K725KVG latest home -KVG gone; Hello to KBAN-
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 6:58 am
Hello all from Nottingham,
My name is Miquel (Miq) and I just bought Vince's / Ray's old XM 2.1TD (K725KVG). First of all thanks a lot to those of you who messaged me when I posted that I was after a xm, at the end I think I got a real good one, and the first one I fell in love with! And a very special thanks to Ray for actually selling the car to me, I was not entirely sure I'd pass the XM future owners test when I met him in Liverpool after 4 hours in the train Perhaps I should move this to introductions but if you keep reading there will be a few observations about the car later on, so admins please feel free to act accordingly.
In any case, you probably all know the car a lot better than I do as there are numerous topics here on its restoration and further work on it. It's got many many miles but it's in extremely good condition and the history (not just service history but amount of information) is impressive.
Long story short I come from a family of car enthusiasts who has traveled quite a lot around Europe. The first car I remember was our Citroen GS (I am the smallest kid in the photo below)...I remember my dad walking into a show room when I was 3 or so and seating me at the back (no seat belts of course). It was also the first car I ever "drove", as we used to go to dirt tracks and my dad would sit me on his lap, I'd steer (or thought I did) and then press his left or right leg if I wanted to brake or accelerate. Unfortunately, we moved to Holland after a few years and the GS had been severely damaged by a drunk tractor driver over night, so I am very sad to say that's the only car we ever left behind as a family -we all cried like babies when we left her at the breakers!-
And that was that for Citroens in the family, at least until now. We've had and still have many jags, old jeeps, mg's, minis, etc but no citroens, not because my parents didn't like them at the time but because they moved on to different pastures. Here until two days ago my wife and I had a x300 and a xj40 jag respectively as daily drivers (they are really good, reliable work horses if you've never driven one, and mine was on lpg so real cheap to run), and then two of my other cars in the garage (a road legal rally spec Integrale that's also been featured in magazines and an Uno Turbo mk1 that has been with me since I took my licence over 12 years ago now). So what brought my attention to the XM? Well as part of my job we race with electric superbikes (TT and track series around the Globe), and last Monday I was cuing on the ferry back from Holland, where apparently there'd been a big citroen meet during the weekend and next to the van there was a really clean black XM. I was shocked at how cool the car was, it looked to timeless if that makes any sense. The XM is one of those cars that I remembered from when we used to live in Holland back in the early 90s but I always saw them as "normal" cars, but they have aged soooo well. The ferry gave me a further 7 hours to find information on these cars, and obviously this forum. The one link I did save as inspiration was Vince's before and after on the retro rides forum and detailing world, and then obviously the extensive restoration that went on in this forum. So you can guess my surprise when I got a message from Ray after posting that I was after one...even more he didn't want a million trillion pounds although it has such extensive history and work carried out. I had to have it. Put my jag for sale (cheap...), which sold within 24 hrs, jumped into a train to Liverpool and drove her back home, simples
Now to the car, and main aim of this post. I am not going to go into detail on what's been done to it as that's credit to the amazing work done by Ray and Vince (have I thank you yet guys? ). I have driven many cars and work on many more as until last March I had a car restoration business (apart from my job at the University), and the XM has to be the most deceptive car there is out there (my Uno turbo almost killed me when I was 18 and floored it for the first time unaware of what "turbo" meant...but that was my fault haha). In any case the trip from Liverpool to Nottingham on a Friday eve had lots of everything: traffic, roadworks and accidents, opened country roads as the gps found weird shortcuts, motorway, etc.
I've never owned or even worked on a diesel, so as you do you buy an old 2.1TD expecting it to drive and sound like a bit of a tractor (all the diesel rentals I've had do!). Now I've realised that it's all a lie, some sort of illuminati plot that has made diesels worse in the last decade or two!! This thing has well over 200k miles and it's smooth like my 6 cylinder jag (perhaps not as much, but close enough). On the motorway you are doing 70-80 before you know it (you don't need more than that anyway) and you can still listen to the old school stereo no probs (which by the way gets better signal than anything I've had before). The ride is excellent (I suppose this is why these cars were famous after all, and what made citroen great together with the futuristic looks), and it behaves the same in severe rain or dry. Then the gps sent me through a country road for about 30 miles which I thought was going to prove that the XM was a useless, soft, underpowered boat trying to crawl corner to corner...well I was wrong, veeeery wrong
The "adaptive" suspension, especially in sports mode makes it extremely good around the corners, much better than lots of cars I've driven before, especially for what I would call a "cruiser". The engine and manual gearbox are definitely up for the job, and before you know it you are actually pushing on windy roads!! Excellent!! Even the ridiculously comfy seats feel a tad like semi bucket seats
My verdict is that you better have no preconceptions when it comes to driving a XM, she's a bit like that chubby girlfriend that used to go to mass every weekend...I was not expecting her to be a big deal in bed but boy oh boy she was good
Dirty comments aside, the car is great. You stop for a coffee and can't avoid looking at it through the window. I even got the thumbs up a few times and people asking about it. It's all you may want in a "retro" car really! We even added another 80 miles at night with my very pregnant wife to go for dinner, she loved it!
Right, so after my bit of verbal diarrhea let's jump into the stuff that needs doing in order of priority:
- Clutch adjustment. The clutch is quite new but the biting point is far too low, when I say low I mean you have to push the pedal into the carpet for the gears to go in, and then the travel is enormous (it's a good 6 inches higher than the brake pedal, and has like 2-3 inches of free play at the top). I will investigate what type of cable I have and adjust it accordingly.
- Gear linkage needs bushes or adjusting. I've read that the mechanism got some welding done a few years back, and am wondering if something got misaligned. The gear changes really spoil the excellent ride at the moment, so this needs attention. Perhaps with the clutch adjustment everything sorts itself out, but the way I feel it I am pretty sure something is misaligned or has a bit too much wear.
- The cigarette lighter goes bang every time I try to put the phone charger in it. I am quite sure there is a short somewhere there. The radio and cigarette lights are not working either, so my suspicion is that someone used the feed to it for the radio or central locking and something's gone loose.
- Passenger's side mirror is temperamental and the thermocouple inside is not working, will probably need rewiring or a new one.
- Oil and filter change just in case, although the current one has done like 1k miles. I will also install the new oil level sensor while I am at it.
- The "chromed" bits on the trim outside the car is perished. Ray gave me some chrome tape that I will try on it. Any info on taking these to bits? I've also read that someone here sells copies in stainless which may be the best solution.
- Clean and protect the underside and arches of the car again. They are so good that it would be a shame to ruin them now.
- Rear repeaters. Although these don't seem shorted with the brake lights, when you use the repeaters the bulb failure alarm comes on for the rear lights. I am pretty sure it will be a ground, or if the car had a tow bar installed in the past (which I believe it did), there is meant to be some sort of bodge somewhere down there...
- Front NS tyre is worn on the inside. I've only got to page 50 on Vince's resto and he was going on about one tyre wearing unevenly, so it may be that one. It's either the steering or some geometry is a bit screwed. Perhaps he never changed it I am unsure, but it was not an advisory on the MOT so if it was fine 8 months ago then it's worn pretty badly given the few miles that it's done.
- Detailing....I will need help here. I've seen that Ray and Vince were polishing, waxing, feeding and saying "good night" to the plastics and so on on a weekly basis...my forte is mechanics, not detailing, so any help in this area would be much appreciated as I really want to keep the car mint inside-out, although I will use it as a daily.
- Preventive maintenance. Any tips here will be much appreciated. I like the fact that the car seems in really good nick both body and mechanically, which is great as these days I don't really have that much time to spanner at home. However, I'd rather spend a weekend a month changing parts that may go wrong than driving it for a month with a knock until I get time to sort it if you know what I mean!!
That's about it for now. As Ray said, I've got some "bonding" to do with the old girl but I am under the impression that I will enjoy the ride and she will stay with me for many years. I do think that I am lucky to own one of these, and that they are proper future classics.
Couple of pics of the car on the way back home, probably the dirtiest it's been in years!
Regards and thanks in advance for any comments!!
Miq.
My name is Miquel (Miq) and I just bought Vince's / Ray's old XM 2.1TD (K725KVG). First of all thanks a lot to those of you who messaged me when I posted that I was after a xm, at the end I think I got a real good one, and the first one I fell in love with! And a very special thanks to Ray for actually selling the car to me, I was not entirely sure I'd pass the XM future owners test when I met him in Liverpool after 4 hours in the train Perhaps I should move this to introductions but if you keep reading there will be a few observations about the car later on, so admins please feel free to act accordingly.
In any case, you probably all know the car a lot better than I do as there are numerous topics here on its restoration and further work on it. It's got many many miles but it's in extremely good condition and the history (not just service history but amount of information) is impressive.
Long story short I come from a family of car enthusiasts who has traveled quite a lot around Europe. The first car I remember was our Citroen GS (I am the smallest kid in the photo below)...I remember my dad walking into a show room when I was 3 or so and seating me at the back (no seat belts of course). It was also the first car I ever "drove", as we used to go to dirt tracks and my dad would sit me on his lap, I'd steer (or thought I did) and then press his left or right leg if I wanted to brake or accelerate. Unfortunately, we moved to Holland after a few years and the GS had been severely damaged by a drunk tractor driver over night, so I am very sad to say that's the only car we ever left behind as a family -we all cried like babies when we left her at the breakers!-
And that was that for Citroens in the family, at least until now. We've had and still have many jags, old jeeps, mg's, minis, etc but no citroens, not because my parents didn't like them at the time but because they moved on to different pastures. Here until two days ago my wife and I had a x300 and a xj40 jag respectively as daily drivers (they are really good, reliable work horses if you've never driven one, and mine was on lpg so real cheap to run), and then two of my other cars in the garage (a road legal rally spec Integrale that's also been featured in magazines and an Uno Turbo mk1 that has been with me since I took my licence over 12 years ago now). So what brought my attention to the XM? Well as part of my job we race with electric superbikes (TT and track series around the Globe), and last Monday I was cuing on the ferry back from Holland, where apparently there'd been a big citroen meet during the weekend and next to the van there was a really clean black XM. I was shocked at how cool the car was, it looked to timeless if that makes any sense. The XM is one of those cars that I remembered from when we used to live in Holland back in the early 90s but I always saw them as "normal" cars, but they have aged soooo well. The ferry gave me a further 7 hours to find information on these cars, and obviously this forum. The one link I did save as inspiration was Vince's before and after on the retro rides forum and detailing world, and then obviously the extensive restoration that went on in this forum. So you can guess my surprise when I got a message from Ray after posting that I was after one...even more he didn't want a million trillion pounds although it has such extensive history and work carried out. I had to have it. Put my jag for sale (cheap...), which sold within 24 hrs, jumped into a train to Liverpool and drove her back home, simples
Now to the car, and main aim of this post. I am not going to go into detail on what's been done to it as that's credit to the amazing work done by Ray and Vince (have I thank you yet guys? ). I have driven many cars and work on many more as until last March I had a car restoration business (apart from my job at the University), and the XM has to be the most deceptive car there is out there (my Uno turbo almost killed me when I was 18 and floored it for the first time unaware of what "turbo" meant...but that was my fault haha). In any case the trip from Liverpool to Nottingham on a Friday eve had lots of everything: traffic, roadworks and accidents, opened country roads as the gps found weird shortcuts, motorway, etc.
I've never owned or even worked on a diesel, so as you do you buy an old 2.1TD expecting it to drive and sound like a bit of a tractor (all the diesel rentals I've had do!). Now I've realised that it's all a lie, some sort of illuminati plot that has made diesels worse in the last decade or two!! This thing has well over 200k miles and it's smooth like my 6 cylinder jag (perhaps not as much, but close enough). On the motorway you are doing 70-80 before you know it (you don't need more than that anyway) and you can still listen to the old school stereo no probs (which by the way gets better signal than anything I've had before). The ride is excellent (I suppose this is why these cars were famous after all, and what made citroen great together with the futuristic looks), and it behaves the same in severe rain or dry. Then the gps sent me through a country road for about 30 miles which I thought was going to prove that the XM was a useless, soft, underpowered boat trying to crawl corner to corner...well I was wrong, veeeery wrong
The "adaptive" suspension, especially in sports mode makes it extremely good around the corners, much better than lots of cars I've driven before, especially for what I would call a "cruiser". The engine and manual gearbox are definitely up for the job, and before you know it you are actually pushing on windy roads!! Excellent!! Even the ridiculously comfy seats feel a tad like semi bucket seats
My verdict is that you better have no preconceptions when it comes to driving a XM, she's a bit like that chubby girlfriend that used to go to mass every weekend...I was not expecting her to be a big deal in bed but boy oh boy she was good
Dirty comments aside, the car is great. You stop for a coffee and can't avoid looking at it through the window. I even got the thumbs up a few times and people asking about it. It's all you may want in a "retro" car really! We even added another 80 miles at night with my very pregnant wife to go for dinner, she loved it!
Right, so after my bit of verbal diarrhea let's jump into the stuff that needs doing in order of priority:
- Clutch adjustment. The clutch is quite new but the biting point is far too low, when I say low I mean you have to push the pedal into the carpet for the gears to go in, and then the travel is enormous (it's a good 6 inches higher than the brake pedal, and has like 2-3 inches of free play at the top). I will investigate what type of cable I have and adjust it accordingly.
- Gear linkage needs bushes or adjusting. I've read that the mechanism got some welding done a few years back, and am wondering if something got misaligned. The gear changes really spoil the excellent ride at the moment, so this needs attention. Perhaps with the clutch adjustment everything sorts itself out, but the way I feel it I am pretty sure something is misaligned or has a bit too much wear.
- The cigarette lighter goes bang every time I try to put the phone charger in it. I am quite sure there is a short somewhere there. The radio and cigarette lights are not working either, so my suspicion is that someone used the feed to it for the radio or central locking and something's gone loose.
- Passenger's side mirror is temperamental and the thermocouple inside is not working, will probably need rewiring or a new one.
- Oil and filter change just in case, although the current one has done like 1k miles. I will also install the new oil level sensor while I am at it.
- The "chromed" bits on the trim outside the car is perished. Ray gave me some chrome tape that I will try on it. Any info on taking these to bits? I've also read that someone here sells copies in stainless which may be the best solution.
- Clean and protect the underside and arches of the car again. They are so good that it would be a shame to ruin them now.
- Rear repeaters. Although these don't seem shorted with the brake lights, when you use the repeaters the bulb failure alarm comes on for the rear lights. I am pretty sure it will be a ground, or if the car had a tow bar installed in the past (which I believe it did), there is meant to be some sort of bodge somewhere down there...
- Front NS tyre is worn on the inside. I've only got to page 50 on Vince's resto and he was going on about one tyre wearing unevenly, so it may be that one. It's either the steering or some geometry is a bit screwed. Perhaps he never changed it I am unsure, but it was not an advisory on the MOT so if it was fine 8 months ago then it's worn pretty badly given the few miles that it's done.
- Detailing....I will need help here. I've seen that Ray and Vince were polishing, waxing, feeding and saying "good night" to the plastics and so on on a weekly basis...my forte is mechanics, not detailing, so any help in this area would be much appreciated as I really want to keep the car mint inside-out, although I will use it as a daily.
- Preventive maintenance. Any tips here will be much appreciated. I like the fact that the car seems in really good nick both body and mechanically, which is great as these days I don't really have that much time to spanner at home. However, I'd rather spend a weekend a month changing parts that may go wrong than driving it for a month with a knock until I get time to sort it if you know what I mean!!
That's about it for now. As Ray said, I've got some "bonding" to do with the old girl but I am under the impression that I will enjoy the ride and she will stay with me for many years. I do think that I am lucky to own one of these, and that they are proper future classics.
Couple of pics of the car on the way back home, probably the dirtiest it's been in years!
Regards and thanks in advance for any comments!!
Miq.