non hydractve supply piping routeing

[Xantidote]

Admire your persistence Chris. I guess with where you are at, there's no going back. Hope the end comes in sight soon

[c.morewood]

Evening update..
Couldn't get the botton union off..discovered that the bank of connectors are straight through individual connectors rather than, what I had assumed, a manifold. So thinking outside the box. I decided to twist off the connector from its bracket and then I would be be to remove the bottom pipe off the car. Handy as the connector was a hexagoinal 12mm shape .. so with a few twists back and forwards it soon gave way. Well the long and the short of it is that I got all the plumbing sorted out and so started the car waiting for it to rise inspecting for leaks .. about 2 mins later a large puddle developed under the front of the car it appears that in replacing the pipes I had managed to break another pipe, this time coming from the safety valve... so I've got it all to do again... not tomorrow as i'l be drying the garage floor and I'm I'm back at work and I might not get back to this till the end of the month as I'm working till the 30th now.

[c.morewood]

The end was in sight Xantidote .. but as usual it dissapeared over the horizon again!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Chris

Your evening update post, has probably rendered some creative thinking of mine redundant now.

With the "bank of 4" joiners on the bulkhead being hard to access, it should be perfectly possible to bypass them with the use of new shiny joiners.

If the top unions on the bank of 4 can be successfully undone, the appropriate pipe could be plugged into one end of a new joiner with pipe no 9 in the other end.

If the top unions prove impossible to undo then the by pass could be made by using 2 joiners and a short section of new pipe.

Looks like you found your own solution!

Hope the new leak is easy to resolve, maybe a union you have disturbed, but if it turns out to be a long pipe with just a small section affected joiners work well

kind regards Neil

[c.morewood]

Guess what Neil? It looks like the broken pipe goes into that bank (from the diagram) I haven't had the inclination to have a look at the leak under the car today.. I might tomorrow..
But thinking about it, I'm going to replace all of the rusty pipes going to the safety valve, as they'll only go at some unoppertune moment if the future and whilst I've got the use of a loan car and mine is up on jacks/axlestands/ramps I may as well go for it.
My only regret is that the one rear cylinder I was going to replace (the repaired one from last year) with a Dowty sealed one, I cant get off because there's no pressure in the system!!
I don't know if I mentioned it, but i found out that the odd sized unions for my Xantias suspension cylinders are from the early C5.
Cheers,

[KennyW]

Chris,

I have been read the thread with interest as I have 99Hdi 90 hp estate but it doesn't have any of the early C5 parts and appears to be standard xantia sizes.

2 years ago I had similar problems with the rear brakes resulting 3 pipes replaced including long brake pipe from ABS block to K joint at rear.

My Xantia was built around May 99, i can only assume yours was later.

Kenny

[c.morewood]

Hi Kenny, You'll know what a Bu**er it is to do then.
The C5 unions don't really look any diffferent to the Xantia ones until you see the "other" side. there is no longer just a seal, but a metal "blob" and a formed end with a seal built in. I do have a picture .. but it's on an e mail and can't save it here.
The important info is that if your car is RPO 8208, 30th April '99 or earlier then you'll have standard unions if it's later than that you'll have, I believe, according to Citroen the C5 unions for your suspension cylinders.
I hope this helps

[c.morewood]

Can anyone tell me why the front suspension pipe, pipe3 going from the safety valve to the accumulator has a spiral on it?
Is it neccessary? £42 from Citroen.. looks quite difficult to make up. Just ordered £34.50 from lorient citroen inc delivery.

[KennyW]

Chris,

I think it is do with oscillation/vibration when the LHM fluid is moved under pressure causes the pipe to vibrate and by introducing a spiral stops this. They are easy enough to make up, I just wound made pipe around a scaffolding pole which was about the right diameter.

Kenny

PS My RPO is 8355 so I hope I don't have to do the rear cylinders!!!!!!!!!!

[RichardW]

The spiral is to take up the movement of the engine relative to the safety valve (which is bolted to the car) - you need something in there, but whether it needs to be as full a spiral as Citroen fitted I doubt (especially if you use kunifer piping).

The alternative pipes were only fitted RP 8209 - 8518 - later cars (eg like my Dec 2000) revereted to 'std' Citroen flares. This does put your car right in the middle though Kenny!!

[c.morewood]

Well Kenny, If you can find a C5 in the breakers and rob a couple of ends (you need at least 7cm, i'd go for 10cm) and send them off to Big Mick at eurocarcare He reckons he can make up Xantia pipes and and with a joiner can fit them to the C5 ends.
For the rears one of the C5 pipes is long enough for the Xantia but not the other side. Haven't explored the fronts as they're well protected.

Richard, Thanks for clearing that up.. I wasn't sure if they went all the way to end of production with the C5 pipes.
BTW what is Kunifer piping? too late now as I've ordered but out of curiosity.
Chris

[KennyW]

Chris,

Kunifer is a mixture of metals: copper,nickel and ferrous (iron) to make a flexible but strong pipe available in many diameters, hence the name.

Richard thanks for that info re the rear cylinders piping.

Kenny

[myglaren]

Chris' image from earlier post.

[c.morewood]

Thanks for posting the inmage for me Steve.

Update today. I spent 6 hours this morning removing the safety valve and associated piping ready for the new stuff.
Before and after of the safety valve 10 minutes of a wire brush on a drill and then Kureust treated.. Must try to protect it better when i reinstall it.





I've come to the conclustion that it's not worth saving any thing when you're replacing pipes.. work out what you need .. order or make it up and then just cut the old pipes off.. remove the K or whatever the pipe connects into and try to reassemble the difficult/hard to reach bits first.. dont worry about the routeing as long as it doesn't rub against anything, protect what does rub with black shrinkwrap sheathing and use cable ties to fasten K's and joiners down.. don't bother with the old rusty or hard to reach bolts.. so its off for 4 nights now.. next update Sunday

[RichardW]

Good work Chris - this sort of 'mission creep' on pipe replacement is why I have decided to abandon mine whilst the going is still good!!