Mike T Posted January 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 Today I did some work on the SOFICA blower unit. I have two. One had a noisy motor with lots of end play on the shaft, but much better brushes than the other one, which was quiet and had very little shaft play. So I swapped brush holders, which meant a little bit of soldering. Came out very well. Then I extended the wires so the two speed switch that I have relocated from the blower unit to the dashboard can be fed, and found a good blocking plate for the switch hole. The thing I should have got before now is a set of new rubber mounting washers for the motor, which is bolted through the front of the SOFICA housing. So, before putting the motor into the housing and putting it into the car I will see if I can get a new set of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 Here's a shot of the brushes. Top is the one from the "good motor" - pretty much worn out. The bottom one is from the "noisy" motor - decent. I put the decent ones into the "good "motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 Curious if you could solder a replacement carbon brush to that used up one as a spare? Is the commutator in good shape? Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 Both commutators are good. For now I won't worry about it as the brushes in the motor should be good for 2000 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2021 The next step was to find rubber mounts for the blower fan motor. The originals were gone and scrap anyway. I thought I'd have to make some but Duncan Auto Parts has a chest of grommets that are surprisingly useful and they had three that fit. The originals were split in half when new and inserted from either side. I decided to see if I could squeeze these new ones through in one piece. Yes is the answer. So I did. I had to make special provision for the wire extenders for the switch because they run near the blower now that they have to exit the housing instead of just going to the switch on the bottom of the housing. So I taped them down with aluminium duct tape to keep them away from the impeller and had a lot of fun getting the nuts threaded but in the end it's all good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2021 Got the SOFICA unit installed with the remote switch wired up nicely. It's worth mentioning that despite being a metric car, the brake pipe unions are 3/8 inch and not 10 mm. A 10 mm wrench will not get them tight enough. Couple of shots from the side, now that the car's off jack stands and on its own wheels again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRDT Posted January 10, 2021 Report Share Posted January 10, 2021 Brake boosters, brake rotors and clutches diameters are often imperial sizes. You can also find 7/16"-20 (UNF) seat belt bolts for some reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goce Posted January 10, 2021 Report Share Posted January 10, 2021 Seat belt bolts are always 7/16"-20 (UNF). Also brake lines are often imperial 1/8, 1/4, 1/2". Also peugeot often uses seals and bearings in imperial sizes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted January 10, 2021 Report Share Posted January 10, 2021 Had to chuckle at the 2 car garage set up. Car looks gorgeous Mike! Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2021 The original brake pipe unions had 10 mm heads but imperial UNF threads! The replacements were 3/8" because they were locally sourced (remember I made my own brake lines). 7/16" seat belt bolts, eh? Pretty damned small head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRDT Posted January 12, 2021 Report Share Posted January 12, 2021 7/16" isn't the head, it's the tread. On my 309 the heads are neither metric nor the standard imperial size and some are low profile, add thread lock on top of that and you can have lots of fun changing a seat belt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2021 I know, it was a joke, therefore I added a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goce Posted January 13, 2021 Report Share Posted January 13, 2021 From my experience the head on seat belt bolts is between 16mm and 17mm the threads are almost always 7/16 20 thread, i've installed few thousand of them during my year in van hool buses, even the smallest seat belt for the passenger in a bus used the same bolts with factory loctite apply, a 16mm socket and torqued them to 60 Nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 The Jaeger panel for the sports instrument panel - made by Le Club 404 - arrived today and I installed the instruments provisionally at the lunch break. The instruments other than the oil pressure gauge are used and need to be cleaned and tested. I may also look for a better voltmeter and possibly an 8 Gordini tachometer after all, as the Renault 8S tachometer has a different style of chrome trim. Still it's a good start..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 18, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2021 Horns from the 404 of this era are possible to disassemble, de-rust, clean up inside, adjust and reuse! Both of them were not working beforehand but I cleaned the points inside and got them both working again! These both live behind the front grille. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted January 18, 2021 Report Share Posted January 18, 2021 The gauge cluster looks fantastic - looks "the business" as they say. Curious - I have no idea what the horns even sound like. Are they small car "European" sounding or are they more like modern cars now? Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 18, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2021 The two round ones are Aigu and Grave - quite loud, American-ish. The third one is a mini-trumpet and I have to replace it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 20, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 The town horns assembled and working. The grave (flat) is kind of hoarse, which I think will be charming, and the aigu (sharp) is very musical. As you can see by the wires, they blow together. One case was made in December 1965 and the other in January 1966. The car was built in April 1966 and sent to Canada after May 1966. I need to buy a highway horn now because the original was beyond saving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 23, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 Today was a slack one in the garage: mount the two town horns behind the grille - access was difficult though - and modify the gearbox support tool to get more lift. The former was a success and the latter mixed, as the tool I made is flexing quite a bit. May have to use a floor jack when installing the engine, we will see..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted February 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2021 The town horn I think is the one in the engine compartment and the road horns behind the grille....anyway I bought a new SANOR brand rebuilt town horn because mine was beyond repair and the plastic had spalled off the edges. Got it on eBay, not cheap but it was redone and works well. The form is identical to the original though the sound is likely a bit different because this one is a "TR" and the original was a "TV3". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted February 8, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 The engine shop emailed and the bearing shells for the connecting rods were in the wrong box evidently, as the box says they're 0.3 mm oversized but they appear to be standard - i.e. too thin for the resurfaced crankshaft. So I will source some more from Europe and that will delay the engine's return to the car a little...depending upon how long the postage takes. At least the engine assembly is nearing completion on the shop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted February 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2021 I've ordered from Britain two sets of AE-Glacier rod bearings, one in 0.3 mm and one in 0.5 mm oversize. Should arrive soon I hope. I got the larger size in case I need them in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted February 20, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2021 Rod bearings arrived and I'll run them down to the shop on Friday the 26th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goce Posted February 21, 2021 Report Share Posted February 21, 2021 Mike, did you check them for actual size, i've recently bought some for the little niva, box says 0,5 but half are that, others are 0,25 so be careful measure them before installation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted February 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2021 The engine builder is doing this. They reground the crankshaft journals to the 0.3 specs in the Peugeot KF2 Injection factory manual. The 0.3 Glaciers should work fine but if there was some mix-up, the 0.5 is ready for use.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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