Converting a 406 Coupé from auto to manual....

Demannu

Demannu

Demannu-facturing!
1000+ Posts
Fellow Frogger
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Dec 7, 2002
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Menzies Creek
Embarked on this adventure today. I have an entire 406 SV sedan for parts, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Hopefully with the ES9J4S engine and 5 speed gearbox it should punt along quite nicely :)

Today I removed the driveline from the donor car. Tomorrow morning I'll do the same with the coupé, then start with the pedals and gear selector.

Will take some photos of the conversion as I go.
 
Is there a known issue with the cruise control? I can't see any reason why it shouldn't work as before.
 
So, a successful first day.

Both drivelines are out of their respective cars. Gearboxes, flywheel and flexplate are separated from each.

I have removed the clutch and brake pedals, gear selector mechanism and cables from the donor vehicle.

Found one particularly annoying design 'feature' of the 406. After dismantling the centre console to access it, I discovered that the gear selector mechanism, though nicely self-contained, is actually mounted from underneath the car. Which means that to access it, you have to remove the exhaust and the heat shield above it. Wish I had realised this before I rolled the rest of the car back down the driveway to the heavily sloping grass nature strip!
 
Only had a couple of hours spare to spend on the car today, so I changed over the pedal box.

To remove the pedal box, you need to take out the brake booster and pushrod tube, which also means you need to disconnect the air conditioning pipes at the firewall.

Engine bay with all the bits removed:
WP_20130811_001.jpg

The two pedal boxes, side by side.
WP_20130811_003.jpg

Reassembled with the manual pedal box and hydraulics installed.
WP_20130811_004.jpg

My original intention was just to swap the pedals themselves over, but the automatic pedal box did not even have the bracket to support the clutch, so the whole assembly needed to be swapped.
 
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It's been a hectic week with no time for the car, and I was interstate for the weekend. But there has been progress.

Engine and gearbox are back in, engine wiring loom has been modified. I've started connecting things up, but overlooked an important point - the driveshaft centre bearing carriers on the back of the engines are different between auto and manual. The manual has a longer driveshaft, and the bearing sits further outboard. So my next challenge is to swap that with the engine in-situ. It looks like it won't be too hard, so I'll get onto that tomorrow night.

I've also been having problems getting the clutch to work.... it seems that since I didn't secure the pushrod in the end of the slave cylinder, gravity pushed it out the end while it was still hanging in the donor car - and there is now air in the system. Problem is, there is no bleed facility on the D8 hydraulic system, it is a sealed, pre-filled system. I'll have to think about a solution for that one.
 
I thought bleeding the clutch was as simple as putting fluid in and pumping the pedal.

Via the aussiefrogs App
 
Demannu said:
Problem is, there is no bleed facility on the D8 hydraulic system, it is a sealed, pre-filled system. I'll have to think about a solution for that one.
Click to expand...

Wow..! How are you meant to replace the fluid? Or do they figure that because it's sealed there should be no means of ingress for moisture or other contamination..?
 
I've also been having problems getting the clutch to work.... it seems that since I didn't secure the pushrod in the end of the slave cylinder, gravity pushed it out the end while it was still hanging in the donor car - and there is now air in the system. Problem is, there is no bleed facility on the D8 hydraulic system, it is a sealed, pre-filled system. I'll have to think about a solution for that one.[/QUOTE]

On top of that it is made of plastic and no longer available.
No wonder these cars are worth nothing!!
Graham
 
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I'm sure Demannu will manufacture and fit some tricky little fitting to bleed it.
 
renault12 said:
Wow..! How are you meant to replace the fluid? Or do they figure that because it's sealed there should be no means of ingress for moisture or other contamination..?
Click to expand...
Yep - I believe the replacement item was a complete assembly (including fluid).

The factory manual, in classic Peugeot-speak:
The master cylinder, the slave cylinder and the reservoir form an inseparable assembly; the control is pre-filled and does not require any maintenance
Click to expand...
 
There's a very good reason why I'm such a fan of RWD Peugeots. Designed to be maintained, and therefore last.

I'm debating whether to drill and tap a bleed facility into the slave cylinder, problem is that I can't tell how thick the plastic is. I haven't had a close look to see whether I can completely remove the piston yet, I don't think I can. Anyway, I'll have a play.

In other news, I changed the driveshaft bearing carrier over this evening, and assembled the RH driveshaft and hub assembly. Also reassembled the exhaust system and tidied the workshop a bit!

Getting closer to turning the key...
 
is there any way you can get the slave cylinder above the master ,while holding the piston almost in, depress the pedal till you have only fluid flowing out ,push the piston in ,spose you have to fill the system with fluid somehow though .PUGS
 
pugwash said:
is there any way you can get the slave cylinder above the master ,while holding the piston almost in, depress the pedal till you have only fluid flowing out ,push the piston in ,spose you have to fill the system with fluid somehow though .PUGS
Click to expand...

Getting the slave above the master is easy, and I guess the term 'sealed system' is a little misleading - there is a reservoir with a cap that you can remove, so filling the system with fluid is also easy. But when you say 'fluid flowing out', where are we talking about? There is no bleeder. If I can get the piston itself out, we might be onto a solution....
 
When I got my car it had no fluid in the resivour. The pedal felt really low and gears where sometimes hard to find. So I put some normal brake fluid in and after using it for a while the clutch starting feeling heaps better now it feels perfect. Gear change is better than my mates D9 coupe. Maybe give that a go?

Via the aussiefrogs App
 
cav91 said:
When I got my car it had no fluid in the resivour. The pedal felt really low and gears where sometimes hard to find. So I put some normal brake fluid in and after using it for a while the clutch starting feeling heaps better now it feels perfect. Gear change is better than my mates D9 coupe. Maybe give that a go?

Via the aussiefrogs App
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm kind of hoping that, like a 504/505, the clutch is 'self bleeding', with engine vibration and just plain use helping to shift the air to the top.

I like that solution! Just have to make sure that there are no high points in the line between the slave and master...
 
Done!

Took her for a spin just on dusk tonight - wow, what a difference. This is going to be fun.

To solve the clutch problem, I took the whole assembly out of the car again and strung it to the rafters from the reservoir. Then, over a period of a couple of hours while I worked on other things, I slowly moved the master and slave backwards and forwards until all the air had gone back to the top and escaped through the reservoir.

Stuck it all back in - good to go!

A couple more minor details that I need to investigate though. I'm using the automatic engine ECU, as the manual engine ECU would not operate the fuel pump. Not sure what's going on there, it ran fine when I hotwired the pump though.

Not too concerned though, because the next change will be an aftermarket ECU so I can make the most of having the higher-spec ES9J4S engine with VVT, but with the free-er flowing D8 exhaust system.

That will be a whole different thread though....
 
GRAHAM WALLIS said:
I've also been having problems getting the clutch to work.... it seems that since I didn't secure the pushrod in the end of the slave cylinder, gravity pushed it out the end while it was still hanging in the donor car - and there is now air in the system. Problem is, there is no bleed facility on the D8 hydraulic system, it is a sealed, pre-filled system. I'll have to think about a solution for that one.
Click to expand...

On top of that it is made of plastic and no longer available.
No wonder these cars are worth nothing!!
Graham[/QUOTE]

Where I bought ES9J4S spark plugs two days ago, I asked them if one can find new slave cylinder and clutch master cylinder in the market. He said yes and even brought them out and showed me. So the new one is still available, at least, in Nigeria. Find them in the attached pictures.
 

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Hello Scotty,

Just wondering how the car goes now? Did you stick with the auto ECU?

I'm pondering doing this myself shortly.

Cheers,
John.
 
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