Peugeot 404 Coupé restoration in British Columbia, Canada

[miketippett]

The last two weeks of November and the first days of December 2016, I took my 404 C apart at my home garage in anticipation of getting the restoration underway. The restoration is being done by Coachwerks in Victoria BC, a shop that does excellent work: Coachwerks | Classic Car Restoration in Victoria BC. They are world-renowned restorers of Mercedes 300 SL car, and they do all the bodywork for | Rudi & Co..

Later in December, the car was at the media blasting shop in Sidney BC, mounted on its cart. I also have a lot of NOS 404C panels cleaned there too. After the shell and NOS parts returned to the restorer in Victoria, the restoration began.


Note the KF2 Injection engine, now on the stand in the photo


The NOS panels being dropped off at the blasting shop a couple of weeks ago


The car is on its cart at Coachwerks December 10th


In good company: a P1800 under plastic, a 914/6, an Austin Healey 3000, a 911 and a 300 SL


On the flatbed, taking a ride to the quick strip facility in Sidney BC, December 10th 2016


On January 6, 2017 I dropped a payment off at the shop and had a look. Progress was restricted by the slowness of the stripper doing the replacement panels, specifically those for the the floor and chassis bits. Now they're all there and the work has begun, the first step being a cutting away of the floor elements. In about three weeks the lower portions should be done.


NOS panels on the shop floor - the other half of the new floor is behind the photo field of view.



Cut away floors



The original floors on their way to recycling!



404C on its cart....300 SL behind.

[miketippett]

I stopped by the shop on January 13th to drop off a new front crossmember and rear jack mount I just got this week from Joern Haarmann, in case they are needed.


Left front floor partially reconstructed, rocker panel/sill on this side is being made in the shop because I only have one in NOS for the other side of the car.


Front left detail of floor under reconstruction


The car seen from the front


Reconstruction of the left floor (work in progress) seen from inside the car.


Rear view

[miketippett]

Front suspension arms and Panhard rod mount are ready to go. All new hardware is available and new bushings are in as well.

[miketippett]

The work continued over the past two weeks. Excellent progress has been made: the floors and sills are complete, the rear wing skins have been drilled off and the new ones readied, with work underneath in progress. It is fantastic to see!

[miketippett]

The new right rear fender/wing is welded onto the car.  The rear jack mount and part of the inner fender were just rebuilt.  Looking good!  This fender/wing was severely rusted before the transplant. I found the rear fenders/wings from a Peugeot service point in Williamsburg, Ontario in 2004.  Under $500 CAD each, cheap!

[miketippett]

The new left rear fender is now welded on, as of February 8th, after the inner fender work was completed.

[miketippett]

These photos were taken Friday 17 Feb 2017 around 5 PM. Major front end surgery is underway!

Front fenders are cut off!


Detail of cowl panel, not rusty at all inside.


Inner fender panel was not in that bad of a condition, some repair was required near the bottom.


Dashboard with three rectangular holes gone and one round hole for the new - original type - wiper/washer switch!


Taillights fit, good!


Drilled out spot welds and removed outer McPherson strut tower skin.


Repair panels welded into the nose panel on both sides.


Interesting perspective!

[miketippett]

for detailed photos of the work done in the past two weeks, go here: www.coachwerks.com/MT1966Peugeot404C/update-2.html

[miketippett]

The new front crossmember is on, some significant repairs were needed on the driver's side inner fender and that fender is now tacked in place, with fine-tuning and possible future adjustments to follow. Tomorrow I have to take the rubber seals down for panel alignment purposes, as well as the grille.





The old front crossmember didn't look all that bad but when it was off, the bodyman in the photo above showed it to me and shook it, and it sounded just like a Maraca

They will be painting the front brake drum backing plates, the Hydrovac vacuum tank and the air inlet grille. I have repainted the brake drums myself in heat resistant paint. I had them blasted at Blast-it in Victoria today and I even did the vacuum tank blasting myself!

[miketippett]

March 31st: major welding is all done. Next week it will be a full coating in epoxy primer, then a few weeks of blocking and priming, followed by a topcoat in Dark Blue 1057. Exciting times! Oh yeah that's me in photo 1, a bit older than the car

[miketippett]

There is not a lot to report on the bodyshell other than it has the anti gravel undercoat on it now. The engine compartment and inner surfaces were repainted last week:


Friday afternoon I reassembled the struts, with new grease seals, new roller bearings for the steering swivels, new rubber boot and new upper cups.  That factory spring compressor is fantastic!

[miketippett]

Work continues. Wow does the blue ever look dark when the car is in the shop! It's the same paint that you see in the engine compartment photo from a few weeks ago!

[miketippett]

May 19th: the high-build primer is on and the final preparation for painting have begun. She may be dark blue in a couple of weeks!

[miketippett]

June 2nd: the trim is being test fitted and the final body blocking is underway. Paint should be applied by the end of the next week: dark blue.





This week, Harry Kalsbeek sent me a most appreciated gift - exact replicas of the Kalsbeek Motors dealer sticker that were on all cars they sold from their Ontario dealership in the sixties. This will again be worn with pride on the back of my 404 Coupé - delivered to its first owner in BC by Harry's parents themselves, all the way from the Greater Toronto Area - once the car is delivered back to me. He also sent some Castrol oil change door jamb stickers printed with the dealership name.

[miketippett]

This afternoon I decided to have a look inside the lever end of the Italian-made Nardi floor shifter that my 404C had from new. The last two I opened up had plastic bushings that had disintegrated over time and I thought that this one had a plastic bushing too, but intact, because the lever action was perfect.

After removing the 4 screws below the shifter, there was some very old, dirty oil in there. This end of the shifter cannot get any lubrication from the gearbox proper even though it's attached to it. The other two 404 Nardi shifters I had in the past were dry in there, with just some grease on the moving parts....


After removing two circlips, the mechanism comes apart. I could have removed the lever but decided against it because the bolt inside the mechanism is tied shut with a wire and it seemed very serene - I could clean around the lever, with it still somewhat attached.....


The bushing in this version of the Nardi is definitely not plastic, it's bronze or brass! It's in great condition!


View of the bronze bushing, which when the lever is actuated, moves up and down inside the sleeve attached to the shifter rod that transmits the action to the gearbox shifting forks.


The sump has been drained and cleaned out, and the bronze bushing is again circlipsed into place.


The sealing faces and threading of the little sump were carefully cleaned and then sealed with Hylomar Blue, to prevent any oil leaks.


Sump screw on the Nardi, accessible from inside the car, 24 mm.


...and refilled with Yacco vegetable based differential oil!