Pug 405

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Discussion

unstable load

Original Poster:

28 posts

120 months

Thursday 12th June 2014
quotequote all
This is my first post, so be gentle......
I have a Pug 405 with the carb engine that has suffered a cracked head and block due to a mistake by an Official Workshop just prior to my buying the car. I have found a scrappy with a few cars and one of them is a 16 valve, so my question is,,,,

What is involved in changing the 8 valve carb car to the injected 16 valve engine?
The scrappy reckons the car is complete and was running when it was in an accident, so the assumption is that it is all there for the removal and transplanting over to my car. He has offered all the bits off the injected car to me at a great price, so all I need now is an idea of whether this is a feasable transplant or whether I am biting off more than I can chew.
An alternative would be to fit the 16 valver with 2 side draughts if it means less electrickery. I am a confident mechanic, but electrics are a grey area to me.

Is this a simple matter oof unplugging the old harnesses and fitting the new ones or is tere a bit more to it than that?

Let me have your ideas please.

Cheers,
John

wildoliver

8,788 posts

217 months

Thursday 12th June 2014
quotequote all
You would be deranged to even attempt it given the value of the base car. Unless the car is A) Hugely sentimental (guessing it isn't as you have recently got it) or B) Hugely valuable (it's an 8v petrol 405, it really isn't) only an utter madman would go to this extent to get it back on the road. Either buy an 8v head of which there is no shortage out there, or weigh it in and buy a 16v or god even an MI16 as they are peanuts these days.

I speak as someone who likes and has owned 405s, but be realistic, your basically talking a full engine swap, full loom swap, plus possibly other bits which only a 405 geek will know are different, from different production years on a car that will have had had many changes throughout it's production as it's French.


unstable load

Original Poster:

28 posts

120 months

Friday 13th June 2014
quotequote all
It's not about sentiment at all. The replacement engine is going to be paid for by the workshop that caused the damage, so there is no outlay from me. Any outlay from me would be in time and labour of which I have both.

The repair is going to be more than I paid for the car, but that is irrelevant to the topic.
I need to replace the block and the head so I was curious to see what it involves to do the swap and get a free upgrade if it was a practical possibility.

wildoliver

8,788 posts

217 months

Friday 13th June 2014
quotequote all
Fair enough, I'm still surprised they aren't just paying out the book value on the car given value wise its disposable to be honest.

My advice is to hunt out the exact same engine to do the replacement and save a lot of time and hassle.

unstable load

Original Poster:

28 posts

120 months

Friday 13th June 2014
quotequote all
It's going against the workshop's Defective Workmanship Insurance and the price is as per another Dealer's quote to repair. The 2 figures are close enough that they agreed to the repair instead of scrapping it, besides, the Insurance already paid out, I am just struggling to get it paid to me now.

I think you are right about the same engine, though. I was hoping for a bit more poke, but the 16 valver is looking like a non starter.

Thanks for the input.

ukdj

1,004 posts

185 months

Friday 13th June 2014
quotequote all
Doesn't sound too hard a task - it's been a long while but I did a 405mi16 into a 205 only a couple of wires difference.

If you're going to stay carbs then even easier.

There are plenty of parts for the conversion like dizzy adaptor to allow you to run the old 8v dizzy instead of full 16v setup, up to you which route you take.

might be worth a call to one of the specialists like pug1off etc

Regards

UKDJ

PaulKemp

979 posts

146 months

Friday 13th June 2014
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Injection engines run a lot more fuel pressure and a return to tank, all rubber fuel hose and clips need to be changed for injection rated, metal fuel pipes may also need change, your ECU won't work the injection.
IMHO if its not a sole plug and play walk away

unstable load

Original Poster:

28 posts

120 months

Sunday 15th June 2014
quotequote all
The donor car will be complete, so it's just a matter of deciding if it's a doable thing and getting stuck in and transplanting.
What I am after is an idea if it's a relatively simple swap-over of bits or if it;s going to be a huge mission that's not worth the effort.
All I am going to invest in this is my time, should it be feasable, costs will be covered by the insurance.

Old Merc

3,493 posts

168 months

Wednesday 18th June 2014
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I used to have a Mi16,brilliant engine,BUT! fitting it to a carb` 405 is a lot of work.Why bother??,is it worth it?? There is so much to swop over,under bonnet wiring loom and ECU,fuel system and tank,(Mi16`s have a feed and return)radiator with twin fans,exhaust system,etc etc.
Also remember everything your dealing with,your car and the donor car,is very old.What ever engine you decide to fit would need servicing,new cam belt,etc etc.
I just cant understand all this?? Wouldn't it be a lot easier for everyone concerned for the 405 to be "written off" ?? you accept a nice big wedge as compensation,then buy yourself another car.

unstable load

Original Poster:

28 posts

120 months

Monday 23rd June 2014
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ukdj,
Cheers for the lead, I contacted Pug1off and apparently it's not too big a deal.

If it's the alloy block, then I need all the related bits off the donor car fitted to mine and the harness plugged into the car, new cam belt, plugs etc etc. If any of the bits are missing or dodgy, I can get a distributor adapter and a manifold with carbs and it's even easier then. The gearbox on my car will be OK ratio wise.

If it's the iron block, it isn't that easy and I won't bother doing it.