wurly's gf's C2 Loeb - various (belated) updates

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wurlycorner
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wurly's gf's C2 Loeb - various (belated) updates

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Finally got the gf into a bit of french... :wink: :-D

Her prelude is a good way off being on the road and she wanted a small car for a bit of fun/freedom. I've really been starting to like the look of C2's (it was the row of them at the National meet last year that started it off for me :oops: ) and the neighbours have a friend that turns up in a blue furio from time to time... Anyway, I commented on it to the mrs and turns out she likes them too :-D

It started out as meant to be a cheap to inure, cheap to run model. However, my mrs also like fun/sporty so the 1.1's were never an option. 1.4 Furio's are few and far between so... Started looking at top spec Code's :lol:
Saw a few after searching on autotrader/ebay but all were either ropey or over-priced (or both). Tried a search on Gumtree and a Loeb cropped up, literally 5 mins walk from our house!

Anyway, to cut the story short, it was by far the best car we'd seen and was already up for a cheap price IMO... I pointed out a few things wrong with it and a further £150 discount later... A bank transfer was taking place :rofl2:

Few things wrong with it;
- Needs 2 tyres
- CD is stuck in the stereo
- Drivers side rear spring snapped (common fault)
- Power steering is very light turning right, heavier turning left
- Bonnet stay is in the boot (securing clip missing)
- Exhaust manifold heat shield missing
- Trim round the gear lever clips are broken
- Stain on the drivers front seat
- Rear discs are knackered (only braking on part of the surface). New pads put on in last few hundred miles but that hasn't sorted the actual problem of course :roll:
- Minor oil leak from somewhere at the top of the engine (TBC)
- Higher miles than most, but FSH
- Rear exhaust hanger bracket has been cable-tied on one end, where the captive securing bolt has previously been sheared :roll:

Great things;
- Overall great and clean condition
- New cambelt/waterpump last year
- Just been serviced
- long MOT
- New £450 vortex stainless exhaust system fitted in June this year :rofl2: =D>

So yep, cheap run around turned into limited edition sport model with a nice tasty exhaust system :twisted:

I will add a couple of pics, but photobucket is having a strop today and not letting me login :evil:
Last edited by wurlycorner on 27 Feb 2018, 22:07, edited 1 time in total.
--
Iain

'85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (met. blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (met. silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (met. light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & met. green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
'11 C5 X7 3.0 V6 Exclusive Tourer
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CitroJim
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by CitroJim »

Excellent :D What engine has it got?

I'm interested in the C2 as it is the more natural successor to the Saxo and I wonder how it stacks up against the very excellent Saxo...

One thing that put me off a C2 when I last looked at one was the small boot - I doubt it would be large enough for my bikes without serious disassembly!
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
wurlycorner
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

That's the top spec petrol engine 1.6 16v 123bhp (TU5JP4S I think?)

Second (reserve) photobucket account now behaving...

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Straight through instead of back box :D
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(Spare wheel carrier is NFP now :roll: so that will have to make do with just a wire brush and underseal repaint... :evil: )
--
Iain

'85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (met. blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (met. silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (met. light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & met. green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
'11 C5 X7 3.0 V6 Exclusive Tourer
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CitroJim
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by CitroJim »

I like it in red :-D Very cool 8-)

let's see a picture of the engine then ;)
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
wurlycorner
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

I wont see the car again until Saturday (when I will mainly be viewing it from underneath!)
--
Iain

'85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (met. blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (met. silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (met. light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & met. green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
'11 C5 X7 3.0 V6 Exclusive Tourer
RichardW
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by RichardW »

Don't bother with photobucket now they've stopped 3rd party hosting, just load them direct
Richard W
wurlycorner
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Yeah it is great that this forum now offers direct hosting except... You can still third party host on photobucket with a hack to the img link (those pics are) and... this isn't the only forum I post on, so for me it works as a copy/paste of the thread from one to another (that does require third party hosting) :D
--
Iain

'85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (met. blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (met. silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (met. light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & met. green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
'11 C5 X7 3.0 V6 Exclusive Tourer
RichardW
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by RichardW »

I can see the first one, but not the second two.... :?

Edit...fixed it for you now :-D
Richard W
wurlycorner
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

8-[ Both were showing fine when I previewed and then full viewed the thread?
What was up?
--
Iain

'85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (met. blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (met. silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (met. light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & met. green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
'11 C5 X7 3.0 V6 Exclusive Tourer
RichardW
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by RichardW »

The ~original bit was missing from the links....
Richard W
wurlycorner
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Hopefully pics later, but just for now... :evil: this is being an absolute s**t to work on, has just shown up more and more how crap mechanics are these days, how s**t the metal quality/corrosion treatment of parts that Citroen use these days is, plus, I believe, an error in fitting a brake pipe at build :roll:
:evil:
Very frustrating.
--
Iain

'85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (met. blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (met. silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (met. light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & met. green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
'11 C5 X7 3.0 V6 Exclusive Tourer
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CitroJim
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by CitroJim »

wurlycorner wrote: 26 Nov 2017, 11:21 Very frustrating.


Indeed. sadly I think all moderns suffer like that to a greater or lesser extent...

I think, like me, you're too used to the older stuff and the moderns come as a real shock in many ways... None of them good...
Jim

Runner, cyclist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
wurlycorner
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

The c5 has been fine in that regard though - it's an extremely well put together car, using quality parts suppliers.
--
Iain

'85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (met. blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (met. silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (met. light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & met. green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
'11 C5 X7 3.0 V6 Exclusive Tourer
wurlycorner
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Pics can wait... Only finished and got home an hour ago. Rear brakes overhauled, both springs replaced and... The car fought me all the way :evil:
--
Iain

'85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (met. blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (met. silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (met. light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & met. green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
'11 C5 X7 3.0 V6 Exclusive Tourer
wurlycorner
Donor 2024
Posts: 1497
Joined: 30 Oct 2012, 23:37
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Re: wurly's gf's C2

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Right, I suppose since I'm on here doing other profile threads, I should really update this one...

(This work was done back in November)
One broken spring (known when buying the car);
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Absolutely (-expletive removed-) rear brakes;
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If you're looking at those thinking... The pads look nearly new - you're right, they are. I have a receipt showing that a GARAGE fitted them! Absolutely shocking - the discs are completely (-expletive removed-) (really badly scored and lipped) from before these were fitted and all because of the usual problem with this kind of system - the carriers are corroded under the anti squeal shims, so the pads are stuck.
They would DEFINITELY have been like that when the monkeys fitted the pads. Appalling that they were prepared to replace just the pads.
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You can get some better scale of the lipping/scoring and carrier condition here;
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I didn't have time to do a full refresh on the carriers unfortunately, but a good clean up with a file and wire brush improves matters ok (one half done, one not);
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Hubs were absolutely filthy and the dust shields aren't too clever either tbh;
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Pretty poor for a car that's only ten years old - my Xantia and CX's look better than that!!!

Slider pins are a pain - the nut flat width is slimmer than a standard spanner, so you damage the lip when trying to fit one (this damage actually caused though by a previous butcherer using mole grips :roll: :grr: )
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Everything was taking far longer than I anticipated, because it was all in such bad condition/filthy and I hadn't allowed for that. Also the caliper carrier bolts are FT!!! Absolute buggers to get off. Needs loads and loads of force (all the way along the thread - they have thread lock for some reason) via a Torx drive... Not funny!

So all I could do was a good clean up of things, not properly refurbish and paint - that will have to wait;
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Whilst down there also found incorrectly fitted ABS wire (possibly from factory);
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Re-routed and clipped in to prevent chaffing;
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And now onto getting the springs out;
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If you can get the shock absorber bottom bolt out, there's no need to compress the spring, but that just WASN'T happening (no matter what) and I had spring compressors, so did it the old fashioned way...

Which revealed what a s**t condition the chassis was in. Again, I re-state... this car is only TEN years old!
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(nb I have already started to wire brush in the second pic there)

Rear bumper bar is in a shocking condition;
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Too far gone to repair (the brackets that the lower half of the bumper clips too, have completely rotted away/snapped off) it needs to be replaced

it just shows what a short life span cars are built to now - there is NO rust protection on the rear of the thing. It's primer and one layer of colour coat, with no lacquer. tbh I think you could probably jet wash the original paint off from new - it's so thinly applied in these areas... :roll:
Absolutely the other end of the spectrum from the mark 1 C5, which is fantastically well built.

There are some great mud (read: future corrosion) traps too;
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Yes, that's in the rear inner arch beside the shock absorber and is the pocket that the bump stop sits on (or should - they're missing on this car... :roll: )

This is the rear of the chassis under the boot floor;
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This was after a good time scraping away loose rust and attacking with a wire brush on the first side;
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Unfortunately I didn't have time to rust-treat it (had to get the springs/brakes finished and reassembled in that same day) so it just got a very liberal spraying with Dinitrol underbody sealer for now;
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A possible revisit in the summer to clean that off, rust treat and then re-spray with underseal, beckons...

Drivers side no better;
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During clean up;
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And protected;
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New spring in position in pax side;
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Broken end of the spring on the drivers side (obviously been gone for a while);
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Had noticed the top spring mount had been damaged as a result, so had ordered a new one;
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Drivers side fitted;
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Spot the new bits :lol:
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Like I said, didn't have time to properly clean up (de-rust all over and paint) the calipers/carriers, but all now moving freely, greased up, new slider pins and boots;
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Another 'find' while under the car...
Apparently this is a £400+ exhaust fitters idea of how to fix a sheared off exhaust bracket bolt;
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Don't drill it out, tap and fit a bolt... No - drill holes through the boot floor and put two cable ties round it. :roll: :evil: :grr:
Didn't have time to fix that, so it will have to wait till I am next under there.

Oh and this;
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:grr:

So that about did it for getting the rear of car mechanically sound ahead of winter...
--
Iain

'85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (met. blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (met. silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (met. light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & met. green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
'11 C5 X7 3.0 V6 Exclusive Tourer