Sub Par Cars

[SubPar]

Old diesel Peugeots really are beloved by the Paddys.

An acquaintance recently sold a 405 turbo diesel. He bought it a few years ago for a 3-figure sum and sold it for £3k to a guy who got the boat over from Ireland the next day to collect it. It was a nice enough car but not that nice. Various little scuffs all around, sunroof was siliconed shut, the rear lights were held in with silicone and the speedo needle wobbled, but a usable car. Three fucking grand.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The 306 was the last good Peugeot, hence current values.

[Scruffy Bodger]

Old diesel Peugeots really are beloved by the Paddys.

An acquaintance recently sold a 405 turbo diesel. He bought it a few years ago for a 3-figure sum and sold it for £3k to a guy who got the boat over from Ireland the next day to collect it. It was a nice enough car but not that nice. Various little scuffs all around, sunroof was siliconed shut, the rear lights were held in with silicone and the speedo needle wobbled, but a usable car. Three fucking grand.

Maybe I'd get more for mine then if advertised right? I know nearly every time I put a pic of it on the Facebook owners page I get a message off a Paddy asking me how much I want for it. What about the values when they get to 40 years old?

Speedo wobble is fitted as standard from the factory

[SubPar]

Speedo wobble is fitted as standard from the factory

My 306 had a perfect speedo. The tachometer... not so much.

The 205's speedo wobbles hilariously at low speeds, then levels out once I get above about 50mph.


I opened the bonnet earlier to look at how to adjust the advance on the pump, but it's cold and windy out there today. Fuck it.

[Scruffy Bodger]

Speedo wobble is fitted as standard from the factory

My 306 had a perfect speedo. The tachometer... not so much.

The 205's speedo wobbles hilariously at low speeds, then levels out once I get above about 50mph.


I opened the bonnet earlier to look at how to adjust the advance on the pump, but it's cold and windy out there today. Fuck it.

Yep. I had a NAD 205 and that was exactly the same. I didn't mess with that as it's whole reason for being was for economy, it ingested lots and lots of cooking oil. My kit car was costing me 2.5K a year in fuel and I had just taken on a mortgage, the 205 made a BIG difference when Tesco's gold was 33p a litre.

Depending on the pump the one bolt can be a right pig to get to to undo so probably best for a decent day when you're in a good mood. You might even need one of those curved spanners to get to it or make one up? Iirc some people used to leave that one out and just make sure the other two are cranked up tight.

[SubPar]

I visited Retroshite's unit today and managed to get some ramp time.

Stainless steel coolant hose is now fitted.

Yes, it's only held in with one random bolt from my toolbox, but that's one more than the old one was held in with!

IMG_20220206_123730994.jpg (470.9 KiB) Viewed 1092 times

That wire is for the brake pad wear sensor, which was disconnected anyway. I still cable-tied it back onto the coolant hose when done, just for tidiness.

I also managed to fill the rear engine mount with Tiger Seal, and it's made a noticeable improvement! Winner. Saves taking the driveshaft out and all that faffing around.

While there, I also helped a local member of the beige-only remove the fuel pump from a 305 XUD that Retroshite has for bodywork spare parts, as said beige member is taking on a slightly poorly 205 diesel in need of a fuel pump. He also helped with the coolant hose etc on my 205 too.

All in all, a productive afternoon was had, and we got to watch the A-pillar of a rear engined Skoda get welded, and I got to look at a minty fresh Ford Ka.

[wobert]

The 240 looked at home alongside all those XUDs

[SubPar]

I got fed up of using a bluetooth FM transmitter that kept picking up interference no matter what frequency I tuned it to. There must be loads of local radio stations in the central belt. If I drove more than about 20 miles in any direction it would start crackling.

Thus, I bought a hilariously shit looking Blaupunkt radio that does bluetooth. It sounds alright though, and I'm not looking at it when I'm driving. It has ISO plugs straight into the back of it, so no wiring harnesses required (as the car already had an aftermarket radio in it, so had ISO adapters present).


How shit is it?

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That's it in radio mode. It doesn't scroll.
However, I'll solely be using it on bluetooth mode, and it just says BT when that's on. Whatever. It was £55 and actually sounds good (as good as a radio can sound in an 850kg biscuit tin of a car that's powered by a diesel lump that can trace its origins to the 1970s).

[Hooli]

That does look excellently shit, fits a 205 perfectly.

[captain_70s]

I got fed up of using a bluetooth FM transmitter that kept picking up interference no matter what frequency I tuned it to.

I also found this an issue once I moved to civilisation, although I went the other route and fitted tape players to use those cassette to aux jack adaptors. I think you can get Bluetooth versions as well, inexplicably.