Dean's Activa/XM/V6 and now Talbot blog

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 20 Jun 2011, 17:43

just put them on and been out on the wet roads in search of juice for swmbo and im actualy rather impressed with them, time will tell of course and ive only done some roundabouts and slippery junctions but i would say they are up there with mid range stuff, and for £80 a pair you cant go wrong imo.
overall grip may not be the same but nothing jumps out at me as being bad, no idea on road noise or stopping from speed yet although i did do an emergency from 50mph and they felt good.

D

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 20 Jun 2011, 21:44

Good to hear they are not made of liquorice Dean, some budget brands are better than others but im yet to use any which come near to the grip and drive offered by the premium brands. Some mid range ones do however.

The worst tyres I have used were 'Hero's, had them on a C5 when it was bought and they were terrible, anything over 15mph round a roundabout and the front was washing out. Not only that but around most corners in the wet it would slip, then grip, then slip then grip ... totally awful. Replaced them with Michelins and the grip was totally transformed. Hideous, dangerous tyres which never had any grip, no matter what the weather.

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 30 Jun 2011, 19:57

Well i have been getting back on with the xm, the A/C had absolutly nothing in it at all, so i took it apart myself and bunged all the pipes up, there wasnt even any oil in there so its going to need looking at.
with all the rads out of the way the front part of the subframe has been given the treatment, i have primed it and will do the whole thing in stonechip i think, not original but its very good stuff.

subframe5 by Deanxm, on Flickr

subframe4 by Deanxm, on Flickr

subframe3 by Deanxm, on Flickr

subframe2 by Deanxm, on Flickr

subframe1 by Deanxm, on Flickr

Now to sort out the leaking A/C condenser and make a plate up for the rusty hole

D

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 02 Jul 2011, 20:18

Had yet another afternoon on the xm today (she really is spoiling me

) and i can safely say its at that critical stage where almost everything thts coming off is off nd its just case of putting it back together now.

I have Dinitrol'd all of the chassis rails, sills, pillars and subframes (its damn good stuff), the only thing i have not done is the drivers side sill but i am going to be welding in that are next week so dont want to apply there yet, there is no rust anywhere on the car except for this pinhole caused by poorly thought out fixing but it cant hurt to add extra protection.
She is looking little bare LOL.

XM resto1 by Deanxm, on Flickr

XM resto2 by Deanxm, on Flickr

D

bxzx16v · Post by **bxzx16v** » 03 Jul 2011, 06:59

Great work Dean , love the colour it suits the Xm well

Mark

red_dwarfers · Post by **red_dwarfers** » 03 Jul 2011, 14:15

So the XM is going to be hanging around for a good few years yet then!
It'll be good to see how that solution you've used works out as no doubt in a few years I'll want to be looking down that road for my XM. Touch wood though, this one is a pretty damn good example so it will be more preventative.

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 03 Jul 2011, 15:58

Thanks gents, and yes Kev this is purely preventative too really, i Hate rust (yes that was a capitol h

)
It just makes sense to do this and not have to worry about any rust.
Be very carefull with the galv body though, they rust inside out from what ive seen and in my case i have a hole the size of my 4 fingers but the underbody protection was perfect. I think this will catch a lot of owners out thinking the car is good untill you one day see a hole, then once you start poking around............Last time i saw Xmexc he was scrapping a car due to delamination of the underseal i think, by the time it was noticed it was too late so be warned.

Once its all done though it should prove to be trouble free motoring.

D

Post by **CitroJim** » 03 Jul 2011, 20:48

It's looking very good Dean

And great to see an XM being so lovingly pampered...

Bit worried about those rear axle stands though. Bricks can be a bit unpredictable. I'd be getting proper stands under there...

Or did a Pikey come along and nick your wheels and leave it up on those bricks?

I've seen delaminating underseal on Xantia estate sills and it can trap some right horrors. As you say, once seen it's too late..

Was that one xmexec scrapped an estate by any chance?

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 03 Jul 2011, 21:18

Think it was a blue hatch Jim............
I will pick up some proper blocks from work, much more sturdy, i just wanted to get on with the job but took two wheels under with me just incase the worst happened.

D

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 04 Jul 2011, 21:19

Had another play today, got the cat off which i think will be replaced, i got a genuine Oxygen sensor from ebay last week for £20 so that saved about £200

, not sure if i should go for a new 103 spec cat or a non approved version though????? for 19years old mine isnt too bad but its starting to break up

xm resto6 by Deanxm, on Flickr

Got all of the heat sheilding off from underneith too which required the removal of the gear selector ass, handbrake equaliser and height corrector actuators, all of which will be cleaned and greased to make things run a little smoother, before it came off the road i noticed after lifting the car on a jack the front would not settle properly and would bounce from high to low on its own suggesting the height corrector links need a good clean and grease too

xm resto4 by Deanxm, on Flickr

here is the rust and you will see what caused it, horrible rust stains from the back sill drains too, i will start cutting it out and making a plate tomorrow if i get time, broke my heart when i found this

XM resto1 by Deanxm, on Flickr
so easy to do a lot of tidying up when she is stripped down like this though

xm resto3 by Deanxm, on Flickr

D

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 19 Jul 2011, 21:32

not much to report on the car front really, the Activa still makes me smile, the xm is still tucked away, most of the inactivity on the xm resto front is due mainly to this

doing the drains1 by Deanxm, on Flickr
it did brighten up saturday afternoon though, thankfully!

doing the drains5 by Deanxm, on Flickr
It took all weekend to get 21meters of pipe in but its all done now and the garden is shot

keeping on topic of being off topic does anyone keep tropical fish? im after recomendations for a good external filter as one of my fluval's got broken by some heavy handed oaf this evening

thought it was worth a try..........

D

Post by **CitroJim** » 19 Jul 2011, 21:45

Ahh, now that's my kind of gardening Dean

bet it was great fun with that little digger

Post by **myglaren** » 19 Jul 2011, 21:51

Deanxm wrote:
keeping on topic of being off topic does anyone keep tropical fish? im after recomendations for a good external filter as one of my fluval's got broken by some heavy handed oaf this evening thought it was worth a try..........

D

Are you in any hurry?
I have a small aquarium with internal Fluvals but the guy next door has stacks, some of them huge - one is 10'x4'x3', took five men to unload it from the truck and install it, took half a day too.
I know he runs external filters and can ask him when I can catch him (he works shifts)

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 19 Jul 2011, 21:52

it saves a lot of labour thats for sure Jim but they can be a pain too, you have to be very carefull with rubber tracks as they can jump off very easily but on the whole it was a laugh, who needs the national anyway

D

Deanxm · Post by **Deanxm** » 19 Jul 2011, 21:58

myglaren wrote:
Deanxm wrote:
keeping on topic of being off topic does anyone keep tropical fish? im after recomendations for a good external filter as one of my fluval's got broken by some heavy handed oaf this evening thought it was worth a try..........

D
Are you in any hurry?
I have a small aquarium with internal Fluvals but the guy next door has stacks, some of them huge - one is 10'x4'x3', took five men to unload it from the truck and install it, took half a day too.
I know he runs external filters and can ask him when I can catch him (he works shifts)

Sort of ish, i will have a week at least before things get tricky as the tank is well stocked, i dont know how the other filter will cope on its own.
A 10'x4'x3' sounds like an amazing tank, ive just upgraded to a 5' and i thought that was big!

D