Hello and my new Murena restoration...

[suffolkpete]

It's worth replacing the pipes with stainless steel if you can afford it.  I've replaced the straight bits with stainless steel tube from Metals4U, but my fabrication skills are not up to making the curved sections at the front, so it's joined with a short piece of straight rubber hose.

[Jon Weywadt]

Well, whilst under the car properly to adjust the handbrake I spotted this! Looks like a previous owner didn't want to pay for new parts. That'll be another order in to Simon.

Did play with the wiring and get the clock working again. Pete, as you said, there is a circuit made with the two live connections into the back of the lighter, which even thought u/s itself, still worked as a circuit and the clock works.

Got all the lighting back, so all I have to do is find out what has stopped the heater controls. Probably dirty connections.
Gave up after 3 hours of trying to fix the headlamps. Need to leave them and have a good think about it. Despite having the shortest ball and socket joint on the the one that won't lower all the way, it still sits up an inch!

You don't want to wait to replace those pipes. Read my post on the problems and see the shiny solution. 

http://www.matrasport.dk/forum/index.php/topic,1643.0.html

[TimS]

Thanks for the link Jon, a good how-to.

My pipes do look pretty rusty. At the moment they need to wait a month or two. I need to get the car through the MOT test first. Then it is mobile and I can get it to places for other work to be done.

I'm about to drain and refill the cooling system and will be checking all the rubber hoses first. After that, if there are any problems, I'll get under the car.

I can see me needing to strip the front of the car anyway. I think the front cross bar that the front bumper hangs off is slightly bent at each end.  When I tried to fit the bracers that bolt to the inner wings and bumper in the headlamp pods, they were too long and there is evidence of some distortion.

So I would like to take off the front bumpers and front wings to straighten it all out. At the same time I'd take out the fibreglass basket as I'd like to paint it and probably do the two wheel arch linings as well. When those are all out, I'd like to clean up all the suspension, without dismantling all of it, so that's an outside job with the angle grinder and wire brushes. At that time I can remove and replace all the pipes, then refit the whole front end......I reckon that's maybe a months work at least and I need good weather for a few days to work outside.....but would be worth it to have the front end rebuilt nicely, clean and freshly painted. Really I think I need to wait about six months to do this, but it would be a shame to have the car off the road so long in the good weather so I may try to do it in March or April.

Of course, That all depends on not having any problems with the engine, that hasn't run properly for ten years.

Have a laugh at this...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9bhjjx96yvwtlv2/First%20run.mp4

Filming was by my six year old, hence the wobbly camera and the rattling noise turned out just to be debris in the exhaust pipes! Since then Roy has serviced the carb and I have fitted most of a new ignition system, plugs, leads, filter, distributor etc. I'll connect it up when I've drained and refilled the coolant and hopefully everything should run ok. Fingers crossed.

[TimS]

Taken a chance and drained the cooling system to check and clean all the hoses. Found the gasket under the thermostat cover was only part there. Does anyone know what this is made of, is it just gasket paper, can I cut my own?

Also does the thermostat need taking apart or cleaning at all?

Thanks and happy Christmas!

[Oetker]

Lets take a look at the parts manual.


Seal and thermostat have Peugeot numbers.
Seal Peugeot number 1337.47 used on a wide range of cars.
Maybe still to find at the Peugeot dealer or Simon.

Thermostat 1337.53
The thermostat I would replace now it is apart, hence, it is 30 years old.
Important part and not expensive.
 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PEUGEOT-505-82-88-2-2-THERMOSTAT-OE-QUALITY-/300438509130

Greetings Herman

[klumzer]

You can also find aftermarket products:

Seal: Facet FT7.9607 (~€2) ; Quinton Hazell QTG546 (~€1) , these are not veryfied by me, but must be ok, I am quite sure in it.

Thermostat: Quinton Hazell QTH135K (88C) ; QTH165K (81C) , 'K' at the and of the part number means complete with seal. You can order only a thermostat without 'K'.


I use QTH165 because of the climate. Not tested on road use but in the summer it worked perfectly on hot days during 'static' tests.

[TimS]

Thanks. Ordered new thermostat and seal. For that price I may as well change them.

Stripped the tie rods off and changed the steering rack gaiters. One less job now. Finally rebuilt the engine Nd carb, started it up and it still runs.  always surprised that it does after so much dismantling. Headlamps,now lie flat with the vacuum holding them down.

Managed to get all the dash electrics and fan working again too.

Still don't get any charge indication on the voltmeter on the dashboard so will need to try and fix that before I can think about the MOT. Also found that if I turn on the headlamps and fog lights, after. Few minutes a relay trips out and they fail! Seems to reset itself after a few minutes but very odd. As if something is overloading.

Any suggestions as to the best way of checking that and the alternator?

[Oetker]

If the engine is running, measure the tension at the battery.
It needs to be around 13.8-14.4 volt  at around 1500-2000 RPM.
Then dynamo is working.

[TimS]

Found the source of most of the electrical problems - bodged wiring under the fuse board.

Even showing a charge on the voltmeter now. Lets hope this is the end of it.

[TimS]

Can anyone confirm the Wattage of the bulbs for the illumination of the heater controls?

My notes say that these are 3 24v 0.72W 508T bulbs. It seems a very strange wattage.

Also on the back of the heater control know are 5 connectors. However mine only has 4 wires connected. Should all 5 have a wire?

[Oetker]

Some bulbs are 24 volt.
You can find that in the documentation.

Heater switch has 4 wires.
1x + connection, and 3 speeds go to the coils of the heater fan.

Look for overheating there.
The switch is a fire starter if bearings on the heater-fan are warn out.

I see you have a nice fuse panel with modern fuses.

Greetings Herman

[Jon Weywadt]

Found the source of most of the electrical problems - bodged wiring under the fuse board.

Even showing a charge on the voltmeter now. Lets hope this is the end of it.

Hello Tim.

You should check out this post I made regarding the blower switch. http://www.matrasport.dk/forum/index.php/topic,1992.0.html

I intend to replace mine with a potentiometer controlling an electronic power regulator. It was cheap online. Will look for source and post.

[suffolkpete]

Your notes are correct, the bulbs are 24volt 508T.  There are 4 wires to the fan control, some wiring diagrams are incorrect (I think the grey one in the wiring diagram shouldn't be there).  If you need a replacement switch, Car Builder Solutions (CBSonline) sell an exact replacement.

[TimS]

Thanks. I have now rebuilt all the lights and they seem to be working.

However, the oil pressure light (next to the park brake light) flashes constantly with ignition on. Can someone tell me how this is meant to work?

Thanks.

[Oetker]

There is a sensor on the oil-sump that tells a module under the dash if there enough oil.
If not the lamp flashes.
This is unreliable and most of the times the sensor is defect.
Very difficult to find this sensor, and if you can find it will cost you.
I removed it in both  cars.