French Car Forum

Hello all

I'm very much hoping I'm in the right place as I have a feeling I'm going to need a lot of help soon!

If this is a forum for the more modern Citroens, please let me know as this one is quite old.
My mother in law (bless her) has just bought a late 40's H Van and promptly deposited it in my workshop. I haven't the foggiest about these, albeit beautiful, vehicles. I know my old cars, I've been driving and working on old VW's for years (I apologise if that is sacrilege round these 'ere parts ) but I'm at a loss with the (diesel) engine on this one.

Took me 2 hours to get the damn thing started!

Anyway, if I'm in the right place, well then hello all
If not, any directions would be extremely appreciated.

Cheers all!

Ben

Welcome Ben

We do all Citroens here!

You'll find too that we love H Vans..

Have a look at this: http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... =2&t=48298" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

oooooh thank you! I'll go stick my nose in there and see what happens.

Much appreciated!

Hi Ben. Another Devonian here, currently based just outside of Exeter though soon I'm soon to be migrating up north to the chilly heights (or levels) of Somerset! Where roughly are you?

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red_dwarfers wrote:I'm soon to be migrating up north to the chilly heights (or levels) of Somerset! Where roughly are you?

Happy Birthday Kev

Where in Somerset are you going?

Ben, I'm a Somerset lad born and bred but still awaiting my chance to escape from the central English badlands where I currently live...

My real birthday is a few months off yet

I'm moving to Taunton, change of job and scenary! I'm quite excited!

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red_dwarfers wrote:My real birthday is a few months off yet

Ahh, so you're like Royalty then Kev, you have an official and a real birthday..

Great stuff on Taunton... You'll be happy there. Keep in touch and on one of my visits down to dad we'll meet up...

Oh yes, means I get twice as many presents!

I've heard a lot of good things about Taunton. I've never actually been, my interview was in Bridgwater. I will do

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hi stranger ( our Kev ) how the devil are you, i were beginning to think you'd left the planet,

sorry for hijacking your intro thread Mr Infinite Granite,
but i thought i'd initiate you to the ways of the FCF community from the word go

i also like H van,s

and used to keep my friends H camper going till he recently sold her on,

you wait till you open the brakes up they are way way over engineered, but quite straight forward once you work out whats what,

we could do with some picys please, but i dont know if you get virtual pints for spotting one thats in your family

You guys are a friendly bunch aren't you?! For people who drive French cars that is. I will remain a dedicated VW fan I'm afraid but I'm starting to see the fun of older Citroens I'll give you that.

I'll pop over to the poor thing tomorrow and take a load of pics, start my hunt for a new fuel filter o-ring, learn technical French, have a 'conversation' with my mother in law and tidy my workshop!

Also, are general parts for these reasonably easy to source? Or is there anything I'm going to really find difficult to get? Also, is there anything in particular I should really look out for on these things? Anything in particular go wrong with them?

I realise I'm somewhat repeating all this as I'm on like 3 different threads so I apologise for that, but again, thank you for the warm welcome

Infinite Granite wrote:You guys are a friendly bunch aren't you?! For people who drive French cars that is. I will remain a dedicated VW fan I'm afraid but I'm starting to see the fun of older Citroëns I'll give you that.

Oy! We are certainly a lot more friendly than some of the German car forums.

French cars have character, and can be relied upon (usually to do something to stress you out! ). They have their quirks, but that is part of their appeal. If you get the chance, have a go in a hydro-pneumatic one. Very smooth ride, which is what they are famous for. The top one would be a Xantia Activa, where they took the suspension to a silly level of performance (and produced a 4 door saloon that could corner at 0.94 lateral G, and out corner some Ferraris of the time!).

Hell Razor5543 wrote:

Infinite Granite wrote:You guys are a friendly bunch aren't you?! For people who drive French cars that is. I will remain a dedicated VW fan I'm afraid but I'm starting to see the fun of older Citroëns I'll give you that.

Oy! We are certainly a lot more friendly than some of the German car forums

You should see some of the self - righteous (-expletive removed-) on a couple of the Japanese car forums. I got banned after less than an hour from one!

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northern_mike wrote:

Hell Razor5543 wrote:

Infinite Granite wrote:You guys are a friendly bunch aren't you?! For people who drive French cars that is. I will remain a dedicated VW fan I'm afraid but I'm starting to see the fun of older Citroëns I'll give you that.

Oy! We are certainly a lot more friendly than some of the German car forums

You should see some of the self - righteous (-expletive removed-) on a couple of the Japanese car forums. I got banned after less than an hour from one!

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And you weren't even trying to be offensive!

Hell Razor5543 wrote:

northern_mike wrote:

Hell Razor5543 wrote:
Oy! We are certainly a lot more friendly than some of the German car forums

You should see some of the self - righteous (-expletive removed-) on a couple of the Japanese car forums. I got banned after less than an hour from one!

And you weren't even trying to be offensive!

I wasn't, that was the oddest thing. I'd asked in a "For sale and wanted" section how much my car was worth and invited offers. An admin and another poster had a right go at me saying that this wasn't the right section and that I was an idiot newbie and I should go and read the FAQ.

I apologised and asked where my post should go and got another snotty answer about the FAQ.

I did thank them sarcastically for their friendly welcome and help and then they both got told to FAQ off and I got banned.

Infinite Granite wrote:...Also, are general parts for these reasonably easy to source? Or is there anything I'm going to really find difficult to get? Also, is there anything in particular I should really look out for on these things? Anything in particular go wrong with them?

I'd think one good point of contact is "Citroën Classics". They have a subtle presence in the forum, definitely don't promote themselves. Good experience and resources for bits.