1966 404 Coupé Injection Restoration

[Mike T 0]

Thanks to Harm (that's his nickname!) in the Netherlands for finding these original Jaeger sports instrument panel warning lights!  I just got them today.  L to R: 

- low fuel pressure (KF/KF2 engine)
- low brake vacuum / low brake fluid level
- low oil pressure
- main/high beam warning light
- turn indicator warning light

Now all I have to do is make a panel to hold the 6 gauges and these lights, paint it....oh and rebuild all the instruments, which likely need a refresh.

[Mike T 0]

Today I got the beltline trim installed on the driver's side.

With some help: my youngest daughter put the nut that holds the rearward part of the front fender trim on - that is only accessible with the front door opened about 45 degrees, because even like that, there is about 3 mm of space to play with to get the sucker spinning on the captive bolt that's attached to the stainless steel trim. All other connections are easy.  My other daughter did the passenger side a couple of months ago. My fingers are too big to get in there properly!

[Harry K 0]

If a car had feelings, it would feel like finally getting dressed again.(404 error)  My wife always said she feels naked without her earrings on.🤣 

Looking good Mike !

[Mike T 0]

Some recent work on the 404C, last weekend and just today:

 

Clearcoat on the Carrosserie Peugeot plate.

 

For reassembly, I used the original insulation as a template to cut Dynamat Xtreme panels, mounted the Dynamat and then glued the original insulation to it.

 

Heater core with the ancestor of modern "set and forget" heat level - thermostatically controlled water valve.

 

Heater core box is mounted in the car with new foam to seal between the air intake in the bodyshell and the bakelite box.

 

Wiper mechanism mounted - both spindle assemblies are brand new.

[Goce 0]

You'll doing a great job on the coupe Mike, i'm very surprised how many italian looking parts there are in it, thet heater looks like it will bolt straight in the little Niva i'm now fixing, also the wiper mechanism looks straight out of a zastava which is also a copy from Fiat. I'm surprised peugeot made them this way.

[SRDT 0]

Pininfarina must have used many locally sourced parts.

[Mike T 0]

The entire wiper mechanism and heater is exactly like that of the 404 sedan, so they're not locally sourced.  The wiper shafts are longer though, but still made by SEV Marchal.  The heater is by SOFICA.

[Mike T 0]

Together at last: 6 Jaeger France gauges in MPH and degrees F ( but the oil pressure is in bar - luckily I am bilingual ) plus the 5 original warning lights that make up part of the sports instrument panel for the 404 Coupé and Cabriolet.

Now I have to get two or three of these gauges refurbished and have a metal plate to hold them made up.

[Mike T 0]

Voilà!  Wiper nozzles mounted.  Tough to get those on a C after the heater unit is in.  On a sedan it's no problem  

[Goce 0]

Someone must have copy someone else, i don't have good picture to show you but you can see this is a Niva heater core, little more crudely made but they may be interchangeable, also the box looks almost identical.

[Mike T 0]

Not the same at all: the Peugeot rad has hard sides and it twice as thick.  404 was introduced 15 years before the Niva.  Which in turn got its core from a Fiat 124.

[Bean 0]

Great progress Mike!   Looks fantastic.   

Rabin

[Mike T 0]

When the 404C goes back on the road, it will be with this - its original instrument panel.  I tidied it up yesterday - took it apart, cleaned it, repainted the fuel tank and temperature gauge needles.  The car was sold when new in Canada, hence the MPH speedometer.  The 120 MPH scale was particular to the Injection version.  The car came with an alternator so the "battery" gauge is a thermal voltmeter.

The sports instrument panel I have the equipment for will go in once the car has been on the road for a while.

[Bean 0]

Did you do anything with the clock?  I've got a 504 clock I took apart to see if I could either fix, or replace with a more accurate movement as the stock one lost 10m a day!

Rabin

[Mike T 0]

No I left the clock alone.  Unlike the two other ones I have, the face of this one is not corroded and IIRC it works.  These clocks were mechanical and had electric winders, which wind them all at once.

[Mike T 0]

New rubber parts for the wiper motor:

Instrument panel connected - the wiring as built in my car is very different than the wiring diagram:

The instrument panel installed.  Ventilator switch is now mounted on the dashboard rather than the SOFICA heater box:

[Mike T 0]

The Dynamat party is over. Onto the electric washer pump (mounted under the dashboard) next and then the steering column + pedal box will be installed in a week or so.

[Mike T 0]

Last bit of work done at Victoria Plating Ltd: 

The 4 holes that a previous owner had punched into the sill/rocker panel embellishment strips when the captive bolts rusted off decades ago were welded shut and the outside was polished so this patching work became invisible; the two upper rear fender trims were de-dented and then polished; cadmium plating on the headliner trim panels which are covered with soft headliner material.  This was done because they could rust as the originals did and that distorts the fabric as the iron oxide builds up; and finally the hardware for the handbrake components under the car were replated in yellow cadmium.

[Mike T 0]

Saturday the 404C seats and headliner (including the plated parts in the above post) went down to Rightway Heritage Trim in Highlands near Victoria BC.  The headliner will be remade, the metal headliner trims will be also retrimmed, and the seats will be stripped, blasted, painted and reupholstered in a light grey natural dyed through leather (not embossed) tanned by the firm Hyde.  I may get them back by June...

[Mike T 0]

...the seats will be fitted with heating elements.....

And....

I bought a different set of rubber isolators for the wiper motor and drive, because it's in a colour that more closely matches the latex rubber original.  The pale red ones in the photo will be used in the 404C and the others will be spare parts.  All the red ones are in what seems to be silicone rubber so should handily outlive the originals.

[Bean 0]

Will there be any need to upgrade the alternator at all?  I know running an 80A unit in my '76 504 made a HUGE difference with EVERYTHING electrical related on the car.  

Rabin

 

[Mike T 0]

Yes, that is part of the plan.  In the 404 KF2, the alternator is buried deep on the exhaust side and can't be seen at all from above, so a non-original one will be quite OK.  The original is 400W.  I'm aiming for over a kW.

[Mike T 0]

A spare new old stock window winder for the 404C.  There are two good (I think they are!) used ones in the car, so this is my reserve.

[Mike T 0]

I finally got the steering column mounted.  Instead of the flector I used a Paulstra Septor for the pinion link.