1993 Sinker Xantia HG fail!

[aerodynamica]

I strted to clean the 'head
20171125_155904 by Graeme McNulty, on Flickr

And the turbo/ manifold
20171125_161917 by Graeme McNulty, on Flickr

Camshaft out and refitted the rocker cover and packed with cloths to hold the tappets in place (decided to leave all the valves etc in situ) just cleaned the exterior and it's ready to go to the machinists to have a skim.
20171125_165840 by Graeme McNulty, on Flickr

Lots on new bits to go on such as new fuel pipes, filter and TB rollers.
20171125_142159 by Graeme McNulty, on Flickr

[aerodynamica]

And I always felt the name 'Haynes Book of Lies' was a bit unfair because so far I've found the 'book to have been totally helpful for CX, GSA, BX etc. I never did have a Haynes for the XM. But the instruction for the inlet manifold middle bolt (that is totally invisible!) to be "only loosened because the manifold is slotted.."

I spent over 45 minutes trying to just loosen that impossible hex bolt (the only hex out of a set of cap screws....) to find that.... the manifold is not slotted there!!
20171123_201044 by Graeme McNulty, on Flickr

Not slotted! (top hole in the center)

So... yes, BOL indeed

Anyway, the big bits are off, block cleaned up, head cleaned and prepped for the engineering shop, new diesel feed and return pipes fitted and a new fuel filter and thermostat to go in.

Looked at the strut tops much more closely and they still -look- fine.. what to do though because you just don't know. So updates to follow in due course.

Also it's been blindingly cold in that garage even with a little heater brrr

[CitroJim]

Good work Graeme That's excellent progress!

[myglaren]

Same colour as my sinker
I loved it, everyone else hated it.

[aerodynamica]

Same colour as my sinker
I loved it, everyone else hated it.

people have dreadful taste

I'm tired of correcting people: it's not beige, it's gold

[aerodynamica]

Thanks Jim, I'm wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to get the strut top out without removing the full strut/ ram? I am certain I read somewhere that if the hub is fully down at 'full droop' as they say, and that the top nut is removed, the ram can be slid right down to create just enough space to then lower and edge out the strut top... (?)

Just thinking of things that I could do while waiting on the head to come back from the place.

[CitroJim]

Same colour as my sinker
I loved it, everyone else hated it.

I love that colour Champagne I believe its proper name is...

I'm wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to get the strut top out without removing the full strut/ ram?

Not so far as I know Graeme... I think I've tried on a scrapper and it was either a failure or it made the job a real pain - or else it was a lot harder work than the relatively short and easy task of popping the strut out of the hub...

It's one of those kinds of jobs where five more minutes spent removing something that will be irritatingly in the way makes it so much more pleasant - and cleaner... I seem to recall the XM can be done with struts in place but LHM goes everywhere in the process and that makes it downright horrible...

[aerodynamica]

Ha right enough Jim.

Anyway, I have no replacement strut tops so I'd be in trouble either way.

[KennyW]

Graeme,

If you need a further pair of hands, just let me know can help at weekends.

Kenny

[aerodynamica]

Thanks for the offers Kenny and Richard! But you're off the hook - Richard is a lot closer

Hopefully get the head to the machinist tomorrow before work (they're open at 8am for some (helpful)reason) but not sure how long they'll have it. Depends on their workload but they did the XM one in a few days.

[aerodynamica]

Just noticed I've been on this forum far almost 10 years! Remember the internet last decade? - everything was free! Google, Youtube, facebook etc were all 'small' independent things with no connection to each other. None of the google owns everything and yahoo owns everything etc... let's not mention photobucket

[CitroJim]

Just noticed I've been on this forum far almost 10 years! Remember the internet last decade? - everything was free! Google, Youtube, facebook etc were all 'small' independent things with no connection to each other. None of the google owns everything and yahoo owns everything etc... let's not mention photobucket

nearly as long as me then Graeme...

Gosh, hasn't there been a lot of changes in that time! When I first joined I was running a Sinker Xantia and a 205GTi

Yes, the Internet was a very different place too... Progress marches ever forward and in a lot of cases, it's no bad thing...

[myglaren]

Same colour as my sinker
I loved it, everyone else hated it.

people have dreadful taste

I'm tired of correcting people: it's not beige, it's gold

It was described as Sable on the V5

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

should I ever suffer a similar misfortune, what's 'acceptable procedure' for cleaning gasket faces, especially the block?

Wire wool? Would something like a P120 emery be too coarse? Cellulose thinners?

Rag down the cylinder, vacuum it out afterwards and oil change to avoid cr*p contaminating things...?

Good luck, and as cold as it is, there's worse places to be than in a dry, chilly garage.... trust me!

[aerodynamica]

Hiya you're right about the garage - it's my parent's place and it has light, power and a solid floor so I'm truly greatful for that, not to mention a kitchen for tea and spare room to stay over if time flies during the work (..what! it's half 11 at night!?). Also good to have amassed a fair stock of tools over the years (I started out with a single small socket set in 1999) and not to mention the citroen - specific tools needed to get spheres off and to reach the unreachables.

Well I'm having the head skimmed as usual to clean the surface up properly - there was no overheating on this and so I'd like to think no danger of warping or the like. As for the block - I have been spraying gasket remover, leaving it a minute and then using scotchbrite to take off the remains of the old head gasket - its the light grade stuff so I think it is fine to use on the surface ... I hope it is. It was really just the orange rubberised stuff from the old gasket that was clinging on and it did come off easily. Then just compressed air to blow off bits of old gasket.

If anyone does have any old tested tips for the cylinder block face I'd be keen to hear about that before it all goes back together. I did a search of my old XM SEi and it seems that less than 3 years after the work I did it is deceased at the side of a road in Oxfordshire with running issues and smoke coming out the back.... maybe I did something wrong with the same job on that? Although I was very careful and like this, it had a skim, pressure test and all new head bolts, oiled, torqued and angled...