andrethx Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 welcome to my new build thread! i'm still excited to have my new (to me) car, a 1991 Peugeot 405 Mi16. It needs some attention in various areas, but overall it's in good shape. one of the best things about it is its cosmetics -- it looks pretty good as the paint is in decent shape (unlike my previous 505). the first step was to give the car a basic washing. i also vacuumed out the interior and wiped everything down but it's going to need a lot more than that going forward. i took a look at the engine, it's fairly greasy and dirty so i'll steam clean it this weekend (if i can get to it). there's also a hose with tape on it that needs attention: while i had the hood open, i tried to fix the driver's side headlight -- it kind of stuck out at the bottom. it turns out that the bottom clip on that light was undone, and the only way to re-fasten it is to remove the bumper. i'll try to get to that this weekend as well. you can see a bit of overspray on the front turn signal in this photo -- the car has obviously been repainted in the past but it doesn't look too bad. i'll be working on removing the overspray here and elsewhere as time goes on. the two top issues with the car are the brakes and the shifting. the brakes need new pads and a fluid flush and the shifter is really loose...it also grinds when i shift into second if the revs are about 1.5k or so. i did some online research into this latter issue and there seem to be three frequent culprits: 1) worn shift linkage 2) worn mounts 3) worn synchros (worst-case scenario) i lifted the car up and checked the shift linkage, it was filthy but the shift levers were firmly attached so i don't think that's the problem. i ordered two new levers anyway. even if the problem ultimately ends up being the transmission, i've read that a fluid flush and additives can ameliorate the problem and lessen the need for an immediate transmission rebuild so i'll be looking at that. i am also working on sourcing a complete set of mounts for the engine/drivetrain. even if that's not causing the shift problem, i'm sure the worn mounts are not helping things. more to come. andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my3AWDgst Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 Thanks for the built thread :-) I'm exited to see how it turns out. If I was you I would get urethane roll mount and if you end up needing a transmission I have 3 off them. They all work great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 ...if you end up needing a transmission I have 3 off them. They all work great. this is the best news i've read all day. it's likely that i'll be taking you up on this, so please start thinking about the price you'll be asking. it occurs to me that i could pick this up from you in june if we both go to the lemons race.... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my3AWDgst Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 this is the best news i've read all day. it's likely that i'll be taking you up on this, so please start thinking about the price you'll be asking. it occurs to me that i could pick this up from you in june if we both go to the lemons race.... andré That can be arranged:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 had a bit of time this afternoon so i did some exterior cleaning. i started with the fuel filler area. here's a before: i got about halfway done. here's an after, i removed the "unleaded fuel only" sticker, i know a guy who sells new ones . i'll put the new one on when this area is done : lots of overspray on the car from when it was repainted. here are two views of the front bumper, you can see the overspray. first is the driver's side, with the missing headlight trim: here's the cleaning products i used: also, one of my fog lights is busted & will need replacement. here's the good one and the bad one (and more overspray): the car came with four different brands of tires, all 195/55-15.... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my3AWDgst Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 That's my favorite part of the whole built André:-) little clean ups like that that make car look totally different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 yes, it really makes the car look better and makes it more pleasant to use IMHO.... did more cleaning this afternoon, finished the fuel filler area: i started checking out the trunk and i saw that the taillights were nasty -- lots of dirt and (what looked like) pine needles in the gap at the top of the taillight assembly. so i removed the right taillight and cleaned it. fun fact -- on the 405, you have to remove the rear center panel to remove the taillights since it overlaps them... first is the uncleaned left side, then the partially cleaned right side: i realized that my car doesn't have a front license plate! here in LA, you can get a fix-it ticket for that, which is a PITA. so on friday i went to the local AAA office (they do DMV stuff there) and they told me that since i had just changed the registration on the car, nothing could be done until monday or tuesday since the car's entry in the registration database was locked until then....apparently this is a measure to prevent fraud... so i'll be taking care of this on tuesday. andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 I can see this car becoming very nice indeed in your care Andre - and I fully agree with all the little details adding huge impact in how the car appears. I have to ask if you're considering any motorsport stripes at all? White os Peugeot Sport's colour of choice and the motorsport stripes look fantastic. Personally really liked Brian White's application of the stripes to the driver side of the front grill on his old 405. Subtle - but looked very sharp in pics. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 i go back and forth on the stripes...IMHO the Mi16 is already kinda gaudy, what with the wing and all...OTOH, i've always liked the 405 LeMans. it came in red or white; here's the white: reproductions of this stripe set are available. but i don't know if i want to do this....so i'll decide later. right now i'm just trying to get the car back to zero... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 ordered pads & fluids to do brake job. i've gotten accustomed to ordering pentosin brake fluid for my jetta, after i ordered some i saw yesterday that pep boys is now selling pentosin brake fluid; i'll have to buy some from them to encourage them to continue to stock it. also need to order some bits and pieces, body clips and the like. did some online research on overspray removal, i may need to replace some trim pieces since it looks like the paint has been on them for quite some time. also -- i looked into getting some floor mats for my car. lloyd's mats has three different shades of the burgundy color of my interior and i ordered samples, but none of them is a close enough match for my taste. i think what i'll do, is wait until i've removed the carpet and scrubbed it before i decide on which shade to go with.... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 forgot to mention two things: first thing is, i filled the car up from nearly empty a day ago and now i have a strong gasoline smell inside the car. so i must have the cracked fuel filler tube, need to investigate exactly where it is so i know which part needs to be replaced or repaired. also -- i ordered a front license plate bracket. i had initially thought i would find a nice used one or NOS one, but i decided to go with a nice aftermarket piece. i'll write it up after i've installed it. the lower grill under the front bumper was painted white along with the rest of the car, but it's supposed to be black so i'll probably repaint that at the same time that i install the license plate bracket. the black portion of the bumpers could use a respray so i'm going to be ordering some flexible trim paint shortly. andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my3AWDgst Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Fuel sending unit assembly gasket is most likely leaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Fuel sending unit assembly gasket is most likely leaking. thanks for the suggestion. still new to 405s -- how do i access that? do i have to drop the fuel tank or can it be accessed from above? andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my3AWDgst Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 thanks for the suggestion. still new to 405s -- how do i access that? do i have to drop the fuel tank or can it be accessed from above? andré It's under the rear seat. Remove it and tou will see black around cover,remove it and you will see FP assembly. If I was you I would replace in tank FP and fuel filter located under the vehicle. Replacment should run you about $60I also have main and prime fuel pump that is 3000 mile old if you are interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 haven't had a chance to address the fuel smell yet -- busy with work -- but i got the front license plate bracket in today. so i spent a bit of time trying to get it set up. while i was working on this, i got sidetracked by the lower radiator grill (which was painted white when the car was repainted. once the license plate is mounted, it will be difficult to get to the grill so i thought i would see if i could get this grill painted the proper black color first. i tried to remove the grill and i got eight of the tiny screws but there were two screws (the top corners) that i couldn't get to -- they were nearly impossible to reach while the bumper was still on. i ran out of time so i'll have to revisit this later... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my3AWDgst Posted March 26, 2015 Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 Best way is to remove bumper to repair it. Please use DupliColor semi gloss or gloss plaint. I found it to be the best plastic paint out there. I used it on mirrors,side window trim,grill and other parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 i've heard good things about the duplicolor paint, i can get it at pep boys a mile or so from my house so that may be what i use (semi gloss); so thanks for that! i'm definitely going to remove the bumper soon, since i have to do that to fix the headlight anyway. part of the problem for me is that i don't have any workshop manuals for the 405 yet, nor even a haynes manual to guide me. so i am having to take my time right now and figuring things out as i go -- at least until i can get some manuals. i have a new fuel tank-to-fuel filler neck hose on order, found it NOS on eBay.co.uk; i'm also putting together an order with one of our favorite peugeot part vendors for a fuel sender/primer pump gasket and some of the motor mounts. the brake pads, etc. came in yesterday but i won't have time to get to the brake job until later next week or the following weekend at the soonest. i also need to do an oil change sometime soon, fortunately the purflux oil filters i bought for my 86 505 xn6 (LS867) also fit the 405. my plan is to get a NOS grill, then get that painted at a body shop so the color will be somewhat matched to the existing paint on the car...at the same time i'll get the trunk lid, the driver's door handle and the door mirror accents (all chipped) repainted as well. andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahing6 Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 Hi Andre you can try this link, it's the Haynes manual,it covers diesel & gas models including Mi16. http://www.esttools.ee/peugeot/405.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 thanks for that link, roger. that will certainly be helpful! i had some time yesterday so i did a bit of work on the 405. i wanted to pull the bumper so that i could adjust the driver's side headlight and paint the lower front grill. on the 91 mi16, there are three big bolts underneath the the bumper assembly, one on each side and one in the center. the side bolts were different from each other and the center bolt was missing on my car; here are the bolt holes: there are also four bolts in the front attached to the bumper shock absorbers (two on each side). no pics of that, hard to photograph inside of the bumper like that. lastly, there is a big bolt on each side in front of the wheels. these bolts are inside of the fender liner so those must be removed first. i put the car on a jack stand right after this photo was taken, but i was never under the car anyway so i was safe at all times. once i got the driver's side liner loose -- it was difficult to remove entirely because the abs sensor & the charcoal canister are attached to it -- i could see that the insulation on the abs sensor wire was frayed. that'll have to be addressed in the near future: after i got the front bumper off, a few things fell out including this rubber bumper-looking piece: after i got the bumper off of the car, i removed the lower grill. it was held in by several screws that were originally cadmium plated but were now very corroded. it was difficult to get the grill out but i managed. that picture (above) shows the white overspray on the bumper. i sanded the grill (it was plastic) with 220 sandpaper and used a flap wheel on my dremel to remove as much white paint as possible. i cleaned the grill and cleaned and masked the bumper: here's the painting supplies i used -- adhesion promoter and semi gloss black bumper paint from duplicolor (thanks savo! ). i also wiped everything down with a tack cloth. as you can see from the photos (below) i removed the side marker lights but simply masked off the front lights. all of the lenses have white and black overspray on them, i'll be polishing or replacing them in the future. here's the bumper after painting: it came out pretty nice, and the duplicolor was an exact match for the old paint on the bumper. i wouldn't be surprised if the bumper had been painted with duplicolor before. while the grill and bumper were drying, i took the time to fix the driver's side headlight. as it turns out, i didn't have to remove the bumper to get the light properly attached, live and learn... i also cleaned off the torn under hood stickers, i'll be replacing them with nice reproductions: you can really see the overspray on the front fans: the driver's side fan had some dead bugs in it, cleaned that out: these little plastic protector bags covering the relays up front are all shredded, not sure where to get new ones: as i was wrapping things up, i did a bit of looking around and saw that there was no bracket for the hood stay. you can see the outline of where the hood stay bracket would go in the picture above. so i ordered one, hopefully that will silence one of the many rattles on my car.... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 I think Savo is going to be happy he's not alone in PROPERLY getting a 405 back up to snuff. Just pictured a cool photo shoot with Andre, Savo, and Cam's 405's all together. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 thanks rabin! i was working on this post when i saw "new post added." so even more progress to report. today i reinstalled the bumper and the grill. i got stainless steel screws and washers for the grill to replace the old corroded ones: i put the bumper back on, but i only attached the front bolts as i wanted to touch up the ends of the bumper: here's the passengers' side masked off so that i can touch up the ends of the bumper: and here's the finished driver's side. i'm going to let this dry a few days before i completely reattach the bumper: with my son's help i installed the new front license plate bracket; i may lower it a bit so that the plate sits lower, but i'm otherwise happy with the way it came out. i went to the DMV and swapped the old plate for a new set of two (the new front plate is blurred out here). i also have a proper black lower grill, and i'm pretty pleased with the way that came out. andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 So when do the glass Euro headlights arrive? Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 So when do the glass Euro headlights arrive? Rabin well, I'm still putting together a to-do list for this car, but changing out the headlights will be on page two of that list. the current headlights aren't broken and look okay, so they're a low priority. first priority is fixing broken stuff, next is freshening the car up (both mechanically and cosmetically). with regards to lights, i need to polish the front and side signal lights to get rid of all of the overspray on them. i will probably replace the taillights since the driver's side unit has hairline cracks on it (where it curves around the car). also -- the foglight are trashed and need to be replaced. sourcing that will be a challenge. another project that i have in mind is replacement of the exterior signaling lights with LED units...it seems to me that the combination of improved brightness and lower current usage is perfect for "classic" cars like ours... so new headlights are pretty far down the list. but i *have* been looking, there are some pretty cool choices out there for 405s... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 Cool - Makes sense. I only asked since that's usually one of the biggest complaints I've read about 405's was that USDM lights were awful...Likely not even as much of an issue with lots of in city driving.Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my3AWDgst Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 Great job André :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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