Forgot to post up yesterday's update...
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We had a little bit of excitement this morning while I was putting the Xantia in for the MOT in that the 2CV decided that mashed against the floor was a good place for the throttle pedal to sit - irrespective of whether my foot was on it or not.
Didn't take long to figure out why...
That's the throttle return spring which should be hooked up between the throttle linkage on the carb and the fan cowling up front.
Cable ties were deployed to get me home.
I did experiment with the spring a bit to see if I could bend a new loop in the end, but irrespective of whether heat was used or not it just kept snapping off...and a new spring is only £3.50, so it's not worth spending too much time on really.
So we went back to the cable tie solution for the time being, albeit slightly more tidily routed than the original one.
After that the car was driven back over to and reunited with its owner.
I believe the next patient that we might be seeing here is an early AX which is refusing to idle properly at the moment.
Despite the slight excitement with the throttle setup on the 2CV flying to bits the Xantia has *finally* gone successfully through the MOT so is once more roadworthy. With the 2CV back at home I was able to fit everything back off the road. If it were still here something would have had to be moved outside or put behind the Jag on the lawn. The plan is to extend the driveway or to put a grid down to give us more space - not least because currently getting in or out of the garage with a car is a major faff.
I noticed when getting into the Xantia this morning that the rear wiper blade had completely disintegrated...but knew I had a genuine replacement in my parts stash so swapped that over. Wouldn't usually be worthy of note but for the fact that it's actually got a Citroen logo printed on it.
I do wonder how much of a markup that added!
I do have the trim for the end of the arm but it's not a very good fit so lives in the glove box as I've always been afraid it would vanish if I left it on the wiper arm.
Had honestly forgotten how rapid this car is once the boost arrives...
Few things still on the to do list for it.
[] Reset Activa system ride height, as unsurprisingly with the whole front end pretty much having been apart it's gone awry and the offside front is sitting about an inch lower than it should.
[] She's due a timing belt.
[] Rear brake discs & pads.
[] Do *something* about the paint.
We'll get moving on this lot soon hopefully.
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Fast forward to today:
Having been out for a proper drive now I can vouch for the fact that these have hugely improved the Xantia.
For a start the slight vibration at 70 has totally gone. Secondly the grip (which was already impressive because Activa) is now absolutely ridiculous. Thirdly they're massively more compliant than the old Michelins which they replaced. It's made the ride far better and vastly reduced the tendency for the car to crash over sharp ridges in the road surface (which has always been the biggest weakness of the oliopneumatic suspension).
Will be curious to see how it is once we've got a new set of spheres on as I know the rears in particular are very tired.
I had forgotten how annoying the creak from the offside front was though...really might need to put some energy into seeing if we can resolve that. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that the car is so quiet and refined otherwise that it puts many moderns to shame...it just makes the strut that does a passable impression of a creaky door in a haunted house seem so much louder.
Something I was particularly pleased to see at the MOT though was the result of the emission test. We've got pretty much every bit of paperwork for this car from the original bill of sale onwards, and we're pretty certain that this is the original 26 year and 140K mile cat.
Oh...and this was running on six month old fuel as well.