The Molerpa 505 SRi Diary

For those that don't know, in Argentina the 505 SRi is basically the same than GTi >86.

I got the chance of buying one of these, really cheap, as the engine was set on fire due to a backfire and not proper injector rail fixation. (went loose, spraying gas all over the engine), this happened to the previous owner.

This car had a "Little" problem. A bonfire on the engine, due to an inexpert mechanic that cleaned the injectors, and never secured them properly (not fastened to the manifold, then went loose and ... well, you know)

Originally came with Bosch L-Jetronic analog injection. (AKA "The cancer"), ZDJL Engine.

Let's see how it was....


15 December 2008


Can be seen the original paint, damaged by the sun (the clear, in fact), so never repainted.




From behind (the pigeons had attack it )







And now, the bad part...




Close up to the plenum...



VAF Meter ("Very well done", I prefer more like medium done )








The good parts...








Front seats damage by the normal usage...





Back seats, never used (first and only owner of the car was an insurance consultant and only drove the car himself, and sometimes with his wife)







And the star!



(the Argentinian 505 was produced with fix rear axle, the same than old 504 and 404, so this was kind a "new stuff" for our country at its time)



Those who helped to toe the car to its temporal location.










---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Around 17 and 23 december 2008

We went for the hard work of:
- removing melted/smoked/burned parts
- cleaning
- treating the metal (as the dust of the fire extinguisher is too agressive, need to be neutralized with bicarbonate)
- connect distributor, ignition module, coil (new/repair)
- install timing belt
- try to start


This is the feed system that will replace the L-Jetronic injection. It is a Weber Dara 32-32 from a Renault Fuego (same engine), with its intake manifold.



As they used the same engine, my thought was "This is just plug and play"... WRONG!.


pero no.



The location of fixing studs differ, on the Peugeot and Renautl head. So the manifold could not be installed. I went to the machinery of a friend, to make the adapting plate.

This is what came out.



Install...

(Previously, a technical stop on Ignition and Spares Garufa, they gave me all what I needed to set the ignition on conditions)




Meanwhile, we continue removing burned wires...





And...




Ignition Module, coil, wires, distributor, carby, and manifold...




Also connected a few of the gauges, as the original wiring is not going to be connected on this stage.
(I wanted to see if the engine was in condition, or damaged by the fire, so I went for this trying to spend less possible to see what happens. If everything was showing a poor condition, as I have another engine, a XN1A, the idea was to replace it)

Those are heart breaking pics (engine bay)
Best of luck with the restoration.

Doush, this was 4 years ago

(continue from the first message, same date)


I spent the whole day trying to start the car. (from the engine bay). Backfires, misfires... Never started. Once the time went too late, I closed everything and went back home. Remember that all this, I made it between 18.30 (after work) and 22, 23 (when it is too late and I have to go back home to have a bath, eat if I have time, and sleep)

The next day, I opened the carburetor, remove the float valve, replaced it, and I went home as it was late.

The next day (tuesday 23) we were getting ready to toe the car to make it start (as it never did before), so I fitted the radiator, tied some wires, I passed the 3 wires for the ignition switch from the engine bay to the cockpit (so I could be able to switch off if it started)...




vistas del vano, ya mas limpio y con radiador y mangueras...










, and by testing, I accidentally moved the switch, the starter kicked in, and IT STARTED! I was not willing to do that, but it did. Seems that the problem was the float valve.


valve gap is like 2 meters, but as a first start is not bad.












24 December 2008

Going a little better...

















27 de Diciembre 2008

valve gap now adjusted, valve cover painted, belt case also...
Aproveché, y pinté tapa de válvulas, carter de distribución, y como me quedó un poco de pintura (no es de alta















28 december 2008


As the old add of the 404, 504, 505 said: "If in a car you can open a window to the sun, you can do everything"



So I started to connect the sunroof... and ¡Voilá!





Belt case installed...






Dashboard cleaned...



CNG Tank sent to hydraulic test, tomorrow reinstall.











29 de Diciembre 2008

CNG Tank refitted.



And now... if you look outside of my window... you'll see...



Yeah, it is alive.

So what happened in the next three years?

Great work, keep it up!

Easy! Remember I have to translate everything (For those who don't know, I'm from Argentina)

4 January 2009

I started with the temporary fuse/relay box (as up to the moment only one fuse, general fuse, was working).




y aquí con la tapa puesta...




5 January 2009

And inside we see LIGHT!!!







6 January 2009

On the workshop that is inside the plant (where I work), I lifted up to see the car "as if I'd be the ground", to check everything (specially the driveshaft, as I heard the typical noise of them when they're worn)

















Differential, and fuel pump for the Injection that SOME DAY will work again... (now is Carburetor and almost dedicated to CNG)




As can be seen, the dust shield is broken (and this is not from yesterday) so I can confirm that the driveshafts need to be replaced/repaired.









11 January 2009

I Could not take many pictures, as I needed to take everything out as soon as possible (on Saturday here, most of the spare stores, machineries, etc only opens from 8 to 13) so I could have it around midday, before closing time. If it takes me 7 hours to assemble everything is not a problem, but the stores and stuff is the dead-line.









Rear Discs...




Drifeshafts, repaired, new dust shields, balanced...




(No, I did not clean nothing)






Seems better!

13 January 2009

Well, I saw this on MercadoLibre (is like ebay in Argentina, but worst, but.... is what we have) and I bought it.




Some interesting data...






Let's see how my engine is B.F. (Before Fire)



and the performances:





Same day, afternoon


update!! got music!!


Was a tempting offer and I could not resist.

Pioneer DEH 3050. I wanted something like this, to be "in tune" with the rest of the car (not blue, not "neon looking",etc)





And with the gauges (still with the "just-for-now-but-i'll-be-forever" wiring and connections)

Dashboard... once upon a time, there was one Molerpa willing to modify the original dashboard (here it used the STi/GTi Dashboard. No Oil level/temp)

This is:




And this is the dash I want (Turbo Injection)



We can notice that, besides the changes on scale of speedometer (up to 240 instead of 200) there are two adittionals. Oil (level with stopped engine, temperature with engine running), and boost gauge, under the tachometer.

This is what I would like to do. I have an extra dash, and the room for the gauges exists. But, the backlight pannel is not present. But I think I can do it. It is for the future.

15 January 2009

As I didn't have much to do on the car, I decided destroy it completely.

Then, the plan was, move on 1st gear at 5 km/h, hazzard lights on, on the right lane (would be your left lane, the steering here is on the left), on the Avenue, to enter a Oil shop to check levels, waiting for a bus to hit my trunk (boot if i'm not wrong, on aussie ), so it will make my car to hit another two vehicles.


Now, seriously speaking.


This bus (still don't know how and why), hit me, at least 45 km/h difference than mine speed (5 km/h, hazzard lights on, almost stopped we could say, on the right lane of the three-lane avenue where we were)





the hit was on the left-back, made my car a little spin to the right, hiting a VW Caddy, parked there. and a VW Gol in front of me.







And the "505 sandwich" ...














Consecuences, besides the metallic ruptures... the bony fractures...



clavical fracture made by my own body, as a consecuence of the spin, compressing the clavical between my neck and humerus, because i hit the frame of the car (around the door), and also some stretching of the neck backbones and don't know what medical stuff else.

Tomorrow, the "legal neverending process" starts

The engine has not suffered (not even one touch), just the baterry support was too close of the alternator (fixed by the HAMMER method), and not even leakage from the radiator. After my healing I needed the car to run, so I managed to be operative, but ugly



30 april 2009

A few days ago (when I came back from Egypt), I was smelling like burned rubber, or something like that... First I thought was due to leftovers from the crash, on the engine.
Well, then started to see like rubber chips all over the engine, rubber dust... and higher humming sound than the normal humming from the ZDJL engine.

This is what I mean...



Then, after two days of normal Molerpa usage (gears up to 4500-5500), the rubber smell became stronger, and I got more rubber dust. I decided to look better at the engine, for example on the window of the belt cover...
I could not see the belt!
That was the call. Let's start disassembling.

Belt cover...



Full of ex-timing-belt




This is why I did not see the belt... It was less than the half of it!




Guilty: The tensioner.







Belt...







And the tensioner (which went loose completely when I ended this movie, releasing balls, and leaving the pulley loose.




(In fact, the real guilty is not the tensioner... it is me. When I started with the test of the engine to see if it works, I only replaced the absolutely needed, in this case the belt, not the tensioner, to check its condition once (if it does) starts. And after it started, and checked status of it, I forgot about the tensioner... and seems was not a good idea)

2 june 2009

I Have bought rubbers. Went to a tires shop, and started looking.

First on price, "Maxisport" (rubbish. second line of fate, that are already garbage, but attractive on price, around 220 pesos, would be less than 80 dollars each). Then, Firestone (dont like, 260 pesos), Pirelli P400 (290 pesos) a little better.

The problem of this car, is that the size of the tires is rare. Only used by Ford Falcon (the old one, like your '62 to '72 I think), 504 and 505. So, most of the cars used to be TAXI or fleet vehicles similars... So, it leaves only "cheap tires" for this, as the owner don't care about quality, only price. So it is already difficult to find out even PIrelli or Goodyear. I'm hardly thinking on the way to get 4 GTi/Turbo Injection Rims (15") as the tire offer is better on that size.

I was looking at the walls, and I saw "yokoh..." and i ran into them. Four A Drive, "How much for these?" (thinking that they would be around 500 each, which, anyway will buy them)

"-ohhh, those are expensive... like three h...
"-MINE!"
"-undred sixty five"
"-Install them"






And saturday (next day) Front end overhaul.

This is something I did not see (let me tell you that never made a weird noise, etc)



One of the coilspring was broken:










So, i fitted the AG Rally springs (here comes a short explanation at the end about this)



The 505 SRi used coilspring with an extra pitch, to gain height. This makes the car softer, changes the center of gravity, but the "engineers" that did this think they're genius (this is due to the bad state of our streets at that moment, in 1982 when the 505 started here).

So I installed the AG Rally coilsprings (theoretically lower, and harder, and so on, but I found out by measuring, that are THE SAME than the original french ones). So you buy a 505, and you put this "not original spares" to make it original







Cleaning and assemblying...







Obviously, nothing of this is free, so when lifting up the car, the rod accidentally loosen and my hand hit the floor, and tiny finger did not liked that....
Instantly:



A few hours later...

23 june 2009

Camino del Buen Ayre (something like a highway that connects north side with west side of Buenos Aires outsides.
130 km/h, tratratratra.... tra...tratra... This noise is not normal... ¿A plug? Maybe... 221.111 Km on the dash...

Once I reached my destination, check the spark plugs, not bad. Wires, distributor cap, etc.... Everything ok. Already 221.111 Km.
Anyway, I replaced plugs and wires, just to discard... Same 3 cylinders. The 4th never fired. But also was a noise of air blowing. I Waited for the next day morning...

At 9 started removing radiator, hoses, wires...at 9.30 was already like this:




The head, did not even look at it. Just checked pistons, liners... Nothing bad.




This cylinder is the one that consumes more oil that the others






The block, in good condition...





And, we look at the head...



MMH?? Zoom at that valve...




Let's take it out!





At 10.15, I was buying head gasket and 4 exhaust valves. New seals also for the guides... At 11 I have everything.







at 12.45 the car was already running, filling the Coolant system.

Brilliant thread Molrepa, keep it coming...

One question: how did your car end up with the independent rear suspension given that, if I understand your early post correctly, the standard set up there was the old skool 504 style?

Love your work - changing driveshafts in the street seems to me to be the urban equivalent of Aussie bush mechanics over here.

Cheers,

The Independant suspension came when our country re-opened the import, and the SRi got from France to Argentina (already stopped production in France, were the remaining). The local produced (from 81 to 96) still had the same rear axle than the Grand Tour or old 504 (fix rear axle, panhard rod), and the SRi (92-95) was imported but not completely (front end, windows, windshield, interior, wheels, were local produced, used the same than in the local 505)

10 august 2009

Was already know the permanent leakage from the radiator (long story with the guy from radiators repair shop) so, I decided to replace the radiator pannel, and when I did it...

Assembled everything, test, no problem.. While driving at the highway... heard a big noise... I open the hood... (bonnet ) and...







Do you find something missing? is over there.. in the engine support...



Wasn't for free for the radiator...



The fan worked perfectly for months... When I decided to replace radiator's pannel, it blows up.

16 september 2009

It has been a long time with no updates, so I did another thing just to keep this updated.

No, I did not fit the turbo.
No, I did not repair the body.
No, I did not cash the insurance against the bus yet...


I only...

Connected the alarm with pressence sensor.




Now, I can open and close without using the key!

(hey! for me it is quite a progress!)

15 november 2009

And finally find out all I needed to set the climate system (at least the air tubing, remember that all this was melted by the fire)


This will make that:
a- the aire from the engine bay stops entering the cockpit
b- can blow aire without the car moving (as the fan now exists)
c- I can block or allow the air flow on my will.


All this is what I've bought, and now, on dissasemble, repair, and clean job.



Need some repair...





See that we don't have even to measure to realize about the worn...

vemos que no hace falta siquiera medir con nada el desgaste del buje...




zoom...



Now, only the fan motor needs to be repaired... for tomorrow I think.

17 november 2009


Well, brass bearing goes out, ball bearing goes in.



Isn't it beautiful?





Now, in one piece...







And the results, of the blower...

29 November 2009

Until now, one of the best trades I've ever done. Front bumper here, is around 500 pesos (120 dollars), something average in quality (not the original one). Rear one is around 380 (same case than front). On MercadoLibre appeared the set (front-rear) ORIGINAL (used, incredible condition) at 300. Bargained at 250, and done. When I went to pick them up, the guy asked me for help to lift it up, which sounded weird to me, as they are quite light... When I helped, I saw the reinforcement, installed on them! This is around 900 pesos, and I was planing to stretch mine, which is bended, to fix it, but now I have one new!.

Behold!








reinforcement...




rear bumper.



And this is the kitchen...