Citroen XM Forum

Hi All... TWO YEARS AGO TO START WITH

Yes, you read correctly, a life of a 24v has been spared over the last two years.

Originally I took a message from Mathew Thomas... he had been offered a 24v Manual Shell which had lost its engine to a Renault Alpine. Thank our lucky stars the Renault Owner thought to contact us Citroen owners and offer the remains back. Apparently he was and is aware of the rarity of the cars in the first place and rumor be it he wasnt overly joyed removing the engine.

So, which car?? Well, it was the H reg Manderin car that was on Ebay, it had a bit of mechincal work done then the body was fully inspected only to discover a bit of welding was needed. The car was passed on.

On the other side of this, I had a spare 24v manual with a decent engine in it. Same colour as my own 24v XM. Rather a shot under side. Mathew got hold of me and asked if I was interested. I initially wasnt, but knew someone who would be, let alone who actually used to own the car. I few calls and chats later a deal was struck and we decided we were going for it under cover.

Please bear in mind this was before I got my current Job, so the forecast was going to be a few months. Things didnt work out for me and I had to get a job. This pressed this job into a long term resto job.

So, all I did now was await delivery of the remains. We were lucky, we got the original gearbox back and the new clutch too.

That's brilliant Paul. Best of luck getting it back together. Can't believe how lucky you were to get most of the important bits back.

Is this one of the original mandarin 6 was it, that Cit UK, got over when the model was brand spanking new.

It's not one of the original 6, Russ. This one was registered from new to a private owner.

Im not sure Russ... but Id hazard a guess at yes..

So, the car arrived..



She dont look that bad here. But it was the close inspection that revealed all.

What did we have. Well, a lot of mould on the body, it had stood a long time, laquer lift as expected a badly rusted outer skin on the rear passenger door, and a crazed rear drivers side door. Lovly shiny alloys with ok tyres on them. and a load of bits in the boot.

So.. first things first, we needed to see the underside, and hidden areas. front end was already off after engine removal, so I removed the rear bumper so we could have a proper look...

Offside rear Cill.


Off side Front Corner behind Wing Bottom


Off side outrigger behind front jacking point


Near side outer behind wing bottom


Near side Out Rigger behind jacking point


Front nearside cill just below door infront of jacking point


Rear nearside out side Cill

You can see that ALL the jacking points are actually straight on this car. It had suffered a lot of inside out rot. But the question is how!

Round to the rear, under the boot floor.
Off side rear chassis leg


Rear near side chassis leg


The Tow eye units were actually rocking roll loose!

A non standard rear replacment pipe here


After the rear bumper was removed and the plastic bumper reinforcers/support units were removed..




Non exsistant front bumper brackets.


Both sides. though the off side was worse then the nearside.

We then decided we would source a set of doors, bonnet and rear spoiler to replace a lot of the poor paint/laquer on the doors. They were duely found from a car that had been stored in doors for sometime and so that sorted that.

So, after the poke around prep was done. Where do I start!

So. We start from the beginning. Wheres the beginning.. Cills..


Front offside outside corner..

Followed by the outrigger


Rear Cill Section. It was a bit tricky due to the length that was needed. Sadly it lost a bit of shape, but otherwise is strong. I have a video of me using a lump hammer on it..


Some Prep



Sorted!

Rear nearside.



Sorted..

Front nearside outer section



Those were the sill area sections all sorted. It was now time to have her moving under her own steam. Which meant removal from the donar car.

So.. engine out..



Being luck to have had the cars original gearbox and drive shafts with the car was handy. The car had done just 96k.

Rocker covers off to do a reseal..


Look at that.. you can eat your dinner off it



Inlet off clean up the water pipes and protect them..


What an Engineered engine for 1970s. I think they are great!


Before


After


So, new clutch fitted and 96k gearbox fitted on, it was fit in place time..


Drive train in, drive shafts in and harness fitted.. water plumbed in and after a bit of messing with the bank of relays on the right we got some life.

You and your sills! ....still great start. Your not hanging around with this one! ...that engine is amazing.

As you say Paul, interesting how it's got so rotten without much damage to the jacking points. Of course you don't know if they have been damaged then fixed, but causing a weakness allowing water in.

Sadly by now, Id got a job, so the time frame had spread.. and also in this time a bit of careless ness had occured. Note the dented front wing, and also the door. I was not however that bothered as I was putting better panels on.



Looks good to me!!

Sooo now we have her running... next we need to sort the rear end out, exhaust off.. which I then discovered the back box was welded to the middle pipe..



Back box trashed so it needed to come off...


Off

Nearside rear chassis cleaned up, well virtually removed!



New part going in


Nearside bumper support in.




and finished


Front bumper bracket. Off side.


Fabricated


And nearside sorted


So this concluded all the welding... it was time to fit the new panels!

russ92xmsed wrote:You and your sills! ....still great start. Your not hanging around with this one! ...that engine is amazing.

As you say Paul, interesting how it's got so rotten without much damage to the jacking points. Of course you don't know if they have been damaged then fixed, but causing a weakness allowing water in.

Russ... REMEMBER: This has been over the course of the last TWO years... so .. it has hung around and taken time to do.

It has though, been an absolute pleasure! If she were a 2.1 TD or another more common varient then this work would NOT have happened.

After fabricating some front bumper brackets on the actual bumper it was time to fit it..



Not bad alignment there, quite pleased.

Off side wing and doors on... Note the SE side moulds.


After door cards are off, you then can get access to the door mould screws. They NEED loosening before the door moulds come off as theres a locating peg to stop them sliding!!!

So doors fitted, bonnet on, spoiler on it was time to get the ABS light out!

Both rear sensors in place a quick resistance check shows them BOTH to be fine. So at the front, off side is missing and the near side is like this:


Yes, the bloody cable had been cut off right at the sensor!! Even worse, the sensor still worked!!

So, after a bit of closer investigation, I discovered after stripping what little cable there was back the wires inside are actually TIN COATED copper wires! This was a life saver as it had prevented any copper oxydisation occuring! Thus it enabled me to solder a cable from a dead sensor onto the end of it. I fitted a sensor on the off side, then after plugging in this one Hey presto the ABS lamp went out after self startup test!
We also have a set of working locks in both front doors and boot lid on one key, but ignition is a different one..

So, now, 2 years later, we are now up to date.

Left to do. Weld the rear exhaust box hanger arm onto the new box sections. Fit back box, fit nose cone, side lights, little things for MOT!