Resurrection

Mid September 2014, Richard and I met at the barn to assess my DS. With a young family at home, and a two hour round trip to the barn and back, any time I spent there at the weekend had to be planned and negotiated in advance so that it didn't take away from family time. Richard and I caught up on time lost - awkwardly at first. But with my new 'bug' it was good to be renewing a friendship and talking 'DS' once again and greedily I filmed his DS in action to get my 'fix'.

Richard's DS  - Big Barn, 14 September 2014

Taking a selection of tools and torches, cables and work lamps, I entered the small barn with a beating heart.  Squeezing past other vehicles and obstacles, we got to my DS. No mean feat in itself. This was the scene:

I lifted the bonnet once more - to find a rat sitting inside looking back at me! It shambled off a little startled but in no particular hurry. We set to work. We rigged up some lights. I cleared off the cushions and boxes and took the roof off  - which had just been sitting on the cant rails - to give us better access. making use of a handy compressor we got some air in the tyres and managed to push the DS back a foot or so to give standing room in front of the bonnet. We took stock:

With the battery having been removed many years ago, there were a few stray wires on the solenoid of the positive terminal. We set about cleaning electrical contacts and trying to work out which wires were which. 

Dodgy Wiring - September 2014

 Oil and water levels were checked - as were LHM levels. With a feed pipe from a can of petrol connected up, and use of the battery from Richard's DS, we managed to get the engine to turn over. At least it wasn't seized! However it stubbornly refused to fire. When I turned on the ignition key, the Jaeger clock stopped ticking. Something was wrong somewhere. More checking of circuits and tinkering with wires but still it wouldn't fire. Very confusing as, through testing,  we could see we had a spark on each plug. We gave up for the day and I came home to do some head scratching.

There was another failed attempt at the end of October, but I wasn't ready to give up that easily. I bit the bullet and made an investment. I ordered some new plugs and leads, new points and condenser from Citroen Classics at the beginning of November and, once they'd arrived,  Richard and I had a third attempt.

Things went the way they did before: engine turned and battery slowly started to flatten. We checked and re-checked wires and plug gaps and tried again. We had a feed from the coil, a feed to the distributor and sparks at each plug, but still no joy. Damn, this was hard! I went home despondent.

Suspect Coil - 30 October 2014

I bought a new coil. Several weeks passed and it was the end of November before I could find the time to get to the barn again. Richard and I went through the same process of setting up, by now probably doubting that things would be any different. With each visit I had had to bear the gentle mocking of Doug the mechanic and his team who saw the car as a lost cause and me a no-hoper. We cleaned the plugs and checked the gaps. we tested the feed to the coil and to the distributor. Richard connected up the battery and I attached the fuel feed line from the petrol can. I took a gulp and turned the key.

This time there was a splutter from the engine as it tried to catch. My heart skipped a beat and Richard and I both let out a triumphant "YES!". I tried again and it sprung into life! We'd only gone and bloody done it! We let it run for a while, both amazed that we had coaxed it back into life. 30 November 2014.

One thing I noticed was the coolant level dropping between our visits. Thirsty rats? With the engine running a puddle of coolant was gradually forming under the nearside. Investigation (blowing hard into the radiator) showed this to be from somewhere under the inlet manifold with a split hose being the main suspect. That quibble aside, the car had passed it's first major test: proof of concept. As a running car, it was a viable project!

The next challenge would be to get the DS out of the corner and into a more accessible part of the barn where I would be able to work on it........