Xac's adventures with Cassy (and friends + wife)

Tell us your ongoing tales and experiences with your French car here. Post pictures of your car here as well.
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Xaccers
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Unread post by Xaccers »

Yesterday I decided to tackle Jenny's split steering rack gator.
I swung by Jim's for a flying visit and to borrow his ball splitter, which it turned out I wasn't going to need...

Last time I'd worked on Jenny I was driving Juliet, so of course I'd left my tools for the job in her back at home. Off to Halfrauds to pick up a T55 and a few other bits and bobs.

I got the caliper and old disc off, then started on the nut to remove the track rod end.
Moving it back and forth to work free the rust, and spraying liberally with plus gas, it suddenly became very easy to turn. It had come free in the socket so was just spinning :(
I tried g-clamps to secure it and got the nut down to the end of the thread before it went again.
I cut a length of wood and stuck it between the rod end and the strut top then jacked the hub up to compress it and hold it in place.
Even with the car being lifted the nut wouldn't budge.
Another phone call to Jim and he came over with a nut splitter that did the job.
Within seconds his expert hands had fitted the new gator.
New discs fitted so all that is left is a tyre change on one wheel, then it's mot time :)

Jim gave me a spare relay holder to fit my starter motor relay neatly in the main box in the engine bay, so I got on and fitted that this morning.
Need to sort out the driver's seat height adjuster now.
1.9TD+ SX Xantia Estate (Cassy) running on 100% veg
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CitroJim
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Unread post by CitroJim »

Xac wrote: Another phone call to Jim and he came over with a nut splitter that did the job.
Ahh nut splitters :D Don't you just love 'em. It's not a tool I use often but for jobs like this it's invaluable and a tool I'd not be without.

It makes short work of drop link nuts too although the nut is not a lot of use afterward...

It's not expertise Xac, it's just I've done enough gaiters now and on a 1.9TD there is relatively loads of space when compared with a V6 or Activa.

Not having the Hydractive yaw sensor in the way makes it a lot easier on a non-hydractive car :D
Jim

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Xaccers
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Unread post by Xaccers »

Love the new avatar Jim :)
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Unread post by CitroJim »

Xac wrote:Love the new avatar Jim :)
It was time for a change...
Jim

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Unread post by CitroJim »

I did briefly have this avatar up...



Image

Not sure which I like best...
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Unread post by Xaccers »

On the car front, I now have a proper handbrake! Woot!
I was at Finmere on Saturday, it was cold, there were paintballers (who pissing around shot Cassy's back window and got a rollicking from one of their marshalls), and I had 13 airsoft gun rentals which was rather lucrative.
As I basically spend the day in Cassy parked just outside the safe zone waiting for any of my rentals to come back for a battery swap etc, I normally use the time to do the odd job on Cassy.
I had hoped to do the stat, brake discs and pads, regulator o-ring, fuel filter o-ring, and handbrake adjustment.

Got the wheels off and the retaining screws for the discs were rusted solid, so will have to drill the heads off again.
The pads have 3-4mm of friction material on them, so they definitely need doing, and while the discs still seem quite thick, they've been on there for about 4 years, and while not warped, the surface has worn with a slight camber. A job to complete this weekend I think.
Adjusted the handbrake so now it actually works and Cassy shouldn't roll out into the street again. :shock:

Removed the regulator bleed bolt and caught the ball (wasn't as small as I'd imagined), and quickly scrambled to catch the flow of LHM out of it's hole!
Had to cut off the old o-ring as it was flat and rock solid, but the new one slipped onto the bolt easily.
Put it all back together and topped up the LHM.
Will check the tarmac under the car when I get back from London this evening.

Air is being sucked into the fuel pump from the filter housing under high revs, enough to prevent full accelleration, so I've replaced the bottom o-ring, and cleaned up the mating surface. Again being 14 years old the old o-ring was hard and compressed.
It's made an improvement, but air is still getting in, so either it's the fuel filter stat or the housing lid which probably needs a thorough clean.

I didn't have time to pick up any antifreeze on the way (was delayed because wetherspoons weren't doing full breakfasts, only rolls, because of some stupid football match, so I had to go to McDonalds instead) so wasn't able to do the stat. Another job for this weekend.

On the wedding planning front, we had a meal at the Bell in Woburn with my family to see what it's like. Food was delicious and great value.
Headed over the road to the hotel to talk to someone about their reception deal, and was told that the restaurant could only seat 45, so if we wanted the full 50 guests, 5 would have to sit around by the bar. Also as they would have to close the restaurant, we'd have to book 16 double rooms! Otherwise we could try at the Cock in Stony as they have function rooms.
That's what we did, and mentioned about the 16 room requirement. The manager at the Cock was frankly disgusted and is going to let her superiors know :)
We initially wanted the 16th April as we're off to the new forrest for a holiday (which is now our honeymoon) the weekend after, but the Cock was booked, so we've moved it forward to the 2nd. It's a cunning plan on my part, Danielle's birthday is the 4th and mine's the 5th, so I should never forget our aniversary!
I get my birthday off work, so I'll be taking the 4th off as well, and Danielle will take both days off, so we'll have a mini-honeymoon just after the wedding.

I'm all excited :D
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Unread post by Xaccers »

Thanks to Jim, Cassy has new front discs and pads, and needs her handbrake adjusting again :roll:

Jenny is going for her MoT this afternoon, dad had to take her back to F1 tyres this morning as they hadn't sealed the rubber to the alloy properly, so the tyre was flat.

Heading back to MK via the A5 from Northampton this morning, a Focus ahead of me indicaded, slowed down and pulled over (this is on a dual carriageway), so I slowed down too.
Unfortunately, a very nice chap in an Audi behind me was planning to pull into the outside lane and overtake me just before this, and timed his blind spot check with the Focus slowing down, so when he saw a car sitting in his blind spot, he aborted his manouver, only to find himself rapidly approaching Cassy's rear.
There was a bump and we both pulled over. The focus which had pulled in ahead but not actually off the road decided it didn't need to stop in the end and just kept on going.
There's a bit of a scuff on Cassy's bumper, part of his grill is cracked and the front edge of his bonnet is dented. Apparently Audi's are squidgy.
We exchanged details and went on our merry way.

As I went round the roundabout at V10/H3, a woman decided it would be a good idea to pull out in front of me and just stop.
Thankfully I was able to swerve around her.
The idiots are definitely out in force today!
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Unread post by Xaccers »

Jenny bloody failed the MoT!

The sodding MoT centre I took her to when moving her to my parents' last year only went and put a new tyre on the wrong way round!
So the rotation arrow on the NSF is pointing the wrong way, will get it sorted tomorrow.

And apparently, despite not being flagged up on last year's MoT failure sheet, the headlights are squif and can't be adjusted!
Will have a look at them after work tomorrow.
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Unread post by CitroJim »

Oh bugger :evil: on all counts Xac :evil: Hope Cassy is not too badly hurt...

I'm sure that these modern cars with their slit-like windows have far more blind-spots than our greenhouses on wheels. last time I was in a modern I felt really claustrophobic and felt visibility was severely compromised. That and typical Audi-attitude is a bad mix :twisted:

I've some S1 headlamps here that will do for Jenny. I'm sure we can sort it.

That's not bad though. Jenny's Passed on all the major things.

Ordered the exhaust manifold gaskets for Juliet today :D
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Unread post by Citroenmad »

Well, thats not a bad list of things to fail on, one incorrectly fitted tyre and headlamp adjustment, pretty good!

Shame about the knock today, hope there isnt much damage. Make sure you have a good look at the boot floor area, above and below, as a knock, even slight, can start to disturb things. Ive known many people who had dismissed a small bump and later found their boot floor was bent.

As for visibility in modern cars, i agree, some are shocking. I had a new shape Seat Leon on loan once, that was like driving a car whilst looking through your letter box!

One thing which puts me off the new C5 is its visibility, the windows are very small compared to mine.
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Unread post by Xaccers »

there's just a graze on the bumper under the black section, I had a good look at the boot pan at the time.

Jim, I'm going to have a look at the headlights tomorrow after work, hopefully I'll be able to get the adjusters going, I'm sure I did it before, and I'm sure they were aligned properly.
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Unread post by DickieG »

Check that the bulbs are correctly seated as it will cause havoc with the beam pattern if they're not.
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Unread post by Xaccers »

DickieG wrote:Check that the bulbs are correctly seated as it will cause havoc with the beam pattern if they're not.
Good point Richard :)
The failure sheet says they're both pointing right and up.
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Unread post by pug_owner2002 »

Citroenmad wrote:

As for visibility in modern cars, i agree, some are shocking. I had a new shape Seat Leon on loan once, that was like driving a car whilst looking through your letter box!
I have to agree with you their citroenmad. I recently had a new shape seat leon as a courtesy car and wasn't impressed with the visibility.
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Unread post by Xaccers »

And I've just had a phone call from mum, my grandad died about an hour ago.
He had bad alzheimer's and took a fall a week or so ago breaking his hip, they replaced it but he never really recovered and developed pneumonia, which he finally succumbed to.
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