Vandals

tris · Post by **tris** » 26 Mar 2005, 05:10

I walked out of my front door on Wednesday morning, it was a bright and sunny day and there was a cool breeze blowing in my hair. I turned to look at my beloved '94 citroen ax debut and the sky clouded over and the temperature suddenly dropped to what seemed like freezing.
Seems that somebody had tried to break into my car, unsuccessfully I might add. The method used seems to be that of yanking the top of the door as hard as possible to make a gap, which they did, a 6 inch gap!!! Luckily the lock on the inide is snapped off so there was nothing to pull to open the door!! so nothing stolen.
Anyway back to the point, I bent the door back into place with great ease which I found quite disconcerting, thinking about the lack of strength in the panel. The door is "serviceable" but as you can imagine not very pretty, with rippled metal and flaked paint. I have decided that it would be most economical to get hold of a replacement door from a breakers yard but am curious on the process of removal. I can see the hinges have a pin in, how are they to be removed? and can they be re-used?
Lastly does anyone have, or know the whereabouts of a passenger door for a 3 door metallic grey ax debut (1994)

regards,
tris.

ghostrider · Post by **ghostrider** » 26 Mar 2005, 05:22

Sorry to hear that the mindless Morons have wrecked your door, when things like that happen to me the feelings I get must be similar to road rage. Not sure about AXs but if the pin is one of those spring loaded roll pin types (it has a split lengthways) yes it can be reused. There are pin extractors around, I've never used one, others here will tell you if they are worth buying. I usually use an ally drift and a hammer to knockit in so far and then something like a 4" nail with the tip ground off to tap it all the way through. Its a good idea to support the door while you do it, disconnect wiring and the door stay first.
Pete
________
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Post by **martyhopkirk** » 26 Mar 2005, 12:08

Took the door off a scrapped green AX recently to fit up to my nicely creased one ( thanks to mother in law).
Its easy to take off. Undo the check strap and drift out the pins. The door has to be fully open and supported. Then strip down the components needed such as door lock, cards and trim and transfer. I gather that there is no adjustment possible at the hinge side, (Citroen special tool needed!!!) but the locks can be adjusted. Not haveing refitted as the door I removed was damaged at the bottom hinge I cant comment.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 26 Mar 2005, 12:28

The 'Special Citroen Tool' required for aligning the door is probably sheer brute force - I remember seeing a TV program about Jaguar assembly and they used a modified sack truck under the bottom edge for some jobs!
Push pull heave twist etc - its the way they are fitted in the factory - tools are only special if you're doing it all day as it can be hard work.
jeremy

oilyspanner · Post by **oilyspanner** » 26 Mar 2005, 13:26

THe BX tool is a steel bar with a slot which fits over the hinge, drop it on and heave away, hardly sophisticated.
Stewart

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 26 Mar 2005, 13:38

More sophisticated than a modified sack truck! or grabbing and heaving. Now you mention it I have seen details in the Haynes BX book which shows a picture of it. ZX book states: ' Adjustment of the door position is not possible by the home mechanic. However small adjustments can be made by slghtly bending the hinge pin using a special Citroen service tool. This task should be entrusted to a Citroen dealer.'
I think the answer is to do it in steps - get it roughly right before you fit too much and complete afterwards.
jeremy

oilyspanner · Post by **oilyspanner** » 26 Mar 2005, 15:01

I reckon a pair of stillsons would grip the hinge fairly well, a few years ago a client had a tool made up copying the illustration in the BOL for BX hinges, unfortunately it was mild steel and bent before the car did[}:)]
Stewart

mbunting · Post by **mbunting** » 26 Mar 2005, 18:02

Maybe time to get a simple volumetric alarm, such as one of those on a steering lock ?
At lest there would be a deterrent from this happening.
Someone tried the screwdriver in the lock trick on mine, and I managed to snap off the pin on the drivers door side, so I now open the passenger side and use pliers to grip the pin ! I do have replacement pins, but I'm considering my security options at the moment ( I have an alarm, but no plip, so if I use the alarm it goes off when I open the door until I use the override key ).

ghostrider · Post by **ghostrider** » 26 Mar 2005, 18:25

Yup that famous diagram in haynes.... I made one from som 15*20 MS strip and yup it bent before the hinge had moved a millimetre [:D] [:D] [:D] [:D] [:D]. This is one of the reasons for owning a CX, all the hinges are bolt on both to the door and the pillars, have shims behind them for fine adjustment of shut lines, I was going to ask why they just weld them now? Cost of course, and maybe better manufacturing tolerances, I remember having problems changing doors on CXs even with all the adjustment available, whereas the Bx would take a door from a different car with little trouble despite the lack of any sensible adjustment. A mate of mine who ran an accident repair facility for one of the big insurance companies said that they routinely bent window frames on doors to get abetter fit!!
Pete
________
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kafkaian · Post by **kafkaian** » 27 Mar 2005, 03:27

Sorry, not much help but would like to offer commiserations. Not nice. Happy Easter to the culprits and I hope they lose a few teeth biting into bitter chocolate

ActivaV6uk · Post by **ActivaV6uk** » 27 Mar 2005, 19:07

Tris, incase you dont have a pin punch, they sell them at halfords in a pack with a small cold chisel (they do a bigger pack too but its not worth the money). theyre normaly blue handeld. the good thing is the pin punch is well made and will bend slightly so if you havent got good access to the pin you just hammer the top of the pin at an angle when the pin punch starts going down the hole you will find that the pin bends so that you can carry on hammering at an angle and the pin will carry on being klnocked out. the punch can be hard to remove but swiveling it normaly helps (these instructions will make sence when your actualy doing the job).
the main thing i find tiring about this job is that your bent over all the time and at 6ft9" my back starts to ache. to make your life easyer take the botom pin out first and then the top also wind down the windo and have some one hold the door while your doing this that way the door wont drop off, you wont need the special tool (he/she will be holding the dor in place for you), the pin punch wont get wedged in and when you get sick of trying to knock the pins out you can hand the tools over to them and be pleased at how much better you were doing it

Andy

oilyspanner · Post by **oilyspanner** » 27 Mar 2005, 19:53

I used a carded kit with a thin bolt that passed through the pin, a knurled nut fitted and then a steel bar fitted to the pin under the hinge, sharp taps on the bar pulled the pin out easily, dont remember the make, sorry for the vague description but managed to swap four doors in an hour with it.
Stewart