Life on the edge - the Diary of a C5

Tell us your ongoing tales and experiences with your French car here. Post pictures of your car here as well.

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Xantianut
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by Xantianut »

Hello, Friends!

Papa is Not Happy. :twisted: Don't worry it is not me he is angry with but the "Hillbilly" who designed me. My old tube came out in three pieces with much swearing and hammering (Ouch!!!) but it did come out. Eventually. Except now he has not enough height to fit the new one. The discovery of this brought forth a new bout of swearing.....

His plan is to cut the new one and rejoin it with some heat shrink. Plenty of grease on the inside should stop this happening again. I reckon a touch on the outside where the joint is?

Blue Xantia did warn me to be careful when Papa stopped cursing. Now I know why. :hole: :hole:
Gibbo2286
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by Gibbo2286 »

The RH one is the easier one to do, at the inner end it just plugs into the grommet.

If you feed a wire (I use a drain cleaning wire) down from inside tied to the old one as you take it out you can feed the new one over the wire directly to where it needs to be.
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Xantianut
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by Xantianut »

Ay up, Gibbo!!!

Lack of space to work is the problem here. I can either have sufficient height (ramps assisted by stands) or access under the wheelarch (jack and stand) but sadly not both.

As for guidance, I cut the pip off the old cable and plan to use that. It's already poking through the floor!!!!

Just waiting for the heat shrink and away I go.....
elma
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by elma »

Could you post a picture of the stubborn balljoints please including the whole arm so I can see how it goes together.
I'm prity good at getting them undone and I've never had a splitter.
Maybe I can teach Papa a slightly different approach.
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Xantianut
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by Xantianut »

Hello, Elma!!!!

I shall ask Papa - he takes pictures of all sorts of things anyway......
elma
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by elma »

Thanks.

Tell him to prepare by getting a 2m(ish) scaffold pole, really big breaker bar or similar.
I know he already has a good hammer which is the other requirement.
Oh and a few little blocks of wood.

Don't worry, the wood will protect you from the dangerous tools.
It's all for your own good.
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Xantianut
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by Xantianut »

Hello, Friends!

Good news: I am back on my 4 wheels again, with a working handbrake, I've never known Papa swear as much! When he was bleeding my brakes, the hose slipped off and Papa has discovered that the jet of brake fluid went the width of my front track! Cleaned up and my left hand front brake pipe and handbrake cable rerouted, that was a job in itself! I am so glad Papa has a set of thread chasers, without them I would still have been up in the air!

He took some pics of my front suspension, Elma, and will post the pics in a bit. He's gone hypoglycaemic and is stuffing his face with something suitably full of calories.

Then he will continue cleaning my spacious and comfortable interior.
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CitroJim
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by CitroJim »

Excellent work :) I'll be you learned some new English words during that, even if they were a little rude :lol:
Hell Razor5543
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

Yay. Otterchops is roadworthy again. :D
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Xantianut
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by Xantianut »

IMG_0734.JPG
Hello, friends

Well, that's my comfortable seats clean so ready for the Little Man With The Big Clipboard. Please think of me tomorrow?
As for the pics.....
IMG_0731.JPG
IMG_0731.JPG
IMG_0729.JPG
I did learn some new words. And I know when Papa is really angry at someone. He referred to my designers as Hillbillies......
Last edited by Xantianut on 02 Aug 2017, 20:16, edited 1 time in total.
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Xantianut
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by Xantianut »

Ay up!

FIfi's papa here. Just a word on the pics, Elma. The arm bolts to the subframe fron and rear plus to the %#$¥ ball joint. Also there is no link between the arm and the anti-roll bar, the drop link goes from the bar to a point near the top of the sliding part of the leg.

Now....

Hammer? Check.

Big breaker bar? Check.

Mega torque wrench? Check.

Impact sockets? Check.

Electric impact gun? Check.

Jack and stands? Check.

Blocks of wood? Check.

What next? Ignore the whimpering from the drive there......
elma
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by elma »

Ok here goes.

To undo the lower balljoint:
1. Undo the ball joint retaining nut about 10mm or so. If it's just spinning I tend to Jam a 22mm spanner (or whatever size fits) between the balljoint and lower arm and lean on it to prevent the spinning, prity much like a balljoint separator tool.

2. As you are replacing the Balljoint you only need one piece of wood, the second would be to protect the ball joint rubber boot if you were reusing it. The wood is to protect Fifis underside from the great big bar you are going to use. You need to slide the big bar behind the balljoint (mind the cv boot and get a thinner bar if you need to) and put one end up against Fifis underside (with the block of wood in between) making the biggest triangle you can. One end will be sticking out diagonally from the wheel arch and the other will be jammed up against Fifis underside. I've drawn you a picture as this is a little hard to explain. You need at least 1 meter sticking out and the bar needs to be as inflexible as possible. I've never done one on a C5 so do look at if any rubber will be damaged by the bar when the arm drops 20mm and protect it with wooden blocks if it will.

3. It helps to have an assistant for this bit but is perfectly doable alone. You or your assistant need to stand on the end of the bar and gently oscillate it. No need to go mad, just a little more than slightly bending and unbending the knees.

4. As the bar is on a downward oscillation whack the end of the bottom arm with a big hammer really hard as indicated in the drawing. By the third whack whoever is stood on the bar will suddenly be 10mm lower. If they aren't oscillate a little harder and whack a lot harder.

5. Now you can unscrew the retaining nut the rest of the way and the balljoint will obligingly let the arm go.
Own Work
Own Work
The Roll Bar drop link:

I don't remember if you were having trouble with this or not.
It looks horrible to get at being horizontal.

1: undo the nut as before, leaving it just on.

2: wrap the hook of a crowbar around the drop link shaft from behind and put the straight end against the rear of the arb so that if you push the end of the straight bit of the crowbar you are applying pressure that wants to separate them. I've drawn another picture as I barely understand that.

3. The arb end looks too delicate to whack so I'd use a spanner in the same manner as a bj separator. I'd beat the hell out of the spanner with the big hammer while applying pressure to the crow bar. The pressure on the crowbar will need to be lots of little kicks, nothing too big but with a fair bit of force and at the same time the hammer strikes the spanner. If you don't have a suitable spanner you could use a proper bj separator.
Own Work
Own Work
I'm virtually asleep so forgive me if I've written this in a way that is difficult to understand. I'll check in when I wake up to answer any questions or fill in any gaps.

As the arms similar to a Xantias I could take off a wheel and demonstrate how I'd do it on Sunday if you need me to.

Hope that's of some help.
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Xantianut
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by Xantianut »

Hello, Elma!

Papa figured the drop link out! He put a great big trolley jack under my ball joint and lifted until the drop link ball joint was horizontal. Pop nut back on, whack with big hammer (ouch!!) and job done. To make sure it all went back together he then used his thread chasers on the link.

For the ball joint? That's a good idea, Elma. I shall suggest it to Papa.....
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Xantianut
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Re: The diary of a C5 - PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Post by Xantianut »

Hello, friends.

Sadly my confinement continues because I failed the MOT but on minor things. My left hand brake hose was twisted (Papa screwed up there!), my side repeater lamps were showing white and there was a hole in my rear silencer.

All sorted,

Papa pulled off my wheel then unwound the hose leading to a correct routing of the hose. So all well there.

The bulbs, Papa surprised even me! Many years ago, he built a model of a Morgan and painted the lights on it with a clear paint. This sorted my indicators which are now titanically orange! Clever Papa, I was expecting new bulbs......

The exhaust got him thinking. He put my rear end up on ramps, found his powerful torch and had a good look at the box to discover that the rust hole was the only rust on the box. The rest of the casing was clean. Then he had a Light Bulb moment. It had rusted because there was a "shadow" in the aluminising of the surface caused by the bracket's rather untidy welding. Bit of aluminium mesh and a good slart of exhaust paste and all is well.

Retest to come.....
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Xantianut
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Re: Life on the edge - the diary of a C5.

Post by Xantianut »

Hello, friends!

I've passed!!!!!

Clever papa!