Let there be light!

I was debating whether to change the old filament bulbs in my dash gauges for modern LED equivalents. LED bulbs produce less heat and are much brighter than their filament cousins. They also can be fitted with no modification required to your vehicle - providing you obtain the correct ones of course.

I decided to perform this upgrade when I found it increasingly difficult to tell if my main beams were on or off. The reason for this is due to the blue filter, which with age loses its translucency.

In addition I found that the speedometer and tachometer were also quite faint at night, so these two were to be replaced also. These are not bayonet fittings but a flat blade type fitment. Two bulbs are required and these bulbs also illuminate the petrol gauge and the water temperature gauge, if fitted.

It wasn't difficult at all to order the correct bulbs I required first time. This was due to Gil Keane who runs a company called 4Sight automotive. Gil has been involved with classic cars for many years and was very helpful and knowledgeable following a call which resulted in an order. He also offers a complete money back guarantee if you're not happy with the result. My requirement was that I didn’t want the light to be too harsh and I think the result is quite good. Gil also advised that a blue light for the main beam would make it less harsh.

The result, I can finally see my gauges properly! One thing to note with LEDs, is that the dimmer knob becomes redundant since LEDs run at a constant brightness, turning the dimmer knob down will result in the LEDs not lighting up at all. Edit...I have since been informed that Gil can provide a rheostat that can be used in conjunction with LEDs.

Water temperature gauge installation

Water temp gauge now installed

Not all D's were created equal and as such not all had a water temperature gauge, my 1971 DS Pallas certainly didn't have one and like many which have the later style dashboard you'll find that if you don't have a temperature gauge there will still be a space for one in your instrument panel, opposite where your petrol gauge is located.

Since I like to keep an eye on data relating to the engine's condition I definitely wanted to install the gauge and especially since fitting one wouldn't alter much of the originality of the vehicle.

Once the gauge and temperature sender was sourced, thanks to Citroen Classics, I set forth to fit it and was pleasantly surprised how easy and rewarding it was. What's more the factory service manual takes you though each step, see FSM  814 Volume 2, "Fitting water temperature gauge".

Here's how I did it (this does not replace the advice in the FSM but just provides some added commentary):

Step 1 - Disconnect battery.

Step 2 - Undo speedo cable join from engine bay, usually located by right side of engine 

Step 3 - Unscrew the 4 screws located on the instrument panel

Step 4 - I had to remove the steering column trim since I couldn't manage to lever the instrument panel out, but this is easy as it's secured by two bolts underneath.

Step 5 - Carefully pull the instrument panel out

Step 6 - Unscrew the speedo cable from the speedometer and unplug the 3 plug connectors (they are colour coordinated and only go in one way so no chance of getting them mixed up).

You will now have the instrument panel in your hands. Good opportunity to renew any bulbs that may need renewing, the next steps are as follows:

without the temp. gauge installed

Step 1 - Pull off the two knobs on the front of the instrument panel, you will find that it's impossible to do so by hand. I did it by wrapping some material around it and then gripping gently the shaft of the plastic knob with a long nose plier. The next step is to use a wooden spoon (wooden spatula would work also) between the pliers and the instrument panel to lever against the plier and the panel. This technique worked well and it doesn't mark the trim in any way. 

Step 2 - Unscrew the 4 bolts which connect the front of the instrument panel to the rear of it

with the temp. gauge installed

Step 3 - You now can remove the front of the panel and clean the plastic lenses easily on both sides, it also reveals the blanking plate which covers the space where your gauge will be fitted.

Step 4 - remove this blanking plate, you'll find that if you push from the top it easily pops out.

Step 5 - there is a strip of black tape on the rear of the panel, you will need to remove this which will reveal 3 bolt holes and two holes which serve as locating holes for the water temperature gauge

Step 6 - the gauge can only go in one way, and once position screw the 3 philips bolts in place and your done.

The next step is to fit the water temperature sender, which on my car is located on the "water pump mounting housing" (not the water pump). A blanking plug needs to be removed which allows you to insert the sender. I've not done this yet as one school of thought says that the complete water pump needs to be removed as if you try to remove the plug it can strip itself and ruin the threads, jury is till out on what i will do and after asking a few people I'll make a decision on how to proceed.

Major update....., SHE'S ALIVE!!

I received an email from Darrin Brownhill of Citroen Classics on Friday afternoon which  was very well received. I had asked Darrin if it were possible to take a video of Celia starting once he was at that stage during the recommissioning and what I received made my day!

What's more she started first time, a great feat if you consider she hasn't moved in 21 years! Thank you Darrin for all your hard work. So far so good, with no stuck clutch or seized brakes and she sounded pretty smooth too!

Here's the clip >>: Click Here

Bonjour to Forum Citroen Classic!

My Blog has made it to the French Citroen forum "Forum Citroen Classic". It was a nice surprise and a big Bonjour to any new French friends I make from this inclusion and a big thank you to my friend Alain for adding it.

Forum Citroen Classic is worth visiting; it's well laid out with a for sale section, wanted ads, a very interesting links area as well as the forum of course. It has given me good reason to go up to the attic and search for my old school French text books!

Why not take a look yourself:  Forum Citroen Classic 

43 years old today!!

Well it's been a while since I posted an update and today I thought it would be quite fitting to do so especially due to the significance of the day, 10th May. Well according to the Citroen Conservatoire, 43 years to the day, in 1971 Celia was manufactured at the Javel Factory in Paris.

All they required to provide this information and more was the following details:

• a copy of the certificate of ownership and/or sale or transfer document (any official document that proves that you own the vehicle)
• a photo of the vehicle or the registration plates
• any number found on the vehicle (bodysheel, bodywork, engine, etc)
• a cheque or standing oder payable to Automobiles Citroen 50Euro per car to be identified in order to cover administration costs
• your postal addres to receive your order

What they also prove to you is whether your car, if a Pallas model, is in fact an authentic Pallas vehicle or one that has been converted to Pallas spec some time in its life. I was pleased to discover mine was a Pallas! Not that I would in any way wish to sound like a snob or anything! It's just a case of it being reassuringly what it is supposed to be.

If you are interested in the history and authenticity of your own Citroen vehicle then I would recommend you contact the Conservatoire and they will be happy to perform the research, for a fee of course, follow link for further information: Citroen Conservatoire

Sadly there was no fond tapping of the steering wheel to wish Celia a happy birthday as she is currently at the Health Spa in Staines aka Citroen Classics, but Darrin Brownhill, assured me he was going to send her regards on my behalf....! Darrin, I will be checking!!!! :)

No presents for Celia apart from those I mentioned for her rejuventation but if you take a closer look at the photo of Celia above, you will notice directly above her a Citroen lamp. This was recently purchased from ebay and originally came from Citroen Banbury where I am told it was used in the 80s as part of a display rack. I like it a lot and it also serves the purpose of illuminating the rear of the garage quite well.

Off to Citroen Classics, Staines, UK

With all good intentions, I had wanted to work on Celia myself. This is the best way to get to know your car and provided you are; armed with a workshop manual, have a good set of tools, take it slowly, take loads of photos to aid reassembly and lean on expert advice when needed then there is no reason why it's not possible to do a good job at home. This is all on the caveat that you've already practised on something else in the past and know your limitations! There's always a great feeling of satisfaction doing it yourself and gives you the insight of what could be wrong when something eventually does fail. It will also mean that you develop the skill that most classic car owners who work on their cars aquire which is the ability to know where a bolt has come from by merely looking at the thing and judging it's relative position on the garage floor!

Saying all this, I eventually decided against getting her running myself for a couple of reasons, the main one being that my garage is too small, I can barely get in and out of the car never mind having the space to work on her. There was also the fact that the car hadn't been run for over 20 years and I thought I'd let someone who knows what their doing take a look first and get her running for me so she can be a reliable base for me to get to know her and slowly start doing smaller jobs as and when required.

Since my DS was fuel injected I decided to choose a company that had good experience in injected DS's and for this reason and the fact they came highly recommended on the GBU list as well as with D owners I enquired with, I chose Citroen Classics based in Staines. I spoke to Darrin Brownhill who runs the company with his wife Kristina, in early January and due to their popularity and the queuing system they run it wasn't until now that they could see me.



Rust particles from draining the fuel tank

Before I had arranged to see Darrin I had ordered a new Stainless Steel exhaust from P.D.Gough as well as an injection fuel tank from L'Atelier 524 in France (see useful links). The tank arrived very quickly from Alain Gauchoux who is a pleasure to deal with and it didn't disappoint (his English is perfect which makes us non French speakers lives a lot easier!). The tank looks exactly as the original piece that it will replace. The reason I chose to replace the tank was due to rust particles I encountered when draining the fuel tank. This is very common when petrol has been left sitting in a fuel tank for many years. My old injection tank will be available for sale at some point for anyone wishing to go down the repair route, let me know if you may be interested.

The remit I gave Darrin was as follows:

• Major service
• Replace engine fuel lines 
• Fit supplied fuel tank and exhaust system
• Fit front and rear inertia seatbelts (under parcel shelf)
• Recondition cylinder head, replacing sodium exhaust valves with solid valves
• Advise of anything else that needs doing
• Get her through an MOT

As for the seatbelts I had front ones fitted but they were not inertia ones and I decided to have the rear seat belts fitted under the parcel shelf as it makes for a much neater installation as it means the bulky inertia mechanism is out of sight. It made sense to also change the front to inertia belts, there's nothing more frustating then being pinned in the drivers seat and not being able to reach forward when you need to. It also means the front and rear webbing would match -  Darrin has done a few of these installs and his supplier can produce the webbing in an array of colours and styles, it was therefore great having the option of choosing a contrasting webbing that will compliment my interior.

Before she was loaded onto the trailer I did a quick wheel swap since I am having the original steel wheels powder coated.

To say I am really looking forward to Darrin getting stuck in and getting the car on the road is an understatement.... and what with the DSM Rally coming up on 8-10th June at Little Horwood,MK17 0PF it will be nice to be an exhibitor rather then  a spectator for once!



Wheel swapping before the trip to Staines









Off to Citroen Classics..

To do list

The biggest pre-requisite was to get her running and I wasn't prepared to just try and start her either, 20 year old fuel which has had that long to ferment in a tank can turn to varnish which is not a good treat to the injectors, a carburetor is more forgiving. There are also a number of other things that you need to consider, the fuel tank will most definitely have had time to corrode and contain rust particles and even if you did get her started then aged high pressure rubber fuel lines have already been known to burst and have claimed many a fuel injected D to engine fires, beware and replace it's not expensive and is just good practice. For further reading go here.

The photo above show's what need's to be changed (make sure you also change all the injector hoses). Changing the rubber fuel lines is doubly important in this day and age of Euro decrees, which has seen the increase in the amount of Ethanol in petrol - which is also set to rise. Ethanol breaks down rubber and hence ethanol resistant fuel injected hose should be purchased as a matter of course. There is an interesting article on Ethanol in Petrol on the TR Register's website if you'd like to read more.

In the same light of prevention is better then cure, I decided to have the cylinder head reconditioned since all injected DS series cars had sodium filled exhaust valves and when a car has been sitting for long periods of time it has been known, especially on Citroen SMs, that corrosion can occur within the hollow valve. This has the cause of alarm since the valves can snap causing major engine disaster. The solution is to replace them with solid exhaust valves. Why sodium filled valves to begin with you may ask? They were used to aid cooling but there doesn't appear to be anyone I've spoken to who feels that solid ones will be disadvantages to cooling in a DS, which begs the question as to why were they fitted to begin with... I am sure someone knows?

Another to do will be to fit rear seat belts since I don't have any, I believe since they were not fitted as standard then it is not a prerequisite for me to have them fitted but this is where I draw the line on originality. 

Before

Here's a last to do which is actually a done.  I got a spare day to work on the car and I decided to get round to respraying the air cleaner which had started to corrode on the outside and was looking a sorry state. It was a case of taking it back to bare metal and spraying it with 3-4 coats of paint and a couple more of laquer. I was pleased with the result and like most things involving paint it's all in the prep. The only other words of wisdom I can bestow is don't over spray in an area as the runs are very hard to get out.

The way I took it to bear metal was simply with sandpaper, it just takes time and quite a lot of it but at least you have control of how much needs sanding, I then rigged my own spray booth using bin liners, it worked a treat!

That's all till next time...

After

Celia's home!

Snug, but dry

Each time I opened the garage door I spontaneously smiled, both inside and out, there she was all snug and dry in her new home, with snug being the operative word.

As you probably gathered and can see, my garage isn't very wide. I had already done my homework on the dimensions and I knew she would fit but quite how practical it would be to get myself in and out I didn't quite know. Luckily there is enough room providing the car is parked very close to the wall. This is where having both sides of the wall fitted with a meter wide strip of carpet comes in handy and is a modification everyone with a narrow garage should consider.

Now she was home also meant that I could finally see what I had purchased with scrutiny. The colour was one I had not see before.  It's a kind of a clay brown colour and one which I think suits the car really well. The strange thing is, is that it's not a colour that was available for 1971. A great reference on Citroen DS colours is Doctor Danche's website dedicated to the colours of the DS. The only brown that Citroen widely used on the D range which  is remotely similar is Brun Pallissandre a 1962 colour but even that doesn't appear completely right.

Photos can be misleading, colour is not like this in real life

When photographed, the colour sometimes looks maroon and I've known it to be mistaken for the colour Bordeaux a 1967-1971 colour. I later found photos of my car on facebook which were taken at the auction and the camera definitely lied. What is also interesting about these photos and photos I received since is that it shows a Citroen CX Prestige in the pictures. This Citroen CX was owned by the same gentlemen that owned my car and apparently he also ran a Citroen AX - a true Citroen man through and through!

Well back to this mysterious colour, the first natural reaction is to assume she has been resprayed at some point however there does not appear any obvious clue to this.  A possible colour change perhaps, all panels off and taken back to metal but this would have been very expensive and unusual to do so if so. This is something I will be investigating  further with a few specialists who know where to look in order to conclusively solve this riddle.

Old dried up banana!

As mentioned previously, when I purchased Celia I performed a cardinal sin, which was to not remove the rear saw bar cover and check for corrosion. When home I had some trouble getting the cover off following the removal of the bolts, I thought this was a bad sign of nasties lurking behind but the only nasty I encountered was a dried up old banana skin and lots of dust and fiber material from the boot lining. It felt quite good that providing this area was in tact the prognosis for the rest of the car would look fairly good too.

The main areas of corrosion that are visible are the left and the right boot rain gutters and some minor surface corrosion on the bodywork, so far so good.

Years of dust (21 to be precise)

I was pleased to see that the engine turned, and the engine bay looked complete and unmessed with, with no strange looking aftermarket wiring in there, which can always cause confusion and be a nightmare to put right.

What was interesting was a few marks near the starter motor which had obviously failed at some point and the owner was trying to coax her into starting, I wondered... Was that why she was retired to the garage in the first place?

As far as the interior goes, the Velour Or seats at first sight look to have done very well in lasting so long and I had hoped to preserve them. I've now decided that this was a pipe dream since sitting in the car a couple of times has brought home the delicate nature of the fabric which is going brittle with age and tearing easily. This is primarily down to Sun exposure and age, it was fun vacuuming the seats and having to pat 21 years of dust which was quite a feat. I would like to source a cloth interior which is very close to the original but I've not managed to do so yet, so any ideas please let me know.

Marchal Amplilux headlamps

Marchal Ampliliux, reflector turned brown

On closer examination of my headlights I noted that words were stamped on the front of them which read, "Marchal Amplilux". After some time researching I discovered that not all D series had them and those that did were privileged since they were an expensive optional extra and gave the best light output at the time. Daniel Stern of Daniel Stern lighting in the US is a wealth of information when it comes to bulbs and headlamps and after dropping him an email I was by far the wiser, I quote his correspondence below:

"The Amplilux wasn't just one specific lamp. It was Marchal's name for their twin-bulb/single-lens headlamp range. These existed because the world's first halogen headlight bulb, the H1, arrived in 1962 (with H2 and H3 following in the next few years) but it wasn't until 1972 that the worlds first two-filament halogen headlight bulb (H4) came to be. In the meantime, the only way to have halogen dip and main beam from one headlamp was two single-filament bulbs each with its own reflector in the common housing behind a common lens. All the major makers had lamps like this. Cibie called theirs "Biode".

Various Amplilux models used different bulb combinations in accord with the packaging

constraints of the particular lamp in question. In almost every case an H1 was used for the dip beam. Main beam was usually H1, sometimes H3, occasionally H2."

Mine happen to be H1/H1 and the dual reflector and dual bubs engineered into each light assembly made these lights very expensive to manufacture but the Marchal lights were the very best solution until dual filament halogen bubs were available in the mid 70s. The high manufacturing cost and the dual filament halogen bubs (H4) eventually killed the production of these lights.

As you can see my lower reflector has turned brown and at first I wasn't sure why but on speaking to a couple of people it was confirmed that the reflectors have turned rusty over the years. Sadly this is an all too common occurence for this type of lamp. I will look into getting a good second hand set or new old stock if I am lucky. There is also the option of rechroming which will be my last resort. Brighter lighting options are available but I'd rather keep Celia as true as possible as when she left the Javel Factory in Paris 1971.

Celia's coming home.....

Well Celia was finally on her way home and in my mind once home she would really feel like mine and reality would sink in. It would provide the proof that this wasn't just a dream, proof that I had not just found any Citroen DS but I had managed to find my DS, one which ticked all my boxes even the ones I thought I'd need to compromise on. Even the colour was to my liking but more to come on this... 

Before she got home my main concern was how to get her here safely. My D had not started in over 20 years and a non starting D isn't easy to move - without the engine driving the hydraulic pump the suspension will not rise and the car will just sit cm's away from the floor. A D that is sitting on the floor is in no condition to be moved anywhere due to the risk of seriously scrapping/denting the underneath.

A plan therefore needed to be put in place, what made things harder was the fact that even though my garage had a nice flat solid surface the driveway was graveled, which would make it impossible to push the car in and out of the garage. I had considered hiring a trailer and bringing her home myself, I had seen how carefully placed planks of wood could be positioned to get the car onto the trailer, providing the trailer was left unhooked so it could tilt back as you loaded it. The trailer would need a winch of course. I quickly went off this route simply due to the risks involved, especially as I wouldn't have a helper that day - not to mention the fact that the car wouldn't be fully insured if anything untoward occurred on the journey or even when loading. Hiring a professional with a slide and tilt recovery truck seemed to be a good and safer option but pricey,  I also knew a recovery man named Chris that had a flat bed style recovery vehicle but this style of truck would have made it impossible to load. 

This was further confirmed when I spoke to Chris -  he wouldn't be able to get her on his truck unless she could lift. One option I considered was the trick  of disconnecting the coil and turning the engine to allow the starter motor to turn the hydraulic pump which will eventually lift the vehicle off the ground. This method works providing you have a fresh battery, LHM in the tank and no hydraulic leaks. It looked like the route I'd be taking for the Monday morning but the weekend had to pass by first, and a better idea was about to come to light.

That weekend was the Citroen Car Club's (CCC) Technical event which was held at Graham Morton Vehicle Services in Holmbridge. The CCC technical weekends are organised around the country and are held at various Citroen specialists across the UK. To me they've become the highlight of my calendar, spending the day or weekend with like minded people who want to learn about their cars in the safety of expert eyes is a great opportunity and the fact that drinks and nibbles are supplied is a bonus. Graham Morton specialises in older Citroen's and a nice crowd of us gathered around Nigel Wild and Graham who provided great insight and were available to answer all of our many questions. We also had the chance to get a D up on the ramps and have a good look underneath. During the course of events Graham showed a group of us a cylindrical plastic object 25mm in diameter and approximately 100cm in length, none of us could guess what it was for. 

When it's role was revealed, it turned out to be the solution I had been looking for and Graham kindly gave me a length he had left over which when home I subsequently cut into 4 equal pieces. These hard plastic rods are inserted into the suspension ram/cylinders and keep the car raised permanently by exerting a downward force on the ram piston. The first step is to depressurise the system, jack each corner up at a time and remove the sphere,  insert the plastic rod into the cylinder/ram, screw the sphere back on and bring that side back down. Great I thought, the car is finally mobile and can be wheeled about with ease, exactly what I needed. I later found out that this is an old tip and traditionaly broom handles have been used, if you are to use wood its important to use wood that doesn't splinter easily, so don't jump to the broom handle too quickly...!

Now that the car was at a respectable height she was winched onto the flat bed with ease. One thing to note when securing a DS on a recovery truck, it's a good idea to take the rear wings off as it makes it easier to secure the wheel straps around the rear wheels and on to the flat bed. For further information I thoroughly recommend reading the CCC forum sticky on Towing a DS.

The  journey home was straight forward with no dramas, I didn't expect any either as I had used Chris before, 07588 561469, he owns his own truck and drives it himself. Using a reputable one man show has its merits, overheads are lower which leads to great rates and since the buck ends with one man there is pride in giving a good service.

I slept well that night knowing that Celia was home, and I looked forward to properly examining her over the coming days and weeks.