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1968 Peugeot 404


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just bought a 1968 Peugeot 404 for $200, and i don't know a thing about this car, i was looking for a Russian Lada or a Peugeot since i've always wanted one, but now i don't know what to do next...


this Peugeot was bought New from Paris France while the owner was in the U.S. military, then it participated in some marathon thing in Africa at the beginning of it's life with some sticker in the rear window, then it was brought over to Virginia with the help of the U.S Military since the owner of it was in the military, then spent some time in Baltimore, and lastly New Jersey where it got some of the rust it currently has. the Wagon was parked running in 1978 or so due to a rust issue with the driver shock tower that the owner was going to fix, but lost interest in the car due to oil prices coming back down, and he bought himself a Pontiac, he filled all 4 pistons with oil and put the spark plugs back in it before abandoning it for 40 years, that's why the fenders and hood are in worse shape than the rest of the car, they were left outside in the weather. it's a One Owner Vehicle, me being the Second.


i can't turn the crank with a giant pipe wrench, and im scared to put too much force on it because the giant crank nut feels cast and fragile to me, and i've already tried pulling the car in the street and popping the clutch to hopefully break it loose, and nothing, just a bunch of tire skidding, i filled the cylinders up with mystery oil last night to let it sit for a few days before attempting to move the crank again, is this what i should do? what do i do now? im scared to blow the engine apart due to the lack of parts, im almost sure there's less than 10 of these in the whole United States, and most are probably in Museums.

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55 minutes ago, Crazyeights said:

That looks like it is going to be really hard to find parts for. If you think trying to find an EA series oil pump is bad .......

don't remind me... it was just something super unique i liked, have always liked tail fins on American cars from the 50's and 60's cars, but everyone wants too much, how strange would it be going down american roads in a french car with fins on it?

theres alot of strangeness in this vehicle, 4 on the tree with a reverse, wipers wipe the wrong way, ignition switch in the wrong place, blinkers on the wrong side, while the side that's suppose to have the blinkers has an electronic 5th overdrive lever switch not to be confused with the blinker system. still can't find the headlight switch so they just stay on everytime i connect the battery, E-brake is under the dash like a Toyota, but it's a sideways lever and on the left side, opening the hood looks like a choke lever, to unlock the doors you push down on the nipple that pokes out the door (backwards). 2 sets of shocks and springs on the rear live axle, 15/16 size lugnuts which is massive, the driveshaft is fully enclosed and is infact connected from the differential to the transmission to avoid torque movements so that the body doesn't take it, oh and it has a manual crank feature on the front of the crank with a direct hole going through the bumper that you can see like how a Model T would be started.... and ofcourse the American plates don't fit properly on the rear of this Wagon.

 

any ideas on unseizing an engine besides Mystery Oil that's currently being soaked by the rings as we speak?

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i pulled the engine, removed the head, beautiful cylinders actually, i found the problem though, looks like when the vehicle was in the states in the 70's, the head gasket was failing, water going into one of the pushrod chambers so they removed the head and put orange RTV on the headgasket, guess it was a different story in the 70's with no internet to order parts for a foreign vehicle like this, blowing the engine completely apart now to unseize everything.

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15 hours ago, Crazyeights said:

Where are you going to find the engine parts like gaskets, rings, bearings, etc? Do you have a line on them yet?

haven't made an official list yet to organize myself, but i'll make one now, so far i have actually found most things with little searching, most parts are in Serbia for some reason lol.

*$200 for the vehicle

 

*$140 to dip the head in Acid, resurfaced, valve train cleaned, valves reseated, pushrods cleaned up.

*$40 Engine Block Acid dipped and cleaned

*$35 Crank Polished up and cleaned

*$?? Camshaft Cleaned up and Polished

*$80 for new old stock piston rings for all 4 Ebay

*$9 for Piston Rod Journal Bearings Rockauto

*$?? Mains for the Crank (Have not located them yet)

*$25 Headgasket on Ebay Ohio USA

*$8 X8=$64 Drum brake Pistons on RockAuto (this vehicle has an auto adjusting single Piston for each brake shoe, 8 pistons for 4 wheels, really strange design but brilliant)

*$30 both headlight chrome bezel's Ebay

*$40 both front turn signals Ebay

*$?? Driver Tailight (Have not located one yet, im having problems finding a full red one, apparently only Peugeot's sold in France come in full red with no Amber, even to this day, looks dumb with amber on the rear fins)

*$?? Brake Master Cylinder (Have not located one yet)

 

Total as of right now i see ahead of myself for this weekend is around $470 + Basic fluids for the vehicle$100 + Registration$250approx + UnknownFactors$200approx + $200vehicle itself = $1,220 to get the car back on the road. already have a car battery designated for it that i've had.

the machine shop might be able to help me find mains, perhaps from another vehicle that might fit? don't know yet.

 

going to sell my 79 Honda Motorcycle to help with funds for this project, don't want to feel the impact of it on my own funds lol, plus don't want to get killed on it too, im very immature when it comes to a fast car or a motorcycle, that's why i'll stick with my slow cars.

Edited by Subasaurus
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still haven't found the oil filter, so each main bearing is of a different diameter, anyone ever experienced this or heard of something like this? 5 mains in total, rod bearings are normal and same across the board atleast.

gonna send this engine to a machine shop tomorrow morning and see what happens, finally got the funds for it after selling my motorcycle.

worst case scenario i might have to buy a 90's subaru donor legacy or something and modify the flywheel input for a peugeot transmission shaft, brace it up and make it work, call it the Peugaru? or Peugaroo?

 

should i buy an early EJ engine and make it work in there or an EA71 and make it work in there?

Edited by Subasaurus
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just a small update, broke the cam, it's still stuck in the block, still gotta get it out this weekend, miraculously i found a replacement Cam Shaft locally from someone else selling a 1978 Peugeot 504 and had spare parts he could part with.

car has potential again, maybe...

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