Odds and Ends

Just a short post this week. Now that everyone (well Ron and I) is back from Nationals or vacation (Sean + Bri) it's time to get going on the Pug again because time is getting short! Doug has the car now and is working on installing the cage and getting the braking system sorted out. I got the racing pads from Porterfield and I need to get up to Doug's place this weekend so he can install them. Sean is going to measure the hubs off of the black car so he can get going on making the hub adaptors (turns out that Diamond can't make wheels with the backspacing we need to clear the Peugeot calipers) so we can fit some cheap Tire Rack wheels to the car.

Good news on the bypass valve front, with parts from Lowes + McLendon's I can put together everything we need to plumb it in for $25 or so. Probably won't actually install it until we get the car rolling on the new wheels however as I want to use the Dynolicious iPhone software to do some before and after 0-60 runs to make sure it actually helps us like the Peugeot forum guys says it will.

Sean hasn't put out an official call yet but I'm guessing there will be an official or unofficial work party up at Doug's this weekend as we all have a lot to do!

Labor Day weekend work

On the Friday before Labor Day Sean and Scott changed the front shock oil and wonder of wonders we now have stiff front shocks! On Saturday Sean and Doug installed the front suspension and replaced the brake pads with some el-cheapo pads so we could drive the car (one of the rear pads was metal-to-metal) and so I could send the old ones into Porterfield to be made into real racing pads). While they were at that I tackled the wiring inside the car and removed or cut back almost all of the unneeded parts with the exception of the power window controls since we haven't yet removed the window motors. I also attached the computers securely so they wouldn't flop around and removed the front amps for the stereo.

I had discovered during the week that Ford F150 shocks were supposedly replacements for the Pugs rear shocks so I headed down to TC's Off-road to get a set of Ranchos. Well once I got there I discovered that a) F150 shocks were not that close and b) the rear OEM Peugeot shocks we have were shockingly stiff compared to the Ranchos anyway (I'd never tried them before) so the good news is we now have 4 stiff shocks for the total outlay of one bottle of motorcycle fork oil!

About 5pm everything was done and we were ready for a road test. We installed the wheels from the parts car since we'd already sold the Pugs wheels for $250 a couple of weeks ago and that's when we discovered that we are idiots. Before we'd sold the wheels Sean and I had tested the black car's wheels to make sure they fit and there seemed to be no problems. Well when we tightened down the wheels we discovered that they didn't quite clear the bigger '88 front calipers and they wouldn't rotate at all! Now the plan is for Sean to call Diamond on Tuesday and find out how quickly they can get us a set of wheels and in the mean time we'll make spacers out of a few thick washers so Doug can get the car onto the trailer and transfer it to his shop to start the process of installing the cage. Oops!

There are still lots of things to do on the car before we're ready including figuring out a way to plumb in the 944 bypass valve I bought for $10, removing the mechanism for the sunroof and windows, cutting or replacing the springs with Volvo ones and getting the racing brake pads made so we're not done by any means but hopefully soon we'll have a running and driving car again!

Another work party

Well we are making slow but sure progress. Today Sean, Scott, Doug and myself (Alan) got together to work on the Peugeot once again. Today's goal was to get the springs out of the car so Doug could take them home and cut a coil off of each and to finish the job of stripping the interior. As Doug, Sean and Scott are a lot better mechanics than I am I let them concentrate on taking the suspension apart while I finished the interior job.

The first thing to do was to get the front half of the console out which took a little studying before I finally located the hidden screws that were holding the console in place. Once the console was out it was an easy job to remove the carpeting and the two layers of sound deadening underneath. Once I removed the second layer I discovered that the front was every bit as wet as the back had been and it felt that I'd taken 50 lbs out of the car just by removing the carpet! Once everything was out it was even more obvious that our car had been in a serious collision at one point, both the driver's and passenger's side floorpans were buckled and the cross-brace that the driver's seat bolts to was in none too good shape either. I no longer feel bad about turning the car into a LeMons racer, frankly it should have by all rights been hauled off to the wrecking yard years ago.

Meanwhile the rest of the team got the front suspension out fairly easily but the rear turned out to be more of a problem. Just getting the rear shocks out required a lot of wrenching in a tight area and applications of heat from a butane torch (right next to the gas tank!). However once the shocks were out it became obvious that there was no easy way to pop the axles out so we could remove the springs. A quick check of the PDFs on our Peugeot service manual CD confirmed the worst, that we had to remove the hubs to get the axles out, unfortunately the hubs were on so tight that they broke Sean's 1/2 inch Craftsman breaker bar! Thankfully Sean has an impact wrench but the air pressure from his small-sized air compressor just isn't enough so the rear springs will just have to wait until Sean can take home his bigger work air compressor which should hopefully do the trick.

Anyway it was a good but slightly frustrating day but with luck we'll get it all taken care of soon. Thankfully we have almost 5 months left to go but there's no need to tempt fate and wait to the last minute!

Our Inspiration

Ok so we have a POS Peugeot but that doesn't mean that every Peugeot is a POS, does it? Ok so far that's been true of every one I've seen in person here in the states, but elsewhere in the world I've heard rumors that there are actually new Peugeots which run well and are shiny and everything! And get this people actually race them and spend a few more than the $500 we're spending in the process!

Well it turns out that several Peugeots 908s actually participated in the real 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. Not only that but they almost won! Perhaps this is a good omen? The Pug guys had to settle for second place behind the winning Audi but they beat a lot of great cars including Porsches, Corvettes and the other Audis. Not too bad for a company that saw fit to abandon the States over 15 years ago, huh? We're hoping that some of this almost-winning tradition will rub off on our car!

Pug of the litter

We had a productive day of labor on the car last Saturday. We swapped some wiring from the black car into the red car and the ignition problem that had manifested itself during my test flogging went away. We also stripped away most of the civilizing bits of the interior. Ron and Bret are the co-discoverers of 'Lake Peugeot' underneath the rear seat. There were two full sized bath towels under the seat presumably to reduce the irritating sloshing noise of free standing water. I think we removed 70 lbs. from the curb weight just by binning the towels. The leak that produced the pool that necessitated the installation of cotton breakwater was caused by cracks and tears in the sheet metal incurred by a tremendous rear end impact. I'm actually surprised it survived the crash. The frame was so bent that the floor under the front seats was rippled. I'm glad we're installing a roll cage if for no other reason than to reduce the chance of the car being torn in half by 14 hours of brutalization.

We also began discussing planting a new (used) engine into the black car and fielding both Pugs. Now we just need to find one for dirt cheap. The black car has a much straighter body but mechanically it's quite the hoopty.

We had a guest mechanic on duty. She's certainly not afraid of getting her hands dirty. Especially when fine tuning a French muffler bearing.

What does it mean?

So at the work party yesterday, my brain took a little hiatus (it does that from time to time) and I discovered something.

When you take our current 7-monkey team, and put their initials in the right order, you can take Brent, Alan, Ron, Doug, Scott, Bret, Sean.... and make it say

Bard's BS.

It's gotta mean something, right?!

A typical email thread

One problem with filling your team with smart asses, is that they tend to digress into ... being smart asses. Today for example, a straight email went out reminding the Monkeys of the work party tomorrow, which, for once, will have 6 out of our 7 teammates in attendance, though possibly not all at the same time.

Doug replies, confirming the start time, which was somehow left off today's email.

Sean: Yes, 10:30 or 11 will be fine. It's not like an Amway business party, so you don't have to show up exactly on time. ;-)

Bret jumps in: What if we bring 3 friends...
Then *they* bring 3 friends...
And then *they* bring 3 friends...
.
.
.
Then after a short period of time:
Sean's house will be annexed by France, we'll all have more junker Pugs than we know what to do with, and everyone's weird cousin who does Amway will be insanely jealous.

Sean: Remember to bring your passports and work visas. You'll have to clear customs at the driveway and you'll have to endure a body cavity search before you return to US territory. Fortunately US customs that will handle that issue. The French Protectorate of Sean and Brianne's House has no interest at all in your body cavities or their contents.

Sean Green, Governor FPSBH.



See what I have to put up with here?

Pic of the New Car

Thought I'd post a pic of the new car. As you can see it was literally parked in a field next to a barn owned by this old Peugeot nut. I think I counted a half-dozen Peugeots of various years but there may have been more hidden in the out buildings. The car next to ours is an '87 STi and next to that is an '89 Turbo wagon. The test drive was an adventure as the car hadn't been licensed in a couple of years and had no insurance so we weren't even allowed to drive it, we had to just ride along. However the old guy wasn't shy about proving that it ran good and strong so we ended up buying it without ever taking the wheel ourselves!

Episode IV: A New Car

Just when I'd really started to like Pugly, we found out our engine is crap. There are multiple cracks in the head that run from the valve seats to the water jacket or spark plug holes. The nastier problem is the piston with a big chunk eroded away from one edge. I'm pretty sure the cylinder wall is f***ed up to the point that there's no way we can fix this engine and stay anywhere near our $500 budget. So, we started a search for a new engine and have so far come up empty handed. Not just because parts are difficult to find for an old Peugeot 505, but because Pug enthusiasts are proving to be really flaky folks that seem incapable of answering an email or a phone message. I mean, really, is it so hard to answer an inquiry generated by an ad that YOU placed concerning an item YOU want to sell?? What's a guy got to do to get some information out of a Pug owner anyway? As luck would have it, the need for a new engine became a moot point a few days ago. A really decent (OK, OK, decent for an old POS)505 Turbo S showed up on Craigslist. It was reasonably within our price range and once we'd begged the guy down to $500, found ourselves in possession of car that actually runs pretty well. The body is not as nice as the other car, but it's good enough for a cheapo race car. I'm quite pleased with the find. Most of the stuff we need to do to the car falls under the safety category, such as brakes. Everything else that doesn't work we don't want anyway, such as air-conditioning. Once we buy down the cost of the car by selling off everything we don't need, we can replace the few hoses and fiddly bits that look a little rough.

I hope someone reminds me to answer the ads for the parts I want to sell.

-Sean

Pug Owner symptoms

We seem to have found a prerequisite for owning a Peugeot. You are never allowed to return another phone call.
I wonder how long it will take to hit us? Hopefully, it's just a symptom of people trying to sell one....

Adolescent genetically altered Kung Fu spiders

The spider silk seats are coming along nicely. But they really don't look right in a French car. I'm starting to think we should have looked for a decent Chinese car, like an MG.

We probably could have gotten one of those brand new for $500.

Nano spiders

Spiders...why did it have to be spiders?

Obviously, I need to apologize. The spiders are mine, and I put them there on purpose, and here's why: Those aren't just any spiders! Those are French nano-spiders which I liberated from the secret (NOT) Arachnitech facility in Pacific WA. OK, OK ......liberated is to strong a statement, the creepy little things were surrendered to me on request and further more I think they are to big to be called nano. Regardless of how I acquired them or their size I have programed them to begin rebuilding the 505 from the inside out. As I see it there are only one or two issues with this rebuild:

1. The seats will be reproduced with silk coverings and could easily be stained,
2. The rest of the car will also be made of silk or nano-silk,....whatever.

More later,
Scott

Arachnaphobia

When I first looked at our 505 after it had been sitting in the previous owners front yard for 5 years, I thought to myself, "That thing looks like it'll have a pretty sizable spider population in a few weeks, I'd better hose it down with the pressure washer before we get too deep into the project." Heeding the wisdom of my own words for a change, I attacked the gestating hordes of spiderlings with 2200psi of pure hydraulic force.

Apparently I missed some as the car is now swarming with millions of tiny yellow spiders. Nasty.

The Team

Sean put together the team from friends from our local autocross community. Mostly, he wanted members he knew would get along well together, drive well, and wrench well. Turns out, everyone brings unique strengths that we believe will combine to create a "perfect storm."

Sean Green: Team Captain. British Car enthusiast, general wrencher, and owner of aerospace machine shop brings access to lots of mills, lathes, power tools, and scrap metal.

Scott Miller: "The Negotiator" Mad wrenching skillz, nice guy, can get into small places, and don't ever sell him something without counting your fingernails afterwards.

Alan Dahl: Rules Lawyer and internet scout- Mr Linky, finder of all things Peugeot-y.

Doug Chase: Owner of Chase Race, specializing in fabricating, roll cages, exhausts, and general wrenching. Fiero Enthusiast, Rally guy, and host of the best annual housewarming party on the planet.

Brent Picasso: Self-appointed Chief of Useless Technology. Founder and Chief Engineer of Autosport Labs.

Ron Bauer: “As seen on TV,” probably our Stig, part-time professional driving instructor and another good wrencher.

Bret Dodson: Currently the driving understudy, ready to jump in if one of our 6 can't make the big show, resident wine snob, PR guy, and crafter best excuses why he has to miss “THIS” week's wrenching party but will surely make the next one.

And of course, Karina, Kelley, Alyson, Jenny, and myself, Cheerleaders and the gals without whom this team could not get off the ground. ;)

The Three Most Important Pieces of Equipment for the Peugeot Owner

From the Peugeot list:

It needs to be said that I have always believed that the most important equipment for the owners of ancient Peugeots is, in increasing order of importance: Automobile Club Membership (one call gets you help); a cell phone with a fully charged battery (Club membership is virtually useless without it) and, lastly, but most importantly, an abiding faith in the benevolence of God.

The Beginning

So, Sean was reading Grassroots Motorsports a few months ago, and saw a fun full-page blurb for the 24 Hours of LeMons Race. "This looks fun," he said, as he handed me the magazine. I skimmed the page, and my response flew in the face of wifey-stereotypes everywhere. "Yup, that does look fun honey, you should totally do that!"

This blog will chronicle the adventures of the team he put together, in the team's own words, I may or may not write again. ;)