Merry Christmas

Just a quick note to wish all my readers a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
As of today I am exactly 2 months behind my schedule to have my car on the road by next September, this is largely due to work and Christmas/family commitments and some unexpected welding jobs. Hopefully I will make this time up in the next few months, keep reading.

Fuel pipe

Fuel and LHM return pipes run along the o/s sill these have been refitted with grommets which were previously had no support.

Pipework exiting the o/s sill section

Before

o/s/r elephants ear

New o/s/r closing panel 'elephants ear' welded in place with new rubber and painted black.

Drivers floor

Where the drivers floor meets the brake pedal assembly, there is a support plate which had suffered quite bad corrosion. This has been removed and re-fabricated. New clutch pedal rubber fitted also.

Before

After, accelerator pedal cleaned and painted and new clutch pedal rubber

Sound deadening pads fitted

Rear suspension

There is a tiny hole that needs welding, probably ½ hour work however, to do it properly the rear suspension arm has to come off. The boot is stripped out so the screwed ring and clamp that joins the anti roll bar to the arm had easy access. After pipework and the suspension cylinder was disconnected this left 3 nuts to remove and the arm was off (after a bit of persuasion) There is quite a weep of LHM from the rear cylinder and the boot is split, I have all the parts to recondition this so decided to remove the cylinder. The rear sphere was removed and the clamp removed that secures the cylinder in place along with the pipework, according to the manual "the cylinder is then removed towards the front of the vehicle"... yeah right! after 2 hours with WD40, sweat, tears and a hot air gun it came out.

Now I can get on with the welding and restoring the suspension.

Inside the boot with anti roll bar disconnected

Area to be welded is circled here

Rear arm and suspension removed

Rear suspension cylinder stripped and cleaned, rebuilt with new seals

Cylinder gaiter being refitted - this starts off inside out

Suspension cylinder rebuilt ready to go back on vehicle

Rear arm bearings cleaned and inspected okay, so re-greased and built back up

New rear brake pipe bracket that had corroded away

And welded in place

New rear suspension bump/rebound stops welded in place and sealed

Welding finished and area cleaned and sealed
 Schutz applied all over apart from where the arm bolts on, this is waxed later

Anti roll bar cleaned and greased before refitting
Bolts cleaned and new threadlock applied

Rear suspension cylinder refitted

New rear suspension sphere and seal
Will have to replace pipework later on

Welding

Too busy to blog, so I'm just posting some pictures of the progress for now.

Stripping out the interior

O/S/F jacking point cut out and some repair panels being welded in

New jacking point welded in place with new gussets

O/S/F floor cut out and inner sill repaired

O/S/R floor cut out and inner sill repaired around seat belt anchor point

Black holes

Hmmm... Don't really know where to start but here goes.
Went to the ICCCR at Harrogate and bought some really good looking repair panels for the sills and floor, jacking points etc. as mine have disappeared into black holes! So started to strip the interior ready for cutting out some rusty metal. I will post some pics of the progress but as this is very labour intensive I wont be blogging to much, keep checking back!

N/S floor center

N/S/F corner

N/S jacking point

N/S/R boot floor

N/S/R floor corner

Started by stripping out the interior. Front and rear seats removed and carpet, fuel tank out and pipework. 

Stripping out the interior

On the drivers side the inner sill is not too bad, the floor has taken the biggest hit, this will have to be cut out and new panels welded in, some work is needed around the pedal plate as well.

Tin worms been at pedal box

The worst of the corrosion on the inner sill O/S/F corner

O/S/F jacking point with fuel and hydraulic pipes removed

Rear brakes

The rear brakes are quite serviceable, however, the lining on the shoes are wearing quite thin. The wheel cylinders are not leaking and the pistons are free to move. The brake drum is showing very little signs of internal wear although the outside is rusty. New brake shoes are to be fitted and seal kits for the wheel cylinders. The brake pipe from the wheel cylinder to the flexible pipe has corroded badly and was removed in pieces, so a replacement has been made from cunifer. Pictures shown are the O/S the same treatment was for the N/S

Brake drum removed, this was shotblasted, skimmed and painted with black enamel.

Wheel cylinder stripped down, the body was honed inside and painted outside.
Pistons polished with 2000 grit wet and dry paper, new seals and dust covers replaced.
Here we can see the broken brake pipe as well.

 All built up ready for adjusting cams and eccentrics.

Tool made for adjusting the bottom eccentrics so the shoes line up with the top cams.
You can use an old brake drum for this, but I think this is more accurate.

Carburettor trouble

The base of the carburettor has warped over time causing air to be drawn into the manifold. This causes a rich mixture and rough running.

Here we can see the carburettor base warped by about 1.5mm.

Thanks to Darrin of Citroen Classics for the advice. This is a common problem and with some careful filing the base was straightend and the holes for the studs re-drilled at 90 degrees. While the carb was off it had a good clean with all the jets blown out, new gaskets etc. The carb was refitted and the mixture and idle speed adjusted.

Float height cheked at 5mm and new gasket fitted.

The carburettor base after filing, a little blue hylomar around the edges just to make sure.

New insulator and gaskets on inlet manifold.

Carburettor refitted ready to adjust mixture and idle speed.

Gear change bushes

The gear change bushes are notorious for perishing giving a gear change like stirring soup, so both ends of the rod have had the bushes replaced and adjusted.

New rubber bush and rilsan half bushes replaced both ends.

LHM suction feed

Replaced the LHM suction feed pipe from the filter to the HP pump with new hydraulic pipe and new mirex buckles. The old pipe was a bit of a stretch at 800mm so the new one was cut a bit longer.

New pipe sleeve and mirex buckle.

A piece of brown sleeving was added for heat shielding the top hose.

Accumulator

The accumulator stores a reserve of 62 bar pressure for the suspension and steering. Without it the hydraulic pump will continually try to keep up with pressure demand, which it can't do. This is not good for the pump and makes steering and suspension unresponsive and unsafe. The accumulator is similar to a suspension sphere as it has a diaphragm with nitrogen gas under pressure but without a damper valve. It screws onto the pressure regulator which cuts in and out according to demand. Replacing the accumulator is 10 steps back but well worth doing. Removal of the complete unit is required to unscrew the accumulator along with some other equipment, battery alternator etc.

Regulator and accumulator removed from car.

Here's a handy tool I made to remove spheres.
Needed a 5 foot long jack handle on the end as well!

New seals wetted with LHM.

Complete unit again ready for refitting.

Back on the car with new pipe seals and obligatory yellow paint marks.