C5 Glasses / Sunglasses Storage Modification
Target Vehicle: Citroen C5 MKIII (X7) 2008 on
Peugeot Part: 9128 AR
Price: £25.68
Tools: Torx 20, Small flat head Screwdriver
Time: About 20-30 Minutes
Tech Level: Easy
Scenario: If like me, you have a pair of glasses or sunglasses and case that you keep in the car, there are very few places to store these conveniently in the C5 X7. The small drop-down bin under the dashboard on the driver’s side is pretty useless , with anything you put in at risk of being crushed when you close it! The Centre console is usually filled with phones, keys and other rubbish that I wouldn’t want to put my Ray Bans at risk with and the glovebox is already full with the car manual.
Solution: I came across an idea posted by Lafrancois & ‘Screwdriver’ over at Planete Citroen that seemed a perfect solution. Some Citroen / Peugeot cars have a glasses case fitted in place of the driver’s ceiling grab-handle. I believe that this is / was available on come Citroen C4 and Peugeot 308 vehicles. It turns out that the part used on one of the 308 models is a perfect fit for the Citroen C5 MKIII X7 in terms of the spacing and mounting feet.
The part number is 9128 AR and was ordered from a local Peugeot dealer at a price £25.68 inc. VAT (Oct 2015).
Personally speaking, I have never really used the grab handle, so this would be no great loss to me.
I thought I would put a small step by step guide together in English in case others want to undertake the modification. It works great for my reading glasses, but needed a slight mod for my sunglasses. So unless you are Dame Edna Everage you should be fine.
1) This is the part:
2) Part Unpacked
3) Lift the hinged mountings to reveal the king pin. Use a small screwdriver or your finger to push the pin through left to right (for the left hand one, right to left for the right hand one) and withdraw. Repeat for the right hand mounting.
4) Mounting with Pin withdrawn.
5) The mountings come with a securing bracket and screw already assembled as shown. We do not need the brackets as we will be using the ones already in use by the grab handle. We will need the new screws though.
6) Using your Torx 20, remove the screws and keep these safe. Keep the silver mounting brackets, but we won’t need these.
7) The remaining shell has a layer of foam at the bottom to protect your glasses. Before proceeding, now is a good time to check the case to see how the glasses you intend to store in it will fit.
My reading glasses were a good fit...
... but my Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses were a bit too wide. Although the left arm looks too high, it's actually the right arm that is being blocked by the right fin.
There are 2 plastic ‘fins’ in the case that I think are there to stop your glasses moving about. As I will be using the case for my sunglasses, I decided to lower one of the fins (the one that was affecting one of the arms), so I used a Dremel with a cutting wheel to make a horizontal cut at about half the height of the fin. I then sanded this down and voila:
After cutting one of the fins in half horizontally:
Glasses now fit!
8) In your car, lower the grab handle and you will see a small plastic flap.
9) Gently lift the flap from the bottom up to reveal the Torx screw and remove:
10) Repeat for the other side:
11) You can see here the original securing bracket which we will use to secure the new case.
12) Secure the new mounting hinges using the new screws. They will exactly fit the original footprint. The new screws are longer than the originals. To be honest, looking at the original screws that held the grab rail, they didn’t appear to go past the second thread mark, so I don’t think these would have taken much force! Therefore I used the new longer screws without any problems.
13) Once you have mounted the hinges, slide the case unit in behind and line up the 2 holes as shown:
14) With the holes aligned, re-engage the king pin. I actually found it easier to fit the pin to the right hinge with my left hand and the left hinge with my right hand.
Keep the original handle and screws in case you want to restore the grab handle, or transfer the glasses case to your next C5!
Sorry about the first few photos - they wouldn't resize properly.
Enjoy
Adding a Glasses Case Mod to your C5 MkIII (X7) Tutorial
Moderator: RichardW
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Adding a Glasses Case Mod to your C5 MkIII (X7) Tutorial
Last edited by GiveMeABreak on 23 Oct 2015, 10:43, edited 1 time in total.
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Marc
Marc
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Re: Adding a Glasses Case Mod to your C5 MkIII (X7) Tutorial
Brilliant
This now needs to go in the Forum Wiki
This now needs to go in the Forum Wiki
Jim
Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
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- Forum Admin Team
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Re: Adding a Glasses Case Mod to your C5 MkIII (X7) Tutorial
Cheers Jim - now (finally) on the Forum Wik
Link: http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/wiki/Ad ... your_C5_X7
Link: http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/wiki/Ad ... your_C5_X7
Last edited by GiveMeABreak on 11 Nov 2015, 10:24, edited 1 time in total.
Please Don't PM Me For Technical Help
Marc
Marc
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- A very naughty boy
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- Joined: 30 Apr 2005, 23:33
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Re: Adding a Glasses Case Mod to your C5 MkIII (X7) Tutorial
Fantastic
Jim
Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...