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

[CitroJim]

Happily back to work on Bluebell following my enforced absence for a few days due to a heavy load of domestic work and my Covid booster wipeout

Not much done today as I still had a lot of domestic catching up to do but I did get the LH rear brake rebuilt after a good refurbish of the components...

It took ages to reassemble... Those springs take some serious work to get home! I can see why so many hate working on drum brakes...

All nicely cleaned up and reassembled...

Note my special spring hook in the picture... It started life as an ML5 clutch release bearing engagement tool. It could still be used for that but a bit of grinding has make it a very functional drum brake tool... I very much doubt I'll ever do another Ml5 clutch...

I've now started on the other side...

The self-adjustment mechanism was well seized, just as on the other side...

This morning I've spent a small fortune on a load of new parts for Bluebell. I'm getting a lot of stuff I feel may be needed whilst it still remains available...

That's it for today, shortly I'm off to run the Cattle Creepy... A great local Halloween themed event where we run 10K in the dark around one of the more scenic parts of MK..

One part of it is running through a very narrow and low cattle creep tunnel that runs under the Grand Union Canal... Huge fun!

Here's a photo of Robyn in its entrance - taken a couple of years ago now when we walked the course to recce it...

And the medal we'll receive if we complete it...

[CitroJim]

A good day of work on Bluebell today...

After finishing off the rear brake overhaul and finding the brakes now work quite well I turned my attention to a few needy jobs...

First up, the seats... Both were very tight on their runners... So it was out with them and their runners were treated to a good clean-up and some new lube... They now slide beautifully...

Whilst the seats were out I gave the interior a good vacuuming... It was needed as the former owners owned a very hairy dog...

The handbrake shroud was loose so I removed it primarily to do a good vacuuming job but also so that I could fix the handbrake warning light switch... It was annoying me by not working...

At the same time I did the driver's side courtesy light switch...

Something else that's annoying me is a couple of duff illumination bulbs in the instrument pod... I shall fix that in the not too distant...

The interior is looking quite tidy now...

Sharp eyes might notice the under-dash parcel shelves are missing... I have them and and for reasons unknown they were removed before I got the car... Hampering their refitting was a few missing clips... Looking in the ashtray I found them! Result! Also, looking in both ashtrays there is evidence the car has never been smoked in...

The last job for today was to do another pre-MoT check and especially check all lights... All are good but I felt headlight alignment was a bit out... So, I set up a beam tester by chalking a couple of lines on my garage doors... I used my Saxo as a reference...

Now nicely adjusted...

Even the dim-dips still work

I think Bluebell is now ready for an MoT...

[Stickyfinger]

MOT time....goody !!!!....maybe I will see her before winter sets in.....for a good underbody waxing !.... Brazilian or Plucked Chicken ?

[CitroJim]

MOT time....goody !!!!....maybe I will see her before winter sets in.....for a good underbody waxing !.... Brazilian or Plucked Chicken ?

You may but only if there's an extended salt-free dry spell Alasdair! Else it'll be 2023... No way is she going out in dirty weather...

Brazilian definitely

[CitroJim]

Only got a little bit done on Bluebell today as most of my day was taken up with parkrun. I was Run Director at Bury Field this week, our local one in Paggers... It's all on delightfully wet, springy grass... For most, parkrun lasts for just about an hour on a Saturday morning but for we who run it our parkrun begins at 0730 and often ends around 13:00 and countless hours during the previous 7 days...

It's great fun though and tremendously rewarding... The smile says it all

Me and Barnaby...

Just some easy stuff on Bluebell today... I was keen to see why her steering column cowl was all floppy and fix it as it tended to foul the indicator stalk...

I carefully dismantled it... Very carefully as 33 year old AX dash plastic is now very brittle...

Sadly, the previous dismantler was not as careful and broke the tongue on the front part of the cowl that pushes into the rubber grommet on the stalk frame...

I've now removed all the cowl to enable me to fabricate a new tongue on the bench...

Meanwhile, I've refitted the driver's side parcel shelf

Tomorrow I shall continue and also, whilst the dash is almost in bits I'll replace the blown dash illumination bulbs...

And then go for a nice long bike ride and visit the kids...

[Skull]

Meanwhile, I've refitted the driver's side parcel shelf

Is that a modifid dash support I see

[CitroJim]

Meanwhile, I've refitted the driver's side parcel shelf

Is that a modifid dash support I see

Yes, it is as my dash has broken where they all do... That support bracket is not very elegant but it does the job for now until I can fabricate something more pleasing... To do that properly will entail a full removal of the dash and some involved fabrication... The passenger side is the same...

I will have to at some stage as the choke control bracket is not in the best of health and to fix that it's definitely a dash out job...

Remarkably, compared to most my dash is in very good condition!!! I've seen them little more than a pile of plastic splinters! S1 AX dashes were not Citroen's finest... Made by a company called Allibert which I believe also made toilet seats... says it all really

[MattBLancs]

That did the job Often I wonder what I'd do without my lathe... It's so valuable... Not used every day but by gosh, when needed it's a lifesaver...

I too have a lathe and it's in the "not brilliant at everything but invaluable for certain things" bracket. Call me sad but it makes me happy every time fire the thing up and (generally to a pretty poor standard) machine something with it!

I also have a very similar looking battery LED floodlight:

I go from loving it to hating it on a regular cycle - the way lithium battery devices are set up to preserve the battery (by not allowing excessively deep discharge) - by randomly just switching off without warning makes my blood boil! It has an uncanny knack of waiting for the one bit of the job where said light is essential rather than beneficial and -ping!- almost without fail, off it goes! No battery level indication on mine so is unpredictable.

I don't really like working on drum brakes, but found a pair of small long nose locking pliers (aka mole grips, but "knock off" Aldi ones) best for splitting off the job of "gripping tight enough not to let spring slip through the jaws" from the main event: heaving the spring into position.

Matt

[bobins]

You wanna pair of these - brake spring pliers. They allow the springs to ping off, but in a professional way

Brake spring pliers

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... _PrefLoc=1

[CitroJim]

You wanna pair of these - brake spring pliers. They allow the springs to ping off, but in a professional way



https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... _PrefLoc=1

Now that looks good and for less then a tenner, a good investment! Thanks for that Bobins

I too have a lathe and it's in the "not brilliant at everything but invaluable for certain things" bracket. Call me sad but it makes me happy every time fire the thing up and (generally to a pretty poor standard) machine something with it!

Yes, I know exactly what you mean Matt, there's always a great satisfaction when you make something on the lathe... Mine's been a godsend so often it is one of the workshop's most indispensable tools along with my airline and hydraulic press

I also have a very similar looking battery LED floodlight:

I go from loving it to hating it on a regular cycle - the way lithium battery devices are set up to preserve the battery (by not allowing excessively deep discharge) - by randomly just switching off without warning makes my blood boil! It has an uncanny knack of waiting for the one bit of the job where said light is essential rather than beneficial and -ping!- almost without fail, off it goes! No battery level indication on mine so is unpredictable.

That would drive me up the wall Matt! Happily, mine seems not to suffer from that but then again I've never ran it right down to see just how long it does last. I now must do so...

One thing that drives me up the wall with mine is how much radio interference the charger generates - it wipes out the workshop radio

[CitroJim]

Most of my free time today has been spent out on the bike as it was such a gorgeous day - until late afternoon when the rain started to bucket town...

My old Giant TCR rode very sweetly and we enjoyed 52 miles together

I did get a bit of work completed on Bluebell this afternoon...

I fixed the wobbly steering column cowl by making a new 'tongue' for the front part...

It's done the job a prefect treat I have a nice firmly mounted cowl that's no longer fouling the indicator stalk...

The crack by the screw is an old wound...

Another little job was to replace the blown bulb behind the heater controls...

That's better

Tomorrow I'll be looking to replace the blown instrument illumination bulbs as a partially illuminated set of instruments is now allegedly an MoT advisory... Sensible as the one instrument that's totally dark is the speedo...

However, given the delicate nature of the Series 1 AX dash plastic I need to do this job with extreme care and will be taking specialist advice... Mr. Haynes in his BoL is a bit glib about it... 'Release the clips using a thin screwdriver...' That may have been good 30 years ago when the plastic still had a bit of 'give' in it but now with it as brittle as glass I'm not so sure...

Fingers crossed... Tomorrow we'll see

[myglaren]

One of my granddaughters, the next youngest (17 and a bit) passed her test first time today.
The almost removed a cyclist from the land of the living.

[CitroJim]

One of my granddaughters, the next youngest (17 and a bit) passed her test first time today.

Congratulations to her Steve!

The almost removed a cyclist from the land of the living.

Not a good start!

[myglaren]

Sent her the Ashley Neal videos covering the new highway code regs with particular regard to pedestrians and cyclists.
Although they seem to need protecting from themselves more than anything.

I almost reduced the population by one yesterday too, he ran out from behind a parked van, twenty feet from a pelican crossing. He looked quite offended.

She will be OK. Very quick and very smart. Possibly the brightest in the family.

[CitroJim]

Although they seem to need protecting from themselves more than anything.

An awful lot of then certainly do Steve... I'm horrified by the antics of some cyclists and pedestrians, not to mention the latest menace - electric scooters... Don't get me started

The new Highway Code rules are perhaps, how can I say? Good in parts but not well thought out in some areas

She will be OK. Very quick and very smart. Possibly the brightest in the family.

She'll be great - possibly a valuable experience...