It was all too hard - NDG PRODUCTS

Someone somewhere is saying this very thing every minute of every day for just about any subject you could think of. In this case it was a 1994 306 Peugeot that we had been told had broken down on a nearby highway and the nearest place to get help was a farm with a farmer who had some mechanical know how, but not enough to get the 306 running again. So there it sat in his farm shed ever since, for some years.

We spotted it on a visit to the farm while there for another reason, but it caught our eye. Why? the car seemed out of place against the rest of the items on the farm. We worked a tentative deal with the farmer pending on whether the car started. We did an assessment of the car to see what it would take to get it back on to the road. Below is our initial list.

First look list

Fuel pump has left the building. Not even in the car and the fuel tank has been exposed to the elements. (the driver door has been open all this time)
The fuel lines are cut in the engine bay
The inlet snorkel is not around
Battery terminal have take a beating (not sure why this would have been )
The car has 3 steel wheels and 3 alloy wheels
Battery is missing
Drivers door panel hanging off the door (hence the door open all this time)
small dent in the drivers door and a scrap mark on the drivers rear quarter panel.

It was all too hard — Slight damage to body

Next job

Was to see if the engine will start so fitted a battery carried out the standard checks before we attempted to fire the engine. We sprayed “Start Ya Bastard”into the engine and it fired up straight away and sounded sweet for the short time it ran under test conditions.

We now know that the car had a fuel problem of some type but what specifically is still not known but highly suspect that the fuel pump failed.

Next job was to find a donor car so we visited the local wreckers where we found the same model car that had the same parts we needed to get our project car going.

Fuel sender unit with pump
Air tract snorkel
genuine tool kit
Good battery terminals and leads

Now all the elements are sourced we can determine whether the project is viable which we think it is, but not by a lot.

Our plan is to get the car mobile in situation on the farm then drive it to get it registration checks.

We may even go as far as to carry out the NDG renovation treatment on the car on the farm.

Lets get going on this.

We will update this Blog as it happens.

Update 12th March

We removed the donor fuel pump and connector and headed out to the farm where the car was located. Installed the pump, sorted out the bad wiring, installed the battery and tested for power which there wasn’t any. Found the fuel pump fuse which was unmarked and the car fired up first go.

Reversed the car out of the shed and gave it a quick pressure wash and pumped up the tyres and took it for a short drive.

All the drivers door hardware was on the floor of the car but all the bolts and screws were missing so we taped the door closed and fitted the unregistered car permit to the windscreen and drove to town for the next phase.

Something got the better of us. The car was terrible to drive and a fuel line sprung a leak so fuel was spray in the car interior. A quick fix and then an idea occurred to us. Take this car straight to the wrecking yard!

We didn’t make it to the wrecking yard. The car stopped on the side of a lonely country road, refusing to go any further. Not giving in we sent back our pilot car to get our SUV and a tow rope to complete the final few kms to the wreckers, which we did and got there just before closing time.

Our wrecker friend would not let us abandon the car but instead offered his workshop and a special deal on the donor car in his yard to get the job completed. He is a big supporter of our Blogging work and he said that this is all part of the story and to go away and think about it overnight.

We left the car in his yard to go away and think about it.