You may recall that I acquired this little Peugot as an emergency stop gap run around when the Van died. I'd originally considered hiring a car to get to a couple of running events, but a quick browse around the internet threw up this little heap of junk at a very reasonable price (less than hiring a car twice), so it seemed like a better idea to just buy this, and then either sell it again, or scrap it, once the van was back on the road. When I picked it up, it drove like a nail, stank of dog's, was covered in tree sap and pine needles, had 2 dodgy tyres and had an engine warning light on, amongst other problems. However, in full knowledge of all that and in desperate need of wheels, I paid my pittance for it, drove it home, gave it a quick wash and hoover out, changed the oil, stuck 2 new tyres on the front and drove it nearly 300 miles to Wales and back for a running event. Having used it for a while, I've got quite attached to the old heap though, and as such despite the van being back on the road, it's remained parked up outside and I've been using it to go to the shop's, rubbish tip, pick up van spares etc, without really needing it, or knowing what I was going to do with it long term. Well, I've found a solution for that. "The Boy" told me the other day that he's got a date for his driving test and as such when he passes, he'll be in need of a set of wheels and what could be better than a nice little 1.1L Peugot 206. Except, there's a few problems there. Whilst it's fine for me to drive around in an old banger with an engine management light on, no remote central locking, a big old clunk from the front suspension, a rusty spot on the bonnet and using both feet to get it into gear, I don't think it's fair to palm off all those problems on him, and anyway, it won't pass the MOT! So, as a little side project I've been working may way through the list of jobs and getting it all ship shape, and even if I do say so myself, it's gone from a right heap to a lovely little car. _____________________________________________ I suspected from the start that the engine management light may have been omissions based, as the previous owner only used it to go a couple of miles to work and back each day, which is never good for any engine. A good thrash down the motorway to Wales and back would help with that. But, from the off the engine temperature never held steady, wandering from cold to overheating at random, which probably wasn't helping matters either. A closer look showed the although the radiator looked fairly new, it was leaking from the top of the matrix, so it made sense to replace the radiator and thermostat to cure the temperature problems and see where we went from there. The beauty of these little cars is the availability and cheapness of spare parts. I think that the radiator, thermostat and coolant was under £50, so even if that didn't fix it, it wasn't going to break the bank. With the new radiator in hand, it was instantly obvious that the one currently fitted was from a car without air-conditioning and about half the size of the one that was going back on. With the Air-con radiator being in front of the coolant one, the coolant radiator needs to be bigger to cope with the reduced airflow and higher temperatures, which certainly wasn't going to have been helping matters. A quick half hour job to replace the radiator and thermostat and refill the coolant with nice new fluid, and having reset the engine management light it appears to be fixed. I'm guessing, that as it was never at the right temperature it couldn't work out what it was supposed to be doing and hence the engine management light. That, coupled with thrashing it about on a few long runs, seems to have done the trick though. Quick fix number one. _____________________________________________ Easy fix number 2. Replace the gearbox oil with the correct amount of the correct stuff. I suspect that this had never been changed, as once I'd finally got the breaker bar on the sump plug to get it undone, I drained about a litre of black sludge out. Which, when you consider that it's supposed to take 1.9 litres of gear oil, isn't ideal. Drained and correctly refilled it's like a new gearbox, sliding as easily into gear as the day it was built. No more clunks, no more missed gears, no more two feet on the gear lever to get it into gear, just nice slick gear changes. It's amazing the difference a bit of oil makes! I'll change the oils and filters again before it moves onto it's new home, but that ones a definite success, and another £20 well spent. _____________________________________________ A set of spark plugs, at the extortionate cost of £10, and a rocker cover gasket for a miserly amount was the next job on the list. The plugs are a bit tricky to get at, but with the engine red hot they came out easily enough, and with a bit of copper slip around the threads before refitting, they should hopefully come out again if they ever need too. The rocker cover looked like it had seen better days, so while that was off I gave it a quick going over with the wire brush, a bit of rust treatment and a coat of high temperature sliver paint that I had knocking around. Whilst it makes no difference to how it runs, it makes it look like it's actually been cared for when you open the bonnet instead of screaming neglect in your face. While I had the bonnet open, it made sense to replace the auxiliary drive belt too, as that was showing signs of cracking. The one that came off was about 50mm longer than the new one, so I guess it had seen a bit of action and was well past it's prime. Another easy fix for less than £20. _____________________________________________ Onwards ever onwards, and the clunky front end was most likely coming from the Steering inner tie rod joints which got picked up as an advisory at the last MOT. I ordered a set of inner tie rods and a set of outer ball joints while I was at it, and good job I did too. When I started stripping it out it was clear the L/H ball joint was the source of the big clunk, as it was totally shot to bits. I ended up having to saw the R/H one off too, as it was stuck fast, with no amount of heat, big hammer or swearing making any difference. Either way, with new bits fitted, the big clunks gone now, and it actually goes in the same direction as the steering wheels pointing. I whipped it up to the garage to get the tracking adjusted today (having to saw the ball joint off meant I didn't have any reference to put the new one on against, so it was miles out). £40 on parts, a couple of hours of my time and £35 for the tracking adjustment, that's money well spent in my eyes and has made a real difference to how it feels when your driving it. _____________________________________________ Which takes us onto the cosmetics. Many, many, years ago (1989) I did a GSCE in electronics. Which, considering I then went into the mechanical side of engineering, proved to be about as much use as a chocolate tea pot. That is until now. When the Peugot came home to roost, the remote central locking didn't work, which wasn't really a surprise as most of the key fob and the switches within it were missing. Not a problem, as the key still worked, allowing you to use the good old "put the key in the door and turn it method" of entry. But, come on, this is 2021 not 1921, and where's the fun in that. A quick browse of the bodgers favourite website (EBay) and for the princely sum of £10 I was the proud owned of some new switches and a new key body. All that remained was to put my GCSE electronics qualification to good use, by unsoldering the minute switch from the old circuit board, soldering on the new one and swapping all the bits into the new body. Simples, I hear you cry. And indeed it would have been if I had the eyes of a ten year old and not those of a nearly 50 year old. Good old perseverance paid off in the end though and I eventually got them fitted, stuck it all back together and what do you know. It only blinking well works! You'll be pleased to know that with the not inconsiderable sum saved with this little fix, I've invested in a magnifying glass, so should a similar situation ever occur, at least I'll be able to see what I'm doing. I'm on an electronics roll now, so onto the next thing and this ones always been a bit of a worry. The mileage was recorded at the last MOT, but not the couple before it, and when I got the car the mileage display didn't work, which was a bit of a worrying, as I never knew if the recorded mileage was genuine or not. I had thought, that I might be able to get the mileage from the ECU with the code reader, but no joy on that one. I suspect it can be done, but my DIY level code readers not good enough, so fixing the display was added to my list. A bit of googling suggested that the problem was probably with the ribbon cable between the PCB and the LCD display, which made sense, but also highlighted the fact that you couldn't just get a second hand set of clocks, as the mileage was not only held on the ECU but within the PCB of the clocks themselves. Swapping the clocks would apparently result in the higher mileage from either unit being overwritten onto the other. Which when you think about it makes perfect sense and stops people fiddling the mileage by just getting a set of second hand clocks from a lower mileage scrap car. In an idle moment the other day, I pulled out the clocks to have a look and when I removed the back to my surprise the LCD display wasn't actually connected to anything, indeed it didn't even have a cable attached at either end. Which I guess explained why it didn't work! So, back to the Internet and it didn't take long to identify what sounded like the correct ribbon cable, from our friends in China and a special soldering iron head to go with it. At the same time however, I also found a set of second hand clocks and with an unusual bit of pre planning on my part, I parted with the vast sum of £25 for them. My thoughts being that I'd pull them apart when they arrived, at least then I'd have some idea of how the cable should fit once it got here. With the new (Second hand) clocks now in my possession, I did indeed pull them to bits and guess what. The internet is wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is no ribbon cable in the traditional sense of the word between the PCB and LCD display, just a bit of what looks like rubber sheet stuck to the LCD display, which pushes against the contacts on the PCB and obviously has the wiring buried inside it somehow. So, whip the clocks out of the car, swap the LCD displays over, and what do you know, not only does it work but the mileage is pretty much spot on to what I would have guessed it would be going from the last MOT, so that's another thing fixed and another worry off my mind. I'm guessing that at some point in the past the clocks have been out for some reason or another and whoever played with them probably saw the bit of rubber/cable, thought what's that doing in here, chucked it out and then wondered why the mileage display stopped working. Well now we know what it's for don't we! I'm intrigued as to what the cable that's coming from China is actually going to be for when it gets here though. With any luck it might be for the central display as that's a bit dodgy too! And that just leaves my least favourite job. Bodywork. Working outside and using a rattle can it's almost impossible to get a decent finish, and no matter what you do, it never looks any good. The deep rust spot on the bonnet needed looking at before winter though and with the rest of the paint being faded, deteriorated and impregnated with road dirt, it made sense to give it a bit of a tart up. A couple of hours with the T Cut and polish made a big difference, as did repairing the damage to the back bumper where it had been in a minor prang at some point. The new paint still needs time to fully cure before it gets cut back and polished, but I think that you'll agree, for a 17 year old car it's not come up too bad, and even I'm fairly happy with my repair work to the rear bumper. I've got a set of front discs and pads on order (£50), so I'll change them when they get here and have a look at the back pads and drums while I'm at it. I'll take the opportunity to change the brake fluid while I'm there too, so that will be another job ticked off.
And that will be about it for the time being I think. I'll run it around for a while, shove it through an MOT and just keep driving it until "The Boy" passes his test when he can have it as his first car. If he's really lucky and I get really bored, I might even put a new cambelt, water pump and clutch on it for him too. But lets just see how bored I get before I go making any rash decisions like that. I must admit, that now it's sorted out, I'm a bit loath to let it go. It's gone from being a real shed, that was horrible to drive and almost ready for the scrappy, to a lovely little run around. And all for less than the price of a really cheap holiday and a bit of time and effort! I suppose that when it does go, I'll just have to get another one and start again. Oh well, I do love a little project to be getting on with!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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