1985 305

[FarmerPug]

The progress with the van has been much quicker than the estate, joe had the doors, windows, and most of the interior removed to reveal the rust below:




the corners of the windscreen:



A pillars:


drivers sill:


The floor below the carpet, its rusty but not as bad as expected given the carpet was saturated with water, its interesting to see that the vans just have a sheet of metal that screws into place to give the flat load bay, if the sheet is taken out its the exact same floor as the estate:

[steve_earwig]

Rustola! Looks like hours of fun with an angle grinder and mig welder

Interesting about the floor, how many bags of, umm, sugar could you hide under there?

[FarmerPug]

It will take a bit of time to sort out right but joe (who bought the van) his brother restores cars and builds rally cars for a living so its not really too bad compared to some of the things he has restored in the past, we pulled out the back axle, and any remaining parts, the rear suspension on these 305s is a very compact setup there are no suspension turrets intruding into the load bay in the back, although it does look like the shocks might be awkward to change:


the front sub fame is like the one i am dealing with, needs most of the suspension parts renewed, and will also be getting sandblasted and painted.

Now for more pictures of rust:

the engine bay and front suspension mounts etc are all in good shape but the front valence is crumbly






The front drop links are proving a bit difficult to track down, although they are much more durable than the 406 ones mainly because they don't have any moving ball, i think 405 ones might do but they will need to be cut and welded back together, the gear linkage on both feel like stirring soup it seemed to have been a common issue on the 305, this is the linkage where the play is:


it will need a new bush to tighten it up.

[jonsowman]

I'm enjoying this thread Thanks for keeping us updated (with pics!).

[Welly]

Me too, it's great that you're putting so much effort into this. There can't be many tidy vans and estates left so this may well be an investment too.

[benczuk]

+3

[FarmerPug]

Ive got the two subframes stripped down to the individual parts at the moment, they are both free of rust and in good condition:

This is despite the fact that the vans they have come from sat unused in a field for a fair few years, all the steering boots need changed, as does the anti roll bars, the springs and shocks etc can take a bit of paint, all of the parts seem to be easy enough to get hold of except for one part which is a bit of a concern on a peugeot, and that is drop links, they seem to be hard to find, here is one thats been removed:




Does anyone know any old school tricks to refurbishing these, the metal parts all seem to be in good nick (to be honest the rubber part isn't too bad either there was hardly any movement in it but its better to change them anyhow) would it be possible to use heat to remove the rubber parts, make a jig up to hold it, and the central metal bushes and use pour in poly urethane. The other option is to get 405 ones, cut them and weld them back together, although i don't know for certain if a 405 used the same bolt hoe.

[OllieNZ]

They don't look to bad to me. I'd be tempted to blast and paint, press the old bushes out and get some urethane bushes to go back in. I'm sure if you measure the holes you'll find something that fits even if it's meant for something else.

[GingerMagic]

I thought this was a 'spot the difference' feature - took me ages to see it....

[GingerMagic]

Me too, it's great that you're putting so much effort into this. There can't be many tidy vans and estates left so this may well be an investment too.

My old man had one of these vans too, same colour, it was a 'G'reg and the speedo read 215,000 miles and it was broken when he got it - even after another 5 years it was going okay ( mileage unknown! ) but was sold for a 405 estate.

[Welly]

Those sussy parts look more substantial than today's rubbish, I think you might have to check out re-bushing them as they are.

[trem1]

FP i'm assuming youve tried Dean Hunter
http://www.peugeotparts.co.uk/

if he hasnt got the bits you need he will probably know what other models had the same parts or at least point you in the right direction.

[FarmerPug]

Ill need to give dean a ring I've been meaning to but the hours of my work have been rather busy recently i don't finish till 6 and the phone signal there is crap, ill try and give him a ring tomorrow on their landline, it would be great if they could be rebushed as the metal bit is very solid. I don't think these would wear out like 406 drop links.

[FarmerPug]

I got a new lower engine mount and the bearing that goes through the mount bracket fitted, the mount is the same fitted to the 406, and the bearing is an off the shelf size, and put new cv boots on the driveshaft, grinded all the rusty metal off the driveshafts, and anti roll bar, and gave them 2 coats of zinc 182:

(its almost identical to the setup on the 406)





Not much has happened to the van, brackets were welded in for the front brake lines, and the bumper was also welded, so here is some more rusty pictures:

[steve_earwig]

Rustola! Unfortunately the only thing you can do is grind all the nasty stuff away and hope you've got enough left to work with...

Interesting about the engine mount/driveshaft carrier, does that make the 406 a parts bin special?