A little History
Last year I inherited a Peugeot 203 which had been in my family since the late 1950's.
It was purchased brand new by my grandfather who lived in Minneriya, a rural area 200 km from Sri Lanka's capital.
After my grandfather's demise in the 90's my aunt meticulously cared for the car with regular maintenance and careful driving. Increasing maintenance issues compounded by a shortage of parts and the absence of a competent mechanic lead to a decline in its running and my aunt was contemplating selling it when I convinced her that I could save it. She willingly gave it to me and before I knew it I was the owner of a beautiful Peugeot 203. I had been dreaming of owning this car since I was child.
On a recent visit to our home in Minneriya I was fortunate enough to find a few old photos which I thought were quite interesting.
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| My grandfather and myself going for a walk in Minneriya |
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| My Grandfather: Mr. Linton Senaviratne |
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| His 1940's Ford on the Mamanpitiya Bridge - Polonnaruwa |
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| Undated uncaptioned photo of the same car |
Records state that the 203 was purchased in 1959 from CarMart Ltd. Colombo.
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| My Grandmother: Chithra (the 203 in the background) |
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More Recent Times...
In its heyday the 203 had run regularly between Minneriya, Colombo and Kandy. Sadly for the last three and a half decades it had run only within the Minneriya town limits (I'm estimating a maximum of 50 km a month.) and sat in its cozy garage the remainder of the time.
In march 2013 my family and another close family made a trip down to Minneriya on a long weekend looking forward to some much needed rest and to bring the 203 to Colombo on our return.
I had been sharing this dream with my younger brother Viran and my childhood friend Raveen for some time and now I had my beautiful wife Hiromi with me as well as I embarked on this journey of a lifetime.
I thought about how on a day in the distant past my grandfather would have driven this very car for the last time from Colombo to his home in Minneriya and here I am now driving it back to Colombo.
My aunt Chandani was glad that it was finally going to be in the family and took us around the car briefing us on all the intricacies of driving this magnificent 203. She had also organized for the current mechanic to accompany Raveen and my self as we drove back to Colombo. I would like to point out that I had never driven this car before and shifting the steering column gears did take some practice!
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| My Aunt: Chandani - who cared for the car before I took over |
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| R to L: Raveen, Viran, Uncle Mahesh (Raveen's Father) & Myself |
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| Briefing |
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| Learning the Basics |
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| Learning the Basics |
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| Need to focus on the road ahead... |
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| And behind... |
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| Gear shifting skills needs improving! |
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| The peaceful roads of Minneriya |
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| Later my bro gave it a go.. Rave, my dad and myself. (Special Thanks to my dad for the photos!) |
Some details about the car during its time in Minneriya
While in Minneriya at some point in time the 203 had been converted to run on household gas. Whoever who did the conversion had done an amateur job. Firstly they had cut two holes in the petrol tank and welded a bracket at the bottom in order to create enough space to accommodate a 13 kg gas cylinder upright.
Starting the car was tricky and the performance was sluggish.
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| The Gas Setup |
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| The Gas Setup |
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| The Gas Setup |
The Return to Colombo...
On the way to Colombo - March 2013
The drive to Colombo from Minneriya was largely uneventful. We were lucky to have the local mechanic join us on the drive to Colombo. He had an established garage in Hingurakgoda but didn’t really care much for his profession. He had removed the air filter earlier on and insisted that it was not necessary. That would give you an indication of the kind of mechanic he was.
We departed Minneriya at 7 am and reached Colombo by around 2 pm. (If you look at the time on the clock tower at Ambepussa its 11.29 am and we took about 2.5 hours to reach Colombo which was about 60 km away)
We had a spare gas cylinder. The first one lasted 153 kilometres. We had to make a few stops because the rapid extraction of gas from the cylinder was causing the cylinder to frost up and inhibit the gas delivery tot eh engine which caused the car to stall. We literally had to let the cylinder thaw in the sun on one occasion.
One of the images below show the cylinder behind the car.
We also carried about 20 litres of water in case the radiator was faulty but luckily we didn’t have any cooling issues.
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| The Minneriya - Habarana Stretch... |
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| The Habarana - Dambulla Stretch... |
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| The Ambepussa clock tower |
Updated May 2019
It’s been almost 6 years
since my last post.
Much has happened in between the last post on my blog and this one. It has been an interesting journey and I have had the privilege of meeting many like-minded people who have been a great strength in getting the car going.
I have catalogued some of the stories and work done on the car while some have been done without much record so I will try to write down some of the highlights of the last few years from memory.
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| My Daughter |
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| The 203 was present at many of my friends Weddings as the going away car |
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| French and Lankan Lion Chilling |
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| Myself at a CEAC Ceylon Exotic Automobile Club rally |
Upon returning to Colombo (2013)
First a closer look
The
car did create a lot of interest among my friends and we drove it around and
enjoyed it but at the back of my mind I was eager to get the car running on
petrol again.
It
was initially difficult to find a person who knew his way around Peugeot 203’s
and I didn’t know a single person who had the same model even though I had seen
a mint condition 2 Sri - 203 running on Galle road
near Dehiwala driven by a gentleman who almost always had a tie on and was seen
driving in morning traffic. I’ve either been on a bus or going in the opposite
direction and have never been able to catch up to him. (I did meet him
eventually)
The
internet didn’t help much either as there want a single online forum or group
that I could reach out to for help. At least not in Sri Lanka.
I
was on the hunt for a reliable mechanic and most of the people I spoke to said
that the carburetor was not fixable or tuneable and they do not want to work
on the car as it was running on gas.
One
garage owner suggested that I convert the car to run on gas and referred me to
a workshop that did proper gas conversions. They said they can take on the
project and install a gas tank and some kind of gas delivery system as well.
A fateful meeting..
I
was considering this option for some time when on one fateful day I was driving
down a by lane to avid some traffic and I caught a glimpse of the pristine 2
Sri - 203 that I mentioned earlier on. It was parked under the veranda of a
house and the gate was open half way. If that gate was closed and I missed that
car this story may have followed a different path. Luckily the gate was open
and I had a chance to meet the owner of that car. A gentleman by the name of
Vishwamithra – a person who I owe a lot to for all the knowledge and
contacts he shared with me and the personal
interest he took in getting my car to run like it should.
After
drooling over his car I explained the condition of mine and he assured me that
all hope is not lost. He spoke of a Peugeot wizard who tends to Vishawa’s car
and we set a date to go and meet him.
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| Vishwa's Car |
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| Vishwa's Car |
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| A rear view picture of Vishwa's Car which was on the Peugeot 203 group on Facebook |
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| Peugeot Piya Drivinh mine and Vishwa's in the background |
The Wizard – The Late “Peugeot Piya”
One
the planned day I picked Vishwa up and we drove to Pannipitiya. The domain of
this so called wizard. The wizard was waiting for us by the side of the road
clad in a sarong and a shirt. I didn’t know what to make of him. I asked him if
he wanted to drive but he said there was no need and he gave us directions to
his home/ garage. He seemed to know what he was going as there were 3 other
cars and one car which I was told was his.
He
had a look around and gave me a list of items that he required to work his
magic. This included hoses bushes and a host of other items. I purchased them
from Subasinghe motors located in Colombo.
A
few days later Vishwa and I went to collect the car. Piyasena baas (AKA Peugeot
Piya - the nickname of this legendary mechanic) was waiting for us with the car
parked by the side of the road. He asked me to drive it but I suggested that he
start and drive to the fuel station for a top up. (I was an amateur and I
didn’t want to embarrass myself popping the clutch).
What
followed was one of the most memorable experiences of seeing a mechanic
displaying the skills of a professional race driver. Piya casually got into the
driver’s seat and I was expecting some typical old school driving.
To my utter surprise we took off with some super smooth gear shifts, the finely tunes engine was now running on petrol being fed through the cars Solex carburetor. The distinct Peugeot exhaust beat roaring from the rear. Piya became a legend to me that day as he shifted gears with only his fingertips. It was on that day that I really saw what this car was capable of in the right hands and also realized that classics are not supposed to be show pieces. If you know what you’re doing with them they can be extremely pleasurable to drive. (At this point the diaphragm was out of order and that sections was blocked off - I replaced the diaphragm much later.)
To my utter surprise we took off with some super smooth gear shifts, the finely tunes engine was now running on petrol being fed through the cars Solex carburetor. The distinct Peugeot exhaust beat roaring from the rear. Piya became a legend to me that day as he shifted gears with only his fingertips. It was on that day that I really saw what this car was capable of in the right hands and also realized that classics are not supposed to be show pieces. If you know what you’re doing with them they can be extremely pleasurable to drive. (At this point the diaphragm was out of order and that sections was blocked off - I replaced the diaphragm much later.)
After
that day and many other visits to Piya for maintenance and a few repairs which
included the replacement of the engine gasket Piya was a good car friend to me
and a great source of knowledge.
He
shared stories of how he fell in love with Peugeots – especially the 203 and
how at one point he used to scrap scores of cars for parts. One could see that
he did his work with a lot of passion and care. Sadly he didn’t live long
enough to see the rebirth in popularity the 203 has today. I do not have many pictures with Piya but if any of the readers have a photo they want to share please do so. It would be greatly appreciated.
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| Piya working on my friend Sandeep's 404 |
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| My 203 at Piya's Garage |
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The Legend           |
During
the time Piya was maintaining the car it was extremely reliable and during one reckless
speed test I managed to clock in speeds over 100 KMPH. The car was extremely
stable while cornering at high speed. One of the greatest things about the 203
is the extremely tight turning circle which believe fellow 203 owners will
agree comes in extremely handy when doing U turns in traffic.
Piya' s Garage
Piya' s Car 1 Sri 7432
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After
Piya’s passing finding a reliable person to work on the car was proving to be difficult
but fortunately Vishwa came to the rescue once again. He introduced me to
another knowledgeable mechanic – Chaminda. Chaminda had previously worked on a
very unique project car which belonged to a gentleman in Mount Lavinia. This car
was a convertible which had a lot of immaculate work done on it including gold
plating of the original chrome trims. But this phase too was short lived as
Chaminda moved away from Colombo and it was proving difficult acquire his
services.
Then
for a short while I visited the Garage of Mr Felix which is located down Aponsu
Avenue next to the St Mary’s church in Dehiwala. He was a former car mart man
and with his team was still working on classics including Peugeots. By the time
I visited Mr Felix my rear brake cylinders were constantly acting up with oil
leaks and needing regular break washer replacements.
Subasinghe
Motors didn’t have the 203 brake cylinders so we substituted with a later model
brake cylinder which required some degree of modifications. The other major
work that the car had was the replacement of the front suspension bushes and
work on the kingpins. Then Mr Felix’s main man left Sri Lanka to take up work
in the Middle East.
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| Front shock absorber |
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| New vs old bushes |
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| Front Shock Absorber |
Interior hood lining and carpeting - Jan 2018
Usually the order would be to Paint first, Re-wire second and do the interior last but at the time the paint looked OK and I didn't expect to repaint any time soon so I thought I'll focus on the hood lining as it was in need of refurbishment. There were a few rips at the back that needed fixing. The work was done at Ramya Cushion works Pepiliyana. The owner managed to convince me to do the carpeting as well.
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| No rust in the hood. It was interesting to note that the hood was lined with coir. most likely for insulation. This was later replaced with reflective foil. |
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| Part of the old beading and the new beading that was manufactures to resemble the old beading |
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| New beading made by encasing flexible tubing with the synthetic leather |
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| The original door panels are visible |
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| Coir lining replaced with reflective foil |
New Windscreen - Jan 2018
The old windscreen was scratched up and night time visibility was very poor. Vishwa recommended Orient Gold Plus located in Orugodawatte - a company that specializes in tempered glass work. https://www.orientgoldplus.lk/. They require the original windscreen and take up to 2 weeks to manufacture a new one. While the flat front windscreens was relatively cheap they charge a premium for curved glass.
It is essential to make sure that you place the new glass on top of the old one and made sure they are exactly the same size. Vishwa cautioned me about this. However when picking it up there was a negligible difference at the bottom of the glass where the new one was slightly longer. I ignored this at the time.
However later on fitting the glass proved to be difficult and the slightly bigger size stretched the beading and that caused rain water to seep in. I had to use silicone to patch the leaky spots after the windscreen was fitted in Delkanda at a windscreen accessory shop. The front and rear windscreen beading were purchased at Darley road.
It is essential to make sure that you place the new glass on top of the old one and made sure they are exactly the same size. Vishwa cautioned me about this. However when picking it up there was a negligible difference at the bottom of the glass where the new one was slightly longer. I ignored this at the time.
However later on fitting the glass proved to be difficult and the slightly bigger size stretched the beading and that caused rain water to seep in. I had to use silicone to patch the leaky spots after the windscreen was fitted in Delkanda at a windscreen accessory shop. The front and rear windscreen beading were purchased at Darley road.
Mechanical issues and a spot of luck! (2018)
Gradually the car developed running issues and with Padmasiri not available, I was a little discouraged about the inability to find someone who really
cared about old cars so I let the car sit at home for a while.
Fate intervened again and a good friend of my brother who is also a brilliant automotive
engineer came on board and inspired me to keep the car going. This opened up an
era of more learning and some experimentation which was a lot of fun. We worked
on the car at home so things were more relaxed.
The
brake washers needed replacing as the car had been siting for some time which
we did.
We
also added adapters for all the spark plugs as they were coming loose replacing the gasket in the process. We also added 4 new spark plugs.
Diaphragm Repair
Up
until this point the diaphragm on the carb wasn’t working. We purchased a new diaphragm
along with a carb repair kit and proceeded to clean and refit the carb with the
new components. (Purchased at Subasinghe Motors)
We also added a vacuum line from the carb to the distributor and did a basic check to see if the vacuum advance was working.
We also got new screws for the diaphragm on the petrol pump. as it wasn't sealed firmly enough and there was a leak.
We then proceeded to attempt to tune the car hopefully to a running condition.
Paint Job - Early 2019
The guys at Mr. Mechanic Moratuwa https://www.facebook.com/Mr-Mechanic-257280774975223/ are very close friends and they supported me in getting the paint job done. it was a hands on project with a lot of help from my friends.
Step 1: Stripping the Old Paint. Roughly 2 - 3 weeks working mainly at night and weekends.
We initially tried sanding but the old paint was extremely tough to we shifted to paint stripper. The whole car took 9 tins of 1 kg paint stripper. The paint Stripper we used was Sunny by Causeway. I purchased it from 3 different shops the best price I got was at the Dulux showroom near the Katubedda Traffic Lights on Galle Road.
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| Me Scraping the roof |
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| My Friend TJ at work |
Step 2: Washing off the residue paint remover (Best done with car wash and a high pressure washer.)
Step 3: Initial application of metal filler and Masking. The 3M luminous green masking tape is most ideal.
From this point onward the Mr Mechanic tinkering and painting expert Shane (Fondly known as Shane aiya) took over and I was watching and assisting. He is a great guy always jovial and positive and very good at what he does.
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| Shane Posing for a photo in the midst of masking |
Step 4: Application of Primer
Step 5: Bodywork
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| Shane had masked both sides of the door making sure that the interior was protected from over spray. |
Step 5 : Filler Application
Step 6 and 7 : Paint and clear coat application
Re Wiring (2019)
A majority of the wiring harness was decayed and most of the lights were not working. The team at Mr. Mechanic re wired the car. We followed the original wiring diagram but also tool some liberties with the reat brake lights and signals. This will most likely be frowned upon by die hard originality enthusiasts.
The original tail lights function on a reflector and a double filament bulb functioning as both the brake lights and the signal lights.
We opted to modify the system and add 2 separate lights for braking and signals. We had to modify the holders and fabricate 2 separate lenses. (The lenses were made by a guy called Ajith in Panchikawatte 0771851439 - he operates out of a makeshift workshop in a back alley)
The Wiring job
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| Peugeot 203 wiring diagram |
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| The Alternator which was already fitted instead of the original dynamo |
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| The Back End of the Meter Cluster |
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| Modifying the bulb holder |
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| Modifying the bulb holder |
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| The completed tail lights |
Car after the paint - before polishing - All the trims have been removed.
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| On the way home from Mr Mechanic |
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| My brother Viran at the wheel |
Rims and Tyres - May 2019
I had previously installed a new pair of GT Radial Tyres 195/65 R15 in the front and was running on the old Ceat 5.60 - 15 tyres at the rear.
Apart from this combination (radial in the front and cross ply at the rear) being risky according to an old you tube safety video the wider front tyres made steering very cumbersome. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c23MFIKiVdE ),
This time around the rims were sanded down and repainted and I managed to locate two rebuilt 5.60 - 15 tyres (There are safety concern with rebuilt tyres but there are many arguments for rebuilt tyres and now I generally drive at relatively low speeds.) which were installed in the front and I shifted the GT Radial Tyres to the rear.
There was an immediate change in the ease of steering as the original spec narrower tyres were much more responsive.
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| Rusty original rims with the the old Ceat 5.60 - 15 tyre |
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| Difference in width between the Original Spec the old Ceat 5.60 - 15 Tyre and the GT Radial 195/65 R15 Tyres |
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| Cleaned and repainted rims with a clear coat on the outside. |
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| Rims awaiting tyre fitting |
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| the Rebuilt 5.60 - 15 Tyres |
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| The New Tyre Setup as at May 2019 - Cross ply in the front and Radial at the back. Also this angle is very unflattering. |
Engine Tune up and Work on rear Suspension - May 2019
Whilst on the lookout for a reliable mechanic who knows his way around 203s A Mr .Thusitha Perera member of a Peugeot 203 Watsapp group i'm on suggested that I contact 'Kalu'. He used to work with Piyasena and I remembered him from the old days. After contacting him and explaining that the car was now doing about 4 KMPL and that there are all sorts of rattling sounds from the rear Kalu arranged to come home and work on the car which is a new and very convenient concept to me. I usually visit the garage and here i had a chance to sip a beer at home while the work was being done.
Kalu fist came over to tune up the car. You could see that he knew what he was doing as he got to work straight away firstly readjusting the tappets and them cleaning the crab and the distributor.
He dismantled both the items and cleaned them and oiled the necessary parts before re assembly. He then went on to adjust the rocker arms and clean the almost new plugs which were covered in black soot.
We replaced the main jet on the carb and the platinum points on the distributor along with the distributor condenser.
This whole process took less than an hour. What took a long time was the tuning as he made minor adjustments to the distributor and carb to achieve a smooth running engine.
We did a few test runs and the fuel consumption had gone up to 7.7 KMPL (We measured this by plugging in a bottle containing a liter of petrol and running the car)
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| No work bench needed! Redex Rally roadside style work! |
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| Test Run |
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| Test Run |
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| Kalu at work |
During his second visit Kalu replaced the washers and oil on the rear shock absorbers and the also replaced rear shock bushes.
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| Old Vs New - Shock Bushes - Purchased at Gamlath Motors |
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| The rear shock absorber has a single arm as opposed to the front which has 2 arms |
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| adding the new shock bushes |
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| Dismantled rear shock |
Some Gratitude from my end...
Firstly thanks to my Aunt who just handed the car over to me expecting nothing in return along with all her extensive records and experience with the car. I must say the car was very well preserved at the time I got it and it took a great deal of trial and error on my part to really understand how to care for a classic car.
Whilst on the journey to get the car running there have been many fellow 203 owners and specialists who have shared their wealth of knowledge with me. some who come to mind are Vishwamithra, Peugeot Piya, Mr Felix, Kalu, The staff at Subasinghe Motors and Gamlath Motors. Maithri Gunasekara, John Devereux and My friend Muditha Gunasekara who has brought the Peugeot 203 community together.
My friends Jonathan, Yohan, TJ, Randeniya, Sandeep Raveen and my brother Viran have gome out of their way to support me with my 203 dream.
Last but not least my wife Hiromi who has been very supportive by making sure everything runs smoothly at home while I've spent countless weekends tending to what she refers to as my 'mistress 203'
