Hydractive 2 --> Activa

Stunned Monkey · Post by **Stunned Monkey** » 19 Aug 2008, 22:05

Okay, I know this has probably been asked a squillion times, but I can't find any record if it in the archives. I'd also like to point out that I'm not one of those annoying newbies who starts 28 new threads... just this one

Given the Activa system "lives" on top of a standard Hydractive 2, is it possible to convert an H2 to Activa? That's something I'd pay good money for... anyone want to take the job on?!

Toby_HDi · Post by **Toby_HDi** » 19 Aug 2008, 22:09

Possible I'm sure. Anything is with enough time and lots of money.

I enquired about doing it with just the standard suspension (non-Hydractive) and the general concensus was it would be a huge job and much easier and cheaper to buy an Activa outright. I imagine it would still be a fairly large job even to stick it on an H2 car

I believe there is one on Ebay atm for £250 BIN

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 20 Aug 2008, 00:13

Saw that too; bargain if you're in his part of the world!

You'd have to check if the subframes are altered in some way and for
certain there'd be the mother of all electrical rewirings after the additional
rams and high pressure, hydraulic feeds, on top of the new lower front
wishbones, the rams etc, and all this would see a genuine Activa scrapped
to become a donor and they're not exactly two a penny and are going to
vanish sometime due to the the ever diminishing pool of cars evading
the MaxPowered pugsnatchers...
I'd imagine the insurance company would just about stomach an engine
swap if you notified them but may baulk at a different to standard fit
suspension system! It's not like different strut inserts or lowered springs
were talking here; your only course would be certified work and an
engineer's report.

Andrew

It'd be a damn sight easier and cheaper to buy that 250 car on a buy it
now and run it as well as your VSX or Exclusive or what have you!
Twice the fun too; well, that's my excuse...

Stunned Monkey · Post by **Stunned Monkey** » 20 Aug 2008, 12:54

That's just it though - I already have a "toy" car that goes like the clappers and I daresay could outcorner an Activa (yes, I know not a lot can, even supposed supercars, but the Venturi 300 is quite incredible). But I'll be using my HDi for the forseeable future - like others on here, I've simply no idea what other car would give me what I get from it. But I really would like Activa in it... I imagine dropping an HDi engine into an Activa would be an equally horrible job, as would converting a left hand HDi Activa to right hand drive...

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 20 Aug 2008, 22:43

What would be reaalllllyyy handy is a Red s1.5 Activa V6 ESTATE with ALLL
the toys, bells and whistles and a 1.6 badge on the sides and LX on the
tailgate...

addo · Post by **addo** » 23 Sep 2008, 00:42

OK, having read the above posts I realise it's not a walk in the park.

However, upgrading a Series II SX estate to Activa spec via a donor - is it really that hard? Appears that a whole bunch of the wiring connectors are already in place.

Can the install be "staged" by fitting parts progressively, or is it essential to get the whole deal fitted at once?

Thanks, Adam.

handyman · Post by **handyman** » 23 Sep 2008, 10:47

Hello Addo, from your posts I can assume you have not seen an Activa close up. I would suggest the best description to adding the active suspension sysytem would be a complete strip of the body shell and a rebuild from scratch. There are so many different parts between the standard cars and the Activas, the idea of just adding the parts to a standard car does not even come over the horizon. You would be better off importing a car from either the UK, for RHD or France, if you like kerb crawling.

I'm having enough fun shoehorning a V6 into a RHD Activa, and that should be a relatively simple job.

For my next trick, the V6 Activa estate, with sunroof!

Handyman

addo · Post by **addo** » 23 Sep 2008, 11:06

Ta for the reply. You're right; over here, Xantias aren't common, and the scrappies are killing all they can get in a strange self-fulfilling prophecy "They're worth nothing, so I'll scrap it instead of reselling".

I've seen just one fairly loaded Series II Activa, and even then had to spend more time eyeballing the cruise installation than anything else.

Honestly, the chuckability of a standard spec Xantia wagon is reasonably appealing, but the tales I hear about Activas have sort of sparked a curious streak. There appears to have been no factory Activa estate, so that's one more hurdle...

Research will continue.

Regards, Adam.

deian · Post by **deian** » 23 Sep 2008, 17:35

If you don't mind driving a left hooker, you can get a diesel (not sure if it's a 2.1 or a HDI) Activa from France.

It works on their side, not sure if it's an issue with where the steering column/rack is in relation to the engine/gbox that makes it easier to do activa diesels in france. And an activa V6 I believe they have there too, a manual one maybe?

Rather than dropping a HDi engine into an activa, maybe it would be easier to get a proper LHD one and convert that RHD?

But converting a hydractive car to activa wouldn't be easy, like andrew said, it would be better buying an activa and then trying to drop an engine in it, than to do it the other way round. And again, echoing the words of Andrew, Activa's are getting rarer and rarer these days and the pug b/racers buy them for the engine/turbo. Then ditch the best part of the car! Problem is, because it is more 'specialist' and heavy on fuel they don't hold their price well.

Never had one or been in one, but the idea is supreme, get a normal 2.0i xantia, shove a little turbo to keep the engine on the boil to throw it round corners!

Please don't buy a good one to break up! If it's "beyond economical repair", then obviously go ahead, show us what's possible.

My cousin bought a 405 Mi16 4x4 once (a very clean nice example with nothing wrong with it), he took the 4x4 off in the view of shoving it on a 309 gti (mi16 he had), it didn't happen, and the rare version of that 405 is one less now.

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 23 Sep 2008, 20:47

handyman wrote:For my next trick, the V6 Activa estate, with sunroof!

Handyman

Got to be the ultimate Xantia then eh? Finding an estate with a sunroof is a
neat trick in it's own right!

Another thing to bear in mind Adam; the Sx is more 'bog standard' Citroen
suspension than the VSX, BEFORE looking at making VSX work with ARS...

Andrew

red_dwarfers · Post by **red_dwarfers** » 23 Sep 2008, 20:53

Just had a quick look on ebay for Activas and found one going for spares

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/citroen-xantia-ac ... 286.c0.m14

Still it might be what you're looking for

addo · Post by **addo** » 23 Sep 2008, 23:05

andmcit wrote:Finding an estate with a sunroof is a neat trick in it's own right!

It's exactly what one of the local merchants had (upspec SX with 2.016V/5 speed/foglights/sunroof); he was determined to scrap it until a smarter fellow from Tasmania stepped in and bought it.

I've found with Fleabay URLs, you can delete everything after (and including) the "QQ" following the item number. Seems to make it more digestible to phpBB forum software:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/citroen-xantia-ac ... 0291095836

That car may be a good source of headlights for one local guy. Used light prices here are over £60 when buying off a scrappie.

Regards, Adam.