www.citroën.cc

Renovation process 2010

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:59:34 +0000

March 2010 – Well the wet weather has not done good things to the electricals… we had record HUGE rainfalls over the last few weeks including landslides on roads and rail-lines in the mountains in early Feb. The bad weather has continued for the whole month. Actually most of this summer has been very wet and hot.
The car refused to start after about 5 days of torrential rain and general very high humidity and some heat. Battery was so totally dead – indicating it should not be recharged… so I bought a new battery and it still would not start so had to get it towed and taken to get fixed. You could see some corrosion starting on the battery connector from ambient atmospheric moisture. The alternator had shorted out and damaged the regulator and discharged the battery. Alternator has been repaired and regulator replaced and also 2 additional relays added to the circuit. Spark plugs replaced as well – choked up due to flooding while trying to get it started most likely. I will need to go over the under bonnet area and look for any further issues when the weather settles again.
March 2010 – The summer wet weather has created more problems. A nasty surprise was had when checking for leak damage in the passenger floor area. Rust has formed by leaking through the front left box section seal and it has rusted it’s way through to form a hole about 1cm wide. A very hard one to spot till it’s formed a hole. Surface rust has developed over the passenger side floorpan area under the carpet. Rubber seals have temporarily been removed from the drain holes to drain and dry the area and the door step covering vinyl has been lifted as well. A small hole has formed in the box section. This will be cut out and replaced after the main seal is repaired and the whole area is rust treated. The carpets are all in perfect condition still and only the sound proofing padding had any water or rust staining – which was very light. Surface rust has leached through under the fabric [vinyl] cover along door step where the water has soaked the padding. Only real damage here is to the fabric padding which can be replaced. It looks way worse than it is. The rust – aside from around the actual box section hole – can be scratched off with a wire brush etc. and is very much only surface and very light. This box section damage is currently being repaired.

Larger images have been loaded into flickr.
March 2010 – There is also now rust in the multilayered section at the bottom corner of the passenger side door. It will need to be cut out I would guess – have to get it looked at. It has penetrated the inner layers of metal on the edge of the door and the paint has pealed back – but does not show on the outside.
May 2010 – been a bit of a delay but the internal rust has been removed. Here’s what the panel section cutout looks like all cleaned up and treated inside.

Renewal of this site

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:12:46 +0000

I’m currently undertaking a renovation of this site and updating everything. I hope you find it more friendly and organised. Lots more current info coming and i’ve tried to bring the links and references up to date. It’s a long term project with little time available to do it…

btw – anyone who says you need to understand the technology involved in these cars to be able to appreciate them is lying. They [mostly and usually] look great, they drive like nothing much else on the road and they often generate conversation with strangers.

Spend less time fixing and more time driving them!

Also they drive better the faster you go

7 _ March _ 2010

Renovation to do list

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:07:04 +0000

Items I really need to do…

The organic nature of these cars is evident over some time – you start to realise nothing stands still or stays fixed and it will continue to degrade regardless of whether you drive it or not.

get synchro on gear 2 fixed
clean and repaint engine bay
maybe new steering wheel at some stage – current one has some heat damage but is covered currently with a leather wrap I made so no urgency to that
work out a way to better clean the dimpled edging vinyl/plastic fabric around floor/doorways step
maybe add temperature gauge and sender [not supplied on dspecial - and not urgently required]
retouch chrome paint on dash fittings and rechrome dial surrounds
rust removal and repaint of boot panel which has appeared as dots along the leading edge from the inside [which is a very common problem.] and the painted surface has crazed. I had the boot repainted and they did really bad job – it needs stripping again to bare metal.
repaint roof again due to compression marks in small section of the fibreglass roof panel – sort of like circular stress marks
de rust door edges and check drainage holes again – and respray with cavity wax.
check rubber drainage seals and replace any corroded ones
re-polish stainless hubcaps

Renovation process 2009

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:06:04 +0000

November 2009 – rear right wheel rubber boot replaced due to minor crack
December 2009 – replaced breather tube on engine. The rubber tube was bent and compressed.

Renovation process 2007

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:56:41 +0000

March 2007 – Wiring was all checked. Coil and Ballast resistor were replaced. {electrical things were not really working right as I was about to find out in a while}. Steering return pipe replaced. Exhaust tail pipe was patched/repaired where it connected to the muffler. LHM was replaced and filters cleaned.
May 2007 – Electrical connections in engine bay all checked and high tension leads replaced. [following sudden break down in the middle of Sydney city traffic and subsequent towing]
May 2007 – 6 days later - Ignition was replaced with 123 ignition system
December 2007 – Both rear suspension boots and pivot balls replaced, and knuckles cleaned and regreased and holding pins retensioned.

Renovation process 2006

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:32:36 +0000

January 2006 – Bought and fitted 2 new headlight mounts/units. The previous ones were degraded to a point where they needed to be re-mirrored.They were not the correct style and were ‘modern’ replacements that had been fitted in a complex fashion with perspex surrounds to mount them. It was very difficult to adjust them and make them work correctly with the self levelling system. It was easier to refit remanufactured ‘original’ style ones.
June 2006 – Hydraulic pump bit the dust and had to be replaced. All the seals and bearings were checked and replaced and fluids topped up again. The boot lid was taken off for a repaint due to cracks forming in surface. [this repaint was not entirely successful]
August 2006 – All LHM fluids were bled and replaced and filters cleaned. Brake fluids all bled and replaced. The instrument panel was replaced with excellent new identical one with no broken corners. The rehostat adjuster was replaced and all lights and bulbs checked and repaired in minor ways.

Renovation process 2005

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:18:29 +0000

January 2005 – OH NO! got hit by sudden major hailstorm with the car in the open – 10 minutes and 1-2cm+ in size – have to get about 13 small dents removed by paintless dent removal in the next two months [end of March 05 - delay due to local massive demand]. Surprisingly less damage than assumed at first – but about 2 impressions on almost every panel – but none to the fibreglass roof.
February 2005 – replaced spheres with rebuilt ones. Rewired main fuse boxes under hood to use one modern fuse box. This has fixed the ongoing headlights erratic behaviour where the main beams would drop out on one or other headlight due to dodgy contacts in the fuse boxes – [sanding surfaces just won't fix everything].
April 2005 – back from the paintless dent repairs – and a very smooth body work again! They even removed a tiny dent on one door from some careless person opening a door on one side in a carpark. All the windows were removed to do it and while they were off and out the door drain holes were checked and cleared and cavity wax sprayed inside the doors. Now to get some touchups done…
April 2005 – The large pulley wheel on the end of the camshaft behind the radiator has developed a strange wiggling noise and appears to be splitting. It is made from two flat sections riveted together and has two belts running from it. It needs the wheel replaced so I don’t lose hydraulics suddenly when the wheel splits apart.
July 2005 – Fully flushed gearbox and replaced oil with new synthetic fluid and Nulon additive. Gearbox oil Castrol Syntrax 75/90 with Nulon G70 additive
August 2005 – I found 2 new tail light rear lense units! they look good… the previous ones mounts were failing badly and were close to falling off. Also got a new set of Dspecial style boot seal rubbers.
September 2005 – Replaced left hand rear suspension rubber boot.

Renovation process 2004

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:50:35 +0000

February 2004 – Hydraulic system bled and regulator fully checked over. Brakes shoes were adjusted.
May 2004 – Spark plugs all replaced. Sump gasket replaced along with oil and filter. Hydraulic pump suction pipe replaced. Starter motor relay fitted. The Air filter was moving about and needed to be secured better.
June 2004 – Seemed to be getting bad batches of petrol around this time. Car kept dying and the spark plugs were blackening up all the time. Had to get the car towed and all the spark plugs replaced along with some fresh petrol to get it running again.
October 2004 – Both rear suspension return boots and left hand front suspenison boot replaced. Engine breather top flex pipe was replaced. All the pivot balls and knuckles were cleaned and regreased too.
December 2004 – Rocker cover gasket had a leak and was replaced during normal service.

Renovation process 2003

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:00:57 +0000

April 2003 – replace drivers window winder – sealed winding unit jammed open. Left hand light setup was checked as the wiring for it was playing up again.
July 2003 – gear box oil changed.
August 2003 – replaced fuel tank breather pipe. [nasty smell of petrol was coming into the car especially on cornering.]
September 2003 – Water pump failed and was rattling like crazy – New water Pump and new radiator core installed, New rear accumulator sphere [was leaking nitrogen- down to 1/3 pressure], back brakes were dirty and needed adjustment, and the very effective A9 was added to the Hydraulic system to flex it up a bit. Also the Fuse mounts were completely cleaned up to ensure better contacts. The high and low beams were erratic and would sometimes light up and sometimes not.
December 2003 – Right hand front suspension rubber boot replaced. Pivot ball and knuckle cleaned. A9 treatment added to engine oil.

Images post rebuild 2003

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:30:15 +0000

Images [ From April 2003] taken in Blue Mountains Sydney where I am located.

These were taken some time after the main renovation was completed and I had been driving it for a bit and decided to set up this site to document it and the renovation process.

All linked to larger images – also see the Flickr gallery