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1966 404 Coupé Injection Restoration


Mike T

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Great update Mike!

Quick tip for using zip ties - after they're tight use a sharp blade to slice the end off flush.  Looks very tide and zero chance of scratching on sharp edges left by side cutters.  I use zip ties quite a lot and love how tidy they can be while serving a function.  Much nicer than metal spring clips.

Also - I noticed you're using two different picture hosting sites for images - I know it's a hassle but feel free to upload pictures into the post as it always sucks when hosting changes and all the pics in a post disappear.  Something to think about anyway.

Rabin

 

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All the zap straps on the car are cut off flush, such as in the photo of the washer pump.  The ones that aren't were only temporary.  About hosting photos, I load these updates to several sites so in an effort to not duplicate the work too much, I sometimes copy the remotely hosted photo image URLs to save time.  I could change that here if you're confident that you have enough capacity.  Typical photo size is 3 MB.

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Ties:  Washer pump was why I commented.  :)  Good to hear they're flush cut - looks so much nicer.

Pictures:  I can extend member capacity as needed - so giver beans if you want!  (I'll investigate further as it might be better to create a new group with extended limits)

I'd much prefer having the pictures loaded with the post simply to ensure continuity.  It's a huge pet peeve when I find a cool post and all the picture links are dead, and I know from experience what a PITA it is to have to update a post to update the photo links - so I wouldn't really worry about updating them unless you really want too, but going forward please don't hesitate.

Another option would be to upload to the gallery on the site as well, then link to those images.  Might be a little easier that way - but not sure.  

Thanks,

Rabin

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I've loaded a few from the past two days....sample semi-cleaning of one combustion chamber, cleaning old original seat slides (I have new ones that are different and should be better because they have bearings), some work on valvetrain, mounting of right front bumper side mount, using the engine hoist to get the flywheel off and then reattaching the block to the engine stand and then finally an initial inspection of 4 of the 5 main bearings.

 

 

IMG_5797.jpg

OK rockers.jpg

original seat slides.jpg

original combustion chamber.jpg

Engine on lift.jpgCrankshaft.jpg

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So today was not much on the car front: I brought the 404 Coupé rear glass into the living room along with the new gasket and 8 stainless steel trim pieces - 4 long ones and 4 corners.  The word on the street is that the trim must be mounted before trying to put the screen in.  Well the long pieces are straight and the screen is a little curved so once installed, the trim has to be taped to the rubber so it won't pop out!  I may try installing it Sunday, using string and dish soap.

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What's the plan for the motor rebuild?  Usually things like decarboning the combustion chamber would get done if you sent it in to get planed / trued up, and I'd think valve seat grind with valve lapping and valve stem seals at a minimum?

Any other tricks?

Rabin

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I have a brand new head to use.  It will have hardened exhaust seats installed before use.  I haven't discussed the scope of work with the shop in Victoria that I'll use for machining but at a minimum the moving train will be balanced on top of the usual machining needs.  It might be simpler to have them do most of the work.    Before whipping the flywheel off I punched the flywheel and crank end to mark their relative location.

The head gasket will be a Reinz rather than bimetallic and that is thinner, hence the CR should move up to about 9.3:1 from 8.8.  I expect the power will nominally be about 100 bhp.  Reinz gaskets are better in terms of reliability too.

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I'd suggest a 3 angle valve grind, match porting the intake and exhaust manifolds to the head, and a very mild port just to smooth things out.  It's astounding how much efficiency  can be gained with just some simple tweaks to a stock head.  

Are the pistons pretty contoured?  The head has no squish pads at all and looks to be quite recessed.  Curious if the pistons come up above deck height much at all?

Rabin

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The pistons are domed and come above block height at TDC.  The modern valve grind technique will no doubt be what the shop will recommend anyway. They used to do Rudi’s mechanical/machining. I’ll take their advice, whatever that may be.

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As long as they're aware you're open to improvements I'm sure they'll suggest similar unless it's pretty good out of the box.  Are they doing the complete rebuild and reassembly as well?  Or just machining and you're assembling? 

Rabin

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

New 404 KF2 head bolts (NOS) and seat spacers.  The seat spacers were lost in the seventies when the second owner had the front seats reupholstered.  Need 16 and I have 21 to use.  My wife's seat may be a bit higher than mine if I add an extra 4.

IMG_5896.jpg

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This is looking good Mike.  Nice job !  No bugs on your teeth and no sun in your eyes. Just a rear view mirror so you know who's behind and the engine to keep them there.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

Injectors-tested.jpg

Today I got my 18 cleaned and tested injectors back from Nottingham Diesel Services Ltd.

The 6 NOS:
2 x DL0 20D - release at 37 bar, good jet, no drips
3 x DL0 20D - release at 35 bar, good jet, no drips
1 x DL0 20B - release at 33 bar, good jet, no drips

The 4 originals from my car's engine:
1 x DL0 20B - release at 29 bar, good jet, no drips
3 x DL0 20B - release at 27 bar, good jet, no drips

Random spare injectors:
3 x DL0 20B - release at 30-32 bar, good jet, small drip but OK
3 x DL0 20B - release at 22-25 bar, jet OK, but drips under residual pressure that could make cold and warm starting a problem.
2 - DL0 20B - defective

I'm going to use 4 x NOS injectors.

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  • 1 month later...

R-Window-trim-mounted.jpg

As you may recall, before Christmas I put the rear window in but there were a couple of issues: the lower stainless steel trim piece was perfectly straight and the class is slightly curved, so it was constantly trying to pop the clips out.  And so it did, once the glass was in.

After pulling the trim off I realized that the problem was also that the replica clips were about 2mm shorter than the originals and so didn't penetrate far enough inside the seal's rubber slot to engage with the small channel at the end where the hooked bit goes.  So each of the 30 clips had to be adjusted carefully by hand to match the depth of the 16 remaining originals, which were cadmium plated a couple of years ago.  In doing this - they're made of spring steel - 5 of the 30 snapped but 25 survived. 

I then mounted them to the SS trim along with the 16 originals and so far it's holding well enough.  Actually the rubber seal relies upon the window aperture to keep it tight.  So during installation I'm going to have to ensure the helpers push hard on each clip as I pull the rubber seal through to the inside of the car to make sure the seal clamps the clip in the right position (fully inserted).

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Today, with the able help of my two daughters I remounted the rear window of the 404 Coupé with no problem at all, and the modified clips are working perfectly.

Took 5 minutes to install and this time I started from the bottom of the seal and finished at the top.  I used a smaller gauge nylon cord to do the lip service (!) this time and it worked beautifully.

YES!!

Rear-window-mounted.jpg

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Having dealt with both windscreens on the little niva not that long ago, older style gass can be very hard to install, knowing that your car is also italian body they are never perfect, some fit loosely some are snag to the point of cracking, i'll advise you to get it in the sun for the rubber to shrink down before installing the chrome trim. 

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The engine is totally apart now, as noted.  The cam has bad wear so I am trying to source a new one from Le Club 404's stock.  The new head and piston/sleeve kit are in the two cardboard boxes.
Engine-disassembled.jpg

Today, after cleaning off the engine block and moving it to where you see it above, I made 10 spacers for the carpet snaps.  These space the carpet appropriately for the thickness of the undelay, so they're not puckered.
Carpet-Passenger-Floor.jpg

Original Peugeot clips used for the visible ones. The rest are virtually the same. 
Carpet-Clip-1.jpg

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Drilled 3 holes in the panels to mount the new carpet in the front driver's side.  The fourth hole was already there above the accelerator pedal.  

Driver-s-side-carpet.jpg

Also mounted the new speedometer cable and the accelerator cable.  The driver's seat was a bit of a bear to install because the captive bolts in the bodyshell were not long enough to penetrate the new (thicker) seat runners and so I had to knock it out and put a bolt and (blind) nut inside one.  

Driver-s-seat-in.jpg

The interior is now done apart from the transmission tunnel, which is still naked because I have to install the C3 gearbox and its Nardi floor shifter before final trimming. That'll be a while then.

Interior-done.jpg

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