Preparation

Christmas 2014 came and went before I was able to get back to the barn again. The thought of long, cold gloomy hours there did not appeal. The initial joy of getting the car running was a fading memory as my thoughts turned to the problem of getting the car out from it's corner.  There wasn't enough room to manoeuvre it using it's own steering. It was boxed in on all sides. It was like one of those nine square puzzles with eight pieces you can slide around one empty space. How was I going to do this? Who owned all these other vehicles? How could I coordinate them to all move their cars so I could get mine out? Even if they were moved there wasn't enough room to steer it out and pushing it back and forward suggested the rear brakes were seized.

By February 2015 I had managed to ruthlessly clear a lot of rubbish from the garden shed and had even managed to to install my old workbench that had been stored in the lock up. Double result! I had more space in the lock up AND workspace in the garden. With a bit more effort I retrieved the majority of DS parts from the lock up - already packed in sturdy green cardboard fruit and vegetable crates from a well know high street supermarket. These were stacked floor to ceiling in the corner of the shed. The bigger DS parts at the lock up were left stuffed up in the eaves - out of sight, out of mind. I'd already had one break-in there but with the floor then full of crap, it was hard for anyone to get past the bent and busted door - so nothing was stolen. I had to admit to myself, though, that my big worry was someone breaking in and steeling my DS panels for their scrap value. I would have been gutted. By March 2015, the lock up was just about empty - save for two DS gearboxes and some '5J' wheels


The car-moving problem was starting to resolve itself too. With winter just about over, some owners were retrieving their vehicles, or at least planning-to.

The Barn. My DS Under the Sheeting - May 2015

Living in Winslow and with three Citroens stored at the farm, Richard was there often and managed to speak to a couple of owners who agreed to let us shift their cars. That included the Aston Martin owner! We turned up one Saturday and set to work, pushing a few vehicles out of the way and using Richard's 'H' van to tow another. Using a compressor we got the tyres reinflated and, using four pump-up dollies with castors borrowed from Doug, the race car builder, we fitted 'roller skates' to my car. These made it far more manoeuvrable and with a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, we finally got it out of the corner and into a more open space.

I started the car again - almost just to prove to Doug that I was serious and that this was a viable proposition. With the car now free, Richard persuaded me to try running it out of the barn. I struggled. I couldn't get it into gear. The car made some moaning noises - which might have been down to fluid under pressure. Were the brakes seized? Had I simply forgotten how to drive a bvh? I fiddled with the clutch lock lever under the dash.

The Beginning - March 2015

Eventually the car began to roll forward and out of the barn where it made a graceless circle around the yard. This felt good! I tried to reverse back in to the barn and the car protested. Lifting the bonnet I could see a fresh 'squirt' of LHM down near the bonnet and, on closer inspection, LHM bubbling from about half way along the cluster of pipes from the gear selector brain to the gearbox.  Looking at their profile several months later, I suspect the pipes had been bent and when the engine had been previously removed and my ham-fisted attempts at starting the car may have ruptured a week spot on the pipe. Regardless, it was another job to add to the list.

The car was slowly driven back into the barn and the serious work of removing the engine began. Without engine and hydraulics, the car would sink to the ground, and I needed it to be at road height to work on it and move it around. Jacking up the car and propping it on axle stands, I removed the spheres and inserted cut lengths of broomstick before replacing the spheres *

Bit by bit the car was taken apart and all the smaller pieces coming off were put in freezer bags marked up with a Sharpie pen. I also took a good number of reference photos - though with greasy, dirty hands, handling my phone was not always practical, so i didn't take as many as I'd like.

Sometimes I'd use lunchtime at work to pop over and see the car. Maybe just to remind myself of how something fitted or where it had been taken from. Maybe just to take some measurements. Maybe just to make a movie...... 

10 April 2015 (Part 1)

Or maybe two.........

10 April 2015 (Part 2)

Getting There - 8 May 2015

My time at the barn each trip was limited and, at the end of each visit, all the pieces removed were  taken home and carefully placed in yet more green cardboard vegetable crates - which were slowly growing in number in the garden shed. 

I cut through the exhaust flexi-pipe under the car - being careful not to cut the downpipes from the manifold.

When I couldn't get to the barn, I busied myself inspecting and cleaning up some of the parts removed. I'd fitted a low cost bench grinder with wire wheel to the end of my workbench. One of the best car restoration investments I've ever made.


* A WORD OF CAUTION: Some people are dead against inserting anything in the suspensions cylinders. Partly this is because of fear of damaging the damper valve on the suspension sphere after it is re-fitted and, in the case of wood, partly because of the risk of  introducing contaminants (splinters) into the hydraulic system. There is also the risk of wood swelling up and becoming jammed in the cylinder. As I was going to re-fit sacrificial spheres, I decided to take this chance and was prepared to accept the other consequences (or at least remind myself that I'd gone in 'eyes-open').

If you plan to take out your engine and need to move the car around afterwards - but aren't willing to take such a chance, then there are alternatives. Citroen Classics sell a handy gizmo that screws into the cylinder in place of a sphere. You can find it here:  http://shop.citroenclassics.co.uk/suspension-up-tool-pair-483-p.asp

Interlude: Citromobile 2015

With a growing 'wants' list of parts, I convinced my wife, and myself that it was more economical to go to a big Citroen meeting in Holland to buy parts, than it was to buy them piece by piece from the UK. there was also more likelihood of me finding the things I needed and wanted. 

I'd not been before, but by 2015 'Citromobile' was based at the exhibition centre in Haarlem, just south of Amsterdam. Held over the first weekend in May, the meeting consists of all things Citroen, including cars on display and for sale and, importantly, a large auto jumble. The car park alone is worth the visit.

Taking Richards Citroen estate, we caught the night ferry from Dover on the Friday night. We found ourselves in good company, with a few other Citroen Car Club members making the same journey. We had a curry, watched the ferry fill up, had a drink and chatted with the other obvious Citroen travellers. This was quality downtime for me. Taking a cabin, we were woken early to find ourselves in Holland and, after a good breakfast made the hour drive up to Haarlem. The event did not disappoint. I deliberately took a very ambitious list of wants - knowing that I would be able to come back with at least some of the things on the list.

The event was also an invaluable source of reference material and I took many under-bonnet shots

After two days of browsing and buying, split by a night on a nearby campsite, we caught the Sunday night ferry back to the UK - arriving at Dover for breakfast. Having left home on Friday evening, by Monday mid morning I was home again - with a load of DS treasure.

The Citromobile weekend is now firmly established in my calendar and I am indebted to the continuing indulgence of my wife Gayle, who not only tolerates my rabid and incessant DS fascination, but who also lets me clear off to the Continent each May for a 'lads weekend'. XXX