Replacement seat covers - preamble

In France this year was "Rassemblement du Siècle" or the Rally of the Century. Between July 19th and 21st at La Ferté Vidame, Perche saw 60,000 visitors and 10,000 vehicles including 4,200 Citroën models and numerous trade stands.

Amongst these trade stands was the ever helpful and talented Toon and Richard Langelaar from Citro-Classique  If you are going to buy any carpets or seat covers for your DS, these are the people to go to, the quality and attention to detail is flawless and at a reasonable price.

I sent Richard an email to save me a full set of seat covers in Caramel Jersey Velours rayé for the 1973 model year Pallas, he duly obliged then relieved me of €550 - worth every penny!

The "Jersey rayé" or striped Jersey trim was only available between 1970 and 1973 models after that it was superseded by "Jersey carré" or square Jersey trim on the 1974 & 1975 models years.

Nylon and foam after 46 years of sunlight and damp takes its toll, the nylon disintegrates and the foam turns to dust, the only solution is to remove the seats, strip them down and replace the seat upholstery and the foam padding/wadding.

The only special tools required for this job are hog ring pliers. Hog rings are like big staples, used to attach the upholstery to the foam and frame, the pliers are readily available and I bought mine through Amazon for £30.00 with 1,000 hog rings.

I started with the rear seat cushion as this was easily removed and looked more of a straight forward job, some of the deterioration can be seen below.

The foam padding can be seen here which has turned to dust

Hessian fabric was also used on the upholstery but was very fragile and threadbare

The nylon on the seat cover has deteriorated and vanished

Next... the rear seat cushion.

O/S/R Wing repairs

On my last post about the repairs on the O/S/R wing I mentioned how it was secured at the back with a single bolt for ease of removal. Obviously it is important that this bolt is secured firmly and that the wing is in good condition. The later was not the case on mine and could have had disastrous consequences. The section of wing surrounding the boss had fractured approximately 50% of the circumference and copious amounts of paint and underseal was disguising the fact.

Outside of the fracture which was covered with paint

Inside of the fracture after underseal was cleared away

I think the way forward on this repair will be to braze as the existing metalwork is quite thin. This will add plenty of material and is more forgiving.

O/S/R Wing repairs

The rear wings on the DS saloons are easily removed with one bolt at the rear, which is the same 19mm socket size as the wheel nuts, and secured at the front by two pegs that locate into rubber mounts in the wing closing panel. The reason behind the simplicity is obvious to DS owners who have ever removed a rear wheel as the wing has to be removed first. Even in the high suspension position there is insufficient clearance to remove the wheel with the wing in place.

O/S/R wing showing securing bolt (the big hole is for the rear reflector)

The closing panel with its seal that sits against the c-post was a trap for road dirt and moisture and hence severe corrosion was inevitable due to the lack of modern rust proofing techniques.

Fortunately replacement rear wings are available from the clever Dutch people, however, they are quite expensive. Alternatively, there are repair panels made for the common corrosions areas,  providing the rest of the wing is in sound condition this is a viable solution.

On the Pallas models additional trims and door rubbing strips were fitted, which looked nice, but created water traps and surface corrosion which now needs treating.

The next 5 photos show the extent of the corrosion and bad previous repairs.

Corrosion around inside lower mount near support brace

Corrosion around inside top mount

Corrosion around outside top mount

The photo below shows the location of the rubber seal that sits against the c-post and the tabs that secure the seal between the wing and rear door, both seals have long gone but replacements are available.

Corrosion around outside lower mount

Corrosion around inside support brace

After carefully measuring the original dimensions of the wing, cutting out the corroded areas can begin, this has been scribed to the repair panel which will be joggled underneath the cut. The next photos show the original dimensions and you can also see the surface corrosion caused by water being trapped in the trims and rubbing strips.

Bottom dimension

Top dimension

After a rough cut close to the scribe line with air shears I finished off with hand held tin snips, I find these more accurate and leave a better cut without distorting the metal. Care also has to be taken around where the support brace is welded in place.

Top of rear wing cut away

Bottom of rear wing cut away

Inside of rear wing cutaway avoiding support brace

After cutting back to good metal the paint and underseal is removed and the repair panel is offered up for a trial fit. Keeping to the original dimensions the panel is clamped in place and secured with Cleco fasteners.

Bottom of repair panel in palce

Top of repair panel

Location of support brace which will be plug welded to the repair panel

Cleco fasteners allow a temporary but secure solution to join two pieces of sheet metal together. They allow a trial fit and make any fine adjustments before being permanently welded in place.

Rear wing in place to check the fit and shut line against the rear door

Here you can see the plastic pegs on the c-post supporting the front of the wing

That's all for now, next step is to weld the panel in place... updates to follow.

New arrival

I met a few people at the Citroën Car Club National meeting this month at Abbots Ripton who were enquiring about the progress of my restoration. Along with blog followers noticing that my last post was November last year I thought I would offer an explanation. Well, work is still continuing on the nearside door bottoms the rear door now wanting a complete door skin. Progress has slowed down due to Christmas and Summer holidays, but the main reason is my Daughter, Lindsey, gave birth to our first Granddaughter, Harlow, in January.

Restoration blogs will be resumed to normal soon. In the meantime i am trying to book accomodation in La Ferté-Vidame, in Perche area, in France for the Citroen centenary celebrations in 2019... I fear I may have left it too late?

Harlow and I just chilling :)

N/S/F Door repairs

Just some photos of the cutting out the previous bad repairs and welding in repair panels.

Door before being stripped of rust and filler

Original bottom door hinge had been welded to the closing panel and had to be cut off

The bottom hinge mounting had to be repaired as the original was past saving

Front closing panel welded in place with new hinge bolted on

Trial fit of the lower inner closing panel

A view from inside showing both front and lower panels and lower hinge support

Inside view of rear and lower closing panel. I decided to joggle this panel to make the corner stronger

There are a few tack welds to hold everything in place so I can have a trial fit on the car to see if things align up properly. I will do the same with the rear door and the align the door skins as a pair to match the front and rear wings.

More to follow...

N/S Doors

Finally received a call from Ribble Technology to say my doors were ready for collection. I seemed to have been waiting for months but they have done a excellent job. They have been stripped of all paint, sealer, filler etc down to bare metal then de-rusted and phosphate coated then finally a electrostatic epoxy primer. The door bottoms have had previous (bad) repairs carried out but are in better condition than I expected. The top of the doors need the usual stress fractures sorting out by brazing, the metal is very thin here and I think I need to weld in a plate in the N/S/R inner.

I will post updates when the cutting and welding begins.

Door handles

Citroën Classics supply new reproduction door handles for the DS... and very good they are to. The original chrome on the DS models was not of the best quality and 44 years on there was not much of it left, what little was left was flaking off and becoming dangerous as the slithers are very sharp. Fortunately there were very few chrome parts fitted to the DS most being stainless steel or aluminium, apart from the door handles there were the boot lid hinges on the Pallas, door and boot lock barrels and interior lamp surrounds.

Now on with removing the N/S doors and preparing them for stripping.