1986 Peugeot 309 GR Profile

I have continued prodding and although it's gonna be quite a task I'm gonna try tackling it as my 3rd welding guinea pig. I'm going to add it to my existing 'learning to weld' thread rather than here. retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=57002&page=1

rlloyd91 - Woah epic thread revival!

I still have both pugs, you may catch the odd glimps of them in my 924 thread, but there has been no progress on them. I pushed them from my mind and have simply ignored them I'm sorry to say. They are looking very sorry for them selves. There is a chance that I'll pick up with the welding and recommission the blue one next year. I'm getting more confident at welding which does make it a little less daunting to repair, but it would require a lot of work.

Needless to say I will revive the thread if there is any notable progress.

-Steve-

I’m at a point where one way or another this car has got to move, either for scrap or to my current house. Friends and family say scrap it and they’re probably right, but I’m reluctant.

This video is from last April when it was mearly 16 years since it’s MOT ran out and 13 years since it last started. Just a charged battery and some fresh fuel in a pop bottle for it to suck on… oh and no exhaust fitted…



I was quite impressed, the throttle was stuck at the carb but I later got that freed up ok too.

As encouraging as that may seem it’s still a long way from being a car, lots of rust, and a whole bunch of other things. I’m not sure it’s saveable.



Are these things retro yet? 😝

-Steve-

Ok so got a little further…

First up I degreased and pressure washed the engine bay and wheel arches just so it’s wasn’t as grim to work on, it was full of oily dirt, cobwebs and rust, not nice.

The exhaust is back on, it was only two bolts to the down pipe and two mounting rubber to push on so easy peasy.

After a clean of the distributor cap it is now starting and idling nicely, and it runs up to temperature ok. The rad fan needed a bit of contact jiggling before it played ball but is fine now. The engine sounds as good as one of these rattly Simca units ever does.

The alternator belt was loose and squealing so I put some tension on that which has sorted that, for now at least. The belt actually looks ok given it’s age.

In fact I’ve jiggled/cleaned various contacts to wake things up. The lights were horribly dim but there is now a full compliment of adequately bright lights after swapping out a few dead bulbs. I know this was off task but it was easy and pleased me so yeah whatever.





I have also had the front wheels off and loosened the callipers to get the discs out, they have been given a clean up with the grinder knot wheel before reassembling. While in there I was also able to push the calliper piston back in a little so at least they aren’t seized.





If it wasn’t for the vast amount of welding it needs I think it would re-MOT fairly easily. For an MOT test it would need a couple of track control arm bushes, a track rod end and a set of tyres. But for my goal to simply make it mobile I think it’s just the rear brakes to reassemble.

-Steve-

Ran into a little unexpected puzzle. The hand break parts need swapping onto the new shoes. The pivots held in with spring clip washers were easy enough but the toothed automatic hand break adjuster looks tricky. It feels like hammering it out is more inclined to form more of a rivet head than driving it out. Any suggestions? Or just hit it harder?







-Steve-