Citrojim's V6 Conversion

[CitroJim]

Yours for the cost of postage!

It'll need a very strong postman David

I have replied...

[KP]

Jim did you not get all the bits you'd need of the red one you and team wfa came and stripped? Other than the engine of course!

[DHallworth]

Here's a list of most of the bits that you need to take off a V6 Xantia to be able to do the conversion.

RH Strut
RH Strut Top
Centre Sphere Bracket & Pipework
Steering Rack & Piping, including supply piping that runs from the pump.
Handbrake Cable Guides (with bolts and captive nuts from V6 subframe, I ordered new nuts and bolts)
Fan Cowelling
All Air Con Pipes
Gassing Chamber
Throttle Cable
Air Filter Housing, pipework & brackets
Hydraulic Pipes
Full exhaust including cat

[CitroJim]

Excellent David Many thanks indeed!

Jim did you not get all the bits you'd need of the red one you and team wfa came and stripped? Other than the engine of course!

Problem is Will it's an S1 I'll be converting so I need a number of S1-specific donor bits...

[Northern_Mike]

Yours for the cost of postage!

It'll need a very strong postman David

I have replied...

If it can make it down as far as Lancs, I'll be going up there at least once a month , and can get it the rest of the way.

Same goes for any other parts that might need collecting along or not too far off my route. You can fit loads in a Berlingo.

[DickieG]

I'm going to V6 my Activa.

Personally I'd buy an original build LHD one, as you'll then maintain the all important originality plus you'd then discover how well things around the dash fall so easily to hand such as the indicators and radio volume control's etc. When I bought my LHD E30 M3 it came as a revelation how much better the car was in LHD rather than RHD, wider footwell and the general feel of the car was so much nicer than the RHD versions of the E30, it was for these very reasons that when I came to buy a DS it was LHD or not at all.

[KP]

Don't the indicators and radio controls fall easily being on the steering wheel and just behind them?

I understand what you mean about the actual radio and dash buttons though, they are laid out better for cars originally designed in the left hand market and then just flopped for the right hand drive market I think very few cars these days are right hand drive designed from the off and then flipped to left hand drive, the markets just don't support it that way these days.

On the flip side I can't see as a lhd activa v6 would be as cheap as a conversion on a rhd model..

Personally that lhd v6 activa estate is really what I'd love to have!

[DHallworth]

On the flip side I can't see as a lhd activa v6 would be as cheap as a conversion on a rhd model..

Cost isn't everything though

[KP]

True but then factor in import duty and the faff as well, probably as much time faffing around with paper work as doing a physical conversion, and then be safety factor of a lhd vs rhd...

[addo]

The sheer work involved in a "proper" RHD conversion from a left hooker in something like a Xantia is massive. You really need three cars, two RHD and all must be free of damage or corrosion. One of the RH cars donates bits you must abuse heavily to remove structural elements of the principal donor, for example the upper scuttle sections. I'd suggest two skilled bodymen on a repair jig, taking a full week - so you're over £4K in bodywork before topcoat and reassembly.

If you just cut and patch the firewall and install an RHD scuttle, it's still a very large job.

[KP]

For the conversion bit I meant the normal activa rhd conversion route. Converting a lhd to rhd car is silly stuff all but a few do but I know that a car I recently sold as rhd will in a few months become a lhd due to the current prices of the car in each country. Also they have a rear end shunted car of the same spec so they have all the bits

[CitroJim]

There are reasons I want to do the conversion rather than go and just buy one, LHD or RHD. Paramount is the fact that I've had my Activa a long time - longer than any other car I have ever owned - and I've become very attached to it. If I got another it would have to go. Plus my Activa is a very known quantity.

I also want the challenge of the job, to have done it will give me immense satisfaction and make my Activa even more special..

I blame Radio 4 for this on Saturday. It was such rubbish - some bloody Christmas play by an old Victorian bloke called Dickens about Carol allegedly - that I turned it off in disgust and spent the next 100 or so miles thinking and scheming about V6 Activas before Weekend Women's Hour came on...

[Northern_Mike]

There are reasons I want to do the conversion rather than go and just buy one, LHD or RHD. Paramount is the fact that I've had my Activa a long time - longer than any other car I have ever owned - and I've become very attached to it. If I got another it would have to go. Plus my Activa is a very known quantity.

I also want the challenge of the job, to have done it will give me immense satisfaction and make my Activa even more special..

I blame Radio 4 for this on Saturday. It was such rubbish - some bloody Christmas play by an old Victorian bloke called Dickens about Carol allegedly - that I turned it off in disgust and spent the next 100 or so miles thinking and scheming about V6 Activas before Weekend Women's Hour came on...

I'm not disagreeing with your plan at all Jim, I think it's a great idea... but, could you not be tempted to build a powerful TCT engine to put in it instead. There's a few around rumoured to be knocking on the door of 250bhp. That could also be most interesting.

[KP]

Problem is with the tct is that it has lag when you start pushing the power more and need a bigger turbo. The only way around that is to compound charge which means getting a supercharger in there for the low revs that then cuts out when the turbo comes in song. More piepwork and more work than the v6 as also means a new ecu needed

Really the turbo V6 would be the way to go if you wanted lots of power top end but then you struggle as you can't run high boost on the standard internals as they run higher compression than most forced induction engines are setup for. If you lower it you lose off boost grunt.

The turbo positioning is not what I'd call ideal either from the two kits I've seen fitted online, but then there isn't much space in the bay for it to go anywhere else.

[DHallworth]

The V6 conversion isn't all about the power though. It's about the silky smoothness of the V6 in comparison to the 4 pot TCT. It's got a much wider power band, pulling from 1500rpm right round to the rev limiter as well whereas the TCT runs out of puff quite low down.