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

[mickthemaverick]

My cheque for the C4 refund arrived just now so I'll try the photo app method and see if it works!!

Success! paid in, there's a first time for everything!

[myglaren]

I can do the phone thing now too. Probably never get another cheque though.

[CitroJim]

Was it a bank transfer Jim?

They sent me a cheque. Pain in the rear to cash it in during Covid.
And when I did the cashier said I could have shoved it into the ATM.

A cheque Steve. It's not a problem as my Internet Banking allows me to pay it in my taking a picture of it in the app. just as you did Mick!

Not been to a bank since our local branch closed years ago. So far, had no need.

[CitroJim]

A good bit of useful work on Strawberry yesterday, in amongst lots of domestic tasks - My house deep-clean following carpet replacement is ongoing and I'm still finding dust!

First job on Strawberry was to adjust her clutch as it was a bit low... It's checked by pedal travel... Less than 5 inches and it needs adjustment. It was less and it did...

The clutch is adjusted by by lengthening or shortening the clutch cable by way of a nut, locknut and washer on the engine-bay end of the clutch cable. Easy to do. Access is improved by removing the battery.

This gave me a chance to check for rust under the battery tray - a common place - and all is good. As are her inner wings. It's all mucky down there and some plaint is flaking off which needs attention. The 'muck' is actually rustproofing compound that's attracted loads of grime... I've started cleaning up the engine bay

As testimony to how the car has been maintained, there's Dymo tape all over the engine bay such as these:

One essential job was to check her cooling fan works... They can fail and if they do it can be bad news for the engine if stuck in traffic... Happily, all is well and the fan spins lustily when called into action

It is amazing what survives over time - a paper sticker on her gearbox and it's been there for 35 years! I never knew barcodes were that old...

The next tranche of mechanical work will be checking cambelt tension and checking valve clearances...

Lots of pre-work has been carried out ready to do that...

Also, lots of polishing continues ready for the Chevrons Rally on Sunday

[MattBLancs]

Looks pretty good Jim, that bare steel (and little bit of surface rust) just a quick bit of anything just to stop it now.

The AX is full of interesting little details - like the earth points on the strut top washer: has that not got a rubber mount at each contact point with the body? (Strut top and wishbone bushes, track rod end ball joint typically has nylon inner, anti roll bar on rubber mounts)

Those Dymo labels are indeed a promising sign of fastidious ownership, though I think I'd have to upgrade them:

Spoiler: show

[CitroJim]

Loving the spoiler Matt

The AX is full of interesting little details - like the earth points on the strut top washer:

They are for radio interference suppression... Back in the days when almost all in-car radio listening was on AM (MW and LW) it was a constant battle to suppress interference generated from many sources, including the alternator (whine), ignition and dynamo voltage regulator (buzzing) and static discharges generated whilst the car was in motion (crackles) - that's what the strut top earthing is intended to supress.

Even the wiper motor and cabin blower motor could generate annoying interference.

Both Strawberry and Bluebell have interference suppressors on their distributors.

The kids of today just don't appreciate the epic battles we fought for good automotive radio reception back in the day!

I still listen to AM a lot in the car for Radio 5 Live, both in Bluebell and Polly. Bluebell has a superb original fitment Blaupunkt and Polly's RT45 is remarkably good on AM; unusual on a modern car where AM is very much an afterthought on the ICE system.

[MattBLancs]

Interesting! Thanks Jim. I know there's a "condenser" - actually a capacitor?? For distributors that was to do with the back EMF from the coil when points opened and closed, but that's about as far as my knowledge goes!

[CitroJim]

I know there's a "condenser" - actually a capacitor?? For distributors that was to do with the back EMF from the coil when points opened and closed, but that's about as far as my knowledge goes!

That's spot on Matt The term 'condenser' is an old name for a capacitor and stayed on in automotive use for decades after it ceased to be used in radio and electronics terminology...

Few know what the technical function of a condenser is in a points ignition system is and it's great to see you do It serves two roles: One is to supress the back-emf that would cause sparking at the points and severely shorten their life and the other is to ensure a very rapid collapse of the magnetic field generated by the coil primary winding whilst the points are closed and thus allow the maximum possible voltage to be generated in the coil secondary to produce a nice fat blue spark at the plug. This happens at the instant when the points open and not when they close - as intuition may suggest...

A duff condenser causes a very weak yellow spark at the plugs and a lot of sparking across the points... Back in the day we always carried a spare (along with a spare set of points) as they could fail without warning due to the way a capacitor is constructed and the culminative damaging effects of supressing spikey back-emf over time...

[mickthemaverick]

As I remember the original name 'condenser' came about as the device was designed to 'condense' wayward voltages to a specific point and the name capacitor came to be as it was realised that a 'condenser' could be used as a temporary voltage store in various ways. Nowadays with super capacitors they are approaching the storage level of batteries which in effect were the first way we stored power over longer time periods.

[CitroJim]

That's a perfect description Mick Capacitors store charge and is measured in those lovely named units called Coulombs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulomb

In radio and electronics, capacitors are mostly used (fundamentally) to block DC whilst allowing the passage of AC... They manage this trick by storing a charge on one half-cycle and discharging it on the next...

Super Capacitors these days are so good they can be used on automotive start-stop systems. For a long time they're been used for memory backup in equipment where a small coin-cell was not appropriate.

Also, used on massive automotive audio systems to supply the huge instantaneous current demands made by the amplifiers without excessive voltage sag or needing humungously thick cables from the main vehicle battery to the amplifiers.

[CitroJim]

Happy days I've just composed and submitted copy and pictures for the A to Z column to be published in the October Citroenian Magazine...

If you've not seen one recently, the magazine is a superb read and a very good reason to be a member of the Citroën Car Club.

I enjoy writing the column; it gives me a chance to write about one (or even two) of my very favourite subjects

[bobins]

Not yer average bit of Dymo tape

I recovered this from an old bunker some years ago. Can't remember the exact context of it - whether it was situated by a light that lit up when things were likely to get a bit hot, or whether it was to mark where the 'Bomb Warning' clipboards with paperwork filled out in triplicate were to be placed - I know not. I have a feeling it was an ROC HQ or maybe even a Regional War Room bunker - probably long gone now. It resides in my shed as it'll probably alarm the fewest people there

A Dymo warning - own work

[CitroJim]

Not yer average bit of Dymo tape

But a jolly good one

Another bit of Dymo on Strawberry:

Which tells me her belt will be up for renewal next year - on a time rather than mileage basis...

[MattBLancs]

Was it Strawberry's belt you reckoned was a bit over tight? If so does it make sense to change it rather than adjust the tensioner? Just thinking you're getting halfway there to a belt change (ok would also then likely expand to include water pump swap and so perhaps coolant change too) when digging down to the tensioner.

Albeit there looks to be much less digging on the AX (than say the last one I did: the C5) !

[CitroJim]

Was it Strawberry's belt you reckoned was a bit over tight? If so does it make sense to change it rather than adjust the tensioner? Just thinking you're getting halfway there to a belt change (ok would also then likely expand to include water pump swap and so perhaps coolant change too) when digging down to the tensioner.

Albeit there looks to be much less digging on the AX (than say the last one I did: the C5) !

Yep, I'll do the pump and tensioner when I do it properly Matt but for now I just want to check the tension and that's a ten minute job on the AX!

I can hear the belt whining... It may be the tensioner although to my ears it sounds over-tight and that concerns me ...