CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[Michel]

I'd be pretty bloody miserable too if someone dumped a watermelon on my head

I'm sure you'd cook some delicious, nutritious meal from it Jim!

[Michel]

................. while their bicycles would have to go through an equivalent of the MoT, but all other roads users have to do this anyway.

Anyone told the horsey community about that?

Horses shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the road. Half a tonne of meat and muscle, a nervous disposition, and a brain the size of a walnut. I know I'm not much of an improvement on that myself, but I don't sh1te on the road as I ride along. Not often, anyway..

[Michel]

Stickers applied today...

Oooh, I should pester Marc for a sticker after I paid my subs. My last lot were on one of the cars when I sold it .

[CitroJim]

Oooh, I should pester Marc for a sticker after I paid my subs. My last lot were on one of the cars when I sold it .

It's me you need to pester Mike I'm the custodian of the forum sticker stocks... Either come and see me and get one or two in person or let me know what you want via PM and I'll drop them in the post... It could be a few days as our posties are on strike currently...

Horses shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the road. Half a tonne of meat and muscle, a nervous disposition, and a brain the size of a walnut. I know I'm not much of an improvement on that myself, but I don't sh1te on the road as I ride along. Not often, anyway..

A good sum-up of the average horse Mike! Last week at parkrun one had taken a massive dump on the course about two miles in and we had to instruct the runners to treat it as a roundabout Seriously, we cyclists, as you'll know, have to be very cautious when passing a horse as they are so easily spooked and as we are silent they're not aware we are approaching. We need to call out a friendly greeting to the rider and pass very wide...

Good news from the DVLA today Bluebell is now no longer an illegal immigrant and by far the hardest part of her recommissioning was doing the enormously complex DVLA paperwork to re-register her...

I'll be taking her out for her first proper drive in years later today Happily, we have good weather here today and for most of the weekend...

I'm so relieved that bit of her restoration is now done

[Skull]

Back Bluebell

Well Done Jim enjoy the Ultra

[mickthemaverick]

Brilliant news on Bluebell Jim well done!!
As for the camera modelling I suspect she was trying to tire you out before the race, after your runner up medal the rest are getting wary!!

[xantia_v6]

Jim, can you summerise the steps for reimportation ? I may want to take my Xantia back one day.

[CitroJim]

Jim, can you summerise the steps for reimportation ? I may want to take my Xantia back one day.

Basic steps as follows Mike:

Obtain customs clearance from HMRC and pay any applicable import duties - likely none, and obtain their 'NOVA' reference number... This had already been done with Bluebell...

Get a UK MoT;

Fill out DVLA form V55/5. This is a long and tedious form but for a pre-2000 car a lot of fields will be irrelevant but be cautious... Some mandatory fields are well hidden!

Determine the 12-month VED rate and write a cheque to DVLA (or a postal order - how quaint!) for that amount;

Take a photocopy of your UK driving Licence or passport and a photocopy of one utility bill to prove UK residency;

Photocopy any other useful paperwork such as purchase receipts etc.

Write a covering letter to explain the circumstance around your application and in this letter mention your HMRC NOVA reference;

Send off to DVLA your covering letter, 12 month VED cheque, Form V55/5, your current UK MoT certificate, your current foreign registration document, the current foreign 'MoT' certificate if applicable, the last UK V5C issued for the car if you have one and your photocopied identity documents...

I suggest getting proof of posting and have it signed for at the destination.

Sit back and wait...

As I didn't need to go through the HMRC hoops, I cannot comment on how straightforward this is. I'm sure Alasdair will advise as he did it for his Activa...

[Stickyfinger]

Just a phone call to HMRC, they sent it electronically to DVLA internally.

MOT was done on the VIN ....Speedo unit and lights were changed for the MoT....."stickers" are a fail for speedo and lights.

[CitroJim]

Thanks Alasdair, that filled in the gaps a treat

After nearly three months of work, she's been out today and what a lovely day for it

First port of call...

She drives beautifully and is very comfy - her seats are superb. I have to say she's a raw, edgy, engaging and a noisy little thing but huge fun and very satisfying to drive as you are so in touch with it. The S2 AX is a lot more refined and I suspect they have a lot more sound-deadening! I know the S1 has very little of any consequence...

Just one problem... carburation is not right and she has a significant flat-spot when the throttle is floored from idle. It feels like the progression circuit is blocked or the accelerator pump is not delivering the correct amount of fuel. Once past that she's fine... Knowing how much dirt and silt I found in the float chamber when I popped the top off back along I expect the rest of the fine passages will be a bit gummed and furred up too...

She's very eager and willing and may suggest that the 1.1TU with a carb is livelier than the same engine with single-point injection. Compared with my 1.1 Saxo anyway! An apple and pears comparison as the Saxo weighs about twice as much as an S1 AX!

I stopped in a pretty-ish place to take some photos of her after she'd ran 30 miles...

I felt the gearbox was a little noisy so decided to do an oil change whilst it was nice and hot... It would be interesting to see what the oil looked like... But first, given it was such a lovely day I needed a bike ride...

I rode out to where I took the photos of Bluebell earlier...

I then took bluebell out for another run and then dropped the gearbox oil...

The drain plug was not as swarf'd up as I expected...

And the oil looked OK but compared to the new 75W/80 stuff it seemed a good bit thicker, especially as it was still warm and the new oil stone cold... Wrong grade maybe...

The next job now is a full carb. overhaul and rebuild... I have all I need to do it...

It's been a great day

[MattBLancs]

That gearbox oil doesn't look too bad at all! As a comparison, here's the (presumed never changed, only topped up) 140,000 mile gearbox oil from my C5

New oil Vs old oil

New on the left! Pictures don't really emphasize the extent of it, but the old stuff was completely opaque and grim!

[CitroJim]

I was fully expecting Bluebell's oil to look like your C5's old oil Matt, but worse. I was shocked!

I was also shocked not to see a full family of hedgehogs living on the drain plug magnet...

Maybe the gearbox oil was changed not so long ago, relatively... That may be so as I can see one of the driveshafts is not the original...

[mickthemaverick]

Jim, can you summerise the steps for reimportation ? I may want to take my Xantia back one day.

On top of Jim and Alastair's information you may also find this useful Mike:
https://www.carandclassic.com/magazine/ ... bsft_tv=32

[xantia_v6]

Thanks for the info and links. I have exported and imported cars before, but not re-imported a car previously registered in the UK. The UK system appears to be simpler than the French.

[CitroJim]

A great weekend of running... Huge fun with much frivolity and fine socialising with many good friends

Today's MoRun was raising funds for a men's health charity - the Movember Foundation

Shame a cyclist riding far too fast with a loose mangy dog felt the need to tell us all to 'f off...' I guess we were getting in his way... To be fair he had just seen around 500 of us all running toward him on a not tremendously wide path...

Wonder what had caught my eye here?

And as this is a French car forum, here's another of Bluebell enjoying her run the other day