'76 cx

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citroennut
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'76 cx

Post by citroennut »

first off thanks to all who answered the last post (can you answer the last post or just listen to it!). the car was first reg on the 17/6/76 and does have power steering, but not air con. i read the post on cx air con and wondered just how difficult they are to work on, never had one before. had gsa, bx's, xantia's and a couple of tractions, still got a '50 normale. the cx is in good nick - well good nick for a 30 yr old citroen! needs exhaust and poss fuel pump and not surprisingly a hand brake cable to hopefully put back on the road. it has 67k on the clock and was last on the road in '87, brakes hadn't seized - hard to believe. from reading literature on web seems to be quite an early car
all help gratefully recieved
cheers
simon
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tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

Yes Simon,the CX came out in '74. They are not too difficult to work on, being similar to a BX or GS. Siezed bolts and rust are the worst bits.
CommY
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Post by CommY »

With seized bolts if it obvious it's not going to shift don't try and force it as the head will shear off (not nice) get the mig plant out and sick a big thick ring of weld round/on the bolt head and/or along the exterior of the threaded hole dependant on the type of set-up (don't obstruct getting it off though). The heat expansion will free it up you can then grind off the weld. afterwards. Because the intense heat is localised it's better than a blowlamp/burner as rubber/plastic components in the vicinity are not damaged. This technique is also good for getting bearings out (sick a ring of weld round the bearing). This is alot less time consuming than drilling and re-tapping.
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

Hint on the handbrakes :
These are manually adjusted for wear. Unbelieveable as tne CX in many other technical aspects were lightyears ahead at the time.
When you get to disassemble at the caliper, then take one side and do this to bits. You then still have the other side for assembly reference.
It's a very un-common design and it's known by all CX owners that the handbrake adjustment only lasts for some 3200miles (5000km).
It really is a nuisance until you get the habit of it.
citroennut
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Post by citroennut »

thanks for all help, but CommY why am i doing all that??
cheers
alan s
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Post by alan s »

CXs are a weird beast in many ways; I should know, I've owned (own) a few.
They must have fitted power steering to them over your way before they arrived out here because I know it was the '77 model that was released with it in Australia, this being the case, you would probably have a very early P/S car, possibly one of the first. Time would account for that as we have a very complicated way of compliancing cars and it was even more so back then.
Air/con may be able to be made work over your way although from stories I read, it's still has got the heat in the cab problem to overcome before it can work correctly, hence the current thread in the "Air/con" forum. Theoretically I suppose, the answer to the heat problem is to air con the car, but in reality that's not how it works as this is like having shots of morphine for a broken leg without resetting the limb; an expensive and unsuitable way of sidestepping the issue. Suggest you follow the thread in the air/con forum and see how it all pans out. Finding the parts may be a problem unless you are heading to the warmer parts of Europe where perhaps a few old air/con cars are sitting in wreckers yards, otherwise it will be a long expensive and time consuming affair.
My motto when working on CXs FWIW is to forget about trying to find a shortcut, but to look at the job from every angle. You usually find that there's a way to do every job on them (even though many look impossible) but rarely ever any shortcuts. Typical example is the oil filter; seems to be a mission impossible until the car is up on ramps and by sliding under behind the crossmember at the rear of the engine, you find an access has been allowed for you to slip both arms right up inside and fit a removing strap with loads of room to spare. You also find out how hard grease and oil is to get out of hairy armpits.[:D][:D]
Access to the back of the engine area is gained by jacking the suspension to the top and then raising the front wheel slightly off the ground and removing the wheel followed by the rubber inner guard flaps; again, heaps of room but looks impossible from above. As UI say, follow that principle and they really aren't all that hard to work on. Doesn't say much for the "tradesmen" who avoided them because they found them too difficult.
Alan S
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Post by citroennut »

oohh god it just gets better all the time, if it wasn't for the fact that i always wanted to try a cx i'd sell it and stick with the traction, but i suppose i'm as wierd and twisted as citroens. by the way anders i don't think i've used a handbrake since i first had a bx and found out how easily they seize on so won't need to adjust them very often
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Post by DoubleChevron »

Go for it ...
Forget air-con, it really is pointless in a CX. The '76 has basically a DS21 motor in it. Check for weak synchro's, they 4spd boxs eat them for a pass time.
Rust will be your biggest issue, series I CX's rusted badly in the UK. On the plus side in Australia they don't rust to badly at all. I was recently given a rust free car that will make an awesome car if I ever get to it.
seeya,
Shane L.
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Post by tomsheppard »

That's why CX mechanics shave under their arms! (I always wondered.) As the owner of a Traction, you will be used to removing old and rusty bolts I guess, so that isn't an issue. The big problem with a CX is supposedly the heating and ventilation issue. Diesels have an oil filter that is in the centre of the engine bay, at the top of the engine.
Must be a doddle to change. I have seen the layout of the aircon system and I have to say that it is not the most efficient of setups. Together with the cabin heat problem, the poor old thing could do with some development work. Opening a front window at speed is to be discouraged unless you have a good supply of rear side windows to replace those which blow away. The glue fails! This suggests that there needs to be further ventilation outlets in the rear of the car. Above the rear screen perhaps or maybe in the flanks a la Saab? I'm half convinced that the problem is more about getting air out than in.
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

Tom -
There are vents at the rear quarter windows. These are located under the wide piece of plastic trim on the C-pillar. You can look into the vent from behind.
Under the trim there are mating cut-outs in the chassis.
Never heard of the rear quarter window glue problem before ?
Must be on the very first series.
In fact I spent most of a weekend removing both from a spare CX I had at the time ('86 model).
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Post by tomsheppard »

I know about the C pillar vents but they aren't shifting enough air, I reckon, which is why I think there should be further outlets. I've heard of two cars shedding rear side windows. One was an early car and one a late one. The Rear vents exit into what looks like a low pressure area on the rear flank but as they are sucking the air out through the trim fabric, which acts like an air filter, I just don't believe that there is enough cross sectional area to ventilate the car. As opening the window builds up bressure within the cabin, I wonder if the door mounted wind deflectors which I have seen on other cars would create the correct aerodynamic suction?
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Post by Stinkwheel »

The way those rear quarter windows are bonded means that if they are stuck properly they are NOT coming out. The Glue substance is electrically heated by a current passed through it and the window stuck in like that. I was told once by 'The Jacket' that the easiest way to replace or remove a CX quarter glass was smah it out and replace it (but he may have been fibbing a bit)
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Post by ghostrider »

Yup rear quarter glass comes out a treat the last one I lost was out of the MkII GTi TII at a lot more than the legal limit, but I had several problems with my first one losing both in a fortnight or so which was a '76 2400 Pallas. If stuck right they are hard if not impossible to remove, I remember breaking several down at the scrappers trying to get replacements [:D] [:D] [:D] [:D] [:D]. Early ones suffered like all hydraulic cits from chronic pipe rusting, the top balljoint is an absolute b****r to replace but the bottom one a doddle, why they swapped to the loony tunes method they use on the BX Xantia et al is beyond me. I also had one where the longerons connecting the front and rear subframes together had terminal rot and thus no MOT on a car that was apart from that the most rust fre cx I have ever owned. If they are rusted and you need to replace them, let me know and I'll take you through the whole process, the manual (official cit one) claims you need to remove the body shell to do it but it can be done with out
________
Mary jane
Last edited by ghostrider on 22 Feb 2011, 05:58, edited 1 time in total.
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

The prestige and estate models have longerons. the other models dont.
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

They have shorterons.
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