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MikeT

My 404 Coupé Injection

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Update: in honour of my 404's 50th year, which will begin in April 2016, I am planning to select a restoration shop over the next few months to begin the rebuilding of this old car.

I am looking forward to this (have been for 25 years!). After all the work is done, it will probably have cost as much as a new, well-equipped BMW 428i series Coupé, which is a nice car, but not a classic. This restoration will be a labour of love, and one that will also coincide with the 50th anniversary of my father purchasing his first Peugeot 404 Injection in 1966.

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Good for you! Please take lots of pictures - it will be an interesting process.

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I will do that. Right now I am starting to get the old undercoating off the car. Will post photos as it goes...

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Update: a year and a half later, the active dismantling is about to begin and I hope to have the shell into Coachwerks shop by the middle of 2017 if not a bit sooner.  They're the ones who restored the Trudeau 300 SL as well as a lot of other famous cars.

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I will have to move fast to strip the car as the best paint stripper on the Island is shutting down soon.  Will have to dismantle it completely in the next few weeks....

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This photo was taken Saturday night.  Tonight (Sunday) all that remains to be done is the dashboard and the stainless steel trim on the driver's door.  Then it's off to the media blaster's shop and the restoration shop right afterwards.

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Today (Monday) we took all the NOS panels down to Island Quick Strip in Sidney BC.  In a couple of weeks, the car itself will be there! 30942998670_478c8128eb_b.jpg

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That's it, the body is basically bare now: electrical harness is out (I took lots of photos of that), steering column too.  All that is left is the wiper mechanism (which is basically out already) and the heater core.  Before this coming weekend I will finish that, and go over the car finally for any last small grommets etc I may have missed.  Then I will use a heat gun to get the undercoating off the rear and front inner fenders and then it'll be ready to ship to Victoria to Coachwerks, the restoration shop that will be doing this reconstruction and paint.

 

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The car is ready to go now, so I am on time!  She will head to Coachwerks next week on the flatbed.

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Tonight she is on her way to Coachwerks - just ahead of a possible snowstorm!

 

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At this point the car is at the media blasting shop in Sidney BC, mounted on its cart.  I also have a lot of NOS 404C panels there right now too. as shown in the post above.  Once the shell and NOS parts return to Coachwerks in Victoria, the restoration will commence, probably several days from now.  I will post some updates once in a while.

 

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The car is on its cart at Coachwerks December 10th

 

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

 

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

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The paint has all been stripped from the shell now and the car is back at Coachwerks in Victoria.  Still waiting for the spare panels and opening panels to come back.  Today it was sunny here so it was a perfect day to move a bare metal shell the 22 km from blasting shop to the restoration shop!

 

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Since then I have been de-rusting suspension components, removing old worn out bushings and repainting these suspension parts.  For example:

 

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Got four new seat foams for the front 404C seats in the mail today.  Comptoir du Cabriolet in France was the source.

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Today I made another visit....to drop off a cheque and to see the car.

The work on the bodyshell has just begun, because only a day ago did the panels I dropped off at Island Quick Strip get back to Coachwerks!


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NOS panels after blasting (the other half floor is on the other side of the shop).


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Floors cut away completely, tunnel intact.


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Floor pieces!  Next stop: recycling!


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404C on the cart....300 SL in the background.

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I stopped by the shop today to drop off a new front crossmember and rear jack mount I just got this week from Joern Haarmann.... 

 

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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.

 

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Front left detail of floor under reconstruction

 

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The car seen from the front

 

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

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

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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!

 

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http://www.coachwerks.com/MT1966Peugeot404C/

 

This is a link to the project as it progresses.  Feel free to watch every once in  while for updates.  The page starts on the "arrival", but for the good stuff, click on "update 1" which will bring you to Tuesday January 31st.

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OMG!!!  That's a lot of work - going to be a hefty bill!!

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As Mike said earlier in another thread, when this project is all said and done, he probably could have bought a BMW for the same money...

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The new right rear fender is welded onto the car.  The rear jack mount and part of the inner fender were just rebuilt.  Looking good!  I found the rear fenders from a Peugeot service point in Williamsburg, Ontario.  Under $500 each, cheap!

 

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