Peugeot 404 Utility Project

[geodon]

To be very picky, actually it's not the wiring diagram for a Ute.

The utes have a different instrument cluster.

Fortunately, I knew when to stop and can reliably read an A4 circuit diagram.

I have a ute wiring diagram via the Dutch 404 club. The dash is MUCH simpler.

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The big one saves me time as I refer to it on the fly & I don't need a magnifying glass!

[geodon]

After making my canopy bows (post 29), I've been looking for timbers to use as the longitudinal supports. I'm guessing it would have been some sort of dressed hardwood originally.

Not that easy to get these days. As Henry Crunn used to say on The Goon Show: "you can't get the wood, you know."

And damn expensive! Treated pine?? There are 3 bows so that's a span of just over a metre for a 2100mm long canopy. I'd need about 50mm thickness at least & that would probably sag.

I had a look a aluminium today & cowabunga! 30x15x1.4 in 6.5metre lengths @ $20.60 a length. 4 lengths would give more than enough to do the longitudinals plus 2-3 transverse ones at the front as a windbreak.

Light, rigid and, best of all, radiused edges! No worries about ripping the canvas.

Once I fill the ends with bog & paint to match the bows, it will be hard to spot the difference

[tok403]

What at a great idea, good work mate.

After making my canopy bows (post 29), I've been looking for timbers to use as the longitudinal supports. I'm guessing it would have been some sort of dressed hardwood originally.

Not that easy to get these days. As Henry Crunn used to say on The Goon Show: "you can't get the wood, you know."

And damn expensive! Treated pine?? There are 3 bows so that's a span of just over a metre for a 2100mm long canopy. I'd need about 50mm thickness at least & that would probably sag.

I had a look a aluminium today & cowabunga! 30x15x1.4 in 6.5metre lengths @ $20.60 a length. 4 lengths would give more than enough to do the longitudinals plus 2-3 transverse ones at the front as a windbreak.

Light, rigid and, best of all, radiused edges! No worries about ripping the canvas.

Once I fill the ends with bog & paint to match the bows, it will be hard to spot the difference

[geodon]

Dash, ignition & light switches rewired & checked out.

All rear lighting checked out & working OK.

Headlight wiring checked OK to the front, but when I dug out the parking/flasher lights, I found one side had the wires detached at the bulb holders.

These are surprisingly easy to fix:

Drive out the base plate & the return spring thru the front.

Drive out the contact pin with a punch.

Strip about 3-4mm of insulation & splay out the wires

Melt solder over the wires making a plate.

Thread the wire thru the base plate & spring & pull it thru the bulb holder.

The bulb will be the only thing stopping the spring pushing out the base plate so care will be needed during bulb changes

[geodon]

The more you do, the better you get! I improved the procedure by using small brass washers.

The 5 watt parker bulb is a swine to get in due to being recessed so I adapted a technique I used to remove & refit spark plugs on air-cooled VW's viz. push the bulb onto a rubber hose.

I dismantled many such VW engines & found quite a few spark plugs and sockets that had been lost under the tinware!

[geodon]

I've got the wiring to the stage I need to hook up to the engine ancillaries so that made it time to drop the engine in. I have a tilt adaptor but the slant feature made almost made it almost necessary to have two.

I have to say I'm damn impressed that that big lump is held with 3 bolts/dowels. Minimalism at its best!

This is a 2L motor ex a crashed 504. I have been told that the engine pipe WILL fit between the bodywork, steering column & gear change mechanism but ONLY if I hold my tongue the right way.

Any tips? Apart from converting to LHD!

ETA Apologies for the extraneous photos

[GRAHAM WALLIS]

The 504 engine pipe won't fit, you need a 404 one, fits on the 504 manifold. Otherwise you can bend/modify the 504 one.

[robmac]

I have a tilt adaptor but the slant feature made almost made it almost necessary to have two.

Cut the chain/ remove the shackles that bolts to engine lugs and install a couple to 5/8 inch turn buckles not as convenient as the leveller, however far more effective. Because you can set the engine tilt in vernier increments.

It's also necessary to put a jack under the gearbox and lift up the front of the BH.

[geodon]

Cut the chain/ remove the shackles that bolts to engine lugs and install a couple to 5/8 inch turn buckles not as convenient as the leveller, however far more effective. Because you can set the engine tilt in vernier increments.

It's also necessary to put a jack under the gearbox and lift up the front of the BH.

Thanks Rob but I made a gizmo to support/raise the GB

[geodon]

The 504 engine pipe won't fit, you need a 404 one, fits on the 504 manifold. Otherwise you can bend/modify the 504 one.

Thnx Graham

I'm not surprised!

I'll trailer it to the local exhaust gurus.

They have the gear & equipment to do this sort of stuff plus the existing muffler looks like it's past its use-by date.

[robmac]

Thanks Rob but I made a gizmo to support/raise the GB

I hate these people who do the job properly.

[Mike Tippett]

Nice, do you have the dimensions for this? I should get one made up too....

[robmac]

Nice, do you have the dimensions for this? I should get one made up too....

I think the tool is detailed the factory manuals. Under the section "tools to made locally" (or similar).

[geodon]

Nice, do you have the dimensions for this? I should get one made up too....

I saw the tool where Rob said above and just copied it.

It's very simple: a crossmember with a nut welded on for the lifting screw , two verticals at the ends with "fingers" that hang on the longitudinal chassis rails beside the GB

[geodon]

I bought new headlights from Der Franzose as mine were very shabby.

Quality seems quite good but I suspect they are a bit narrower than the original Marchal units. There was an unsightly gap between the light & the rim that would have caused heaps of water to flood in if driving in the rain.

Clarke Rubber to the rescue again! They have 10mm diameter softish rubber cord. I measured & made 2 O-rings using super glue on the ends.

I wasn't comfortable using those dainty little spring blades with pop rivets to hold the rim on now so I put in a couple of self tapping screws to make sure.

I'm happy with the results.

I'm gradually adding the engine ancillaries.

My next special tool to make is a ~300mm long spark plug spanner! How do you stop the plug & spring falling out into the tube?? Do you make the tube-spanner just long enough so the tommy bar at the top goes thru the spring and stops it falling out?

I'm also thinking cross threading the plugs is a big risk. Does one get enough "feel" to avoid it?

[robmac]

I bought new headlights from Der Franzose as mine were very shabby.

Quality seems quite good but I suspect they are a bit narrower than the original Marchal units. There was an unsightly gap between the light & the rim that would have caused heaps of water to flood in if driving in the rain.

Clarke Rubber to the rescue again! They have 10mm diameter softish rubber cord. I measured & made 2 O-rings using super glue on the ends.

I wasn't comfortable using those dainty little spring blades with pop rivets to hold the rim on now so I put in a couple of self tapping screws to make sure.

I'm happy with the results.

I'm gradually adding the engine ancillaries.

My next special tool to make is a ~300mm long spark plug spanner! How do you stop the plug & spring falling out into the tube?? Do you make the tube-spanner just long enough so the tommy bar at the top goes thru the spring and stops it falling out?

I'm also thinking cross threading the plugs is a big risk. Does one get enough "feel" to avoid it?

Put a rubber grommet (of sorts) inside the tube spanner, this will index on the plug insulator. The plug won't fall out.

Decent plugs have a tapered leading edge. Personally I've never had a problem stripping threads.

However, I have had problems with the rearmost plug seizing in the hole. Nev'r seize on plugs threads is suggested.

Also a wider exhaust clearance on the 2 rear rear tappets is suggested. As I understand.

[geodon]

Put a rubber grommet (of sorts) inside the tube spanner, this will index on the plug insulator. The plug won't fall out.

Decent plugs have a tapered leading edge. Personally I've never had a problem stripping threads.

However, I have had problems with the rearmost plug seizing in the hole. Nev'r seize on plugs threads is suggested.

Also a wider exhaust clearance on the 2 rear rear tappets is suggested. As I understand.

The grommet won't work. It may hold the plug but won't allow the spring to pass.

I've seen the Facom plug spanner and will probably buy one because it's 300mm+ long and is a lovely neat fit in the holes so the plugs will line up beautifully with very little risk of cross threading. I'll be lucky to find some random pipe that will do that.

BUT it has these dinky rubber fingers at the business end to grip the shaft of the plug and they WON'T allow the spring to pass.

So, I will have to cut them out & drill a couple of small holes in the tube to poke a wire thru & pick up the last coil or so of the spring.

[Adrian Wuillemi]

Buy a long series socket, Cut it in half and weld in a tube in the middle.

[robmac]

Probably would have to be a 3/8 drive socket. I can't see a 1/2 inch drive plug socket fitting down the inside of the plug tube.

The proper tool was supplied with early 505s, if you find one of them you will be set.

The bar retracts into the spanner



Overall length is 290 mm and the rear plug on a 404 is still a bit tight to access.

[geodon]

Buy a long series socket, Cut it in half and weld in a tube in the middle.

G'day Adrian! She's starting to take shape! I expect to have a runner by the end of August.

Your suggestion is easy in principle and easy to do.

BUT, will I get a tube that fits down those slots snugly making cross threading next to impossible? I've had a look thru my stuff & TBH I would have to buy the socket & a length of pipe that probably won't fit as well as the Facon spanner. Then I have to do a cut & shut.

I think I'm better off paying ~$30 for the spanner!

I may seem a bit paranoid re cross-threaded plugs but decades of air cooled VW experience has made me "gun shy"! Those damn things cross threaded if you poked your tongue out the wrong way! And with aluminium heads it was engine out, head off & a helicoil. An in-situ repair was impossible.

[robmac]

Start the plugs in the threads by offering up and twisting via the contact spring, if you have rigid plug extensions it's harder to start them.

However it's a far superior system than the bayonet cap plug tubes.

Hint: in the latter case use Toyota 4ag plug boots. They look like they have grown there . They are also cheap and readily available.



And seem to be very waterproof.

[neil s]

Isn't there yet another way to connect the plugs to the leads as used on the later models? I recall the spring system as having the potential for spark to jump across so it was replaced. Try a little blue tac between the plug and the socket to hold it.

[robmac]

Yes indeed. I've seen two types of " plug extenders"

The first a plastic covered extender about 80 mm long that screws onto the threaded HT terminal of the plug and has a male thread on the other end to accept the brass doover off the plug.

The second is a similar device machined from steel and totally nude. This version is supplied with a hard plastic, slip over sleeve and has the brass doover profile machined into the extender.

Both versions are intended to be connected with a standard female type HT lead connector.

I'm talking XN engine plugs and not the Douvrin OHC plug system, which is different.

[geodon]

Yes indeed. I've seen two types of " plug extenders"

The first a plastic covered extender about 80 mm long that screws onto the threaded HT terminal of the plug and has a male thread on the other end to accept the brass doover off the plug.

The second is a similar device machined from steel and totally nude. This version is supplied with a hard plastic, slip over sleeve and has the brass doover profile machined into the extender.

Both versions are intended to be connected with a standard female type HT lead connector.

I'm talking XN engine plugs and not the Douvrin OHC plug system, which is different.

I admit I was concerned about HT leakage from such a long length of naked wire. Has anyone used a wide heat shrink tube over the exposed bits of spring to insulate it?




I ended up buying the spanner.

Laying the wire/spark plug assembly along side it I drilled a hole level with the last coil of the spring.

A pop rivet did the job of picking up the spring with a rubber band to keep it fixed in place

I used a small bore hole saw to demolish the rubber fingers that held the spark plug at the business end. TBH I think there's too much weight to rely on Blu-Tack.

There's no way the plug will fall out!

Robmac, there were no worries accessing no. 4 plug either.

[GRAHAM WALLIS]

If you are worried about insulation around the spring you don't have the rest of the system to go with the springs. There is a bayonet style fitting, black plastic, which holds the lead and covers the spring. I will have a few of these spare. Otherwise you will have to remove the spring and use one of the methods Rob refers to.
If you have a later model 2 litre without the cut outs in the tubes that stick up from the rocker cover you will have to use the latter system anyway.
The early system is less fiddly and more secure, the later caps tend to fall off. I will be fitting the early system to my 404, the Toyota style rubber caps that were fitted have started to fall apart.