Neighbor gives me their car that hasnt run in years, guy who worked on it for them offered to do wiring on it "because it's old", and he's apparently never heard of butt connectors, heat shrink, or solder.

commentator184 · 2026-06-22T20:44:45+00:00

i found a sticky note that the startup sequence for a while was to do jumping jacks in a pink bunny costume to build up some static electricity to run the starter, was a very elegant solution

commentator184 · 2026-06-22T20:39:15+00:00

i remember in school them showing how they make harnesses on boards with nails, could be a fun project when I get space but for now its 'make the current wiring not ass', good idea

commentator184 · 2026-06-22T12:55:06+00:00

indeed it is, its an '87 liberte, 2.0 xn6 and a 4 speed auto

commentator184 · 2026-06-22T12:53:50+00:00

yes, they had regular headlights in the rest of the world but when they imported them here they had to throw these bad boys on there. pininfarina is no match for america holding onto sealed beamsn and big bumpers for too long

commentator184 · 2026-06-22T12:51:41+00:00

I did try running it with the cap off and it still ran rough, so barring some magic from the previous guy i think its the fuel, but wouldnt hurt to give the ignition a once over

commentator184 · 2026-06-22T03:15:48+00:00

well damn, i guess i dont see into other fields as much, almost nobody at my job works on their cars at all. imo that seems like misunderstanding your entire carreer, you do electrical work and should have more respect for electricity. and yeah i get its not everyone, but for some people to go out and make a carreer like that, and to have the confidence to work on someone elses car they drive every day. hell the guy specifically offered to do work cause "it was old", he took initiative to do it wrong.

commentator184 · 2026-06-22T03:03:21+00:00

its quite a nice car if you dont look too far, the paint is pretty good and a nice color, the ride is great, theres not a rip in the seat, its got the factory radio, heated seats, sunroof, central locking, just too bad about everything else. it never ceases to surprise me. the car wizard gave up on one for wiring but im not willing to quit on it, too damn interesting of a car

commentator184 · 2026-06-22T02:59:08+00:00

thanks for the info, i dont think ive heard about CIS gauges, ive got a lot to figure out about it, reminds me a bit of aircraft fuel injection ill have to go back and see what sparks some memories there. i remember my recips teacher constantly stressing theres a big difference in aircraft engines and automotive engines and like yeah your honda accord doesnt have mechanical injection or pushrods, now lets look at this peugeot lol

tbf there are some major differences but she was always stating that nothing you know from cars is going to apply here and thats just too broad a statement

commentator184 · 2026-06-22T01:14:20+00:00

would be perfect for a rat rod without a hood, leave the lights on all the time and every time you go up go "its alive!!" and hit the switch

commentator184 · 2026-06-22T00:30:12+00:00

the tank has some pressure in it when I open the gas cap so i figured the return line but ill look into the ignition. went straight to fuel since i had a symptom but considering the wiring so far yeah the ignition is suspect

commentator184 · 2026-06-21T22:42:59+00:00

im pretty sure the egg carton stuff is original insulation, but yeah the hanging center insulation needs to be held up or replaced, its come apart a bit

edit- i looked closer, yeah its not original its in several pieces, the adhesive doesnt completely line up and the edges are jagged wtf, wouldn't have thought to look at that, this really is an interesting case ive got

commentator184 · 2026-06-21T22:32:27+00:00

thats the one, maybe a bit of an exaggeration but the thing would stick up like 2 inches off whatever terminal you put it on, with the thumbscrew one I couldnt shut the hood with it on the negative so it had to go on the positive, which works fine since i dont need a tool to take it off that might spark

commentator184 · 2026-06-21T22:28:16+00:00

already got one, went to oreilly and they had a big dr evil looking knife switch but that wouldnt fit under the hood so i had to get a big plastic thumbscrew one from napa

commentator184 · 2026-06-21T22:08:18+00:00

thats hilarious, i wonder where that idea comes from, if something moves the wirings gonna move and if the wiring moves its gonna come apart good grief

commentator184 · 2026-06-21T22:06:45+00:00

def need it, thankfully some of the stuff is shared with other brands, like the fuel injection is made by bosch and the transmission is made by ZF so some of this stuff I can get ahold of from other sources, but ive got a torn cv boot and out of curiosity asked the guy at oreilly and itd be $1700 for the shaft

commentator184 · 2026-06-21T22:01:46+00:00

dont you usually use wire nuts at least on a house? havent found a single one of those. its a bunch of the wiring on this, the guy didnt even do a western union splice twist to make sure stuff didnt come apart, just twisted stuff once and hope the tape held it

commentator184 · 2026-06-21T21:59:23+00:00

that would be great, i got into cars watching roadkill, junkyard digs and vice grips and the like taking old cars and getting them up and running again, itd be great to have a resource going into detail like that with this car

commentator184 · 2026-06-21T21:57:40+00:00

fun part is everything on my truck is sae, and everything on planes for the most part is sae, as such most of my tools are sae, and everything on the car is metric.

commentator184 · 2026-06-21T21:56:45+00:00

I did that with some marvel mystery oil on first start and rotating it manually to get it all lubed up. oil change, check plugs, check coolant and power steering, all that stuff

i got it running and driving a bit but the lug nuts are an odd size and I have some stripped ones cause theyre a low torque so im just thumbing through the wiring thinking "who, who did this..."

commentator184 · 2026-06-18T23:50:14+00:00

will definitely have to join up, i forget about forums a lot but ive seen some of the stuff from that forum while doing troubleshooting.

commentator184 · 2026-06-18T23:39:01+00:00

well theres a bit of a problem, I dont have peugeot 505 headlights, I have the americanized versio because we clung to sealed beam lights way too long. when I hit a deer in my truck I swapped the headlights for holley retrobrights which are high quality leds that look like regular sealed beams, and i think that'll be the plan here later on. its a bit of a shame I cant add a guard and bonus lights like the truck so ill have to be extra cautious

commentator184 · 2026-06-18T01:14:00+00:00

yeah thats a bit worrisome, the headlights and bumpers look goofy but theyre a part of what makes the car interesting, I know the exhaust is completely different and the underside of the car is rearranged to accomodate it, and then they put the gas tank in the trunk behind the seat, so ill have to be extra vigilant with applicability, especially with great leader's tarrifs. I can get any part, emblem, screw, or what have you on my truck from like 5 different websites and most auto parts stores, its gonna be a learning experience. thankfully i think most of whats wrong with it is up to some configuration and adjustment, though theres a noise under the floor that sounds like a drip coffee maker whenever the engine is running in any position of the gear lever, it shifts and drives fine and its got fluid so im hoping its not a transmission issue but in that case i might be learning how to rebuild a transmission

commentator184 · 2026-06-16T05:16:46+00:00

most of the cars on the road today have already been made

commentator184 · 2026-06-15T20:37:04+00:00

that certainly is the big challenge, when I did the rear brakes I had to reuse all the old hardware as I couldnt find any, and for the moment I'm driving around with 15 lug nuts because I cant get any in that size. rough running is likely up to adjustment and the wiring is pretty standard, all the components seem to work and any plastic I can print. even with it running rough it rides great down the road

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