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

[Stickyfinger]

(deep down I am mega impressed)

[Deanxm]

I love muttley Alasdair............................... but thats no excuse.

(if i ever get this thing working i will be outwardly mega impressed)

[Hell Razor5543]

Despite my sniggering and laughing I am genuinely impressed. I would not have known where to start. Still (keeping to the chuckles theme), I do know what a giggle pin is, and where it is normally fitted.

[Deanxm]

pffft, starting is easy, give me anything and i will have it laid out in its constituent parts before breakfast, its the fiddly time consuming bit that comes after that i struggle with.

knew i shouldnt of fessed up in front of you lot, my next rally will be fun now

D

[CitroJim]

Dean, don't let them get away with sniggering at you... It's naughty of them

We've all been there

I'm off now to have my own snigger...

[RichardW]

These things are easy done. Look on the bright side, it wasn't 90deg out, which would have resulted in some rather unpleasant and expensive noises! What's that little extra chain on the front head for?

[Deanxm]

That chain is for the balancer shaft that sits over the top of the rockers, there is a larger rocker cover on this front bank to accommodate this.

D

[Deanxm]

Well,
IMG_3311 by Deanxm, on Flickr

Near success, fitting a set of new plugs solved any remaining running issues (two were totally (-expletive removed-)) and it runs great now.
There is a question mark over the piston liner seals as I'm getting a lot of mayo in the filler cap but then all its done is idle a few times so far which is giving me hope and I have crossed my fingers, toes, arms and legs and will pray I have not made a total poop sandwich of fitting the new ones, that's the potential big issue but like i say it's just been started and idled a dozen times and never driven.
I swore I had a massive coolant leak (hot coolant gushed out all over my hand when investigating) from the transmission oil cooler so i removed it the other night, pressure tested it and it checked out fine so have re-fitted it, while muttering and swearing of course and wondering if I was mad but after tonight's activities have noticed a couple of drips of coolant hanging on the gearbox again so im confused about that although it could just be some remaining coolant from the great gushing, maybe, possibly.
The engine won't turn the cooling fans on so have to turn the A/C on to keep it cool, they worked before so the problem must be a simple to fix one I'm sure.

But apart from all that, it's looking and sounding very good, and is mobile!

D

[CitroJim]

Dean, excellent All I can say! Stupendous effort!

[ekjdm14]

Next job, (assuming coolant leak sorted) is take it for a run round the block & see if the mayo either gets worse or vanishes and whether or not it uses any coolant.

Everything crossed for you here, I know how it feels to get an engine back together and have an issue with coolant wondering if it's leaking or using it From what I've seen so far I'd say it's probably fine & just condensation, I can't see there being anything wrong with the workmanship that's gone into it...

Oh, and don't feel bad about the cam timing thing. I put an engine in our Xantia with a leaking water pump & without changing the rack gaiters first, then shorted the stop solenoid against the kickdown cable! It happens, life is a learning process where mistakes happen and we learn by them. At least it's running sweetly enough now.

[Deanxm]

Well the car did go out and the mayo vanished straight away, a failed ignition module and no spare resulted in a ride home on the back of a lorry!
photo(8) by Deanxm, on Flickr
The culprit was not only a section of the loom to the module but rather obviously the module itself too
IMG_3341 by Deanxm, on Flickr
After MTXM kindly sourced a replacement for me and a little more driving it was time to change the fluids and this was my 50mile old gear oil and filter, i think the depths of the box were hiding much gunge
photo(15) by Deanxm, on Flickr
photo(9) by Deanxm, on Flickr
Another 50 miles and another change produced this, at least it has a pink tinge to it rather than bog black!
IMG_3358 by Deanxm, on Flickr
Of course the brake valve seal decided after 25 years this was the time it would choose to roll over
IMG_3332 by Deanxm, on Flickr
Then there was the awefull vibration i found to be a ballancer shaft that was timed up 180 degrees out, so assisting the vibration it was fitted to cancel out (idiot!) and of course a further transmission fluid change whivch has brought us to this point, its coming good at last


D

[Stickyfinger]

Getting there.....just the "niggles"

[elma]

That's some good niggles.
Frustrating as they may be I think you'll possibly have the best uk. Xm shortly.
Keep it up, I'm enjoying your escapades and hoping I can give my Xantia a similar amount of love in the near future.

[Deanxm]

The brake seal has been replaced and some other niggles sorted out and the car is now being used and even works!.


14m15s for small full throttle blast and another a minute later

D

[Deanxm]

Does anybody know if all brake calliper mount points on the hubs are the same for 90's PSA stuff, i think the later and larger Bosch callipers fit in place of the smaller Bendix ones but would the Peugeot Coupe's Brembo callipers fit the XM hubs? i think the pug has a 4 stud pattern which could make finding discs for the XM's 5 stud hub i little tricky but not impossible.

D