On carburetted ID19, DS19, DS21 and DS23 with Weber or Solex carburettors fitted there is a chance that the brass fuel supply fitting that is pressed into the carburettor body could work loose. This is completely easy to accept as they are of dissimilar metals and decades of heating and cooling will eventually loosen it due to galvanic corrosion (in this case the aluminium body wears away). The consequences of a loose fitting spraying fuel into a hot engine bay can be, needless to say, catastrophic.
I found an old Citroën modification notice that the insert for the fuel pipe on the carburettor could come out of the body, the fix was to lock it place with a length of locking wire and a hose clip, the objective was the hose clip clamped the fuel pipe to the insert and the locking wire stopped the insert from falling out. A new section of 8mm (5/16") fuel hose was fitted as well.
After removing the carburettor top recently to give it a clean, I was surprised how easily the brass fuel pipe insert came out of the aluminium body. I decided a more secure and permanent solution was required. Locking wire may stop the fitting from dropping out but on a heavily corroded carburettor body fuel could still spray out.
I decided to replace the brass insert with an 1/8" BSPT brass tail hose fitting which was purchased from
Tom Parker Ltd for the princely sum of £2.04
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| Original brass pipe fitting which was very loose |
The original brass hose fitting is 8mm diameter and the drilling size for 1/8" BSPT is 8.4mm so being the aluminium body is quite soft and probably slightly corroded away the tap will cut very well without having to drill the hole out. Removal of the carburettor top is not necessary but as it is quite easy to remove I would recommend this for two reasons, tapping the hole is much easier with the carburettor body in the soft jaws of a bench vice and you can clean any swarf away more effectively.
The internal fuel filter gauze was removed first along with the float and needle valve as not to cause any damage whilst tapping, any swarf was blown out with compressed air. The new fitting was screwed in with PTFE tape for good measure.
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| 1/8 BSPT tap |
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| New pipe tail fitted to carburettor body |
It is now a simple matter of rebuilding and refitted with a new external fuel filter.
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| Carburettor built up and back on the car with new fuel hose and clip |
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