Simon's new Xantia V6 and Leaf blog

[CitroJim]

Could be Simon, certainly worth investigating

[Hell Razor5543]

Simon? I'm James (Oh NO, not this rigmarole again!).

[CitroJim]

Simon? I'm James (Oh NO, not this rigmarole again!).

Sorry Alistair, my apologies

I was on the phone when I typed the post in question and I was concentrating more on the phone than the forum...

[daviemck2006]

So now it's Hell James Alistair Simon Razor. How many other names are you going to get[emoji23]

[Hell Razor5543]

Schizophrenic ruddy nutcase, the ways this keeps going on!

[daviemck2006]

Is that you or Jim [emoji1]

[Hell Razor5543]

I dunno, as I dunno who I am any more. HELP!

[CitroJim]

I dunno, as I dunno who I am any more. HELP!

James, look below your forum name on the left hand side.. That'll help you

[daviemck2006]

Professional help required. I blame turning 50 for my problems. Not a good age[emoji12]

[Hell Razor5543]

Is it still a good idea to check the pressure difference between a V6 and a 2.1 Xantia?

[Mandrake]

Time for an overdue update.

Last weekend I paid a visit to David Hallworth's to have a look at the engine management system on his mates 205 which had had a Xsara VTS engine and 306 GTi ECU and wiring loom fitted, whose ECU was complaining about a faulty MAP sensor and not running too well...

I'm pleased to say that I managed to solve the MAP sensor problem as well as discover the Oxygen sensor wasn't working and solve that as well! Quite chuffed with my efforts and I think his pal was over the moon with the difference in the way the car runs now. See David's blog for full details as the actual cause of the problems was a bit of a curly one...

After we'd finished that and munched on a very tasty late November (!) BBQ we had my car up on the hoist to look at swapping the exhaust system over. Although I bought this one in two separate orders from ETS Germany it looks basically identical to the Polish one, so I guess they're all made by the same crowd and sold by a number of retailers...

The Polish one that went onto the old V6 had given a bit of trouble with the alignment of the flange at the front of the rear muffler and never quite pulled into line so always blew slightly at that joint, so I was bracing myself for difficulties getting this one to fit properly as well.

When unpackaged there were two problems to sort out on the muffler - the front flange had a whopping great dent in it which I had to straighten out and one of the hanger arms seemed to be folded completely flat against the body of the muffler. Luckily I'd come to the right place! David and his pal Graham (?) whipped out the oxyacetylene torch and a long piece of tube and set to work bending the hangers to match the old muffler! One was out so far that it would have been difficult to bend it without breaking without the heat I reckon, so there's no way I could have done the job myself lying on the ground...

We then had the mystery of the various size clamps to solve - the 80mm ones I bought on ebay turned out to be useless because the V is too flat to grip the sides of the flange and pull them together - they would have just squeezed on the tips instead and done nothing to really pull the joint together. The 74.5mm clamp from Citroen was a perfect fit for the cat tail and would have also been a perfect fit for the muffler joint as well, unfortunately I didn't have two as the second one was the 66mm size.

To get the 66mm one to fit David had to grind quite a bit of thread off the middle of the bolt to clear the tip of the flange, but it just managed to fit. Once the bolt was started it pulled up nicely and both the muffler and cat joints pulled up tight and leak free straight away. Anyone doing this job on their V6 - just get two of the 74.5mm clamps from Citroen - they are a perfect fit for both joints, so I don't know why the 66mm clamp was ever specified for S1 models...(must be a mistake since the same mufflers are listed)

The muffler also hung and sat perfectly first time with the corrections that had been made to the hanger arms - in fact the entire system went on relatively pain free and fitted perfectly. Massive thanks to David and Graham who jumped in like pros and had the job done in no time flat - I felt a bit like a third wheel and ended up mostly doing fetching and holding duties.. Exhaust work is not one of my strengths I'm afraid and I readily admit it... Mind you by that time I'd already spent several hours bent over the front of a 205 figuring out its problems and rewiring it so I didn't feel like I was getting a free ride...

How does it sound ? It's completely leak free so its quiet in that sense with no blowby or hiss but there is quite a lot more "burble" and low frequencies from the exhaust at 1000-2000 rpm. When driving slowly it does have quite a bit of a drone - not loud enough to be offensive or annoying but certainly quite noticeable as those low frequencies weren't there before. From the outside it probably sounds amazing but inside does boom a little bit. Above about 2000 rpm and during hard acceleration it seems quiet and doesn't have any raspiness to it.

This is in contrast to the exhaust on David's V6 Activa which is REALLY quiet but still has a nice purr to it. I guess for £70 you get what you pay for - it's sturdy and should last a number of years but it's not the quietest and probably doesn't have much silencing material inside the muffler! At least a broken exhaust is something I won't have to deal with over the winter now.

A very enjoyable day at David's PSA car emporium...

The car is running fairly well but I notice a lot of small things that need attention as soon as I get a garage to work in. There is something not quite right with the electrical system I think - when idling when warmed up sometimes instead of the engine idling at a nice constant idle, every 15-20 seconds or so the engine revs will dip suddenly by 100rpm or so then recover in a similar way that they would if you switched on an accessory load like the radiator fans, except no accessory loads are changing.

Pressing both front electric windows in the up direction when already closed will also cause the engine to stagger and drop some 150 rpm or so until it recovers - so not sure if I might have a battery on the way out, a faulty alternator, faulty wiring etc, I guess I'll need to do some investigating when I get the chance!

I already know one of the earth terminals for the ECU that bolts onto the front rocker cover is badly oxidised so I'll start there I think. It also needs the heater blower fan relay modification doing - at the moment there is a lot of current for the fan going through the ignition switch that could be causing a voltage drop on the supply to the ECU as well...

[CitroJim]

I saw the pictures of the BBQ on Facebook Simon. It looked gorgeous.

Good work on that 205. I think you have now fully established yourself as an engine management guru!

I find my Polish exhaust is quite quiet and certainly very acceptable indeed, especially given the cost of it.

[DHallworth]

Glad to hear you're happy with the exhaust, Simon. Like you say, for £70 it was a damn good fit despite the hanger brackets.

When it was idling on the ramp it certainly didn't sounds noisy, so it's a shame it's a bit boomy when you're on the move.

I had a thoroughly enjoyable day and I think everyone else did too. After everyone left I put my Range Rover on the ramp for a pre MOT once over, am pleased to say it passed it's MOT on Friday without even an advisory too!

Looking forward to another French Car Meet sometime soon!

David.

P.s... Now the 205 is running right, Graham is going to forge the internals, and go for a high boost supercharger kit and take it up to about 400bhp.

[CitroJim]

I must say I've not found mine boomy at all...

P.s... Now the 205 is running right, Graham is going to forge the internals, and go for a high boost supercharger kit and take it up to about 400bhp.

Gosh! That's going to be scary in a 205. I hope his driving talent is up to it and he has a good understanding of the 205's handing oddities

[DHallworth]

He does, Jim.

He's had dozens of 205's over the years and has done many a track day in them. The one he's got just now, he's done a full nut and bolt rebuild on it, I'm sure he said he spent in the region of £15k doing it!





Here's his old one that he used as a track car:



Here's a link to his rebuild album on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/gee.mcdaid/med ... 086&type=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His next project is to build a rally replica



David.