Getting organised (Part 1) - Workshop and Access

Although the plan had been to work on the car and replace the engine up at the barn, the previous 18 months had shown me that this was just unrealistic. Although my car was stored there, I lacked a suitable workspace. Well - not enough space and resources to do what I would need to do.

Car in the Barn - 8 May 2015

AND it was an hour from home. There was no way I was going to be able to put in the hours that would be necessary to fix the car at the barn.  With my trips to the barn infrequent, I would sometimes arrive to find my DS had been moved further back in the barn and sometimes completely boxed in by other cars. Sometimes it had things stacked against it. Not only was there no room to work, there was also a very real danger of the car ending up back in the corner again!

Unusually Empty Barn - 7 June 2015

Luckily that problem was resolving itself with our move to a house with a double garage. I just needed to make sure I got the car out of the barn as soon as I possibly could. That meant getting the garage at home ready.

Adjoining the garage was something I assume had been intended as a 'summer room' or early idea of a conservatory. It wasn't directly accessible from the main house, but did back on to the garage and had already become a workshop of sorts - complete with a couple of cupboards and a wood working bench.

When Gayle and I had first viewed the house, I'd made a mental note of the potential to have a door going directly from the garage to the workshop at the back.  That would be a messy job, so needed doing before the car came home.

In August 2016  I re-topped the workshop cupboards and workbenches I had inherited with 9" x 2" roof joists, held in place by hex-headed screws/ bolts recessed into the surface. As well as giving a rock-solid surface, this also raised the working height to something more suited to my 6'3" frame. I refitted the wood-working vice I had also inherited. This has proved surprisingly useful, opening, as it does to 13".

Richard came to visit, and we did a 'test fit' of the garage with his DS.

'Test Fit' With Richards DS - 3 September 2016

I also borrowed from Richard a HUGE and scary angle grinder and cut a doorway in the back wall of the garage straight into the workshop. Cutting the door was one of the messiest things I think I've ever done as the grinder turns the brick to heavy, cloying dust: cutting it, fitting a lintel and lining it took a couple of weeks. Hoovering the dust up took months! The results, however, gave me a really workable space. 

New Secret Doorway to Workshop

The ability to flit from car to a working space in a matter of seconds was a significant step on the journey towards getting my car back together and worlds away from the two hour trip to the barn and back.

House Move!

The big day finally came. Friday 27 May 2016 - and we moved house. The kids were both nervous and excited. The plan was that they went to school leaving the only home they had ever known, but came back home from school to a different house. Would mum and dad be there? Was this an elaborate plan to get rid of them?

Goodbye Old House.......

We'd invested a lot of time and effort in our current home  and our family had grown up there. I wasn't actively looking to move but was fairly open-minded about it. We'd been talking about a house move for several years and had even got as far as putting in offers on another house. The impetus to move was coming from my wife Gayle: with a growing family, wanting a bigger garden and thinking ahead to queues for the bathroom. With no off-road parking and my head full of all things -DS,  I'd told Gayle that if she could find a house with a suitable garage, I'd be 'in'.

............Hello New Home

Although the new house had little 'kerb appeal', my wife had the vision to see beyond that. The house move was about 'quality of life' and this house was going to deliver in spades. Good call Gayle xx. From my perspective this was a winner because, as well as ticking all the families boxes, it also had a double garage long enough for a DS and a small brick workshop behind.

As you can imagine, those first days and weeks in the new house were spent finding our feet: working out taps and fuses, getting keys cut, organising a phone, changing address with utilities. High on the agenda was a trampoline in the garden for the kids and building a guinea pig hutch: if a garage was my part of the house move deal, then a trampoline and pets were the kids.

Through all this, thoughts of getting my DS organised were never far away. In the run up to the move I'd emptied most of my DS bits out of the garden shed and back into my lock up. I'd left this as late as possible as I was worried about a break in at the lock up. I left a few sealed boxes in the shed but loose crates of bits and sloppy buckets of zinc plating acid and electrolyte were all taken to the lock up over a couple of days.

Initially the garage at our new house was full of boxes and furniture waiting for a spot in the house. As bits and pieces were unpacked, the garage as instead filled with empty boxes and the unwanted things our things replaced: old lamp shades, curtains and things destined for recycling and the tip. A couple of huge pine wardrobes we'd brought with us were sold on eBay and finally collected. As we began to find our feet, and starting with the boxes I'd moved from my garden shed, I started to trickle my DS things out of the lock up and into the new garage. Small bits went in the workshop.......

New Workshop - August 2016

......bigger bits went into the garage

New Garage - August 2016

Boy, there was a lot of it.....

Richard came to visit and we did a 'test fit' with his DS. Well, you would, wouldn't you?

"Back A Bit More" - 3 September 2016

The garage even had a car port with enough height to get a DS bonnet fully open and a wheelie bin to put your tea on. That was going to be very handy.

Interlude: CCC - D Section Rally 2016

Well. Another enjoyable rally. here's what I wrote on the D Section forum of the CCCs website:

Just back and settled after this years D rally at Little Horwood. Kids are bathed and tent is drying out in the garage.

Saturday weather was kind to us with more than 30 Ds making the convoy run to Waddesdon Manor where we took over a corner of the car park in the sun and talked all things DS. Some took advantage of the option of a packed lunch from Little Horwood and stayed there to picnic. Back to site and the weather held for the rest of the day with fresh coffee and treats on tap from an H van barista and the promise of fresh oven baked pizzas at the end of the afternoon. The rain only began at 10pm - telling us it was time to turn in for the day.


Sunday was wetter with drizzle through much of the morning but this didn't dampen spirits and the Ds soon began to roll in. Again there were more than 30 Ds on the field ranging from humble 1962 models through to the end and top of the line - including a couple of Decaps. Breakfasts and lunch were well organised and devoured hungrily. Citroen Classics were on site for those all important big and small bits a few people were offering the usual temptations of salvaged oily bits at give away prices.


As ever, another enjoyable D Rally. Maybe a little muted by the weather but it was clear to see that those that made it there both appreciated it, and had a thoroughly good time. My thanks to all those that made it happen.

I think that sums it up nicely. My kids loved it. They got filthy dirty and spent most of the weekend with Darrin and Kris' boys. 

I'm sure I recall a rally circa 2001 with more than 100 Ds on the field at the same time. My memory could be playing tricks. I'm sure the rally stats will have been reported in the Citroenian at some point. I must go and check.

Interlude: Citromobile 2016

Well, another successful rally raid to Citromobile in Haarlem, Holland. You can find details here: http://www.citromobile.nl/indexen.html.

It's a large auto jumble. There are also vehicles on sale. I was going to write that it is Citroen-specific. that's nearly true, but you will also see some lovely Panhards on display - and maybe for sale. 

Not a Citroen: Panhard PL17? Possibly circa 1964?

As per last year, Richard drove: Friday night ferry over. Drive up to the exhibition centre early Saturday morning. Browse and buy. Camp on Saturday night. More browsing on Sunday. Drive back to Hook of Holland. Night ferry home. Very straightforward and enjoyable.

I'd been drawing up a shopping list for the last couple of months, starting with those things on last years list that I couldn't find. I tend to make the list long, reasoning that I'm bound to then find some of the things on it. Once again it's paid off, though in terms of stalls it was a quieter affair than last year. Richard and I considered why. Might have something to do with the ICCCR coming up in Holland later this summer. Traders need to pay for their pitch at these kind of events, so maybe some are holding back for the ICCCR. Anyway, I'm happy with what I was able to find and love the weekend away generally. Here's the haul.

Booty: Citromobile 2016

• Split accumulator sphere
• Door shims of various sizes
• Re-zinced lifting bracket
• Window winder backplates for     my Pallas winders
• Flexi pipe support bracket
• Radiator bracing bar with the 'eye' in the right place
• Water heater feed pipe with a kinked end
• Air horns - for the correct mounting bracket for my car (I took a template with me)
• Starter motor for a DX engine
• Various dashboard knobs
• Knob for the -15 heating 

Simplex 'Niemanns" - Citromobile 2016

I'm particularly pleased to have found a NOS boxed Simplex "Niemanns" (steering lock) with both keys, and the long cluster of five pipes that run from the gear brain to the gearbox. Mine ruptured when I was moving the car in March 2015. Later ones seem to be wrapped in plastic tape. Mine is covered in moulded plastic along it's entire length - making any repair on the rupture all the more difficult without tearing the whole lot apart. The one I found at Citromobile is also moulded, so will be a straight swap.

Thank you Richard. Roll-on Citromobile 2017!

Tool For Compressing Parking Brake Springs

A cheap and practical tool for compressing those troublesome parking brake springs........

Hopefully removing the springs on the handbrake cable is something you won't have to do too often, so you don't want to spend a lot of money on a spring compressor you will rarely use. There are various solutions for re-compressing the springs for assembly: some people try to use mole grips, others try to wire them up. Both of these will probably work but are time-consuming and prone to failure and accidents. This tool should stop a lot of the cursing and swearing.

I saw an American video of DS engine removal on Youtube. The mechanic used a clever scissor-like valve spring compressor that compressed the spring from both ends. It was ideal for DS parking brake springs.It was cheap, quick and efficient - but I couldn't find one!

What I did find was this tool.

The tool is actually designed for compressing the big springs in GM truck doors. 
The compressing arms slot in-between the spring winds and you then tighten the black bolt.........

Brake Cable Spring Compressed

The arms have a notch in them and so will compress the spring and still allow the all-important DS parking brake cable to run through the centre. 

Notched Ends Slip Over Brake Cable

I ordered my tool from America. There are various makes at various prices. As I don't expect to use it often, I got a cheap one with low cost postage. Total cost was probably about £16. It's sturdy and will be more than up to the job. 

The search for a DX engine (Part 1)

MY DS had originally been fitted with a red tag 'DX' engine but, somewhere along the way - and while it retained it's original ancillaries such as starter, carb and alternator - it had acquired a 'DX2 engine block and cylinder* I'd come to realise this soon after I acquired the car, but never got to the bottom of it. I'd always wanted to reinstall a DX engine in my car, but while I was driving it around and enjoying it, it simply wasn't a priority. Now that the current engine was out of the car well, that was a different matter, and a 'DX' engine went up my priority list again - especially as I now suspected my current DX2 engine was tired and badly worn.

In October 2015 I started to track down a 'DX' engine. They were only fitted for a few years, so were relatively scarce compared to the DX2. After several false leads, I discovered that Adie Pease (Peacock Engineering) over in Norfolk had one. It was a little rough but was fairly complete. It lacked the ancillaries, but I would swap these over from my current engine. 

Very early one rainy Saturday in November, I drove westward to Winslow in my Zafira to meet Richard. Picking up an old pine table top from his firewood store, we drove on to the barn to pick up additional pallets and cushions to pad out and protect the back of the Zafira from the engine I planned to pick up that day. In driving rain we set off on the long trek east to Norfolk to meet Adie with a view to a potential purchase.

When we arrived, Adie's barn workshop resonated to the sounds of choral music. Now it wouldn't normally be my kind of thing, but I could instantly see how it was great background music when working on cars in such a big open space. Adie already had the DX engine up on an engine stand and had started stripping it down. The block was caked in mud, rust and oil, but under the rocker cover the rockers and spring assembly looked clean an tidy (not tar-covered as  they were on my current engine), and the tappets were shiny and smooth. Adie showed me others in his workshop to  demonstrate what 'bad' looked like. The engine wouldn't turn and one of the pots looked dry and crusty. It received a liberal squirt of WD40 and I had instructions to repeat the exercise for several  more weeks. Two bolts had been sheared when removing the head and Adie showed me and Richard how these could be removed by welding a nut to the end. The sudden burst of heat is thought to 'shock' the frozen metals, allowing the broken stud to be gently loosened and teased out.

I told Adie I was going to have a go at rebuilding an engine - my first. I tested my rudimentary knowledge on him and he gave me some further pointers and the offer off telephone help if I got stuck. Money changed hands and Adie helped load the booty in the back of the Zafira with an engine crane. Richard and I began the long drive back to the barn, arriving at teatime in darkness. We backed my Zafira into the barn and, using Doug's engine crane, carefully placed the 'DX' engine down in a quiet corner with a squirt of WD40 and threw the cushions back in a corner before heading home. It had been a long day, but very satisfying.

DX Engine - Small Barn, 21 November 2015

* I still have the original "Certificate De Conformite" that came with my DS when it rolled out of the Quai De Javel in early 1968. This lists both the cars chassis number and its corresponding engine number. In 2014, when updating my V5 with my new Bedford address, I was amazed to find that not only was the engine number on the V5 different to that on the "Certificate De Conformite" but it was also significantly different to the engine actually now fitted to my car. So it looks as though the engine had been changed at least twice before the car reached me!

Quick Word About.......Fire Safety: Carburettor Fuel Inlets

I’m resurrecting something that has been raised on the CCC (Citroen Car Club) forum, as any safety tip is worth repeating.

For those that don’t know, there is a possibility that the brass fuel inlet fitting can work lose from the carburettor body.

Loose Inlet Pipe (Photo: Colin Smith)

If this happens while you’re driving, your pump will spray fuel over the engine as you splutter to a halt. If you’re lucky, you push the pipe back on and off you go. If you're unlucky, you get a fire....... 

Photos: Gerry Freed

The solution is to replace the brass push-fitting with something that’s going to stay in place and hold the hose tight. With that in mind, Richo - a much respected contributor to the ‘Aussiefrogs’ forum down in Oz - made threaded and barbed fittings and sold a few batches of kits on a non profit making basis. The kits consist of a fitting machined by Richo, a cutting tap of the correct size and pair of hose clips. The fitting has a threaded end to go in the carb body and a barbed end that the fuel pipe fits to. Richo also sold just the fitting if you were so inclined.

Richo's Fittimg

The fitting can be used on a Weber or Solex carbs.

Richo's Fitting - Fitted......

Reports from grateful customers in Oz prove they are a hit. Here is some fitting advice by Richo, lifted from Aussiefrogs:

"The kit fits either the Weber as fitted to the later 21 and 23 engines as well as the Solex fitted to the D Specials. If your D was built from 1966 to 1974 then this kit fits.

I recommend removing the carburettor top and then tapping the thread required, BUT others will simply slap some grease on the tap then gently and carefully, making certain the tap is square to the hole, turn the threading tap a couple of turns, remove the tap, clean off the swarf, put some fresh grease on, thread some more until the job is done. At the very least, remove the filter nut at the top left side of the unit and block the access. You can also gain access to clean out swarf.

A small amount of thread tape, probably one wrapped turn will be sufficient. Next, thread the new fitting into place, with your 11mm or 7/16" wrench. I prefer to also use the hose clamp supplied in the kit on the new fitting, even though the barbs will hold the plot, no worries."


The last few kits that Richo made (in 2013?) found their way to New Zealand and the safe hands of Roger Simpson. Kiwi’s have been slow to take advantage of these and Roger is happy to see them go to good homes in the UK. Following the trail from Aussiefrogs I was able to contact Roger who happily sent me a couple here in the UK. Roger now about 6  fittings left. No Taps. Price for the fitting for NZ customers are NZ$15 (about £7) including postage. Contact Roger direct via the ‘contact’ form on his website and he’ll give you a price for the UK: 

http://www.ds23.co.nz. 

This will not include a tap to cut a thread, so you will need to purchase your own. The outer diameter of the brass push-fitting you are replacing (and so also the hole it leaves in the carburettor body) is about 8.15mm. To cut a thread, you need a tap slightly larger, which is why these fittings have an M9 threaded end. You will therefore need to buy a M9 x 1.00mm bottoming tap. Or contact me and you can borrow mine.

Colin Smith here in the UK picked up on the same idea. Colin used a 1/8” BSPT brass tail fitting readily bought in the UK, for example from Tom Parker Ltd for the princely sum of £2.04.

<<EDITED JUNE 2019: just guesswork, but I now believe it’s a 1/8" x 5/16" fitting that Colin used. 1/8" refers to the imperial thread size of the threaded end. If you buy an imperial fitting, you will need to buy an imperial tap of course. A 1/8" threaded end has a diameter of  about 9.7mm so before you tap for 1/8", you may need to drill out the hole in the carburettor to about 8.7mm or 8.8mm - otherwise your tap may be too tight for the hole.

BSPT also means that the fitting has a slight taper on the threaded end, this would mean that it got tighter as you screwed it in. there is a risk of it then cracking and splitting the carburettor body if you are too forceful.  This could lead to a fuel leak - the very thing you are trying to avoid.....So, instead, try to find a 'BSPP' variant as the threaded part will have parallel sides - just like a bolt.

5/16" refers to the internal diameter of the rubber hose you will push on to the fitting. 5/16" is about 8mm so the size of the DS fuel pipe you would use with the original non-barbed end piece.>> 

So anyway, you can buy off-the-shelf fittings that will do this job. I think Richo’s fittings are a little less-obtrusive than the off-the-shelf ones but there’s not much in it and at the end of the day, either version is better than an engine fire.

EDIT: fast forward to my post dated 30 June 2018 HERE and you can see how I got on fitting my 'Richo' fitting to my Weber carb.

If you don’t fancy your ability to do this without messing your carb up (or causing a fire!), Colin first tried a less elegant but equally effective solution using a tie rod of copper wire held on with jubilee clip. 

You can find Colin’s write up and fitting advice for both methods on his blog:

http://citroendsrestoration.blogspot.co ... afety.html

I hope this provides some food for thought. If you want one of Richo's fittings, contact Roger in NZ while he still has a few left

Rockers and Cylinder Head Removal

With the engine fairly clean now, I could see what I was doing and set to work getting to the heart of the matter.

Glued-Up Rockers - 19 October 2015

Removal of the rocker cover revealed thick, baked-on, tar-like oil caked over everything. It was very doubtful that oil had been circulating as it should. If it was like this up top, what was the bottom end going to be like?

Richard started working on me again: since the engine was already out, it would be madness to put it back in without changing the timing chain and piston rings. And if you were going to do that, ou might as well inspect and replace the bearings. I gulped. Surely all this was beyond me? I'd never anything like that before. I barely knew where to begin. However a second glance at the rockers convinced me he was right: it had to be done.

The head would have to come off. I removed the water pump and water pump housing. I was shocked by the amount of grit and sludge I could see through the aperture into the cylinder head. I scooped it out but it seemed to be never-ending. I stopped short of removing the cylinder head - worried about tales of snapped bolts and then problems with their removal. Although, as it turned out, overcoming that uncertainty was surprisingly easy: all I had to do was pick up the phone.

One Saturday in October 2015, I took a call from Richard: he was up at the barn and together with Doug had pulled my cylinder head! Only two bolts had snapped!

Cylinder Head: Blocked Waterways - 19 October 2015

At the earliest opportunity, I used a lunchtime to get over to the barn. Lifting the dust sheet covering the car I found a box of oily springs, rockers and bolts. Examining the underside of the cylinder head my suspicions were confirmed: the waterways were badly blocked. Pulling the head had been the right decision. This engine was going to need some serious work.

Cleaning The Engine Bay

Having pulled the trick off with the engine, I thought I'd do the same with the body before it was winter, and give it spray clean.

An Uncharacteristically Empty Barn! 19 September 2015

I re-fitted the steering rack to hold the wheels parallel and, with the pump-up dollies fitted once again, was able to wheel and manoeuvre the car outside.

A Wash and Brush Up - 19 September 2015

Armed with white spirit, my Karcher and an air compressor, I set to work. 

I dismantled and removed the extra heat shielding that Pallas cars have on the bulkhead........

.......before drying everything off with compressed air - paying particular attention to the box sections and forcing moisture out of the holes in the bottom. Finally,  I wheeled the car back into the barn once again.

It had been ONE YEAR since I embarked on my journey.

Engine Out

At the end of May 2015, and with the help of Doug, his son and their engine crane - the engine finally came out of my DS...... 

Engine Out

As I told my kids when I got home: it was miraculous - I just opened the bonnet and it just floated out! It was all I could do to stop it floating to the ceiling!

Now it sat on a simple trolley - rigged from a pallet and some sturdy castors borrowed from Doug.

I sprayed the engine liberally with cheap white spirit, leaving it to soak-in, and repeated the exercise on several quick lunchtime trips from work until.......

Engine Clean Up - 7 June 2015

.......I was able to give it a clean-up.

Armed with more white spirit, rags and toothbrushes, my Karcher pressure washer and Doug's air compressor, I wheeled the engine outside. Luckily for me it was a lovely warm day.

I blocked the main apertures that I could see. After more squirting with white spirit........

..........I gave it a blast with the Karcher........Yes! a Karcher!!

.......before going over it all quickly with compressed air.

The aluminium parts came up a dull and disappointing dull grey colour. Yuk!

I looked for some positives: at last - no more dirt. No more rat shit. It still wasn't a pretty sight, but I felt I was making visible progress.

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