Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Tell us your ongoing tales and experiences with your French car here. Post pictures of your car here as well.
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Zelandeth
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by Zelandeth »

Here's a quick example of what the rest of the car can end up looking like after it's been sprayed down with TFR...
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The paintwork was pristinely polished and waxed to within an inch of its life about ten minutes before I took that photo.

It can be brought right back - but requires a decent polish and re-application of the wax...

Fantastically handy stuff though for things like you've demonstrated there - especially in conjunction with a pressure washer that's got a hot water setting. Not much you can't get rid of with those together.
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xantia_v6
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by xantia_v6 »

Today I followed one of these for a couple of km. Couldn't take a pic, so here is one from the web.
Image the one I saw had side windows.
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CitroJim
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by CitroJim »

That's a variant of the 205 I've never seen before... Didn't know it even existed!
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eifion
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by eifion »

It's now a month since I bought the van and there was yet more cleaning today, this time on the inside. I'd hoovered the carpets where I could get at them, but things looked quite filthy under the seats, so armed with a Torx T40 drive out they came.

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The original owner had owned dogs and there was plenty of dog hair under there as a reminder. There were also tiny insects crawling around in the muck under the seats and all sorts of unpleasant things under the handbrake cover. A lot of cleaning later and things began look a bit better.

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I then cleaned the seats before putting them back, more dog hair and filth underneath.

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We're off to Cholmondeley Car Show in the van tomorrow, so it's good to have it looking a little more presentable.
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CitroJim
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by CitroJim »

What a difference a good clean makes :D
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ekjdm14
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by ekjdm14 »

Oh dammit, Cholmondeley has kind of slipped off my radar a bit since they started trying to out-Goodwood Goodwood with the "pageant of power" event & the prices for entry to that. :/ Shame the weather's a bit grey today too but at least FCF have at least one member there now lol
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myglaren
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by myglaren »

There will be some from autoshite there who are also members here.
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by eifion »

myglaren wrote: 03 Sep 2017, 14:32 There will be some from autoshite there who are also members here.


It was the fine folk of Autoshite that I went there with. There was one other 205 there, an N-reg 'Inca', along with a 305, an XM, a Visa and two BX's, so we had quite a selection of French cars on show. The weather was a bit of a let-down, but not too bad.

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eifion
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by eifion »

In the last six weeks or so I've done nothing to the van except drive it (and occasionally wash it). It's taken me to work and back every day and, a couple of weeks ago, took me and a friend all the way to Leeds and back, a round trip of 250 miles which it did at about 55mpg.

Winter is on the way, though, so it seemed sensible to fix a few minor issues. Last weekend I drained and replaced the coolant, as I don't think there was any anti-freeze in it, just some unpleasant-looking water. Today I decided to replace the dashboard bulbs. The one above the clock hadn't worked since I'd bought the van and the other had started not coming on for the first few miles in the morning, which made it near-impossible to see how fast I was going.

Removing the speedo surround was surprisingly tricky. There are a few awkward to get at screws and odd things such as the torx screw on the side that needs to be loosened. I found it easier to get the surround off if I loosened the steering column bolts to allow the steering wheel to drop by an inch or two.

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Both bulbs were fairly dark. I cleaned the contacts on the ribbon cable with an ink rubber and put new bulbs in. The result is a far brighter dashboard.

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It was interesting to note that the wire for the dimmer switch is in place, but with a blanking plate instead of the switch itself so there's no control over the brightness. Life's tough at the bottom of the range.
Hell Razor5543
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by Hell Razor5543 »

I wonder if getting a dimmer switch from a higher spec 205 (or similar) would allow that to be available to you?
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CitroJim
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by CitroJim »

Excellent! Having a nicely lit instrument pod is good. One that isn't spoils the whole car and is incredibly irritating...

I well remember what a PITA the 205 instrument binnacle is to pop apart for bulb swapping...
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by eifion »

Hell Razor5543 wrote: 21 Oct 2017, 23:40 I wonder if getting a dimmer switch from a higher spec 205 (or similar) would allow that to be available to you?


I'd guess so, the blanking plate looked to be the right size and the wiring is in place. I'll see how I cope with it as it is before looking for one, though.
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CitroJim
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by CitroJim »

eifion wrote: 22 Oct 2017, 12:55
Hell Razor5543 wrote: 21 Oct 2017, 23:40 I wonder if getting a dimmer switch from a higher spec 205 (or similar) would allow that to be available to you?


I'd guess so, the blanking plate looked to be the right size and the wiring is in place. I'll see how I cope with it as it is before looking for one, though.


As James saw on my Saxo this afternoon, its dimmer rheostat is identical to a Xantia one so chances are they are the same right across the board...

A Xantia one should do you well and should not be hard to obtain...
Jim

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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van and XR

Unread post by eifion »

I've not updated this for a while, but I should have done as I now own a second 205. It was pointed out by my partner that since I swapped the XM for the 205 van neither of us had a vehicle with more than two seats. I fancied something a little faster so started looking around for a 1.4XR and after a couple of weeks I found one for sale in Bath. After a chat with the owner I agreed to buy it and we caught the train down there to bring it back.

It had been owned by someone well-known in Club Peugeot UK and, although it had over 200,000 miles on the clock looked to be in pretty tidy condition. It hadn't been used much for a couple of years though and one or two niggling faults have arisen since I bought it. The first one showed itself on the drive home when the passenger side door refused to open but that aside we got home without any problems. The next day I had the tricky task of removing the door trim with the door closed. Once I'd managed to do that I lubricated the mechanism and the door has behaved itself since.

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There have been one or two other small problems since then, but the car has generally behaved itself and is making a good companion for my van. Despite the registration number it's a 1988 car so no suitcase engine or early dash. Having a 5th gear and the bigger engine is good and it's noticeably quicker than the 1100 van.

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It seems that every 205 I own now will have to be Cherry Red.
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CitroJim
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Re: Eifion's Peugeot 205 Van

Unread post by CitroJim »

That XR looks absolutely gorgeous :D

Well bought!
Jim

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