My Citroen XM 3.0 PR-Vestige

[Dean]

well i have now got the new rack made up and it looks like its going to be much better than the last one, all i need is some dry weather to put it on in and i can drive her again
these aftermarket gaiters dont look to good either not considering they are 18 months old ish
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33020103@N03/4930374682/

and i never could get this one to stay on since i bought the rack, in fact it was hanging off when it turned up.................and is again it seems
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33020103@N ... otostream/

and this side kept getting so badly squashed it was riding up over the steering gear casing all the time
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33020103@N ... otostream/

on an upside the Activa is running now with boost but i will have to get the matrix and strut tops done before i use it, i know what xantia owners mean when they say the car smells of curry now
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33020103@N ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33020103@N ... otostream/

D

[Dean]

A bit of a bitter sweet one today, the rack went in in about 20 mins and the car was running and ready for the road, the rebuilt rack is like new too , sorted out a small air leak on the pump feed and took the front bumper off for a good pre winter rust check..............it was fine and the outriggers are like new with original paint on but i noticed a brown stain in the underseal at the rear bottom edge of the o/s wheelarch while i had the liners out, seams there is a hollow section here with no rubber gromet for access and has rusted inside out there is a hole now that i poked which is about finger size but feeling about im going to have to cut back to about hand size, it seems this is a very weak spot, a massive hollow section with just 1 4mm hole drilled in the bottom in the spray line of the front wheel, looks like some very carefull fabrication and welding is going to be needed, did i mention i hate rust

D

[Dean]

Well, i have not really been updating this very often.
The news is the Activa has passed its mot today and as soon as a can tax it im on the road, and since its on the road its time for the XM to have its 19 year major service
CIMG3244 by Deanxm, on Flickr
CIMG3245 by Deanxm, on Flickr

At least ive found why my A/C has given up, seems to be a rather greasy patch on the bottom left of the condenser, just need to get it up on blocks now as i think the rear arm bearings are shot, the o/s rear tyre is feathering the outside edge and the car is rather wondery.
Also the rear subframe will come off for rust protection and inspection and then its down to the long dirty job of cleaning the underside then box oiling all the, well, box sections, and then waxoil for the rest of the car before any evil rust sets in.
Updates to follow.

Oh and if anyone has a good condenser can they let me know

D

[Dieselman]

I wonder if Campbell took the one off the SEi he broke last w/e?

Dean. You can get to the oil filter without all that, you know..


That seems a bit early for the rear arm bearings to have gone, are you sure or could it be the wide, low profile tyres doing it.

[Dean]

I dont think so Will, it was always rock steady on the wheels but now it shuffles all over the road and is rather scary actualy, the rear o/s tyre is heavily feathered on the outer edge and from memory one of the rear wheels showed up as having some interesting camber measurements when the tracking was done.
Kits are cheap though, could be worth doing both anyway.

dont forget too, mileage may be low, well 90k now actualy, but the sort of use it gets is rather heavy being on rough 30/40mph roads so lots of strain, not like a motorway car.

D

[Dean]

Got the front wheels off and arch liners and gave it all a good wash this evening ready for some stone chip, the autobox is all back together now too although i need to road test it to see if im happy but it shifts properly now.
Just picking my way through replacing some of the wiring loom too, ever since ive had it the insulation has been peeling off the injector wires so i welded to the plastic splints back onto the top of some spare MK2 ones i had and got them ready to fit, unfortunatly i didnt have any shrink wrap of the correct size so it will have to wait until i can get some now.

The slow wipers seem to have had a bit of an impact on their wiring as well, looks like the motor has been under a little load!

xm service3 by Deanxm, on Flickr

Here are a couple of others of the works so far

xm service1 by Deanxm, on Flickr

xm service2 by Deanxm, on Flickr

DAMIT!!!!

xm service4 by Deanxm, on Flickr

D

[Dean]

At last i had a few hours to get back on with the xm today, first port of call was to break out the rotary brushes and other abrasives to clear off all the old stonechip and surface rust forming underneith, there was plenty of new rust just starting even though the top coat was unbroken and clean, particular attention was paid to the front of the cills where a lot of panels meet, rustcure was then applied and the areas primed ready for stonechip.

first attempt2 by Deanxm, on Flickr

first attempt4 by Deanxm, on Flickr

first attempt5 by Deanxm, on Flickr
Then i sprayed 3 coats of stonechip on (about half a litre) and the finnish is pretty good, it will tie in well by the time ive done all the cills too.

first attempt6 by Deanxm, on Flickr

first attempt7 by Deanxm, on Flickr
Ive got some dinitrol 3125 coming to do inside all the cills and box sections, only 3 litres for now as its bloody expensive but looking round its the best stuff for the job, this will be applied before spray waxoiling the underside to seal the cavity plugs, the exhaust is already off along with all the heat sheilds ready for application.

Got the engine mount changed back to the correct one too, it hopefully will transmit far less noise, i was never really happy with the doughnut style mount used on almost all other psa cars.

first attempt3 by Deanxm, on Flickr

And finaly i have been applying lots of sound deadening mat, i will be doing so to the boot especialy as with the seats down a lot of noise is transmitted from there. Also i have found some nice felt matting and i notice a lot of cars have this applied to the wheel arch liners nowdays to reduce noise so i will be applying some of that too.

first attempt8 by Deanxm, on Flickr
just got to make up a nice plate for the rust hole on the drivers side now but at least it feels like things are moving with the car again.

In Activa related news i have pulled the wheels off it ready to take them in to have my £25 bargain pair of tyres fitted, the old ones where pretty shot, thats for a pair of 215/40/17's on a W, if there was a dancing smilie, i would be using it right here

first attempt9 by Deanxm, on Flickr

D

[steelcityuk]

Very nice work there Dean!

Steve.

[Dean]

Thanks Steve, i can see it going on into the winter to be honest, you know exactly how it is, you just keep finding little bits you want to do and the project grows, time and money limit the speed at which it can advance but it should be well worth it when its done.

As an asside i got into the xm for the first time in ages to take the door cards off over the weekend and it is very nice inside, so much bigger than the xantia for a car of practicaly the same overall size, a little time without the car and you tend to forget what its like.

D

[jorgy]

Great work Dean and thanks for posting the photos...I'm so jealous of you guys with your tools and garage space

I'm particularly interested in your sound deadening attempts, will be great if you post things on this front. I was doing my usual treat of the driver's door couple of weeks ago, should post a photo report on this car (the 2.1) soon really...Both my 1994 V6 and the 1993 TD are lacking in this respect, especially road noise. So the implementation of felt under wheel arches is smthing I'd like to see. I was also thinking of sound-deadening sprays but I guess the stonechip layer does exactly the same job. In the V6, the tyre noise has been dramatically cut by filling up the sills with PU foam, but I'm not sure of the rust-behavior of this solution...so far I've not noted anything (2-3 years ago), but I've not inspected closely either. The result is really impressive though.

Couldn't agree more on the Xant Vs XM interiors, I too prefer the S1 XM by 100 times speaking of design, and the space difference is striking too. The XM's leg space is endless, and I only realised that when I got my Xant and found I couldn't fully extend my legs...It is a very different driving position setup, and because of this, the Xant obliges me to put the back too upright otherwise the steering is too far away, and I end up with back pain after a while.... I've now resorted to putting the seat higher up, and this resolves the problem somewhat -more space for the legs, still the steering is too far from me...

cheers
G