C15

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KEB1
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C15

Post by KEB1 »

Has anyone had any experience of owning a C15 champ van ?
I have heard good reports of the 1.9D engine's longevity but is there anything a prospective owner should know ?
They are very popular on the Continent and seem to have taken over where the 2CV and Arcadiane left off.

Kristian.
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Ian Fearn
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Post by Ian Fearn »

I think the C15 is pretty much bullet proof once all the superficial trim bits have fallen off :lol:

The older C15 diesels have the XUD lump whereas the older petrol vans had the 1124cc Douvrin engine that the Visa and others used.

The later models now have the DW8 engine i believe which to the naked eye looks bloody similar to an XUD!

The main thing with these engines is to make sure the cooling system is kept upto scratch. If this is maintained these engines will last almost indefinately.

The bodywork seems to be a bit of a disaster particularly around the bulkhead where they suffer the same fate as the Visa but they can rust literally anywhere.

Other than that they're a cracking van and I WANT ONE!
1983 2CV6 Charleston 110k (Re-build in op!)
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fastandfurryous
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Post by fastandfurryous »

The DW8 is indeed very similar to the XUD9, but there are a lot of detail changes. Many of the castings are similar, but the machining is quite different.

The DW8 capacity is slightly smaller, and it appears to have been built to minimise emissons by sacrificing driveability.

Having driven the same vehicle (pug partner van) with both the XUD9 and DW8 engines fitted, the XUD9 is definitely the better engine. DW8 feels slower and just isn't as nice to drive.
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Wookey
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Re: C15

Post by Wookey »

KEB1 wrote:Has anyone had any experience of owning a C15 champ van ?
I have heard good reports of the 1.9D engine's longevity but is there anything a prospective owner should know ?
Yep, I owned a C15 for 12 years - an extremely fine vehicle, if a bit basic by modern standards. I spannered most of the things on it in that time, partly due to it being crashed on a swiss motorway in ~1994 so I had to re-shell it. The XUD7 in it is extremely hardy. I broke mine at around 100,000- miles (in Slovakia) due to overheating because the fan cowl was broken and vibrating against the radiator, which it eventually holed. It was 20,000 miles later that I finally did something above it, by which time I had a warped head and corroded cyclinder lining which was needed a fairly complete rebuild, after which it did another 9 years before rust in the body stopped play.

Mine was on the the first year or so production in the UK (D reg) and a number of things have been improved since then.

Things to look out for when purchasing are:
1) Rust. This is the thing that is most likely to eventually kill it. Check the door pillars, rear wheel arches where they join the floor inside, sills, especially just in front of rear wheels and behind front wheels, inner wing (if you can get to it). They also go at the mastic join between the top and sides of the cargo part, just at the front corner, and the panels where the windows should be, and of course bottoms of all 3 or 4 doors.

2) Rear trailing arms. These are the only thing that might be considered a design fault. The trailing arms are compact but the bearings that hold the arm to the subframe tend to collapse. This makes the wheels tilt inwards until they rub on the bodywork. (I removed a flange on mine, which was going rusty anyway, to give me an extra 10mm or so :-). Actually replacing the bearings is expensive and totally impossible to DIY, so it is normally much cheaper to simply go and get another subframe from the scrappy. It is very simple to swap them over (handbrake cables, brake lines and you have to drop the exhaust pipe).

Look at a C15 next time you are following it and see if its rear wheels are vertical or not :-)

I'm happy to answer questions about fettling C15s. Very nice and simple by modern standards so you can actually tell what's what.

There's a few pics of it here, on its travels and being fettled:
http://wookware.org/diy.html
Wookey
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KEB1
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Post by KEB1 »

Thanks to all who responded so comprehensively to my question about the C15. From time to time a LHD Spanish registered C15 appears in the locality with a rear seat and complete side window conversion.
Next time I see it I might try to have a chat with the owner.
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Post by Wookey »

All foreign vans come with side windows (due to different TAX rules). If you want to add windows to a UK C15 they are readily available in French scrappys for very little money. There was also a combi version of the C15 available which had rear seats, and even a stretch version which is about a foot longer than the normal one. These are pretty rare - I've only ever seen 2 of them.
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Ian Fearn
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Post by Ian Fearn »

Theres also a twin rear axle one. I have a pic if anybody wants to see it?
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Post by citronut »

the only thing to overcome when replacing the rear arm bearings is compressing the spring,once you have done this and disconected the cup from the arm the rest is no diferant to BXs
regards malcolm
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Post by reblack68 »

I'd be interested in seeing the twin axle version. I saw one of the stretch ones on eBay France last week when I was looking for French vans like the Xantia and saxo (to look at the pictures, not to buy).
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KEB1
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Post by KEB1 »

I'd also be very interested in the photo.


Kristian.
:)
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Post by Ian Fearn »

Hope you find this interesting

Image
1983 2CV6 Charleston 110k (Re-build in op!)
1993 BX TZD Turbo
1991 BX GTi 4x4
1989 BX GTi 4x4
1991 BX GTi Auto
1998 Xantia V6 Exclusive
Wookey
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Post by Wookey »

citronut wrote:the only thing to overcome when replacing the rear arm bearings is compressing the spring,once you have done this and disconected the cup from the arm the rest is no diferant to BXs
regards malcolm
That's true, but I couldn't work out a way of doing it. The only option seemed to build a special tool. I thought it was probably possible to weld something together using the mechanism from a scissor jack but it seemed a lot of work and would have to be very chunky. It was always easier to just go to the scrappy and get a new rear subframe.

Did you actually manage to do this?
Wookey
(2003-now:1997 Peugeot Expert stealth camper, 1991-2003:1987 C15)
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