Citrojim's AX, Pixo, C3, Running and Cycling Tales

[CitroJim]

Jim,

what sort of gloves are you wearing in the running pic up there? ^^ I have a friend who's just been diagnosed with Raynaud's and has been looking for decent gloves. Like you, she runs a lot.

In the above picture Mike, my second run, that was just a thin pair of silk liners that were earlier under a pair of DHB 'Windstopper' cycling gloves during the bike leg of the duathlon... My hands were bloody cold but the Reynauld's did not come on until I was in the relative warmth of the car after the event...

Normally, for running I use a pair of purpose-designed winter running gloves that originally came form Amazon and have done really great service... Any decent running shop such as Up and Running, Runner's Need or even Decathlon will have something suitable and can advise. Look for ones that are fairly thick, very flexible, are windproof and feel soft and spongy... I end up wearing mine for about 9 months of the year!

They'll be useless to me for a long run on a freezing morning so I'll wear a pair of silk liners and a rather thicker pair of ordinary winter gloves...

This morning I'm going to try running in my cycling Lobster Mitts...

Tomorrow morning I'm running the MK Winter Half Marathon so today at parkrun will be a trial to see if I can keep my hands reasonably healthy in all this cold!

[bxzx16v]

Sounds like you enjoyed your bit of spannering Jim.

[bobins]

This morning I'm going to try running in my cycling Lobster Mitts...

Good luck on that, Jim. I'd never be able to get my size 12 feet in a pair of them, but each to their own.

[CitroJim]

Sounds like you enjoyed your bit of spannering Jim.

I did! Properly back into it now after far too long away from it - and this forum too!

This morning I'm going to try running in my cycling Lobster Mitts...

Good luck on that, Jim. I'd never be able to get my size 12 feet in a pair of them, but each to their own.

I did have a thicker than usual pair of socks on, not that i really needed them... This morning I ran around Salcey Forest (after having my hands frozen in two pairs of gloves whilst parkrun marshalling) in a thicker pair of cycling gloves originally sourced from Decathlon and they worked adequately so that'll be my choice for tomorrow...

Oddly, although I suffer with my hands I never suffer cold feet... Most people seem to be the opposite...

Here I am looking happy in the Forest, truly one of my happy places... My fingers were good enough to be able to operate my phone camera

[CitroJim]

This afternoon has been very interesting...

I had a feeling in the back of my mind that Bluebell's new cambelt was just a fraction too tight so today I checked it...

In doing so I learned something quite significant that Haynes fail to mention when using a SEEM gauge...

I decided to reset the tension using the old-school pre SEEM method of hanging a 1.5Kg weight 8cm along a bar inserted into the tensioner square...

First I made my 1.5Kg weight using a big Xantia hubnut socket, a 24 mm deep socket and a bolt! Weighed on my kitchen scales...

Then set it up...

Bar in the tensioner square hole with the weight attached to a groove 8cm along it...

And the weight dangling below...

I did this with the engine stone cold and felt the belt was very slack...

I popped the SEEM gauge on, out of curiosity, and saw it reading 20. For the Saxo 8V 1.1TU engine (practically identical) the Haynes BoL quotes 45 SEEM units... This value was what I originally set Bluebell's belt tension to.

I then started the engine and let it get up to temperature...

When I stopped it to recheck, the belt felt much tighter - the engine 'grows' as at warms up - and the SEEM gauge read 45 units!

As it cooled I could see the SEEM units going down again...

Therefore the moral of this story is that the SEEM reading is valid only for a hot engine and not a stone-cold one... No mention in the BoL that it's very temperature dependant and if you set it to 45 SEEM units on a cold day it'll be too tight when hot...

One small issue I noted whist watching the cambelt with all the covers off is that it does not run 100% absolutely true. It 'walks' from side to side on the cam sprocket... It's very tiny - maybe 10 'thou total but noticeable to my sharp eye... Further investigation suggests the water pump is not quite running true as the belt 'walks' a little more on its sprocket...

Both the water pump and tensioner, along with the belt, are brand-new. Maybe, being Autodoc stuff, not the finest quality perhaps? There's no sign of any fretting on the belt so I'm not going to worry. Just an observation and it would go unnoticed but for running the engine with the covers off...

As I say, it's been an interesting afternoon...

[xantia_v6]

That is surprising about the belt tension. I would not have expected engine expansion to cause that difference. Is the belt perhaps shrinking when hot?

I can't imagine that PSA expected the seem tension to be measured hot, just think of the pain that would cause on an early es9 engine.

See also: gates link

[Stickyfinger]

Factory floor temperature it is then !.....is that summer, winter or summer/Air-Con or Winter (modern wimp workers) with heating ?

Another reason not to rev the crap out of your car on a cold winters morning and let it warm up.....another reason to put the larger cars into hibernation and use the little AX in the winter.

[CitroJim]

I can't imagine that PSA expected the seem tension to be measured hot, just think of the pain that would cause on an early es9 engine.

See also: gates link

I can only report my findings as I found Mike! My workshop was most definitely not at 'room temperature' today unless you're an Eskimo living in an igloo!

A most interesting Gates link The belt I fitted was an Ridex Autodoc-sourced one so maybe the belt, like the water pump, is not of the finest quality... Sally, my Saxo, has a proper Gates belt...

It's not an issue on an ES9 as the later ones had the automatic tensioner but yes, on an early one with the dynamic tensioner that needed a SEEM gauge to set it would have hurt doing it hot!

I must say I never experienced the same when I last set Sally's timing belt tension using the SEEM gauge but then again, it was done on a very warm day in full sun so that would have counted as 'room temperature' or possibly a little above...

This all, now, makes me feel I should keep a very watchful eye on Bluebell's belt... I don't want it snapping and may replace it (and the water pump and tensioner) with higher quality known and trusted items before too long...

Another reason not to rev the crap out of your car on a cold winters morning and let it warm up.....

Indeed, very much so!

[CitroJim]

This morning I ran the Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon, a major event in the running calendar as it's the last big one of the year and being so near Christmas it has a Christmas theme about it...

I have now run it many times and this was the first year it's truly lived up to its name. It was definitely wintery out there with the temperature well below freezing and at times, misty... A real winter wonderland for the most part

The weather made for almost perfect running. Dry and no significant wind... And no danger of overheating!

I was delighted to run it in under two hours

Here's me at one of the water stations... The pre-filled cups had ice in them!!! It's just as important to keep well hydrated in the cold as it is when it's hot...

And at the end, a great Christmas-themed medal...

Loved it! I was never cold, except when walking back to the car after spending too long chatting to friends at the finish only dressed in my running kit..

Happily, my cycling gloves did a fully adequate job. My hands started off cold but warmed up nicely as the run progressed...

[moizeau]

Jim, I read a while back you're the man for the FCF stickers. Mine went to the tat yard with the BX when it died. Could I buy 3 please, if it's an issue, post brexit, with import etc I can PM you a UK address. Let me know how much and where to send the money please?
Cheers
No excuse not to run faster in these temps. -8 here this morning. Both HDI's with no glow plugs still fired up fine.

[CitroJim]

Jim, I read a while back you're the man for the FCF stickers.

I am indeed Pete Allowing stickers to go to a scrapyard is a capital offence I reckon Not sure I should let you have more after that but will let you off just this once

Just make a donation to the forum in the usual way and then PM me your full name and address, a UK address will be much preferred, what style of stickers you'd like and I'll do the rest

[moizeau]

I am indeed Pete Allowing stickers to go to a scrapyard is a capital offence I reckon Not sure I should let you have more after that but will let you off just this once

Blimey, that was close, won't be doing that again.
Donation done.
I'll PM address details and a name of the smuggler when I know who's coming over next, should be for New Year.

[CitroJim]

I am indeed Pete Allowing stickers to go to a scrapyard is a capital offence I reckon Not sure I should let you have more after that but will let you off just this once

Blimey, that was close, won't be doing that again.
Donation done.
I'll PM address details and a name of the smuggler when I know who's coming over next, should be for New Year.

Excellent Pete As soon as I get the PM I'll get all the necessary done but be aware our posties are on a series of strikes and with an inch of snow having fallen everything is all over the place and no guarantees of when anything arrives can be guaranteed...

Today, our light snowfall was too much for both our posties and our binmen Didn't stop my dad delivering the mail every day in the winter of 1962/63... I can just remember him coming home from the Post Office on his Cyclemaster along very snowy roads!

That winter was fun for me - A sledge seemed the most appropriate way of moving me around

[myglaren]

Posties seem to be working OK around here (a pair of them live across the street) but I may have to bend their lugs as I still haven't received the LED lights for my son's garage, should have been here last week.

[mickthemaverick]

I have an unused rear screen FCF sticker awaiting a window. Having made my donation Jim, any chance of a French car to attach it to?