Ordered the compensator and ball joints from GSF yesterday afternoon and they arrived this morning!! I am very impressed with thier service. The prices are not bad too (although the compensator was £75).

See about trying to fit some ot this later today if the weather is ok. Looking pretty miserable at the moment

Had a look at my bits that arrived. Dead pleased with the new compensator. No pics today but will post tomorrow hopefully.

Had a go at replacing the damaged ball joint. It went very smoothly. That dewalt impact wrench I bought is the best tool I have ever bought. Anyone that has ever tried to remove a ball joint when its on the car will testify to how difficult it can be. With the impact wrench it just popped off no problem. Probably helped that it was new though. I am liking working on the car more and more now that there are more new bits.

Whilst under the front had a look at the underside. Brake pipes front to rear look a little worse for wear as does the fuel pipes (which have also been patched in the middle with a bit of rubber hose I notice). They will all need replaced. Also had a look at how difficult it would be to drop the front subframe for refurbishment. Looks like it will be possibly more hassle than its worth as I will need to support the car on the sills with axle stands. Would be much easier if I had an inspection pit or ramps. So I think I may not do this and leave it for another day. Although I may change my mind.

If I get more good weather tomorrow night I think I will remove the rusted brake lines up to the old compensator so I can get that off for replacement. I see it sits on a bracket that could probably do with tarting up before going back on the car.

Till tomorrow

Did not have such a productive evening tonight. Wanted to turn the car around so it was facing the house to make working on the back end a bit easier. Unfortunately the engine would bearly run for some odd reason. Started fine and ran fine for a few mins whilst I pumped up the flat tire. Then all of a sudden it started to run really rough to now where it bearly starts

I am wondering if it has perhaps run out of fuel and is running on the dregs in the tank. Will take off a fuel hose tomorrow and see .

Put some back to black on the trim outside. What a difference that has made to the look of the car. Looks almost as if it could drive again if it wasn't for the badly cracked tires. Intend on getting them replaced when the alloys get refurbished.

Time for today's update.

First the pictures of the new load compensator I promised.


Shiny new load compensator


Another view

Today I decided that the rear beam had to come off to inspect, help me get at the rust on the back end and get everything painted up. It will also make the compensator replacement easier.

So I proceeded. Here is a before pic for reference.


Rear beam on the car.

I jacked up the car and supported it using axle stands on the rear jacking points. Seems to be secure like that. The first sign of potential problems is the drivers side rear wheel. Does this look like a funny angle to you guys??


Funny angle or not??

The first thing in the way was the old spare wheel. Wheel carrier was seized (it was probably seized before it went odd the road. Crap design. This was removed.


Wheel carrier in the way.


And removed.

The actual carrier itself was seized at the hinges. I decided to take that off too. Got out my trusty can of WD40 and my impact wrench and set on to it. The first bolt came off fine but the other snapped. I sensed this was not going to go my way Removed the carrier and then the rear silencer to give me a better look underneath. Not a pretty sight!!


Rusty bits


More rustybits.


Even more rust

Realise at this point that I had stupidly sat on my camera and cracked the screen!! Bugger. Its my own fault though. Will have to see if I can get a screen of the internet to replace it.

After this I scrapped away some of the worst of the rust and it maybe is not quite as bad as it looks. I hope I disconnected the handbrake cables and tried to remove the compensator brake pipes. Of course they were seized too. One is rounded the other came off but is twisted. I intended on replacing these anyway.

But this is as far as I got. You need a long reach torx bit to remove the axle olding on bolts and by long reach ones are too to get through the hole in the axle. I will need to see what halfords sell tomorrow.

I hope I don't regret taking this off !!

That's as expected really. Only reason mine's not that bad is Miles coated everything in Waxy stuff when he owned the car.
It does look a bit like your beam is dead!

By the way, does your driving light come on with mainbeam?

Hope the beam is not dead I will find out soon I suppose!!

I can check the lights tomorrow for you and let you know.

Thanking you.

If the rest of your work is anything to go by youll have it all shiny and new looking in no time at all. Making me worried about what the underneath of mine is like now!

I was quite surprised how bad it was myself. Th front of the car is absolutely fine. It has been under sealed very well. Its odd that they would do so much to the front and spend so little time doing the back. What's even weirder is there is one or two wee spots on the back that are sealed and they are fine.

Hopefully it will be fine when I am finished.

Using this as inspiration.

http://www.309ownersclub.com/Community/vie...&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

This is better than mine will be. But even if I get is looking half as good at that I will be happy.

I beg to differ! That's no better than what you're doing!

Today was not as productive as I would have hoped. I was hampered by rain for most of the morning and early afternoon. I got lots of underseal, seam sealer, krust etc from Halfords with the intention of getting the beam off and wire brushing.

Sadly I was stopped in my tracks when I could get all but one holding bolt out The last one is the front one on the passenger side. Its rounded. Its another poor design by pug. Why do they insist on using Torx bolts everywhere. On the bottom of the car they are the first things to go rusty!!! Grr.

So beaten by this I gave up and set about scrapping the worst of the rust off the underside. Good news is that although it looks bad it mostly just loose surface rust. Had the car been on the road most of it would have fallen off by now. Still it comes off easily.

So tomorrow its more scrapping and hopefully get the drill with the wire brush attachment out.

I might also take my dremel with the cutting tool to that last bolt and see how I get on

No pics today as I left the camera in the car. Doh!!

I had an excellent days work today

Had a bit of a brainwave last night as to how to get the last axle holding on bolt off. If you remove the rear seat you can access the top of the bolts. I proceeded to hammer on a female torx socket and off the bolt came. Very please indeed. Some pics from today and yesterday.


Removing an axle rear bolt.


Tools used to remove front ones.


Axle off the car

If anyone is doing this I would suggest in investing in some nice long torx keys from Clarke. Got them as part of a set from Machine Mart. They made this job alot easier.

With the axle off it was time to survey the condition at the rear and of the axle.


Axle off


Rusty underneath


Some nasty looking rust

Set about it with a wire brush attached to a drill


Cleaning in progress

This revealed that most of it is just surface rust with a few bits that were abit worse but salvageable. Not obvious welding required I cannae weld so its just as well. If any of you are considering doing similar to your cars, I remind you that adequate protective equipment is a MUST.


Me looking like an idiot !!

Stripped the brakes etc of the axle again. Got all the brackets etc off it so I can clean and paint them. Managed to snap a couple of bolts in the process. Will have to get these out at a later date.


Bare axle

I think my plan next it to figure out how to strip the axle for inspection. Anyone ever done this?? Its not like to 205 one unfortunately. Also got more prep to do on the rear end before I can seal the seams, prime and underseal. May also need to drop the fuel tank. The holding bolts for it are badly corroded.

Progress may slow down a little now as I am probably going to be away for the next 2 weekends.

I'm enjoying this documentary of the rebuild Just wish I could finish mine as quickly as your doing yours, although funds don't allow it right now. I haven't even drove mine for over 2 months!

As for the rear beam, do you have an older Haynes manual? This gives you a guide to rebuilding the rear beam. When I lower/replace the bearings on mine I'm probably just going to get a Partner beam from the van breakers round the corner from me and rebuild that with Pug bearings/seals as these should all be available still

Whilst I have been making quick progress recently its not been that quick overall. The car has been sat on the drive for 7 years !!!

I have the older haynes manual and it does give a good indication of what to do. Just not sure what I am going to find. Also not sure I have the experiance to tell if what I see is good or bad. I suppose I will just have to rip it apart and see

Is the partner beam the same then?

Got a chance to be a wee bit more poking about today. I have been pulling back the underseal where it is obviously split and exposing alot of hidden rust (mostly surface rust). The drivers side rear sill was a big problem today though. Exposed a fair bit of what looked like surface rust then my finger went right through it. Poking about a bit more revealed a massive hole in the sill that was just held together by the underseal No pics today but I will try and get some tomorrow.

It looks like its an easy welding job to fix but still another thing I was not counting on. Will have to get my pal to weld it for me.

I need to learn to just ignore some bits I think. I was very close to removing the rear bumper tonight cause I saw some rust under there.

Mine's the same. I filled it up with half of a house lol

Been at the Jim Clarke rally all weekend so not much progress to report.

Did stop off on the way home though. Got some painting done on the nicely cleaned underside. Bit short on pics from the cleaning process but there is one pic above. It was very messy indeed.

During the cleaning I decided to peel back the underseal where there were obvious cracks or bulges. These were cleaned up with my wire brush drill and painted with a zinc based spray primer. Used this primer on all the other cleaned parts on the underside.

Today moved onto a thicker anti rust primer applied using a brush. The whole rear underside took 2 1/2 hrs ! Worth it though, its amazing the difference it makes.


Parts were underseal was peeled back.


Drivers side sill rear. Notice the hole at the bottom. There is more where that came from!


Underside painted in primer


More primer pics


The hole

I would quite like to remove the fuel filter and the other thing (fuel pump?) and get behind them but the bracket is so rusted that I don't think I would be able to get it off without damaging it. Just paint it and hopefully it will last a few years get.

After a wee bit humming and hawing I have decided to have a go at rebuilding the axle. Its off and it would be a shame to put it back on only to realise that it has to come off again. This way I know its good and I can have it cleaned and painted whilst I am at it.

Wish me luck.

Tomorrow I am away to visit a decommissioned power station at Inverkip before the knock it down. Weather dependant though I hope to get stripping that axle this week and get another coat of primer on.

That Power station sounds like the kind of place to park up the 405 and get some nice piccies.
I reckon most 405s have rust like that at the back of the sill. Infact on the Mi16 it's often even worse because the sideskirts hold dirt and moisture there. What are you planning to do with it?

Plan is to get it welded up the best I can. My pal can weld so hopefully he can fix it.

I work at a power station (Torness Nuclear Power Station) so I can get some cool pics of it when its back on the road again.

Time for todays update. Today I put a second coat of primer on the underside. Not got any pics of that but it looks the same as above

Once I was finished doing that I had a go at the axle. First job I had was to remove the rear hubs. These needed to come off anyway as they are non ABS items (from when the axle was replaced before) and I want to get the ABS working again for the MOT. They were pretty easy to remove. Pull off the dust cap then remove the hub nut. Put a set of pullers over the hub and tighten up and off the hub comes. Leaves the inner race on the stub axle but I will cut this off another time. I also took the opportunity to remove the mounting bracket and the brake shield (although the shield requires the inner race off so that will have to wait).


Hub nut that does not know what is about to happen


Hub off


Stub Axle closeup.

Next I had a go at removing the mounting bushes.


Bush on the car

Firstly you have to slacken the centre mounting bolt and tap it out with a hammer.


Removing a bush

This leaves you with the bush on its own. On inspection mine appear absolutely fine. No issues with them at all. I may just leave them in. What do you guys think? Should I go to the hassle of fitting powerflex or similar items if available? Is it actually worth it?


Bush on its own

Next I had a go at removing the struts. These are weeping and will need replaced. Managed to get the top bolt out but the bottom one is held by a rather large Allen key bolt. Its about 14mm. Who has an Allen key that size??? Trip to halfords for me I think next opportunity.

So I am now at the point where I have to decide do I strip the axle further or not. I have read somewhere that I need a dummy shock? Does anyone know if this is the case? The haynes manual is reasonable but does not go into the detail I need to get this right. Don't want to bugger up the ride height or worse.

Anyone ever done this who can do me a quick how too?

Got the purple Haynes manual? Me too, bloody awful description in there! I expect you know how to set the ride height anyway don't you?

Looking at those pictures, with all the rust, all I can think is you poor bastards. It's a shame to see such damage. I admire your courage and efforts in trying to repair it. Luckily, due to our climate and no salt on the roads, cars don't rust like that over here. Unless you parked them in the sea of course.

It's appalling here, why anyone settled in this shitty country is a mystery to me. Mind you we haven't got much in the way of poisonous spiders and snakes here.

Hopefully everything will be looking nice and shiney and new when it goes back on. So it can be ok for a few years then corrode again.

I have the purple haynes manual but its not very detailed. Remove trailing arm is one of the steps!!

Never messed about with the rear suspension before so I am a complete novice. I know To adjust the ride height it involves rotating splines or something but am not sure.

Just need to have the pertinent points and know that when I take something off it can be put back without messing up settings.

Appreciate any knowledge anyone can share here.

You have the trailing arms fixed in position using a dummy shock and then reinsert the torsion bars. I think in the start of that chapter they give the distance between shock mounting points for the various 405s. So you have to hold it that far apart with a dummie shock and bung the torsion bar back in. Only the Mi16 it's 375mm I think. Would be more than that for an SRi, especially as I expect the torsion bar is thinner than on Mi16? Mind you, you can use a bit of trial and error.

Isn't that telling you something?

To be honest, in Australia that car would have gone to the crusher rather than repair it. Perhaps someday Europeans will start buying classic cars back from down under!

Ermm they don't like our cold winters?


Yeah can I have a 405 Mi16 from you without sunroof, no cat but I want a downpipe with lambda. Then I can put my D6C engine into it. I must put that chip back in so I can get you those error codes. I'll just have to find a day when it's not raining!

Hey Jim, tried to cut those springs with a jigsaw - no way! Looks like it'll have to be an angle grinder.

I think you will definitely need an angle grinder to cut those! Jigsaw blade will be softer metal I would imagine.

Never seen dummy shocks before? Where do I get them or do I have to make them?

Do I need these if I am stripping the thing down? Or can I mark things, take it off and then but it back in the same place?

Yeah, are you a member of the 205 forum? Plenty of people have made them up over there though I just got a block of wood and drilled 2x 16mm holes 375mm apart. But yeah you could just mark out where everything is now. What's the ride height like with the new springs on front?

I will have a peek on the 205 forum and see what they do. Good idea about the wood.

The ride height is a little high at the front at the moment but I expect that to settle down when it gets some road use. If not I may need to lower it (just a wee bit mind)

non Mi16's sit quite a bit higher!!

just what do they put on the roads over there? even with the same climate the rust is never that bad on cars in Ireland unless you live right beside the sea.

the difference between my Irish GLXD and my imported Le Mans from the UK is amazing, virtually no rust on the Irish one but the MI is practically riddled with it in comparison.

Not a bad guide: www.106rallye.co.uk/members/dynofiend/Lowering_Guide-106_specific.doc

Thats a good guide. Thanks! Not had a chance to tackle it at all this week due to the weather and my 406 breaking AGAIN !!!! This time its the immobiliser.

Hopefully the weekend weather is good and I should be able to start stripping the axle. Also got seam sealer and underseal to put on the underside.

I have been a bit quiet recently but have got some work done in the mean time.

Last weekend I managed to get the underside seam sealed. Not managed to get any pics off the camera for that though. Did not have my own camera but I will try and fill them in later on.

Also had a go at stripping the rear axle. Managed to get the anti roll bar off pretty easily. Failed at the next hurdle though. Could not get the trailing arms off. Gave up in the end. What it did prove to me was that the trailing arms still move and there is no play that I can feel in the bearings. Will clean the axle up and paint it. Again no pics here.

Was rained off yesterday but today I had a fairly productive day. Got the underside rear fully coated in underseal. Just painted it on nice and thick and I think it came out great. Here's some pics.


Underseal


More underseal.


Even more underseal.

I mentioned before that I had to replace the rear hubs for ABS units so I can get my ABS working again. I had pulled of the hubs a few weeks ago and set about removing the inner bearing race and cap today. Pretty easy job. The way I did it was to grind a small groove in the race with my dremel and then whack it with a chisel and hammer to get the brearing to crack. Then it just pulls off. The pics will show you what I mean.


Inner race on stub axle


Cut a groove in the race with a dremel.


Whack it with a hammer


Once the race is off prise off the dust cap.

This also allowed me to remove the brake shield so I can clean and paint it.


Rusty and dirty brake shield.

Hopefully I will get into cleaning up the axle this weeks so I can start painting it. If it ends up needing an axle at some point in the future I will end up paying for it to be done I think. Getting the trailing arms off looks like a nightmare!!

getting the torsion bars out of Vicki and Dean's track slag was a doddle, but I have no idea as yet how the rest works lol!

I've heard (and seen the parts file) that its like the 106 with the bearings in the arms not the cross member tube.

if it is showing camber like it did its definitely in need of some attention or replacement, good time to get hold of a beam from a partner/berlingo for some uprated torsion bars, just need to see how to fit discs, should think it would be just a case of fitting the brake caliper bracket instead of the drum backplate as is the case with any other PSA product

Looking good as always James, can do mine next if you like

Got back down to the car again tonight. Have had a bit of a saga with my 406 that has prevented me getting near the 405 Still its all fixed now and I can get on again with the 405.

Checked out my undersealing job tonight and was very happy indeed with the results. Thats great stuff and dries fairly smooth. Put another coat on tonight for good measure. No pics I am afraid but it looks like those above only blacker !!

Was having a look at this beam again tonight. It does not look like it has any play in it the wrong way and looking again at the pic I posted earlier I remembered that the car was jacked up so will look abit strange. So I think this is where my skill and pacience ends. The trailing arms seem free enough so I am going to put it back together, paint it and hope for the best.

WELSHPUG is the Partner / Berlingo beam the same as the 405 then? I could maybe look to get one if this is the case?

So this weekend its beam cleaning and painting for me. I also have to order some fixing bolts etc from Pug. Hope the weather is good.

Time for a quick update.

I have been a little busy with other things recently so the 405 has not been getting as much attention as I would have liked. Still, I have managed to clean up the rear beam and am in the process of giving it a nice coat of paint before it goes back on.

I don't have any painted pics yet but here's how it looked after I cleaned all the grime and underseal off it.


Cleaned beam


Closeup


Another closeup

I have stuck with the original colours so I have painted the centre tube yellow, arms black and torsion bars red with the anti roll bar black. I have even been sad and painted yellow stripes on the torsion bars

Will take some pics next time I am down.

Plan after that is to start rebuilding the beam components, brakes, compensator valve etc in preparation for getting it back on the car.

Oh and I also need to get a easy out that I got stuck in a knackered bolt out. Probably the hardest thing I have to do.

Probably! Good luck with that, been there done it! Overall tho, nice work

Did anyone see the summer? Think I missed it

Have made painfully little progress with the 405 since I last posted. Beam is all painted and looking nice but have not managed to get the new hubs or bearings in This summer has been a total washout and without a garage there has been little I could do

Currently away from home working so unlikley to get back to it in any large way this year.

Still there's always next year !!

I had missed this thread while the forum was offline. Summer was crap down here too. Even so my aircon was still on most of the time though!