Vince's XM...213k and slowing....

[vince]

I realise this car isnt french but i think i do have a traction avant coming up in a few weeks.....

Lotus before shots....the light reflections show just how poor the finish was on this car.




Very pink bonnet and overall grubby finish




Anyway, some work in progress shots






Final finish shots....some didnt come out very clearly, but TBH i was so tired i didnt really give a rats









Nice car, shame about the rock solid paint

[red_dwarfers]

Oh my Wow!

Nice job vince!!

[vince]

Cheers Kev,

im off for a hot bath to ease my aching old bones

[CitroJim]

That's amazing Vince

The before and after shots really do show up both how hard you worked and the absolutely excellent result obtained...

I'd love to see what you could do with Rattiva

Harder work than that Lotus I fear...

[vince]

Thanks Jim,

If Rattiva is laquered...which she will be, she should be easier than that.....talk about beauty and the beast....this Lotus was both

[Citroenmad]

What an excellent job, I bet its owner is well pleased with the results

I realise this car isnt french but ...

Ah, but that Lotus has CX S2 door mirros

i think i do have a traction avant coming up in a few weeks.....

You will have fun with that, old type paint and so on. Not sure if it will be hard or soft!?

[myglaren]

Ah, but that Lotus has CX S2 door mirros

And a Renault 21 gearbox if I am not mistaken.

[myglaren]

Ah, but that Lotus has CX S2 door mirros

And a Renault 21 gearbox if I am not mistaken.

Excellent job Vince! I should really try and emulate you.

[vince]

Steve, emulating me...? not sure why anyone would want to

Jim hit the nail on the head a long while ago with this kind of stuff...he said that its great fixing cars up in your spare time, but if it was your day job, then each car just becomes another job and so a bit soul less. Im not sure if id like to do this everyday.

I like working on interesting cars, and the reactions when their pride and joy looks that little bit better for them, but its so hard work turning a car around in a single day that it takes the enjoyment out of it a bit as you never know exactly how long its going to take to get a good finish so its balls to the wall all the way. On your own car you can say sack it ive had enough for today ill carry on tomorrow, or on the weekend

[bxzx16v]

Great work Vince , how did you find the new Da ? Have you got vibration white finger ?

Mark

[vince]

Hi Mark,

It is a lot rougher than the rotary isnt it

I must say i prefer a rotary which is why i jumped back onto it on this car. The DA is a great finishing machine but the extra noise and vibrations make the rotary a much better machine IMO.

[vince]

So the show season starts with me not being to attend the northern rally

It is my mother in law's 79th birthday today and to be honest we have had a great day...although most of the time i was thinking about how much i wanted to go to the northern rally

Anyway...on the car front.I had the Xantia into Paris Autos to get the front ride height checked and adjusted as since ive gone back to the factory standard 195 55 15's the arch gap seems to high for my liking. Paul agreed too that it was riding a little high but it couldnt be adjusted before the bent bracket was replaced

It turns out that when i had work done to the car ages ago in Liverpool, the guy who worked on the car had damaged the antiroll bar bracket,the one the front height corrector dog bone attaches to. They havent seen one that bent before that hadnt snapped so without further ado i ordered one from Citroen and have it ready to be fitted this week. Paul at Paris buys from us every day so this is all a freebie for me apart from the bracket cost which was £24 all in

Whilst it was on the ramp we had a natter and he gave the Xantia a good check over mechanically and gave it a clean bill of health There was a slight LHM leak from the front accumulator housing but once nipped up that was cured

I asked him to check the front and rear height corrector operation to make sure they were all operating free and easy as they should....both were fine so nothing to worry about then and im looking forward to getting the bracket fitted so everything is as it should be.

Ive noticed the front drivers side strut top mount is getting pretty tatty now so im going to price a new one up and get it ordered and onto my staff account at work as i dont want the bonnet punching through anytime soon. Im sure they are about £145 now for a hydractive one so not cheap but cheaper than the mess left if it went

Ive been reading alot about XM's too on peoples blogs and really fancy pouring some time and energy into a new project....that said im going to start keeping my eye open for any project cars that come along....I need something new to get into as the Xantia is a belter but i can see XM's rising in value and popularity so id like to get in now if i can and bring one back to perfect that needs a bit of TLC.

This week i might see if i can borrow some time in my mates garage and run the DA over the Xantia.....with the weather the way it is the bonnet showed up as a bit messy on saturday morning so a quick whip round brought it back to perfect again....that though has left the rest of the car lacking now

Aint sunny weather brilliant

[Citroenmad]

That is some shine!

[Chris570]

Come do my XM

[CitroJim]

Come do my XM

And all three of mine please Vince I'd love to see what you could do with Rattiva II That would be a challenge...