Restoring my 1981 Citroen CX Prestige

[HunterSteel]

So yesterday morning at 6:10 AM my beautiful, albeit slightly rusted, 1981 CX Prestige arrived. It was a long journey of a few months of back and fourth talks with the owner of the car until we settled on a price (R8,500.00 [South African Rand]) and then he delivered the car on my farm early as he was on his way to Botswana to go pick up another car.


This is the Car when it was still on the previous owner's property. (I'm the fifth Person to own the car, but it hasn't driven since 2005. It's since exchanged hands 4 times but I intend to revive it.)

The CX Prestige has a somewhat secretive history in South Africa, only 400 or so cars were imported to South Africa by private companies and rich families like the Oppenheimers. (My car belonged to an old Oppenheimer.) And now even less of these cars are still around and in somewhat okay condition. I know of only 5 cars that are in pristine condition, the rest are in the same condition like mine or are in some sort of registration issue that just delegate them to parts cars.


The car arriving on my Farm on the 17th of September at 6:10 AM.

I already knew this when going in, but the car has extensive rust on the left doors, the rear left door being the worst where the rust is preventing the electric window from winding down. The two right hand doors have less rust which is only concentrated on the corner making them easier to service and do rust repair. A lot of the rust stems from the fact that the car was at the coast in Cape Town, it sat on blocks but I'm pretty sure we know what coastal weather does to older Citroens.




Finally, there's some issues with the electronics, the car's Park, Neutral and 2nd Gear lights on the dash do not light up, but the Reverse, Drive and 1st Gear lights work. My fans for air into the cabin do not work although that might be a fuse issue and it seems the previous owner disconnected the starter motor from the ignition so I cannot start the car right now using the car's key. (It's a strange key that). I was happy to see the map light working, the central internal lights work, and the main headlamps and indicators are working too (my left Indicator has a loose wire so I need to fix that.)

The interior is in impeccable condition, you'd swear the car never stood for 14 years and the previous owner confirmed with me that the car does infact have no issues starting, I just need to redo the water hoses and make sure the oil cooler is still in good condition. My major issues right now would be to put in a new oil filter, new engine oil, I want to put in new Gearbox oil too (Already bought Dextron III ATF.), need new comfort spheres and more LHM, the car lifts but the spheres are flat.

Also, the current wheel hubs on the front of the car are incorrect, they come from the previous owner's LHD CX GTI and they're too small for the Prestige, so I need to buy new ones. (I'm viewing a Prestige on Friday that I intend to turn into spares. It's license is 13 years in arrears, the owner only has the pink owner's certificate, and it has an electrical issue, so its only worth being a spares vehicle at this point.)

So for those of you who have restored CX Prestiges and who currently own them, I would like to borrow your knowledge in getting this beautiful but rare vehicle back on the road. No need to worry about Spheres and LHM, I know a guy who owns a business that stocks Citroen parts. I mostly need help with the electrical wiring. Remember though, I'm in South Africa so unfortunately I cannot bring the car to any European Gatherings but we have our own dedicated club this side of Citroen fanatics and fans, it's just really hard to contact them when you need knowledgeable assistance haha.

~Hunter

[GiveMeABreak]

Thanks for the pictures and the update - a prime example for restoration. I'm sure Ian (Wurleycorner) will be along with some tips.

Although I owned one many moons ago, I confined myself to basic maintenance - but rust consumed it in the end unfortunately here in the UK.

[xantia_v6]

The lack of starting form the ignition switch may be related to the gear indicator malfunction, as (I presume that) both involve the gear selector switch.

[HunterSteel]

The lack of starting form the ignition switch may be related to the gear indicator malfunction, as (I presume that) both involve the gear selector switch.

The Previous owner used a wire to start the car from the battery on the starter motor, so I suspect he might have disconnected the wire from the starter motor to the ignition switch. My dad and I did the same thing when we hot-wired a GS to start like that as well last weekend on our other little restoration project.

~Hunter

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

a potential thing of great loveliness. I was shocked at how low the price is having converted it to sterling.

Don't forget that eBay works worldwide when needing to purchase spares, but you may need to faff a bit to see the sites outside of SA.

[HunterSteel]

So update, the previous owner told me that the solenoid cable is unplugged from the battery and that's why the ignition isn't turning the starter. I also found that the car has still half a tank of Petrol in it but I'll need to drain that since the Petrol is around 10 years old and not good anymore. Does anyone know what length of pipe I'll need to replace the fuel line from the tank to the fuel pump?

~Hunter

[HunterSteel]

So work started today. The exhaust is missing from the car, so I'll have to have a new one made, and the solenoid cable's relay is missing too which means I'll have to buy a new one too, until then I can't use my ignition to start the car.


Up in the air on blocks because I needed to trace some wires on the bottom of the car and also look to see if there was any of my exhaust still left, there isn't, it's just the mounting for the exhaust manifold left.

https://i.imgur.com/jaSp99F.mp4
Idling normally after starting it. The engine is pulling fuel from the tank normally which is nice.

https://i.imgur.com/jaSp99F.mp4
High revs to warm up the engine and let it idle normally afterword.

The car refuses to lift however, so I'll need to do some fault finding in the system tomorrow and then put in an order for six new spheres.

~Hunter

[aerodynamica]

Hi there, what a great project - I've had 4 series 1 CXs but never a Prestige. Closest to this was a 2400 Pallas C-Matic.

One pointer that you might find useful: the wire that goes to the starter solenoid from the ignition switch (whether there's a starter inhibitor relay or not) has a bullet connector that is found usually right above the battery. If you unplug it and touch the male connector to the positive battery terminal - right near it- the starter motor runs. It's ideal for starting the car without using the ignition switch and for checking valve clearances, timing, etc. If I recall, on early cars it's a thick yellow wire on its own routed alongside the series of multi plugs that come out the battery positive. It may also be red. It might be this that the former owner was talking about.

It put me in mind of the DS with the starter relay inside the battery terminal with a manual button on it for the same purpose.

I notice in your 4th picture that the air temperature sensor switch has been removed from the back of the radiator and is sitting on top of the radiator still attached to the 2 plugs. This is usually for the high speed fans so you might find the radiator fans have a fault - bit more complex when you also have Air Con too.

[aerodynamica]

Oh, and if the hydraulics are refusing to lift there's a few quick things to check since it's been standing a while: With the engine running check the 12mm bolthead on the hydraulic pressure regulator is tightened - just nipped up, no need to tighten it heavily. It might also be that the HP pump isn't priming LHM for some reason - check there's LHM in the tank and of course that the pump belt (or maybe on this model, driveshaft though that might be the CX 25 Auto ) is present - mice could have chewed it while it was standing over years. Although I think you'd have seen that already as the HP pump is quite visible on CXs.

[HunterSteel]

Hi there, what a great project - I've had 4 series 1 CXs but never a Prestige. Closest to this was a 2400 Pallas C-Matic.

One pointer that you might find useful: the wire that goes to the starter solenoid from the ignition switch (whether there's a starter inhibitor relay or not) has a bullet connector that is found usually right above the battery. If you unplug it and touch the male connector to the positive battery terminal - right near it- the starter motor runs. It's ideal for starting the car without using the ignition switch and for checking valve clearances, timing, etc. If I recall, on early cars it's a thick yellow wire on its own routed alongside the series of multi plugs that come out the battery positive. It may also be red. It might be this that the former owner was talking about.

It put me in mind of the DS with the starter relay inside the battery terminal with a manual button on it for the same purpose.

I notice in your 4th picture that the air temperature sensor switch has been removed from the back of the radiator and is sitting on top of the radiator still attached to the 2 plugs. This is usually for the high speed fans so you might find the radiator fans have a fault - bit more complex when you also have Air Con too.

Ah, the problem with mine is that the car with it's original owner went in for a service on the drive shafts, and halfway through that service, the old man died. This left the car without wheel-hubs, and I think they were going to do a radiator service on it too since the radiator is full of marks from radiator sealer and there's missing fins on the bottom left corner. As a result I'm missing my radiator fans entirely and I am also missing the grill that goes at the bottom under the radiator and fan.



Some of my wires have been disconnected and I found that some have also been cut off entirely and I do not know why.


There's one of the wires that have been cut. The pink cable connecting to the black cable is what my Dad did to start the car. That's the disconnected solenoid cable, and the relay it's supposed to plug into is completely missing.

(I solved the lifting problem, it was a dusted accumulator, the rubber membrane inside disintegrated entirely.)


Wrong hubs were installed for the purpose of getting the car onto and off the trailer, so I'm waiting now for new hubs (My CV joint also disconnected on me.), there was also a major LHM leak by the pipe feeding the power-steering ram, it burst open and emptied the contents of my LHM tank onto the wheel, so we're having a new T-piece joint manufactured for us.

~Hunter

[aerodynamica]

Well good luck - it's a cool project. I wonder if you would take some photos of the interior

[HunterSteel]

Well good luck - it's a cool project. I wonder if you would take some photos of the interior

I have indeed taken pictures of the interior back when it was still on the previous Owner's yard.



I've since removed the faded yellow resin from the wheel and currently only the tiny metal strip with the cursive "Prestige" remains in the wheel. I want to have a new piece of resign cast to replace the old one so that I can preserve that little plate.



The interior is in otherwise very good condition. I hate the seat material but it is what it is, the cloth on the forward pillar by the right side is missing so I'll have to have that replaced.

~Hunter

[aerodynamica]

Wow I don't recall previously seeing this type of upholstery in a Prestige! I wonder if it is a custom job. Looks good with the chevron stitching.

[GiveMeABreak]

Mine was the same colour and had the foot rests in the rear, but didn’t have the ‘fluffy’ seats. But then again mine was an older (1978) model and was a C-Matic, otherwise very similar. Room for a pony and a disco in the back.

[HunterSteel]

So I ran across some problems, one of the pipes by the powersteering on the right side of the car burst, and I found that not only are the hubs on the front wheels the wrong hubs (The owner had already notified me that they are from his LHD C-Matic CX) but the right side drive shaft was too short, causing it to pop out of the CV joint when the car is raised to max height.

So on Friday I am going to solve my hubs and drive-shaft problems by stripping them off a non-running Prestige.

This blue one to be exact.


This one has a starting issue and hasn't run for 14 years either, it's a 1981 model too so I'll be able to use it as a live example to bring my Prestige back up and running. I'll eventually restore this one too, it's a project for after my current one gets back on the road.

~Hunter