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JunktionFET

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Dug around beside the house as I need to regrade for proper water drainage. Cleared around the existing sidewalk, put down some 3x6x10 pressure treated timbers, then started filling it up with crusher dust. 1.5 yards did not go very far at all! More to do this week.

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Cool factoid about it being German built - I know that will have some value come resale time for sure! BTW - not sure if you mentioned it - but is your car a 1.8T engine? Or?

just got in a while ago from the norcal meet-up, great fun! so, what i did today: drove from monterey to LA, took a nap. :)

anyhow, my jetta is a 2.0 (normally aspirated). not the fastest but not terribly slow, gets decent mileage. the plan is to keep it in good tune, then when my son gets his license in 4 years, it'll be his. in the meantime, it'll be my daily driver until the peugeot is in a higher state of perfection mobility, then the jetta will be backup...

andré

ps -- love the sailing pics, dave...

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The 2L 8V engines can be surprisingly punchy motors with mild tuning. I did a bunch of work on a buddy's 1.8L Scirocco years ago and it was an absolute hoot. Stock dual outlet manifold, 2" custom exhaust, and some intake breathing mods and it was a stout little car. Sounded amazing as well.

And yes - I like to paint any car with my "improve performance brush" anytime I can. :D Mostly I love a good exhaust note with some added poop so that it's fun to roll windows down in underpasses. (Yup - still do it.)

Rabin

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I had a deja vu moment last night.

A little history: Many years ago (2001-ish?) a friend of mine acquired a(nother) '88 505 Turbo. It came from Pittsburgh and had a bit of rust here and there but was solid where it needed to be. We did some mild tweaking and tuning, and one winter night my friend, my brother, and me went out to have some fun. After an hour or two of driving the piss out of the car, the car suddenly produced a giant plume of steam from under the hood while just a few blocks from home. It was quite a display, and we found that a chunk of very flimsy corroded radiator core had blown out.

Luckily we had a new radiator in the garage, but sadly all of my professional tools were at work. With only a pocket multi tool (like a leatherman), a maglite, and a pipe wrench we happened to have under the kitchen sink, I swapped the radiators. We refilled the coolant, bled the system, and then went out again in our boosted terror machine.

Last night my brother and I had a very similar experience again, but sadly it wasn't in a Peugeot. We were in my Prelude. We went out to eat and then proceeded to drive the nuts off the car. I wanted to make sure all of my resealing work was going to hold. Well some time later, the car produced a huge amount of white smoke from under the hood. At first I thought the car was on fire, but it was coolant. A heater hose off the cylinder head had burst. We weren't far from my apartment, so we fetched some tools and a length of heater hose I happened to have. We installed the hose in a jiffy, refilled the cooling system, and then continued our aimless driving.

Normally stuff like that would leave me pissed off, but it was comical in a way since it was a repeat of events from over 11 years ago... same circumstances (sort of), different car.

The hose was really squishy and swollen, and I surmised that the recent power steering fluid leak is what damaged the hose--fluid would leak directly onto that hose, and over time I think it had some unfortunate effects on the rubber.

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That rad hose story brought back memories from a couple summers ago. I was in Montreal for the F1 and my brother Arun was arriving before I came back, so he was going to take my car to visit family 4 hours away.

Got a call from him that the top rad hose let go about an hour out of town. He got back to Regina with duct tape and bottled water, but instead of arranging another car he just asked what I had to fix it. I had collected some copper fittings for an idea to remake them - so he found them and repaired the hose with one, and then left on the trip. (much to the surprise of both our wifes who didn't understand how he could trust it.)

Car ran awesome and he had a great trip - and some really great pics of the car with my Dad going for a ride.

I had gone through the car with a fine tooth comb before I left - and the hoses felt fine - but it actually failed where the turbo line "T"'s off the upper rad hose. Not really possible to prevent, and it was an easy fix.

Rabin

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Sold my truck a couple days ago, and I've gotten my wife to agree to a getting the 89' properly repaired and repainted. Arranging for a used RR quarter panel to replace my bent one so the body shop can tug the body straight and replace it, and then repaint it. Flushing the front and rear windscreens and a new windshield. Then I'll appraise it and hope to God it comes in HIGH!

New Exalto came in as well so need to get the rim checked and trued - then to Costco to get it installed. (Great road hazzard warranty if they do the install)

Rabin

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I installed tether anchors into the the 89' 505 turbo... I was reading up on the best method and read that 1989 cars had to have anchor points for car tether anchors. I thought "no way" - but sure enough there were two perfect sized holes through the rear deck to run the bolts through.

Two child car seats are very firmly attached in the back seat now - Just in time for this Sunday's rally cross. :D I'm fitting the 504's 185-65-14 winter tires on the back and my 195-65-15's up front to really try and get some quick times in. (It's more fun when you beat faster cars with baby seats in your car!)

Rabin

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Today I went to the dentist and had $1900 of work done which I found out my insurance won't pay. Previously I had a molar extracted and a bone graft performed. Today I had a permanent implant installed. The procedure was quite a production, as evidenced by the surgical apparel and ridiculous equipment being used.

After seeing the finished product in the xray, they've essentially drilled a hole in my jaw, threaded it with a tap, and screwed a threaded insert into the jaw. In a few months time, a permanent crown will go on; and I'm thinking it should be gold icon_razz.gif

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Being Canadian and working for a good company with a ridiculously good benefits packages has it's advantages for sure. BUT - If you saw how much I pay in taxes should make you feel a little better.

Wouldn't trade it for anything though - peace of mind is worth every penny.

BTW Joe - great to hear you're vehicle debt free! Married life (to a saver) has worn off on me and I really enjoy paying off stuff.

Rabin

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My wife has dental insurance both through her company and through me, so for most things her's pays part, and mine picks up the rest, but neither touches touches implants. She has two of those in the works and there wasn't enough bone below the sinus so they had to do a sinus lift first, where they graft bone to boost up the bottom of the sinus. Then after that has about 9 months to mend, they start on the usual implant procedures, so overall this will take more than 2 years and more money than I want to think about.

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okay, i'm a jackass. i was trying to make light of the fact that we were going far afield of the thread topic -- i though that including myself in the pic would show that i was trying to be funny. didn't mean to bring the thread to a screeching halt! :( sorry about that.

so i'll restart things. i'm off today, my kids don't have school today so i'm hanging with them. ordered some brake parts for the vw -- when i changed the pads a few months ago, i didn't lube the mechanism well enough so the front passenger's side caliper has been sticking, causing premature pad wear. i ordered a new set of pads to fix that, along with new rotors. so that's a job for next week. my daughter has asked me if we can work on the peugeot today, so hopefully i'll have some updates for my build thread... :)

andré

aka buzz killington

Buzz_Killington_zpse49862d5.jpg

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Sup guise.

We built a beer pong table today, and I won the toss so the theme of the tabletop is going to be Peugeot.

My ex-gf is a really good artist, and we had the ridculous idea of painting me next to my peugeot, glowing all angel style and heavenly.

It's going to be ridiculous and everyone at our place is going to be like "wtf is this".

I really should be hitting the sheets tonight but it's welcome week back at SD and I have very poor self-control.

Till next time!

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First day of the 2012-2013 rowing season.

6 AM Practice featured two 6,000 meter tests on the rowing machine

and 3 PM Practice featured a 8,000 meter test.

For those of you familiar with the wretchid rowing machine (ergometer), yeah..... :unsure:

Tore it up though.... :D

This is what we look like (taken last January...I'm the dude in the green)

419146_333323046699909_455779555_n.jpg

-S

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Over the weekend I fixed a newly developed exhaust leak under the hood of the Prelude. Turns out a weld in the header failed. I removed it from the car and took it to an exhaust shop. They fixed two cracks and did an awesome job.

The EGR tube was not hooked up because the previous owner had opted to plug the fitting on the header with a old EGR pipe that was crimped shut. Naturally I want the EGR connected because 1) It's an inspection fail, and 2) EGR only operates at part load and actually lets the engine run more aggressive timing and reduces pumping losses.

Endeavoring to remove the crimped EGR pipe from the header turned into a massive clusterf*ck. The fitting was seized, and by the time I figure this out, I was committed. I eventually had to buy some tungsten carbide bits and grind it out piece by piece, being careful not to mangle the threads in the header. I finally got it out and was able to connect the car's proper EGR tube. I rewrapped the header with fresh heat wrap, got it all bolted back in the car, and all was well.

Since I had 50 feet of wrap, I went ahead and wrapped the poorly routed power steering line as well as the A/C suction line. Both are in close proximity to the header, and that thing throws off some heat even with the wrap there.

wrap.jpg

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I'm still trying to disassemble that damn CV joint on the ABS half shafts...

DSC_0010.JPG

And - I sent Bill his parts to Austrailia. 22 lbs = $119 CDN via Canada post. Not bad at all since I also returned some Volvo parts to FCP Groton in Connecticut and it was $22 to send it UPS ground for 3lbs!

I was driving the 505 around today doing errands and such and DAMN does this car still bring a smile to my face everytime I drive it. Car is running particularly sweet after the rally cross and it's just a ton of fun.

Rabin

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^ Also got word last night that my family will be getting a new company car so hopefully my sister will stop trashing :cough cough: driving the Volvo 240.

I want that thing badly for this school year...which leads me to the question:

Do you guys think that it'd be economical/practical dailying a 505 in Southern California?

I'm going to need the car for rowing practice carpools every morning at 5AM M-F, and we dock on a beach, so the (already crappy) carpet would be getting pretty sandy.

But as a trade off, I could enjoy crusing around in my 505, most likely bottomed out every morning feeling like hot **** :D

-S

edit: The car by this point will have the fully freshened exterior with fresh paint, bodywork, and turbo-styling B)

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Practical? Yes--relatively inexpensive to maintain, roomy, easy to park, unmatched visibility, very reliable, supremely comfortable, and just plain cool

Economical? Honestly, not really. For a 2.0 liter engine it is rather thirsty, especially when you consider it's only making 97bhp from all that fuel it's drinking.

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I agree with Joe but the cost of the fuel economy isn't really that much of an issue if you crunch the numbers and then look at the other savings. Sure it's not as efficient as a Honda - but the big bonus is that it's NOT A HONDA! :D

I should also mention that I had an 86' 505 STI with XN6 5-sp and it was WAY better than the 85 XN6 my sister had. I think the better exhaust manifold, not pulse air valves, and a better exhaust helped alot as well. Car even sounded great with a nice rumble.

If car pooling is 4 then it's perfect - 3 in the back seat is a little tight unless they're skinny.

Can't put a price on exclusivity either - I bet you'd be the only guy running a 505 and it'd be awsome. Bonus points if it appeals to cute hipster girls... :D (have to ensure hipster comment quota is met)

Rabin

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My first Peugeot was an '84 STI XN6 (a hand-me-down from my folks). It was an automatic, so it was very high strung on the freeway. It returned pretty poor mpg whether I was in town or on a trip (high teens, low 20s), but I did drive the shit out of it :D.

I did a compression test at 270,000 miles and the engine still had even compression across all four pots. What a machine! The only time it ever got me actually stranded was when a bearing in the alternator came apart. Luckily I was about 5 miles from Sunset Coachmen and I was able to acquire a replacement alternator in a jiffy.

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My 5-sp car was good for 8L/100km on the highway, an easy 10L/100K in the city - and I drove the crap out of mine too wringing that little 2L for all it had. It also sounded nice and revved well - so it was decently fun running through the gears. Hell - it even tow bar'd another 505 around no problem.

Rabin

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