the clock back to high school, I'd go back and slap some sense into that immature kid who thrashed the living shit out of this car. Now, it's all about going back and fixing all of those "little things." It'll be a long process that will for sure NOT be completed all within this summer. -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulaweb Posted July 30, 2012 Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 I started losing interest in Peugeots a while ago, but for some reason, I didn't want to see this car get junked. Thanks guys, nice to be back as well. I'm not sure as to how long I'll be back in Peugeot's, but I want to at least enjoy my twice salvaged 505 a little bit. While I might just be getting back into the Peugeot game after a hiatus, I've always wanted to properly take care of this car ... If I could turn the clock back to high school, I'd go back and slap some sense into that immature kid who thrashed the living shit out of this car. Our disease may occasionally go into remission but there is no known cure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted August 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 So it looks like I will be picking her up later today, and I'm pretty damn excited. The car hasn't been home for over a year and a half. Now as soon as I get it back home, I will take it out and enjoy it for a few days around the San Fran Bay Area, but work will shortly restart on the car. Me and my friends are going to tackle a few projects for the car within the coming weeks, before we leave back for school in Southern California in late September. We are going to restore the Front and Rear Bumpers. The aim is to bring back their jet-black color. Thank god, the silver trim is still pretty nice on both ends, so we will just tape that off. What method do you guys suggest for this process? We were brainstorming Primer + SEM Trim paint. Going to also restore the jet-black color on the lower rockers. I've done this before with my BMW and am going to shoot some primer with several healthy coats of Black trim paint. I have been fiddling with the Grille for the last few days. Sanding it down currently. Going to paint it a nice gloss-black with silver lion and silver outline. Also going to tear off all of the broken/missing/flaked-off gutter trim. What do you guys think about this idea? Now, here's the real P.I.T.A. As many of you can probably tell by now, the car has a pretty shitty (pardon my French) Maaco respray from 1997. It is tre terrible. We want to start prepping the car for paint, to get it all sorted eventually in an affordable manner - I was quoted $2k for a complete, thorough job at the same body-shop, but I want to cut some costs, plus I love to do some work myself, after all.. What do you guys think I should do as far as the prepping process? We were gonna start sanding/priming it. The car also has some surface rust issues that (may or not) be sorted out by the shop which is around the front and rear windshields ONLY. This will require removing both windshields to get under there. I still (ugh) need to track down a Turbo-Trunk lid with the spoiler already attached and bolted down before I can send the car to paint. This has proved to be the most daunting of tasks. I'll report back here as soon as I bring her home tomorrow. Too stoked to say the least. -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 my thoughts: 1) SEM makes a coating especially for bumpers...as for the silver stripe, with a bit of looking, you can probably find silver trim tape (for cars, boats, jetskis, etc.) in the proper size & color if you look a bit...you can re-paint the bumper, then apply the silver tape in the groove and your bumpers would look brand new. 2) i will be interested in seeing how you do this! 4) ditch the gutter trim, i think the car looks better without it! 5) as for prepping the car yourself before the pros spray it as a way of cutting cost -- i've read in numerous places that no matter how good of a job you do prepping the car, it'll never be good enough for the paint shop. not sure if this is because paint shop guys are greedy bastards, or because they have such high standards...probably somewhere in between. your best bet is to discuss it with the guys who will be painting your car, to see how they feel about it... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 I agree totally with Andre on all points. Vehicle prep is the absolute single most important aspect of a paint job, and without proper measures once the car is stripped - you can do much more damage than you ever thought. Best is to leave the paint as is until the car is ready for paint, then have the sanding and body work done all at once with paint following immediately after. Cars that stay in prep / primer will have a BOAT load of paint issues due to moisture contamination. To save costs and to get a better paint job you should look at focusing on stripping the car down so that there's nothing for them to mask or work around. Make it as easy as possible for them to do. If the jams are getting painted then you can ask how they want them prepped as you can likely to the really tricky areas that are time consuming that have to be done by hand - just don't go down to the metal if you can help it. I'd leave all exterior surfaces to them. You'll be responsible for reassembly though - so make use of lots of masking tape to protect paint and take your time. Last thing you want to do is scratch it when putting it back together. I used to work in a body shop when I was younger and I still wouldn't do final prep. I'm confident in my metal work capability - but that's where I'll stop. All the filling and smoothing I'll leave to the shop as even the supplies and components they use are all designed to work together. SEM is great for the bumpers - but stay away from spray bombing thinks like the rockers. If you HAVE to paint it - go to an autobody supply shop that can mix automotive paint into aerosol cans - this stuff is about $20/can but it's so much better than the cheap stuff you get at Pep boys or whatever. Autobody shops also usually carry a higher line of paints in cans for primers and clear coats - so I recommend that as well. Biggest thing to avoid is to do ANYTHING that makes the car look like you did it yourself. Leaving the stock patina is MUCH nicer than doing a crappy cheap spray bomb job, PLUS it's harder to fix it and do it properly later. (IE the spray bombed rockers.) Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted August 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 So it looks like the unanimous decision will be to remove the nasty gutter trim, once and for all. So it seems you guys are sternly against the trim-paint / rocker idea. These are my other two cars that I did, they've lasted me a few years so far with no signs of fade - yet. But I'm thinking now that it might be best for the shop to do, with the clear and whatnot. Volvo 245 GLT @ Golden Gate Park, San Francisco by sina.pour, on Flickr All Clean & Shiny by sina.pour, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted August 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 And on the E30, a little harder to tell, but you can see it if you click on it, and enlarge it. IMG_9157 by sina.pour, on Flickr R.I.P Mudflaps. Lasted a week. by sina.pour, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 just to clarify, sina -- when i said "it'll never be good enough for the paint shop," i didn't mean to imply that you wouldn't do a good job with the prep. it's just that, in the research i've done into this (prepping one's own vehicle in anticipation of a professional spray job), i've read numerous reports of people doing what they thought was an excellent job of prep, only to be told by the paint shop that the car still needs more work to be ready for paint....i've never read any posts that said they were able to do all the prep themselves to the satisfaction of the paint shop. i'm sure many of these people didn't do as good of a job as they thought they did...additionally, i'm sure there's a bit of a reporting bias here, in that i wasn't seeing the "everything proceeded according to plan" posts... the bottom line is, the paint shop is taking a risk in accepting someone else's prep job, since the prep is so important to the final outcome and poorly done prep can result in problems that don't manifest themselves right away. any paint shop owner who's had problems with this type of situation in the past is going to be risk-averse and will not accept someone else's prep job. so it's not a slam on you, i think it will be difficult to deal with a paint shop on this basis, regardless of your actual skill or good intentions. to put it another way: as far as painting your own rockers -- my rocker panels are painted in a sort of undercoating-like finish -- i imagine yours are too. i think that type of finish would be easier to replicate than a standard automotive paint finish, which is why i said i look forward to seeing how you do this! andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted August 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Haha I appreciate the motivation Andre! I'm probably 10000 x more broke than anyone on this forum, and then in a good amount of debt with student loans. That's why I'm so eager to work on the car as much myself, plus I, like all of you guys, love to work on my own car. While I may make a few mistakes, I brush them off, and try again. I love this car and of course want it to be repaired in the more correct manner, and I'm pulling out most of the stops to ensure so. I just want to maintain that organic balance between the professional work being done and that hobbyist (me) work being done, influenced by my currently shallow pockets. Also on a slightly-related note: FINALLY found a spoiler off of a minty 88 turbo S sedan, as well as the mounting brackets (free) for my turbo air dam..and some other things. So stoked right now. I was originally there for a speed sensor harness for my E30, got that, and fixed it too! Added these spiffy OEM mudflaps as well Hipster/Yuppie Hybrid Blend Automobile = Achieved. That's all for now. Stay tuned for when I get mon voiture back from the shop early next week. -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Muffles scream... Sina - if you are the perpetrator of installing those blasted GHETTO splice connectors, then you need some education! You need to get a cheap soldering iron and teach yourself how to solder wires properly with some heat shrink and dielectric grease to protect the joint. Those splice connectors are beyond bad - fix it right. Awesome to hear you finally got your trunk and spoiler too! That's an ABS car too damnit - I'd love to stumble across one at a pick a part! Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted August 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Rabin, I wasn't aware how bad they are - It's not too often that I have to mend wiring. Those connectors came off those as it wouldn't reach, and I used 2 screw on connectors, and wrapped with insulated electricians tape. I know how to solder pretty well, I just didn't see the need and ziptied the slack up on the harness tie. What negative experience have you had while using connectors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webmaster Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Negative experience? Under dash fire in a friends car - PO had installed a car starter with one and the source of the fire was one of those connectors. When they "bite" into the wire you're splicing into they actually cut the copper strands in the wire, and when there is a large draw there can be significant heat build up. Using them under the car or in any exposed area also means the connector is open to corrosion as it's not sealed. Whenever I see them I instantly think "HACK job" - and I immediately replace them. Proper sealed crimp connections, or well done soldered and heat shrunk wire connections are the only way I join wires. In your case there won't be a risk of fire - but that exposed connection / splice will just be asking for failure later. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norcal505 Posted August 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Me and my dad (electircal engineer) use crimps whenever we work with wires. Last summer, I had some harness out underneath the Bimmers kick panel, and accidentally forgot to to re-clip it when done. Long story short, tried driving away, and wrapped/tore like 16 wires running underneath the dash (****ing nightmare) but with a BMW factory wiring manual we fixed it all up with crimps. I do agree, when in hazards way, sealed crimp or solder is most definitely the way to go. However, in this scenario, I properly sealed the screw-connectors and tucked them away. However, I will be thinking this over, maybe before the wet season sets upon us again here in California. And again, that connectors is no longer in place, as I couldn't get contact. -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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