Citroen H Van engine transplant

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citronut
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Re: Citroen H Van engine transplant

Post by citronut »

i would have thought the average car running gear and brakes would not be butch enough for a H van,
as basically the H is a commercial vehicle,
Regards, malcolm.

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Re: Citroen H Van engine transplant

Post by fatherjack2002 »

Hi Malcolm, thanks for that, i keep looking on the H Van as another "big Citroen" rather than a commercial vehicle !!!! :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: . so realistically i'll need to stick to the original brake set-up ( which is ££££'s to re-furb :( ) or up-grade a disc set-up, the H Van isn't much heavier than a Xant ( only 100kg ) according to "Google" info.
Cheers Paul....
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N*ssan Pr*mera . HATING EVERY MILE
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Re: Citroen H Van engine transplant

Post by citronut »

i did some brake work on the one i look after,
we were going to go new wheel cylinders but these were priced at around £500 quid for an axle set,

i ended up honing the cylinders and fitting repair kits to them, also fitted new shoes, as i said earlier the rolling road brake test was very impressive,

these brakes are quite large and way over engineered, down to even having phosphorous bronze bush's in the shoe pivot eyes
Regards, malcolm.

current ride a BX 1.7 TZD estate
1986 MK1 BX 1.9na D Auto(in Mothman Andy's stable )
layed up roppy 1.9TD XANT estate, now gone to meet her maker
purple and lilac metalic 2CV(VIOLET)registered to her in doors
1972 DS special been layed up aprox 31 years
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Re: Citroen H Van engine transplant

Post by fatherjack2002 »

Thanks for info on brakes Malcolm ( PM sent).
Speaking to "a bloke in the pub" 'bout the H Van, he reckons the way to go would be an old Isuzu Trooper 2.8 TD 4X4, but with the diff modified and only driving the front wheels. I'm not that well conversed with the mechanical side of things, but the welder i have enlisted has done a few Trike scratch builds and is pretty confident that it is do-able.
There seems to be a lot of suggestions for conversions but no hard facts or real info, which is making me a little nervous about the extent of work needed (we need the van to be useable on a near daily basis when done) but without bringing the engine up to modern day standards i feel this will present problems :(
Cheers Paul.....................
1995 Xantia VSX 1.9 TD, RIP
N*ssan Pr*mera . HATING EVERY MILE
1994 Xantia LX 1.9TD, RIP
1997 Xantia desire 2 re-homed
2002 Pugeot 307 HDI (not quite a Xantia, but still French)
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Re: Citroen H Van engine transplant

Post by KP »

The 1.9 xud's were used in some LDV's in north-south setups were they not so wouldn't it be a good idea to get a rotten one of them with all the bits in them then? though i think they are RWD :( at least you could swap the bits over onto a 1.9TD and get it setup for more power and boost so a daily driver and run it on veg. A big enough tank and a small facet pump in the tank would do the job and mean it should have quite a large range as well.

The V6 LPG idea is a good one but your adding more weight to the vehicle with the conversion as even empty LPG tanks weigh a bit still!
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Re: Citroen H Van engine transplant

Post by Chris570 »

KP wrote:The 1.9 xud's were used in some LDV's in north-south setups were they not so wouldn't it be a good idea to get a rotten one of them with all the bits in them then? though i think they are RWD :( at least you could swap the bits over onto a 1.9TD and get it setup for more power and boost so a daily driver and run it on veg. A big enough tank and a small facet pump in the tank would do the job and mean it should have quite a large range as well.

The V6 LPG idea is a good one but your adding more weight to the vehicle with the conversion as even empty LPG tanks weigh a bit still!
Just to make it more fun, it's not hard to make an ES9 RWD ;)
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Re: Citroen H Van engine transplant

Post by handyman »

Always thought H & HY vans were all FWD, so adding an ES9 would just be finding suitable FWD transmission.

Father Jack, what about 2.5TD! used in the Citroen/Peugeot FWD vans? Or transplant the whole body onto an Izuzu Trooper engine/transmisson set up and have a 4WD H van! :rofl2: :rofl2:

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Re: Citroen H Van engine transplant

Post by old'uns »

now't to do with the engine but may be of interest generally..

http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/ ... ebox-resto" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Citroen H Van engine transplant

Post by Atlantic »

May we suggest you drive an H van with a Diesel engine? They are unbelievably noisy.
Not just because the Indenor is noisy but because you are sitting next to it and all that is separating you from the din is a removable 5 piece floor that only clips together with gaps in between the panels.
The engine bay has no room for any insulation whatever nor is it located up front behind a heavily padded bulkhead. It is right next to you in the Cab. Worse still the metal Cab reverberates and amplifies the noise.
If you want to get an idea of how noisy, put your head under the bonnet of a Pug 405 after removing the engine top cover and close the lid.

The fact that the floor has gaps means the slightest fuel leak results in a smell that permeates the whole van. In a Catering van Diesel can taint the food.

A H van shakes and vibrates to the slightest touch and then amplifies the noise. A VW Diesel is not the smoothest going, you need to put a lot of thought into the engine mountings as the crude structure of the H van does exactly the opposite of isolating you from the vibration and noise.

I know Diesel fuel is a bit cheaper and more economical when covering long distances, but do you really want to cover long distances in a H van?

A petrol engine, with LPG if you really are planning on punishing yourself by driving the thing long distance, is a much better option than a Diesel.
Have you actually seen the amount of wiring you need to get a modern Diesel to work in an H? The immobiliser that is tied to the ECU and the speedo head? We saw one A4 Diesel that had the Audi speedo assembly just below the Citroen one and it did not look pretty.
It is so complex it is going to be long term trouble. When it does put up a fault light who will take it on? If the immobiliser does thing there is an issue what the fix?
Not sure you local VW garage will be interested, if they are, it will take them forever to work out what is what and your bill is unlikely to under a fiver?

In Holland they use a Volvo 2.3 with basic Jetronic Injection, very simple ECU, no immobiliser, no tie in with the Speedo Head. Very simple strong unit.


Also consider carefully the gearing?
The H van has a massive wheel/tyre combination that gives a smooth ride and good load carrying capability. Gearing is set to give max revs in top at about 65mph, at which point the handling is starting to get 'interesting'.
A typical Audi A4 box has a gear ratio set with about 140mph theoretical top speed. That is usually on low profile tyres.
Stick an A4 gearbox in an H van and the wheels/tyres will increase the overall gearing such that 1st gear will now give more speed than the original Citroen boxes Top gear and about 160mph in 5th!!
The resultant slipping of the clutch while pulling away in an empty van isn't too bad, but throw 2,000kg of Camper or Catering gear in the back and pulling away from lights up a hill is humorous to watch. A funny smell wafts up from all those gaps in the floor.
Yes you can put on ultra low profile tyres and wind up the Torsion bars to get back the ground clearance, but few low profile tyres have 3 tonne load capability. And the gearing is still way too high.

A 2002 VW 2.5 turbo van (obviously loads more power/Torque has similar'ish weight carrying capability as an H at 3,000kg, and a similar 14mph top speed in 1st. Ask yourself why VW didn't give the Transporter 1st gear a 49mph max speed?
Even if you can drive around the high first Gear you end up with a 4th and 5th that are so high they can't be used. Taking you back to a 3 speed box!!

Do the maths and work out the Gearing of the box you plan to use.

As noted above, when working out engine/Box combinations the weight of the working van is important. Most 1.9 XUD diesels, even the later turbos of 90bhp, will really struggle with 3,000kg and high gearing.


We do H vans and transplants for a living and we arrived were we are after a lot of work.


BRAKES.
The Brakes are very good if rebuilt and set up correctly (so long as we are talking about the post 1967 vans with the bigger front and rear Slave Cylinders and the 1/3rd wider drums?).
But very few are even half right, hence all the bad press about them.
If you have a later van, the Brakes can be very good. If it's a post 1975 you might even have dual circuit Brakes!!
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