Hints and Tips for your 15/17
R17TS Disc Brake Rear Calipers
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
Whilst changing the pads one sunny day, I discovered that the rear pistons do not retract in the same manner as the front pistons ie. G-Clamps don't work. After consulting the appropriate bibles, it was discovered that to retract the piston it was neccessary to turn it with some suitable tool and the piston would screw in. This all sounded very dubious, and after half an hour and many bloodied knuckles, the pistons remained in their original positions. After a failed phone call to El Presidente, it was decided that perhaps moving the pistons by other means may release/engage this mysterious winding thing. Since the calipers were free of the handbrake cable at this stage, I pushed the handbrake lever arm inwards (slowly!) to free the pistons - slowly because I didn't want to accidently pop them out! Anyway, after this they screwed in fine, and everything was hunky dory.
Footnote: El Presidente does not recommend this procedure!
R15/17 Chrome Strip, Top Rear Bumper Bar.
Submitted by Volker Schubert (Australia)
Is your rear bumper chrome strip, old, faded, the plastic chrome cracked, replacing this chrome strip on the top of the rear bumper has been almost impossible until now. You can replace it with a 89 period Ford fairlaine rear bumber chrome strip. One of the bumper chrome strip styles are identical to the half rounded shape on the 15/17, all you have to do is cut and glue the new strip on. Check out you local Australian Ford Fairlane population and you'll be amazed at the similarity of the two.
R15/17 Sump Guards
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
R12 Sump guards can be installed - they fit fine.
R15/17 Minor Rattles/Leaks
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
Check tightness of all sump bolts if working under the car - also oil cooler hoses (R17TS/Gordini) tend to come loose and drip lots of oil. Crossmember bolts can come loose and cause rattles under the car. Gearbox mounts also regularly come loose on my TS - I find locktight helps keep them solid.
R17TS/Gordini Air Intake Hose
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
I am currently using an air duct from a Cessna light aeroplane for this purpose - It doesn't compress under vacuum and is flexible enought to be easy to remove.
R15/17 Glovebox lighting
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
The lamp holder and switch is interchangable with a pre 1976 R12 glovebox light.
R15/17 Heater Hose
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
After perusing many photocopied articles from various magazines, I finally discovered just where the little seperator clip fits on the heater hoses. It seems to attach on the engine side of the top hose bleeder T-piece, and then connect vertically down to the bottom hose. I found the heater performance to be much improved after this clip was installed correctly.
R15/17 Heater Air Intake, on the scuttle panel outside the car.
Submitted by Volker Schubert (Australia)
Sick of leafs, twigs, and other stuff always coming into the car when you turn on the heater fan? Well a really simple idea is to go down to your hardware store, buy some flywire screen, it's the stuff they use on the doors to keep the bugs outside, make sure it's the fibreglass/plastic wire, and black in colour. Now take off your scuttle panel, drill out the rivets that hold in the black plastic grill. The fly wire goes between the grill and the panel, sandwiched between both. Then you put back the gril and, rivet it back into place. Now cut off the bits of the flywire screen thats hanging out of the edges with some scissors. Now when you look at the panel once you have put it back, the black flywire screen will be on top of the grille, because it's black it'll give an even look to the air intake there and stop leaves and other stuff from getting in there ever again. Which in turns helps stop rust building up under the panels from damp conditions, and your guaranteed not to have leaves in the face when you turn on your fan ever again.
Remember don't use a huge "drill bit" to drill out the rivets, as you'll then have to find bigger rivets which may be hard to do.
R15/17 Heater Valve
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
After much head scratching and searching without success for a working R15/17 heater valve, "Peasant" Simon managed to source a Peugeot (!) 504 heater valve which will bolt straight on to the heater matrix. It has a vastly different angle for the hose inlets/outlets, but with some extra hose it could be made to fit. Since then, Peasant Simon has sourced a brand new R15/17 heater valve, so I am not using the Peugeot one, but the Peugeot one seemed to have superior flow characteristics.
R15/17 Headlights
Submitted by Matthew Bowden, Simon Fitzpatrick & Volker Schubert (Australia)
They are the same as R4/R8 and round eye R10 headlights "No they're not says another source, the argument is on!".
Also if you want to replace the inner high beam light, you can with Cibie Oscar lights, but you'll have to make up a holder, that simulates the driving light. This is so you can use the clips to attach the light to the mount. Make the light holder out of sheet aluminium, this will allow you to make taps so it clamps to the outer rim of the light. Sounds strange, but it works.
If you have the round front headlights in your 15/17, you can buy the clear poylcarbonate moulded Cibie Oscar covers. They fit around the outer edge of the glass. It's a tight fit, and l have found if you use a hair dryer to heat up the cover, it will strecth just enough to fit. To keep them securely on, use some clear silicone sealer, small dabs should do, then just use some masking tape to hold the covers securely. This saves you from holding the cover down on the lens while the glue is drying, it's easier. Once the glue has dried, peel off the masking tape and clip the light back onto the car.
R15/17 Number Plates
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
In South Australia, number plates can be made to fit the original mounting points for the wider euro plates - when ordering I gave them the dimensions, and it cost me an extra $10.00.
R15/17 Front indicators
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
Even though the left and right side front indicator lenses have different part numbers, they are reversable, but rotation of the alloy seperator is neccessary - just pull it out and turn it upside down.
R15/17 Water leaks general
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
Check under scuttle panel for rust holes which leak water through into the front pillars and cause rust at the base of the pillars. Also check the wiper motor bracket for rust. Scuttle drainage pipes should be cleaned regularly to avoid build up of water in the scuttle area. Check and clean all sill drainage holes and door drainage holes. Check the seals around the rear taillights - reseal if neccessary to stop water passing into the rear double skinned panel. This may have a side benefit of reducing exhaust odours. Check that the hatch seal is positioned correctly ie. the split in the seal should be located at the bottom centre just behind the latch. If a louvre is fitted to the rear window, and the hatch is raised whilst the louvre is wet, water pools at the top of the hatch and travels under the chrome trim strip, through the spotwelds and into the hatch box section. This can cause rusting in the top edge of the hatch. On a 17, the fixed rear quarter window seals appear to shrink from age, and a gap may appear up to a 1cm wide. This can be plugged with silicon.
R15/17 Electric Windows
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
The electric window switches can be substituted with Fuego switches - these are a better switch (they are a microswitch, not a leaf switch). In summer, be careful of the switch base surrounds on Fuego switches as they are made of metal and get very hot! Electric windows gearcases can be rebuilt with brass gears, also R5 Gordini gearcases fit fine and seem to be of a more durable construction.
R15/17 Ashtray lighting
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
Virage ashtray mounts can be used if the original one has lost the ambient green glow. The light holder appears to have been redesigned on the Virage to be more durable.
R17TS and Gordini
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
The Fuel Injection computer can be held in place with two preserving jar rings rather than the elaborate and yet to be seen original rubber thing.
R15/17 Boot and rear seat lighting
Submitted by Matthew Bowden & Simon Fitzpatrick (Australia)
Same as R12 Boot lights.
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