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

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 24 Apr 2009, 22:47

hi Jim

for the crash

'a small Vauxhall of some sort.'

nice

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 26 Apr 2009, 18:49

jgra1 wrote: nice

Erm, some new use of the word "nice" I've not formerly encountered there John

Presumably the correct syntax for then use of the word in such a context is "That's a nice Kia Pride you have there..."

It's been a good weekend but as predicted, no work at all has been done on the V6

I did however give both the Activa and the 2.1TD a full service and found not that much to do. The Activa is perfect and the 2.1TD only needs a new auxillary belt to make it perfect

The old belt is on the limit of adjustment and rattles a little at about 900rpm. Following Xac's Tesco experience, I feel it to be prudent to swap it for a nice new one.

I did intend to wash them but following a visit from my old pal currently running my old 1.9TD and looking again at transit-v8's poorly sick diesel pump, I ran out of time

On the subject of my old 1.9TD, it will be up for grabs in around 6 weeks time so if anyone wants a well-maintained very early "sinker", get in touch. It'll have MOT until February '10, tax until August '09 and has, in my ownership received (amongst other things) new strut tops, a new rad and a new clutch. It's been to the moon and back but it's still good. It can be viewed now and price will be low and open to offers. It's due a cambelt now and a coolant change but precious little else is needed. I'll do that for the new owner.

Today, 2.1TD and I took a run to Somerset to visit the parents. I took the 2.1 because I had a number of horticultural items to deliver to Dad. Taht was the first long journey I've done in the 2.1 since John and I undertook our epic tour of the UK in it when we went to get my gearbox, his gas analyser and a visit to work on his dad's 306! lately my Activa has been doing all the long journeys.

My 2.1TD excelled and reminded me just what a magical car it is on a long trip

It's character is totally different to the Activa but just as competent on a long tour but in a different way.

It was a good day for Citroen spotting

There are loads of Xantias down in the West Country and in the 300 or so miles I spotted about 10. What is slightly worrying is that I can spot them from a long-way off!

I also saw an XM near Frome, an H Van in Avebury, a 2CV near Frome again and an absolutely beautiful Traction Avant near Trowbridge. I was disappointed not to spot one BX or CX

Other classics were out and about and I saw a very early Ford Consul, a Frogeye Sprite and a tasty Triumph Stag along with a couple of pre-war cars that I'm not any good at identifying.

I also saw some examples of shockingly bad driving and witnessed two very near misses; Sunday drivers

Dad's 205 needs a new headlamp. One has gone all "milky" and is almost opaque and we're both concerned it might fail the MOT. Wayne, my nephew and owner of five 205s (at last count

) gave him one but it was the wrong sort. A new one from GSF, along with a load of other small sundries I need is on order.

Hopefully, I can now get back to the V6....

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 26 Apr 2009, 19:17

Forgot to mention I also saw a couple of MG Midgets and a bright orange Bond Bug!

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 28 Apr 2009, 21:01

A nice big parcel arrived today from GSF and amongst the goodies within was a new Auxillary Belt for my 2.1TD.

It is now fitted and all is good

It's given me a bit of peace of mind if nothing else and now I know my two running cars are not needing any significant attention for the foreseeable future and all effort can now be concentrated on the V6

Amongest the other goodies was a new headlamp for Dad's 205 and pleasingly it was a genuine Valeo one. I'll need to nip down to Somerset in the not too distand and fit it for him and whilst I'm there give it a service and a pre-MOT checkover.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 02 May 2009, 20:38

Gareth (Xantiaman583) came over to have some work carried out on his TD. I had to take a second look as Gareth rolled onto the drive as it looked for all the world as if a brand-new Xantia had arrived

Gareth had been working his magic on it and it looks absolutely mint and like it has just rolled out of a showroom. It really does look stunning, inside and out

The new owner will be highly delighted with it.

The main job was to replace the lower engine mount donut. I personally believe the only way that this can be done is to remove the casting holding the bush in it's entirity and gareth had procured a complete casting with a perfect bush to exchange.

This means removing completely the RH driveshaft. Sometimes this is a job that does not necessarily go well. Either the hub nut will have been done up by a Gorilla or the driveshaft intermediate bearing will be well and truely stuck in it's carrier (part of the bush casting).

On this occasion, all went so smoothly it was unbelieveable. No difficult nuts anywhere and the intermediate bearing hardly needed drifting at all

One soft blow from a hammer and punch and it out...

In fact, the job was done in good time with no issues whatsoever.

The accumulator sphere was a bit flat so that was changed. That was by far the more difficult job

The sphere was very tight and I noticed the PR block moving as soon as I appled pressure. The PR was hanging on by only one bolt. Luckliy, I had a spare and that gave the PR a good firm mount to work the sphere off.

On a 1.9TD, access is not good with the trusty Pleiades tool and it hasd to be very precisely positioned. It did the job though and a new sphere went on.

Before Gareth spills the beans, I will now confess to a serious error I made that will destroy my reputation forever

I nippled the sphere seal screwing the new sphere on and as soon as Gareth started up, LHM flooded out

A replacement seal and all was fine. A refill of the gearbox was the last job and that was a slightly messay affair as the oil was in a 5L can and we had to fill the gearbox with a funnel on the end of a length of pipe.

All in all, some good work on one of the tidiest 1.9TDs in existence. It really is a fine car in very fine condition and because it is so clean, a real pleasure to work on

superloopy · Unread post by **superloopy** » 02 May 2009, 21:13

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 03 May 2009, 09:06

Did over 230 miles in the old girl yesterday and it was faultless, even after Jim touched it

Seriously, the engine mount job went very smoothly and i think he actually enjoyed doing it!

In return his Activa will be getting the full 'works' of a 3 stage machine polish and all bumper corners repainting, not only that, the V6 will also get a similar treatment and i'm confident underneath lies a good condition car that will make an excellent weekend cruiser.

I'm almost tempted to keep the TD! Mike is getting a very nice car that i'm sad to see go, but head must rule heart on this one. Its been used very little in the past 6 months and its done its job with me, providing excellent reliable transport for my family and also as a 'company' car. 30k of truly enjoyable miles and my first introduction to Citroen's.

I should take all the credit as its previous owner has maintained it impeccably and it still shows now. Together with Jim's help in recent times i reckon its pretty unique in its spec and abilities, i'll miss it when it's gone!

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 04 May 2009, 00:08

even after Jim touched it

I nippled the sphere seal

Jim, in all my years working on cars, I have never heard of 'nippleing' ??

It sounds like I have been missing out somewhat

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 04 May 2009, 10:17

jgra1 wrote: Jim, in all my years working on cars, I have never heard of 'nippleing' ??

It sounds like I have been missing out somewhat

Oh dear, it's my typing coming back to haunt me again

It's not that I can't spell, I'm a very good speller in fact and people use me as a dictionary, I just can't type properly. I type as fast as my thoughts and there's the problem. I must slow down

Speaking of slowing down, that's what I must do today as I've rather done myself in

The past few weeks have been very, very busy and as a consequence, many jobs at home have slipped and this (long) weekend I've been trying to catch up and working like a demon on the cars, the house and the garden in rediness for another long session of hard work and long hours down the salt mine in the coming next few weeks. I should know better as massive bouts of work eventually bring me to my knees so here I am feeling less than on top of the world

Anyway, a LOT has been achieved but less than I'd have liked on the V6 but that car is not the priority. I may be knackered but I have a lovely clean house, tidy garden, Gareth's car is sorted and my two runners are very well sorted after some further fettling this weekend.

Seeing Gareth's TD on Saturday made my trio look very dowdy indeed so yesterday I washed them all, V6 included! Today I planned to polish them but it's a bit damp here so that might wait. They do look a lot better and the V6 scrubs up well too

I had to revisit the auxillary belt on my 2.1TD as it started really rattling on idle

I'd fitted a 6PK1740 and found it was too long. For mine, the correct belt is a 6PK1725. One was duely obtained from our local factors (twice the cost of GSF

) and fitted. It's dead silent now at all speeds

I also, finally, got round to replacing the glowplugs on my 2.1

I went through winter with a less than perfect set and now summer approaches, a nice new set of BERU plugs are installed. Apart from having to have the top half of the mainfold off, the job is a doddle compared to the 1.9TD

Whilst I was in the local factors, I looked in vain for a decent replacement T27 Torx bit as I broke mine on my autobox strip. It was a Draper one and not of the best quality. The factors failed so whilst I was out and about I called in at Halfrauds and they came up trumps with one that looks to be of good quality from their Halfords "Advanced" range. I bought two as they were a good price and in case one breaks as there are sone very tight T27 screws in the gearbox. Whatever one may think of Halfrauds in general, they still do some very acceptable quality tools at a good price 8)

I shall take it easy for the rest of the day now and catch up on some forum admin work and visit the BXC and Club-XM. Two forums I've not looked in on for far too long now...

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 11 May 2009, 13:05

Not a lot to report, both runners are fine and other activities leave the V6 in it's usual dismantled condition

Saturday saw us go to Reading to collect Xac's Activa. Reading is a right 'mare to drive through

I was intrigued to see signs pointing to "The Oracle". I was expecting to be directed to a deep thinker who could answer questions about life, the universe and everything but in the event it turned out to be a shopping centre

Maybe it has 42 shops...

One question I'd have asked the Oracle is why on earth does Reading not have a ring road? Against that though, it does have a cracking McDonalds

Anyway, I digress. Xac has rather a good example of a MK2 Activa. Mechanically, it is pretty fault-free except for a non-operational rear electrovalve but there are some relatively straightforward cosmetic issues needed to transform the car into something very tidy indeed; It needs a bit of "Garething" on the wheels and a few scuffs.

All in all, it looks like Xac has had a good buy

vince · Unread post by **vince** » 11 May 2009, 22:49

You had me thinking there Jim if the aux belt i sent you was the wrong one.....but then i remembered the bits were for the V6

Is Gareth coming to the DS / SM meet? it would be good to see the condition of his car

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 12 May 2009, 09:08

I may consider coming, depends if i'm working that weekend...

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 18 May 2009, 20:30

vince wrote:but then i remembered the bits were for the V6

No, the V6 bits were absolutely perfect Vince

Not a lot to report on the running fleet as all has been concentrated on the V6.

The following is a cautionary tale...

I got in the 2.1TD early on Saturday morning to do Siany's paper round as she was on her way to Clacton to attend a Majorette competition in which her troupe came second overall

Anyway, as I say, hopped in the 2.1TD and it would not start

but did eventually struggle into life eventually and proceeded to run absolutely perfectly

Air in the fuel lines for sure.

A quick look showed No.1 injector very wet and a little further inspection showed the capping-piece for the leakoff spigot had a big split in it

This cap was only replaced around 7 months ago and had rotted out

Although I had some identical replacements in stock, I did not want to use one for fear of the same happening agin 6 months later maybe so i made on using a short length of leakoff hose doubled back upon itself and tightly tied off. All is now good and if anything the car starts better than ever.

Val and I took a run to Sheffield on Saturday (after I'd done the paper round) and we travelled up in her Vauxhall. For a 1.2 with a missing cylinder in the engine (it's a triple) it goes surprisingly well...

A first visit to Sheffield City Centre is a surprise when you spot the tram lines

A good city to drive through; far better than Reading!

The Peak District was looking very nice as well

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 18 May 2009, 23:07

I suspected you were off on a hot date when I popped round on Saturday and saw all your cars but no Jim

Did try to call you from the scrap yard as I'd found a 406 with a CT in it, but the wrong fuel connector

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 27 May 2009, 13:38

Xac wrote:I suspected you were off on a hot date when I popped round on Saturday and saw all your cars but no Jim

Yes, that'll be right Xac. We were off to Sheffield in Val's Vauxhall.... Sorry I was out...

It's all been a bit hectic just recently and I'm very concious I've been somewhat iactive on these forums for a while. I hope I've caugt up with a few PMs and emails and over the next couple of days I'll catch up on what's been happening.

Work has been it's usual self and keeping me very preoccupied and as might be guessed, Val and I have been spending rather a lot of quality time together when work allowed

This long weekend just gone I spent with the girls and took them for a day out in London on Saturday. All very well enjoyed but it did for me

I felt a bit groggy on Sunday and then on Monday all hell let loose. I fell to bits and spent the whole day in bed feeling very rough. Yesterday was not a lot better but I had to come to work to cover for absent colleagues on holiday. Today though, I'm 99% back to normal

I don't know what the problem was but my head went to mush and I was so lethargic it was untrue. I even had extreme difficulty sending a text. Typing and concentrating on any forum posts was right out

This weekend is a biggie.. Saturday I'm off to Somerset but Sunday it's planned to lift the engine/gearbox back in the V6

I was going to take the following Monday as an owed lieu day to finish off the V6 (I'm actually owed three lieu days now

) but that's just been dashed by events at work

Sometimes I don't know why I bother to have a house. The amount of time I spend at work, I'd may as well have a bed in the corner of the office....

Still, one day I'll be able to take those lieu days and the 8 weeks annual leave I'm due and get things done... Mind you, I said that last year and ended up carrying two weeks of annual leave over from 2008 to 2009. Roll on retirement!