About 23 years ago, a lecturer at NAU Political Science department said to us, "The true value of a V-boot while in motion is derived and enjoyed mostly by the man on the driver's seat, not the man on the rear seat burying his head on a newspaper." I believed him but thought I understood him until I test drove a V-boot about 3 years later. A man like me is into 504 for the 504 experience, not 508 experience in 504. These are 2 different cars produced by men from different eras with different ways of thinking. A car like 504 helps you experience what your father or grandfather's thought process was like. That advantage or experience goes away when you start altering what made a 504 what he is.

Recently, I have seen a few 504s their owners have changed their exterior looks with lipsticks & eyelashes. An interior of one I saw the other day was changed into a Barbie's room. It should be no other man's business since that's your car (Do whatever thy will). But when it comes to resale value or true value of such vehicles in vintage/classic car communities, it's more or less worthless (at least to a large degree owner would least expect). That clean, new looking 504 with stock exterior, stock interior, and stock AM/SW radio cassette player will posses such a value men would be willing to sell their castles to acquire. No one would give a rip about your iPhone 15 in the next 5 - 10 years. But countries could go to war for Nokia 3310 in the next 50 - 100 years. Sure, you can attract validations from teenagers or women for the mess you made on your 504 to impress them, but they are not the market you need when or if you decide to resale. You ended up turning off the actual prospective buyers (minority of men), who are less than 5% out of 100 men. You could claim you got the car to keep for good. If that was the case, why changed the important thing that attracted you to the car in the first place?

From the beginning, Nigerians had a 504 decease that refused to be cured, even after about 50 years of dealing with the decease (more like a virus). The decease is double barrel carburettor. Every 504 Nigerian mechanic I have met or worked with from the '80s till date disliked, hated or discouraged use of double barrel carburettor on a 504. An average Nigerian that bought his 504 new, with 2.0 litre carburettor engine, enjoyed his car until the 1st or 2nd time his carburettor was touched by a Nigerian mechanic. Only about 1% evaded that infection (you could count how many had double barrel carburettors till date or last breath). The rest yanked out theirs and converted in single barrel carburettors, because it was more fuel economical and easier to maintain, they all accepted. The propaganda was that strong. Fuel consumption figures of the both carburettors is debatable (depending on driving style), but that "its easier to maintain" gospel has proven to me otherwise, many years ago. It's no longer even about single vs double barrel carburettor dichotomy, it's now about outright condemnation of both carburettors as bad, in regards to fuel economy.

General belief is that new technology is better than old technology. But reality dictates that's not always the case, at least, in all ramifications. For example, the maniac version of 505 V6 is older than 605 with ZPJ V6 engine which is newer, yet the former is quicker and also consume less fuel. Another example, 407 is newer to 406, yet the predecessor (406) is quicker and also consume less fuel than his successor (407). So just because EFI is newer and expected to consume less than the older tech (carburettor) doesn't mean all carburettors are fuel guzzlers, compared to today's standard. A 504 with double barrel carburettor can average 40 mpg (uk) on highway. If that figure is too high for you to live with, then I don't see why you have a gas/petrol car. Lack of technical know-how on a car doesn't make the car a bad car. Maybe a bad choice, but nothing to do with the vehicle. If you can't properly tune or find someone that can do that on your 504 carburettor, that's not the carburettor's fault. If you can't keep your 504 ignition sytem and the engine in good conditions, no amount of carburettor tuning will stop the car from guzzling fuel like a Whale. Like I have advised 504 users in the past, it's not big of deal to learn how to tune carburettors, even if you can't do the servicing yourself. Find someone to teach you how to do the tuning, if the car has proven to you he got it right the first time, even if you have to pay the person for the teaching. I learnt how to tune Solex 32-35 MIMSA double barrel carburettor in year 1999 and never gave no one to do that for me since then. Interestingly, that carburettor never gave issues and I barely serviced it, yet almost every 504 user i met in Nigeria has only negatives to say about that carburettor. The narrative is now shifting to EFI conversions on 504 carburettor engines to reduce fuel consumption. I honestly have no issue with that idea or act. In fact, I like the fact that it is possible and give users options. However, I am looking at it from a performance perspective, which adds little or no significant power to the engine after such conversion. But I am not an expert on EFI conversions on 504 carburettor engines. It gives room to turbocharged or supercharged the Engine, when you convert it to EFI. However, i have also seen a turbocharged 504 carburettor engine (conversion). There could be other benefits the carb - EFI conversion come with that I am not aware of, for I have never seen one, driven one, or let alone know how to do the conversion. But I do know that every good thing has a downside too. You would be delusional to think otherwise, especially when it comes to cars. You are simply moving from one headache to another. The degree of the pain is what you should seek for before you jump in, incase you can't handle it. Putting on my critical technical thinking cap, if the conversion kit was sourced from who knows were and the person that did the conversion relocates, passed on or you lose the contact, basically, you are screwed. Unless you can figure it out yourself or by someone else on how to diagnose the car engine issues with the new system, as they come up overtime. Also, I would expect the Engine ECU introduced to run the engine would be a universal aftermarket or a used stock ECU from an EFI car. But will there be an OBD II scan port for diagnosis or owner has to rely on guess work to troubleshoot, if he is not the technical minded type or has someone that understands how electrical part of the conversion was done. Again, I am not an expert in these type of conversions. So it might not be as complex as I questioned above, but these are the questions you should be asking or concerned about and get the clarifications before you jump in. There is also the CNG conversion option available, which I think might be easier than EFI on 504 carb engines. A CNG carburettor or converter might be easier to swap in than messing with the intake manifold, sensors and other electrical non-plug & play modifications required on EFI conversion. At least, CNG cylinder appears cheaper to fill up today in Nigeria compared to petrol tank, if it continues to stay that way. Again, I am not an expert on CNG conversion either. But it comes with its own headache too. Find out what those headaches are.

I understand a lot of complaints regarding bad carburettors causing excess fuel consumption on 504s in Nigeria. But there are new carburettors in the market you could buy and close the chapter for a long time. And before you disregard my advice that they are all from China, it doesn't mean they are all bad. In 2012, an AC technician damaged my 505 V6 AC compressor the engine came with. They gave me the option of used compressor (10k) and new compressor (25k). I picked the new one against the technician advice that it was from China and wouldn't last. Since 2012, I have not done any AC repair on that car. I used the car today and the AC was on throughout my drive today, chilling as cold as it was the first day it was mounted in 2012. How many years have passed? 12? In 2020, I bought a new double barrel carburettor (Solex 34-34 Z1) at 50k for my 2.0 carb Engine, which seller claimed was the original Solex from Europe. Since the first day it was mounted, no type of issue the carburettor didn't exhibit. From non-start to hard-start issues. From self acceleration to black smoke issues. Nothing I did and other carburettor experts did could resolve the problem. It was obvious the carburettor was bad from factory. Months later, I went for another new carburettor (same brand & model) from a different seller. This time, seller told me it was from China which I bought cheaper at 30k. I mounted it and at first crank, engine started as if it never suffered from the previous hard-start issue and the rest. Tuned it and everything was almost perfect (no hard-start, no self acceleration, no black smoke, no rough idle, etc). I am not saying there are no bad new China carburettors in the market. I am saying there are good new ones in the market too, and I wasn't discouraged by the bad ones till I got the good one. If you don't trust the ones in Nigeria open markets, they are abundantly available on Aliexpress (China), both the single and double, depending on model recommended for your 504 engine.

Carburettor, EFI or CNG, you can run your 504 with any of the 3. The carburettor fuel consumption on 504 is OK for me. I don't want EFI experience on 2.0 XN1 engine since my attraction to 504 today was the previous 504 experience (the whole package, not just the looks). There are better options for EFI outside 504. Its oxymoron to convert 508 for carburettor experience just because it can be done. But who knows, we might all end up converting our 504s to EFI or even worse, to full electric battery powered. After all, masculinity today in the most 1st world countries is termed Toxic or bad and everything that looks masculine is being discouraged, cancelled or censored (thanks to Democracy). If it looks or sounds masculine, it's bad for the world (ban it). Those laws are already in place, not being considered or discussed. Looks like a question of how long my brothers in Africa will resist until they cave in. We are basically the last men standing. Maybe will never get that far, at least in this lifetime. Whatever happens, the Monastery option is always there for me.

Lion-King Monk

Deep

Good evening Sir Please I came across your response from 2018 about A toyota corolla with a directly connected radiator fan causing the car to consume more fuel I wanted to ask Sir if you have anyone around Lagos/Ogun who can help me out with same issues..08137236380 is my line
Thanks Sir

Does the 504 consume fuel
My old man has a bestline
But he rarely drives that nowadays since this fuel issue started...
But he enjoys driving his 2010 camry..
But he has refused to sell the 504

Peugeot 505, I so much love that car, I grew up to meet him driving it, sadly,
my dad sold his own, but I go still buy that car soon, the car is strong and rugged.

Idsenate:
Good evening Sir Please I came across your response from 2018 about A toyota corolla with a directly connected radiator fan causing the car to consume more fuel I wanted to ask Sir if you have anyone around Lagos/Ogun who can help me out with same issues..08137236380 is my line
Thanks Sir

This will be interesting

As usual

The lion king is back

chukel:
As usual

You wan dey teach old man how to dance new dance?