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

Chris570 · Unread post by **Chris570** » 29 Nov 2010, 17:52

I'm glad you had fun with that box

whenever you feel up to it i can bring you one with a good diff etc for you to rebuild for that lovely 206 you nuture

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 29 Nov 2010, 17:56

Fun it was Chris

Chris570 wrote: whenever you feel up to it i can bring you one with a good diff etc for you to rebuild for that lovely 206 you nuture

Yes please

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 29 Nov 2010, 18:51

How did you get on with my old Activa box?

The MG uses the 'R65'which is the same box as the 206. I thought they had stopped glueing on the crownwheel ages ago, unless Rover did a bolted on version. The early ones used to suffer in this way, in fact it was for this reason that i scrapped a Metro GTi many years back.

Chris570 · Unread post by **Chris570** » 01 Dec 2010, 16:17

PM me with some possibles for next week for me to drop by

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 04 Dec 2010, 23:25

Chris570 wrote:PM me with some possibles for next week for me to drop by

Any evening this coming week will be good Chris

Gareth, the Activa 'box still awaits...

Old V6 has been marvellous in the recent weather, that autobox is the key. It lays down power so controllably and gently in snow mode. I'd become so used to it that when I took the Activa for a spin on Wednesday I had trouble finding traction on the skating rink our local roads had become.

New V6 is back on the road thanks to a nice bonus from work that allowed it to be re-taxed

I have to admit to missing what amounts to a brand-new Xantia...

Robyn popped around to see me today. She put her rear wiper on with the rear window iced up on her 206 and broke the wiper arm

It's all made of plastic... Main dealer only part apparently... Apart from that, her car is going well and she has found driving around on ice no great problem. She has a part-time job now and the load is therefore lifted from my wallet a little...

It's been a really warm and balmy day today here (relatively) although a bit damp but at least it allowed me to play cars and give Old V6 a good going over. As is usual, all is fine.

Newport Pagnell Christmas lights were turned on this afternoon amongst much pomp and ceremony. It's an event the whole town turns out for and makes me proud to live here. The High street looked fantastic with the lights all ablaze when I drove through late this evening

Siany, my youngest, was performing with her Majorette troupe as part of the festivities.

A very interesting job was carried out in my workshop this evening. I'll say no more except it was a job for a non-French car. I'll leave the owner of said car to tell the story in his blog...

Chris570 · Unread post by **Chris570** » 06 Dec 2010, 11:13

CitroJim wrote:
Chris570 wrote:PM me with some possibles for next week for me to drop by
Any evening this coming week will be good Chris

A very interesting job was carried out in my workshop this evening. I'll say no more except it was a job for a non-French car. I'll leave the owner of said car to tell the story in his blog...

Will do

also, non french??? Heathen!!!

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 06 Dec 2010, 11:21

Great Stuff Chris!!!

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 08 Dec 2010, 18:19

Started up Old V6 on Monday morning in the deep cold and heard a little series of chirrups from the auxiliary belt area. These little squeaky squeals seemed to occur as electrical load changed. As the car warmed, they ceased so I drove off to work. On starting up that evening to come home, the same little squeals, but only when cold.

Same again yesterday.

Today I investigated as I had a day off (need to use up leave before year-end). The chirrup could be provoked more easily by today and there was a definite squeal as soon as the car started up.

The dual-mass crank pulley was the prime suspect and a few paint lines were applied to it with the following result:

No doubting that at all then, it's duff. A new one is on order from the Main Stealers for £61.

Whilst the new pulley is awaited, New V6 is now daily driver as I don't want to risk the pulley disintegrating completely. It could get very nasty if it does.

Went shopping in New V6 today to get it nice and warm for an oil change and general deep check-over. I looked under it and found a puddle of LHM at the rear. Oh dear!

Luckily, it was just a weep from the anti-sink sphere union and a quick nip from a 9mm spanner soon had that sorted.

Interestingly, I bought oil, anti-freeze (ready for the Activa rad swap), two cans of brake cleaner, a box of nitrile gloves, sump plug washers and a V6 filter from our local factor. It came to £75. I asked if any discount could be applied and got £20 off. Result

It pays to ask!!!

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 10 Dec 2010, 22:09

Old V6 now has a shiny new crank pulley fitted

A very satisfyingly easy job, no need even to remove the auxillary belt, just untension it, four bolts out of the pulley centre and job's a good 'un

No fighting a big and impossibly tight centrebolt as on the XU(D) engines...

The new pulley is different. The old one had a cast alloy centre whereas the new one has a steel centre. I also noted the rubber band between the two halves is very soft. On the old one the rubber had gone as hard as steel and was badly cracked in a number of places. Utterly no difference is felt in driving except that there is no longer a family of squirrels living under the bonnet.

Chris (570) called to see me whilst I was doing the pulley and brought me another MA gearbox. One that is OK internally but has a broken casting. I can now make one good one from the two and have a spare ready for Robyn's 206..

Thanks for the gearbox Chris

I owe you something for it and disgracefully, I still owe you for some other spares I had off you. You forgot to remind me

Next Time I see you...

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 11 Dec 2010, 19:38

Been a good day today. Took the girls to Buckingham to perform their Majorette routines in the Buckingham Christmas fayre parade through the town. We had some fun negotiating the closed roads to get to our rendevous point for the start of the parade. We were third in line of about 40 floats...

If anyone in Buckingham saw a blue V6 being madly chased by a Corsa and an Mundaneo this morning, that was what it was all about

My two followers did not know the town and couldn't afford to loose me in the back streets.

The whole parade was jolly good fun.

What was not quite such good fun was me doing a very silly thing when driving off from where I'd parked. I absent mindedly selected R when I meant D and made gentle contact with a wooden post

No damage to either bumper or post I'm happy to say...

Looking at Old V6 later (Checking the pulley was OK) I spotted a drip of oil on the lower engine mount... I have a weepy cambox on the rear bank. That's going to be quite a big job as the timing belt and camshafts will need to come out to reseal the joints. I'll be doing a 'dry run' on my spare engine before doing it for real...

It'll wait until the weather warms up too...

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 11 Dec 2010, 21:21

CitroJim wrote:I spotted a drip of oil on the lower engine mount...

One drip Jim, repeat after me "It was only one drip" why not buy some blue roll and occasionally wipe around the cam cover until you get at least two drips per week?

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 11 Dec 2010, 21:28

DickieG wrote: One drip Jim, repeat after me "It was only one drip"

You know me Richard

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 13 Dec 2010, 20:06

It's been a good weekend

I went down to Somerset to see Dad on Sunday and travelled down in New V6

The roads were deserted and I did the down-run in three hours dead (162 miles) An average of 54 MPH and I wasn't pushing it either. That time included a couple of stops too... I guess the climate is keeping everybody at home.

We couldn't go to see Mum as the Nursing Home had an outbreak of Ross River Fever or something and had banned visitors. Instead we went to see my Uncle and I met up with a few of my cousins who were also visiting. Cousins I've not seen for a couple of years. There followed a lot of ribbing about their posh 'townie' cousin visiting the family Pikie element... Me Posh? Never!

I must say that the Somerset element of my family do seem a bit Pikie at times, they all drive crewcab 4x4 Ford Ranger 'Utes

They love their Rangers like I love my Citroens... Runs in the family...

On the way home I dropped by DickieG's place to have a look at his new Xantia. My goodness, that really is a time-warp of a car. It truly is nigh on perfect and looks about two years old. Richard was knee-deep in spanners when I arrived and got stuck in as best I could along with him. If I'd have known I'd have popped my overalls in the boot of my car. I was reasonably dressed so there was a limit to what I could do sadly... We did see an LHM change, sphere change and a brake bleed completed.

On the way to Richard's it was necessary to traverse the M25 between the M3 and M40 junctions, not exactly the quietest part of the M25 normally but on Sunday afternoon I did the whole stretch at a steady 75MPH... Never known that before

Today I had a day off work and gave all three cars a good wash. Both V6s looked like they'd been down a salt-mine for 50 years and looked much better for a good wash. I took Activa out for a most enjoyable blast and a wash. A V6 may be the choice for long journeys but for sheer fun the Activa is hard to beat

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 17 Dec 2010, 22:39

These past couple of evenings I've been out in my workshop engrossed in my favourite subject: gearboxes

Those who read this blog will recall I stripped a Saxo MA gearbox with a very duff diff a few weeks ago. I did it as I needed to learn about them in readiness to rebuild the MA 'box in Robyn's 206 on account of a weak 1st gear synchro.

Earlier this week, Chris (570) very kindly dropped me off another MA 'box that had a badly broken casting but otherwise good internals

Last evening I started stripping this 'box despite the cold and that fact it was incredibly dirty. I needed the spanner therapy

Many fixings in these 'boxes are of the Torx variety and very tight on account of the generous quantities of thread locking compound used. One particularly tight one shattered my only T40 Torx bit

This particular bit was a replacement for one I broke from an original set I bought in 1985 and has done sterling service. The T40 from this set finally gave up after being used as an impact bit and trying to undo a very tight bolt on a 4HP20 on the end of a three foot breaker bar and my foot. I therefore forgive it. Abuse beyond the call of duty. I replaced it with a Draper Expert bit from a set and that one failed at the first sign of real work. Again though, I must admit, at the end of my 3 foot breaker bar

So much for Draper Expert. Looking at other Draper Expert bits I have compared to my 25 year old set I was dismayed to find they are poor quality and very poorly sized; they are a loose fit in the Torx bolt head

In short, for serious work they're rubbish.

I'd had experience with shattering Draper Expert bits in the past when a T27 shattered when dismantling another 4HP20. I replaced it with a Halfords Professional bit. These come on the end of a 3/8" socket and the replacement Halfords T27 has happily taken lots of abuse in its stride. So, believing them good and knowing our local factors only stock Draper, I went to Halfords today and bought a family of their professional Torx bits. The new T40 made short work of the tight bolts and has made no complaint. Halfords may be a bit Mickey Mouse for many things these days but I have nothing but praise for their Professional range of tools

The MA gearbox came apart and apart from being very mucky inside (oil never changed I guess) it's in perfect condition

Now I can make one good 'box from the two and have a ready-to-fit spare in readiness for Robyn's 206 should it be needed. Touch wood, at the moment, she's managing with her weak first gear and has not complained about it for weeks now.

Here's a couple of pictures of the dismantled 'box:

A general view of the innards:

And the output shaft dismantled:

This time I managed to dismantle everything without springs and balls flying all over the place

Next project is to practice resealing leaky camboxes on my spare V6 engine in readiness should I need to do the job for real on old V6. I've already discovered it's going to be a BIG job involving removal of the timing belt and the camshafts as there are joints on the cam carriers as well as the cam covers. It's the cam carrier to cylinder head joints that leak rather than the more easily accessed covers themselves.

One thing is for sure, I won't be doing this job until the leaks (just minor weeps at present) get so bad as to be imperative! That is likely to be when Old V6 either starts to leave embarrassing puddles or the spark plug wells fill too readily with oil..

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 19 Dec 2010, 21:54

First thing this morning Old V6 was little more than a blob in the snow.

Mindful of work in the morning and another hard frost expected (it was -11 up here at 6 and still -9 at 10), I set about digging it out and clearing all the snow off of it.

I dried the windows and can see the benefits of doing that now as despite the very low temperature no frost has built up on them. Hopefully at 7 in the morning just a gentle bit of de-icing will be needed.

I took this picture of a spectacular icicle hanging down from the scuttle drain under the front wing: